The Recycle Bin

I spent some time this weekend shooting with the R1, and have posted some pictures for your viewing enjoyment. There is a nice (non graphic) shot of a chipmunk available via a link. Graphic violence on demand.

The following is a picture of my normal plinking and paper punching area as soon from my deck. Not a great picture, but you can get the lay of the land, see a couple of the feeders, and the general backdrop for my shots. The target area is about 17-20 yards away depending on my position. The deck affords me several shooting positions. Anything from a rest on a windowsill, to sitting, standing, etc.

The next picture is an enlarged version of the shooting area. Interesting to note that for the paper targets I was testing several different pellets. Upper right-hard part of the target was with Beeman Silver Ace pellets (15.24 gr), which produced clean cuts, but did not group well. Beeman Crow-Magnum (18.20 gr) and RWS Superdome (14.5 gr) were used in the other areas.

The beer cans were all punched with Crosman Premier pellets – what I like to call the good stuffs! The cans on their side have multiple shot placements in the same hole. The Champaign Girl on the Moon gives me a decent challenge; figure if I can hit this on demand I should be able to dot any Tree Rat right between the eyes.

This one is along the side of my property. A nice 22 or so yard target with plenty of crap for a backdrop. I can actually use this area at night to setup a 12 yard shooting area because there is plenty of light available in my backyard.

The next picture tells the story of the driveway shooting area. You can see that I have a couple of Miller Lite cans setup on some cinderblocks. If you look closely you can see that I was going after the 1 inch by 1 inch barcode area on the right can. I hit it dead center. My shooting position is from a sitting position, using my knee as a rest for my arm/elbow.

This chipmunk was in the wrong place at the wrong time. As I was setting up for another shot, he came barking at me from inside one of the holes on the right cinder block. I do not really wish any ill will towards chipmunks, but these guys are digging like crazy around the foundation of the garage apartment and around the deck. I figured as long as it was going to bark at me, I would bark right back …

• Mr. Chipmunk eyes the Beeman R1 (small version)
• Mr. Chipmunk eyes the Beeman R1 (large version)

Click on the “large” version a super big detailed version. I took Mr. Munk head-on. Was aiming between the eyes, and landed a shot just to the side of his left eye. The little dude flew straight back on impact, and was dead on contact. Completely clean kill shot, surprisingly without any mess. A 22 yard shot between the eyes is really a testament to accuracy of the R1 with Crosman Premier pellets. That or I am becoming a decent shot with the R1.

I also took out a Tree Rat, but that is another story for another day.

I was 1-1-1 on the day. Not as good as I would like, but certainly not terrible for continuing to sort out the new Beeman R1. The “shepherds hook” squirrel from an earlier post decided to come back and make another go of the feeder. Of course, per Calvert Rules [section 4(a) for those keeping score at home], that makes the squirrel a tree rat, and thus fair game.

The varmint decided to climb back up the feeder, and attacked the casing for all its worth in order to get to the tasty thistle. Silly tree rat, the thistle is for the finches.

So while the tree rat was trying to gnaw its way into the feeder, I was taking careful aim, considering the mistake from earlier in the morning. I let loose a Crosman Premier from the R1. The pellet struck with devastating consequences. I dropped the tree rat like a rock, but in typically tree rat fashion, it managed to flip and flop for a few seconds before expiring. There was no way I was going to let this one get away, so I decided to put a second pellet into the critter, but it was really unnecessary, because the first one from the R1 had already done the deed.

In addition to taking on some tree rats, I did some plinking and paper punching. So far, out of the box, Crosman Premier pellets are just a little sort of awesome. I also shot some Beeman Silver Ace pellets (15.24 gr), but they did not group well. They seem decent for paper punching, leaving a nice clean neat hole, but at this point I would not use them to take out tree rats.

Tomorrow is a new day, and I think I still have another unopened tin or two to try in the R1. Plus there should be another gathering of tree rats. Seems like the perfect weekend to me!

As I said in a post earlier today, there will be no Longhorns letdown, complacency, or any of the other crap that those disrespecting Texas hoped beyond all hope would happen in order to let a Big Ten team (i.e. one Penn State) into the Championship picture.

35-3 at the half. Missouri managed to put three on the board as time expired. Total complete ass kicking. Nothing flat about Texas.

Go Longhorns!

Georgia escaped from playing a sloppy game, 24-14 over Vanderbilt. Head scratcher. Georgia continues to play down to their opponents.

• Moreno had 172 rushing yards on 23 carries (1 TD).
• Stafford had two bad interceptions; should have been three.
• Walsh missed two easy field goals (1-3 on the day).

Georgia dominated the game, but throughout the game, always allowed the Commodores to stay within shouting distance. The rest of the season is not going to be pretty if the Dawgs do not figure out how to finish out drives.

I hate it when Georgia plays like this. They love to play down to their opponents. You can always tell it is going to go South when the Dawgs open with a nice drive, but fail to score (missed field goal). 14-7 at the half is not going to get it against Vandy. Leave them in the game, and they will think they have a chance to win.

Hope you took the points. Money in the bank.

If Oklahoma was so f’ing good, why are the ‘Horns not getting any respect this weekend? I have listened to several different radio shows this morning (SportingNews and ESPN Radio) and every one is taking (11) Missouri over (1) Texas. I just don’t get it.

Texas whipped Colorado, but before the game, everyone said that the Buffalos would take it to the Longhorns. Then everyone said that Oklahoma was too damn good and fast for Texas. Now Missouri is going to put up too much offense for Texas? WTF is wrong with the pundits?

The Tigers took one on the chin last week to Oklahoma State. So now Missouri is magically better than Texas? They are just going to waltz into Royal-Texas Memorial stadium in front of 98K fans and whip Texas? Fat f’ing chance.

Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium will be rocking for #1 Texas!

I do expect a good game, but it seems like we have heard this one before. Go back to last year’s Holiday Bowl, where Texas beat the living snot out of Arizona State. Anyone remember how Texas was going to be flat against the Sun Devils? I already mentioned Colorado, and we all know what happened at the Red River last week. So now Missouri is the underdog that could. Texas will be flat and all the crap. I don’t see it happening. Texas by 13.

Hook ’em!

When does a squirrel become a Tree Rat? When the son bitch raids my feeders, heads for the attic, looks to nest in the garage apartment, or any other form of mayhem and destruction. But I digress, at least for a moment.

This morning as I was walking my dog around the block, I casually counted 25 squirrels. I lost track of the number of nests; they are all over the place. These squirrels are A-OK. They don’t bother me and I don’t bother them. Of course if one of those colonies decides to move into my vacated pecan tree, it will be, how should I say? A bloodletting.

This Saturday morning I am 0-1-1. Not too good. One of the varmints will not show his face around here any more. The other most have pissed himself. He decided to head for one of the birdfeeders. I carefully aimed, but not carefully enough. I hit the shepherds hook, seed went a flying, and the tree rat went a jumping. I bet he will think twice about climbing on the feeder.

It has been a couple of weeks since I shoot the R1, and clearly I need some practice.

Straight shooting. Happy Saturday!

Are you kidding me? (10) UGA is giving up 14.5 to (22) Vandy? No doubt, the Dawgs will win, and it may not be close, but I think it is a stretch to think that UGA will route the Commodores by, say, 17 points.

Georgia never wins big against Vanderbilt. Or do they? Recently maybe not, but look at the history in the series over the last eight years.

• 2007: 20-17
• 2006: 22-24 (L)
• 2005: 34-17
• 2004: 33-3
• 2003: 27-8
• 2002: 48-17
• 2001: 30-14
• 2000: 29-19

Against better judgment, I say lay the points:   Georgia 33 – Vanderbilt 17.

Go Dawgs! Sic ’em!

It’s been a while. Since I posted and since I did a flavorful, nectar of the gods post.

I go back and forth (rotate if you will) between lagers, ales, and cheap stuff. Sweetwater 420 is my normal favorite, and Miller Lite is my current cheap staple. In Florida a couple of weeks ago I picked up some Yuengling. Yum! For a lager this stuff is smooth, delicious, and not too terribly fizzy.

For some reason Yuengling is not distributed in Columbus (maybe not even Georgia). I had to bootleg some back from Panama City.

So as I write this post I find myself reaching for a second bottle. While the bottles are good, from a tap Yuengling is the stuff of legends. OK, maybe that is going too far, but it is a nice lager.

Georgia took care of business against the Volunteers from Tennessee, 26-14. The game was not as close as the score; the Dawgs beat the living tar out of the boys from Rocky Top.

UGA out gained Tennessee in Total Net Yards 458-209, First Downs 29-10, and Net Rushing Yards 148-1 (yes, the Junkyard Dawgs held Tennessee to one stinking yard). Georgia still had too many penalties (11 to Tennessee’s 10), but they only gave up 76 Penalty Yards to Tennessee’s 97.

What a total, good old fashion, woodshed beating.

What about the rest of the SEC? I thought the #11 Gators were good, despite their misstep against Ole Miss, but I did not think they were 51-21 over #4 LSU good. Wow. Talking about ass kickings.

What the hell is wrong with the #20 Tigers from the Plains? How do they lose to Arkansas 25-22? Seriously, Arkansas sucks. There is no way that Auburn is this bad.

The Starkville Bulldogs upset #13 Vanderbilt 17-14. I guess the Commodores could not stand prosperity.

South Carolina found enough offense to score ten unanswered points in the fourth quarter to pull of a 24-17 win in Lexington over the Wild Cats of Kentucky. Not a good weekend for feline mascots.

Go Dawgs!

‘Nuff said! Hook ’em!

Red River runs Burnt Orange. Hook ’em baby!

Hell of a game, bad officiating and all.

If Georgia can do the needful against Tennessee today, it will be a wonderful Saturday.

Let me set the stage. Friday afternoon, within the first few minutes of shooting my new .22 caliber Beeman R1, a tree rat jumps from the garage apartment onto the pecan tree, otherwise known as Tree Rat Bread and Breakfast.

I thought about taking a 15-20 yard shot, but since I had put less than 20 shots through the R1, I decided that I could wait. That was probably for the best because I was not familiar enough with the R1 to start taking out live targets.

A few minutes later, the tree rat thinks about visiting the bird feeder near the pecan tree. He comes down the tree, all embolden, without a care, oblivious to the danger he is about to face. It takes a minute to get the tree rat sighted in my Bushnell Elite 3200, which is the first sign that a 7-21×40 scope just might be too much glass for backyard shooting. The shot was about 12 yards, but I decided that the squirrel could wait. Or maybe he decided that maybe it was not such a good decision to tempt faith and go after the goodness in the feeder. Either way, it took me too long to get the scope adjusted to such a close target.

After finishing up my shooting session, about 30 minutes later, Mr. Squirrel decided he did in fact want to meet my new R1.

Lights out Mr. Squirrel

I sat on the deck. The tree rat was a good 15-17 yards from me. When he saw me, he froze and me that “what the hell are you doing” look. Decisions, decisions. Go for the goodness in the feeder and face the furry of the R1, or head back up the tree and bide his time for another attempt?

Meanwhile, sitting on the deck, cocked the R1, picked up a Crosman Premier pellet, loaded the gun, and started to sight in the tree rat.

Aim for the ear hole. Wait. Wait. Patience. Must make sure that my first pet control with the R1 is a success. Gently squeeze the trigger. Hell’s furry flies towards the unsuspecting varmint. Thuck! Direct hit!

.22 R1 earns its keep.

Mr. Squirrel is obviously shocked by the impact of the .22 R1. For about 2-4 seconds he remains in place, and falls to the ground. I pick up another Crosman Premier, just in case it is needed. A few seconds later, Mr. Squirrel squirms around for 5 or so seconds, as his life quickly expires.

If you click on the second picture, you may be able to see a little blood around the ear.  This would be the exit point, except the pellet did not pass through.  The .22 caliber pellet did its job. The impact point was on the opposite side, just below the ear, and clearly all the energy was absorbed in the tree rat’s grey matter. Very impressive!

So my shot-to-kill ratio is an impressive 100% – the .22 Beeman R1 earned its keep. Mr. Squirrel will not bother the feeder again.

Let’s start by giving all the credit to Alabama. It is obvious they came well prepared, were hungry for a win, and executed their game plan flawlessly.

I cannot think of a game in recent memory where Georgia was so clearly dominated to the point that they looked out classed, out coached, and out played. Alabama looked heads and shoulders better than Georgia; dare I say the best team in the country.

For Georgia, things went down hill fast. First, on Alabama’s game opening drive, Georgia’s leader on defense, Dannell Ellerbe, left the game with a knee injury. Second, Georgia forced a fumble, but a stupid hands to the QB face pentality reversed the call, and Alabama went on to score 31 unanswered points to take a 31-0 halftime lead. Remember these words from last week:

“Penalties continue to be a concern, as Georgia gave up 104 yards on 12 flags, although there were 2-3 BS calls. Georgia has to be more disciplined or the penalties will come back to haunt them at an inopportune time.”

Georgia gave, yes gave, Alabama 8 first downs because of Georgia penalties. In the end it would not have mattered, because Alabama was clearly the better team, but it certainly did not help.

So where to from here? Before the season started, I expected Georgia to be 4-0 going into the Alabama, Tennessee, Vanderbilt stretch, which would result in a 7-1 record. So they are on track with my predictions, but can they actually beat Tennessee and Vanderbilt in back-to-back games after the ass kicking they took at the hands of the Crimson Tide? Vanderbilt, yes Vanderbilt, actually controls the SEC East.

It is not so much that Georgia let an opportunity slip away. Alabama forcefully took it from Georgia. The good news is that Georgia can regroup, and force a rematch in the SEC Championship. After being exposed during last night’s Black Out game, I doubt Georgia can run the table to have the opportunity to take out Alabama in Atlanta in December.

The sun still came up this morning. Forwards and onwards. Go Dawgs!

More first impressions. I was surprised by the weight of the R1. My R7 with a Leapers 6×32 Bug Buster 2 scope is less than 7 pounds, and is very easy to cock. I can shoot it all day with no worries. My first session with the R1 made me realize that things are going to be different with this one. The R1 is listed at 8.8 pounds, while its Bushnell Elite 3200 7-21×40 Mil-Dot Scope is listed at 1.25 pounds.

As you can imagine, after shooting the R7 for the last 10 months, I was not prepared for the weight of the R1. It is one thing to read that it is heavy, but it is another thing to experience it first hand. It is not going to be a problem; just a learning adjustment for me. Cocking the R1 was also more difficult than the R7, but this part was in line with my expectations. It is smooth and straight forward, but I could see how some shooters would have a hard time managing the R1.

If you order a gun case (I ordered the $75 Doskocil Deluxe Rifle Case) Straight Shooters will mount and sight your scope for no additional charge. This is a pretty good deal. They also removed the R1 sights, and installed the Beeman Universal muzzlebrake and the Beeman rear sight cover plate. While the muzzlebrake is a little loose, I am happy with the out of the box experience.

No fliers; bottom left one is just arm fatigue

Good thing the beer is gone.

Is .22 more fun than .177?

What a great shooter!

The R1 looks and feels like the real deal – no one will mistake this beauty for a bb gun. Of course that could present some other issues, so discretion is the better part of valor with backyard shooting.

Next up, Mr. Squirrel meets the R1. Care to guess what happens next?

My .22 caliber Beeman R1 arrived this Friday afternoon from the fine folks at Straight Shooters.

Beeman R1 .22 caliber

Click on the above picture for a nice super sized version. As you can see, the order featured plenty of goodies to compliment the R1:

• R1 .22
• Bushnell Elite 3200 7-21×40 Scope
• Beeman/Sportsmatch 1 Pc. High, Adjustable Scope Mount
• Rear Sight Plate
• Universal Muzzlebrake
• Doskocil Deluxe Rifle Case

My very first impressions where that R1 was packaged very well (two boxes and a gun case). The actual R1 looks fantastic, dare I say a beautiful airgun. Finally, I wish Straight Shooters included the original boxes in case I want to resell anything down the road. On the last point, I am not sure what I was expecting, but I was surprised that the R1 box and Bushnell scope box was not included.

Enjoy a few “out of the box” pictures by clinking on the links …

• R1 – Just arrived from UPS.
• R1 – One box, Two box … where the hell is the R1 box?
• Is there an R1 in the Doskocil Deluxe Rifle Case?
• R1 – The good stuffs!

I will follow up tomorrow with some more first impressions, some interesting target pictures, and of course, the first victim claimed by the R1.