Yesterday I spent some time re-mounting my replacement Bushnell ELITE 3200 to my beloved .22 R1. The R1 had been out of action for a good 7-8 weeks while I waited for Bushnell to do the needful with their warranty repair. And the needful they did; as I wrote yesterday, I have a brand spanking new ELITE 3200 on the R1. Color my happy!<\/p>\n
When I sent the ELITE 3200 in for repairs, I only removed the scope rings from the Beeman Sportsmatch 5039 adjustable high mount, leaving the base mount in place. I cleaned the R1 and put it away for future days. After inspecting the ELITE 3200, I setup the R1, and pulled out some Blue Loctite 242 and mounted the ELITE 3200 to the R1. The world was a better place; my R1 was almost ready to return to action.<\/p>\n
After giving the Loctite some time to take, I decided it was time to take this favorite dog for a hunt, and hunt some beer cans she did. I grabbed the nearest tin of Napier Power Hunter pellets, and started out shooting at about 20 yards. It only took me about three shots to realize that I was missing everything in sight, and had no idea what sort of adjustments were called for to correct my zero. I had to get out some cardboard and place it in my shooting area in order to get a better fix on my zero. Turns out that I was off my crosshair to the left by a good six inches. It took a little fiddling around with the windage adjustment, but I finally started shooting the shit out of some beer cans. The good life! Talking about stress relief. Plinking is a great hobby. As I was packing up for the night, I smiled, and thought to myself that I really missed this R1.<\/p>\n
Today is kind of a nasty, dreary, overcast sort of a day, which is not really good for a fun time outside. I plinked a little this morning, and will probably plink some more after this is posted. During my morning session, I did not go after any varmints; spared a starling, chipper, juvenile tree rat, and even had some possibilities with a crow. The tree rat should have been removed because it was rummaging around on the garage apartment, but about the time I was ready to squeeze the trigger, my two-year-old son spooked the varmint by yelling for his daddy to \u201cShoot that nasty rat!\u201d Of well; the bastage will surely be back.<\/p>\n
I did not have a good line of sight on the starling, so I decided to leave well enough along, and I really want to make sure I am confident in my zero before going after smallish critters like chippers. Those varmints have to go; digging all around the foundation of the garage apartment. Destructive son of a guns.<\/p>\n
It was optimistic to think I could have shot the crow. There has been some crow activity of late in the neighborhood, and I kind of look out for them while running. One was being chased by a mockingbird, and landed on the utility pole by the garage apartment. I was just a casual observer, and watched the crow for about 30 seconds before he took off, with the mockingbird in hot pursuit. I don\u2019t think I would have shot; they really need to repopulate the area before I go after such a noble trophy.<\/p>\n
After spending the last few weeks shooting the R7 and .20 R1 Carbine, both with inferior glass, I really appreciated the ELITE 3200. Very crisp crosshairs, picks up a good deal of light, and everything is clear and vibrant. If they were not so gosh darn expensive, I would get another ELITE for the Carbine. It deserves as much.<\/p>\n
Happy Saturday!<\/p>\n
![\"Share\"\/](\"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-content\/plugins\/add-to-any\/share_save_171_16.png\")
<\/a>\n