Discovering a hunting underworld/subculture

[recurve shooter]

my dads girlfriends son had a .22 benjamin (yeah i know thats low end compared to yours, but still) and when he would shoot a squirrel 30 yars away with that flat head .22 you could litterally hear it hit the squirrel. cool stuff.

[skyarrow]

my dads girlfriends son had a .22 benjamin (yeah i know thats low end compared to yours, but still) and when he would shoot a squirrel 30 yars away with that flat head .22 you could litterally hear it hit the squirrel. cool stuff.

i have that same rifle  i think if i get close enough i can kill a deer with it lol

[recurve shooter]

it deffinently packs a punch! pretty accurate to. 

[jeff halfrack]

 GEEEZ !!  Manny  we  must  be  on  the same  wave length!!  boy   I  have  a  lot  to  say!!!   first  did  you  guys  know  that  Lewis and  CLARK  had  an  air rifle  with  them  when they did their expedition!!!  in  1804!!  I  bought  a copy of  the  journals  it's  a  copyright  1964  by  John Bakeless  it's  a  very  good read,  for  me  I'm not  sure I like the way  the natives were treated but  what could I do  now, any  way  I  just  bought a  gomo  express  .22 rifle-shot gun  combo!!  yes I said  shot gun!! that and  my  bows  is  all I  have  been  using  to  small game hunt this  winter  I  love  this  thing!!  I  bring  my  son  with me  he's  3 going on  16  ( I"M A BIG BOY.DADDY)   as  I  haven't  exposed him to  the  report  of  a real gun  this  is  fine  and when  the  game  falls  I  try  to  keep  that  part  out of  sight for him  I  want  to  teach dignity to  the animal   but  Manny  this  is  a  way  cool  way to hunt  I  think  I  know  how  you  feel  keep it  going.    buy  the  way   how  is  that  guava  wood  compared  to  hickory  all way  wondered  sorry  for  the  long  rant    JEFF W

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Lets hear more Jeff 

I'm a newby at this, I'm getting it dialed in so I'm pretty stocked to hear too how many of you are kinda interested.


What I like about it too is that when I go bowhunting I can take tha 9mm pistol  and in those cases when I have no chance threading an arrow ( and there's many) I can use the scoped pistol

[mullet]

 Hey, Trey and Sterling, all three deer I killed this year with my muzzle loaders was at 20 yards. Those air rifles will do the same. I just built a cabbage palm blind/hut and sat in a little beach chair and waited. Shot three turkeys out of the same blind.

[recurve shooter]

now thats my kinda hunting! sittin in a beach chair in a bungalo lol

[stickbender]

     I also have a Benjamin .22 cal. air rifle.  It needs a rear sight, and gaskets.  But when I was a kid, it was BAD A$$!!!  It was very accurate, and it most definitely packed a punch.  I shot a dove, at about 30-40 yds, and the flat nosed pellet, went out the other side, taking about half of the right breast meat with it!   That little single shot pump air rifle, put a lot of doves, quail, and Meadowlarks in the frying pan!   Oh yes, Meadowlarks are tasty.  I want to get that gun fixed.  There are a lot Grouse just waiting to go home with me in Montana!   So one of these days, I am going to have to get my Benjamin Franklin air rifle fixed.  They are great guns.  I would love to have a RWS model 48 in .22, but they are just too expensive.  For what I would have to pay for one, I could buy a real rifle!  But one of these days......

                                                                               Wayne

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Yeah but a real rifle is noisy and bullets are expensive 

check out the Benjamin "Super Streak" .22 comes allready scoped at 300 bucks, thats the one I have that killed a chick after it went thru a dove, punches clean thru a 3/4" plywood from 35 yards

[stickbender]

     Wow, N P, that punches pretty good !   But still in the pricey range.  This old Benjamin, never had a scope, nor any place to put one.  It is all brass, including the barrel.   But it is exceedingly accurate, with the plain ol flat nosed skirted pellets.  I will get it fixed, and use it.  I would like to have a super streak, but like I said, it is a bit pricey for me.  I am not working, so I don't have the money to splurge now.  With that thing, you should go stalking a couple of Ne Ne's !   If you have any where you are at.

                                                                                  Wayne

[Hillbilly]

I had a .22 break-action airgun that my dad gave me when I was growing up. I don't remember what brand it was, but it was pretty high-end. He got it in Germany when he was stationed there in the Air Force. It was about like a .22 rifle shooting shorts, I killed a bunch of rabbits, squirrels, and a couple groundhogs with it. It was destroyed in a house fire we had, wish I still had it.

[Eric Krewson]

Years ago an old guy we really liked was retiring at the plant. I took up a collection from my fellow workers and bought him a Beman R-1 pellet rifle as a retirement gift. I had worked with him for years and he had mentioned he sure would have liked to own one but they cost too much.  

This guy was really someone special. He was a WW2 vet, had his right leg badly mangled by a German 88 round, had trouble walking but never complained. He had almost all the muscles in his left shoulder removed because of a melanoma, never complained. I found out he had a secret after working with him for years, he had volunteered to counsel dying cancer patients. He may work all day and stay by the side or on the phone with a dying patient most of the night only to report to work the next day with little or no sleep, he never complained.

He developed prostate cancer after he moved away, the aggressive kind. He thought it would kill him so he called me from Springfield Mo one day and asked if he could leave his "bb gun" to me when he died. I told I would be honored by his gesture.

I live in Florence Al, at least an 8 hr drive from Springfield. The day after I talked to him there was a knock at my door, there was Harold, standing there with his rifle. He said he wanted to give it to me in person while he could. Like I said he was a special person.

He didn't die and is now 87.

Unfortunately the rifle is a really poor shooter, very inconsistent. I have never been able to shoot a decent group with it. It is one of my most prised possessions non the less.

Wish I could make it shoot better as it was the Cadillac of air rifles in it's day

[stickbender]

     Eric, have you tried different brands of pellets, and different styles of pellets?  Is it a multiple pump, or single.  I can't remember that much about the Beeman, except that it was expensive at the time.

                                                                                 Wayne

[El Destructo]

Wayne ...the Beeman R1 is a Single Shot...Single Pump....Spring Activated Pellet Rifle...about 950fps with the 22 model...I had a .177 model when I was younger....shot great though...but if you didn't keep the Barrel Clean...accuracy went by the wayside...so Eric...have you tried running a Brass Brush through it...with some Hoppes Solvent? this may improve the Accuracy of it....I can't see why it is inaccurate other than that...these are some Solid Rifles...with great Rifling....and Wayne...what size dove tail is in the Rifle Barrel on your Gun?? I may just have some sights for you....let me know........ send me a Model Number...and remember that on all Multi-Pump Pellet Rifles...when you are done shooting them...always pump them once to store them...keeps the Seals from Shrinking up on you...just a helpful hint that I learned a long time ago.......long time ago........

[stickbender]

     Thanks El D, but it doesn't have a dove tail slot, it has a flat bar screwed on the side with a slot in it to adjust the elevation, and the sight was just a round bar, with a V groove in it, that was screwed to the sliding bar on the side.  You adjusted the windage with the screw.  I have used the screw cap from a spark plug once and it it worked, ok, but I would like to put the original sights on it.  It needs to be completely rebuilt on the inside.  All the gaskets, and seals, are dried, and or rotted, and are no good.

                                                                         Wayne