Tuning Up for Varmint Season

I took a few rifles out to our camp today to sight them in for Varmint season.... The ground squirrels and marmots are starting to appear on the local ranch.... I started out at 35 yards, moved to 50, then 75, and then to 100.... I then played with the air strippers to narrow up the groups.... All three rifles seemed to like about a 1 - 1.5 caliber gap between the muzzle and the stripper cone.... I played around with the scope adjustments until I could cover out to 100 yards with the MilDots and have a point-blank hold out to about 40 yards on the 2260 and 2560 HPA repeaters that I usually use.... Both rifles are set up to shoot 960 fps, the .22 cal with 18.1 gr. JSB Heavies and the .25 cal with 25.4 gr. JSB Kings.... The pellets have the same BC (0.036 over 100 yard), so the trajectories match, I can switch from one rifle to the other without having to think about it.... They are both equipped with Hawke 3-12 x 44 Varmint SF scopes with 1/2 MilDot reticles, and the dots work out to 53, 67, 79, 90, and 100 yards with a 35 yard zero.... The best target I shot today at 100 yards was with the .25 cal....

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That 5-shot group measures 0.85" C-T-C and you can completely cover it with a Loonie.... It's the smallest group I have ever shot with an airgun.... Here are the groups at 35 yards.... First the .22 cal....

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Next the .25 cal....

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I also got a chance to try out the QB79 Ninja outside for the first time.... It shoots 15.9 gr. JSB Exacts at 850 fps, and I shot a couple of dime sized groups with it at 50 yards.... One thing that was interesting was that the trajectory was flatter than predicted by ChairGun, and based on POI measurements, it worked out to an astounding 0.042.... That is one of the advantages of keeping the velocity below the transonic range.... Here is the 35 yard target....

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The small squares on those targets are 0.1", the large black squares are 0.4".... so all three rifles are shooting right around 1/2" at 35 yards, you can easily cover virtually any 5-shot group with a dime at that range.... I think I'm all tuned up and ready to go Varmint hunting....

Bob