Sunday Hits and Misses

I spent another bright morning on Sunday at the Penkridge Air Rifle Club. There were several forty to fifty-yard shots that I particularly enjoyed since I've now got the beginnings of an idea about where the pellets from my - in effect - new .177 rifle will fall at this distance. It's very satisfying indeed to hear the pinging 'thwack!' as a tiny metal target fifty yards away flips back when your pellet goes home - a pleasure as well as a real confidence-builder.

On the way home I spent a happy few minutes peering over a fence at an improbable trio of Ostriches in a nearby farm. As they stalked around the field I wondered just how far those sturdy legs would kick a fox foolish enough to try its luck with one of these stilt-walking giants.

Cycling home, I startled a number of rabbits that had come out of the roadside hedges to take advantage of the suddenly spring-like afternoon sun and so, since I was to ride past the land where I have a permission, I decided to sit awhile behind the bars of a stile on the farm and see if I couldn't go home with the makings of a Sunday dinner.

Fifteen minutes later a rabbit popped out of the fence-line and, newly confident in the accuracy of my rifle, I took the shot. Another very resounding thwack! rang out, but one rather startlingly close at hand. Looking up I realised that while my scope had an uninterrupted view over the crossbars of the stile to the rabbit, the barrel of the rifle had not shared in this privileged elevation: the pellet had buried itself half-an-inch deep in the wood and the noise had frightened the rabbit away.
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Tags: Air rifle clubs, hunting, missing, air rifle