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Mentolio · Veteran Member

Cleaned out a family of ground hogs that were living under my neighbor's shed last year, right before they grew roots under mine. I used a .177 Crosman Vantage NP with the bundled CP 4x32 scope to get the job done last year, with what I consider "limited success." It did the job but was inaccurate and underpowered. Fast forward one year, and a bunch of knowledge later (but not quite as much practice as I would like). This year, when we started seeing this guy around, I had my Hatsan Striker Edge in .22. Optic is a UTG 3-12x40 IR, MD, AO, SWAT scope. Finally caught him out in the open today, and let him have it! I'm hoping he's alone, and hasn't started a family yet. I'm sad to say it took two shots to drop him, I'd much rather have done it in one. Shots were taken from about 20 yards (from behind the neighbor's A/C unit) at 6x power, with a slight wind (5mph give or take).

grizzlyadams · Member

tough little buggers aren't they? used to kill a bunch of them on the family veggie farm growing up in jersey. back then i used an rws 45 in 177, or a 36 in .22.also used a bow alot and just ambushed them at their dens

grizzlyadams · Member

here is one from last season with the airforce rifle

Mentolio · Veteran Member

Niiiice! Man, I wanted one of those something fierce (AirForce Condor SS), but got such a good deal on my Mrod I couldn't resist...both illegal in NJ now (thanx to the AG's Office/NJSP's total lack of giving a s*#@..."silenced firearm," they call them...really?!?), BTW.

grizzlyadams · Member

i have a few of the airforce rifles, that one at the time was a talon ss wearing a condor bottle and hammer (talondor?) also have a talonp, with an extra condor barrel in .25 cal, three condors (.22 and two .25) and another talon ss. they are great guns if you dont mind tinkering with them. and yep , a shame, on the "silenced" thing in NJ. i think ny is pretty much the same deal, since once you use an airgun in the field, it is a "firearm" and hunting with suppressed firearms is not allowed, so anything i take out in the field is unshrouded, just to be safe(NY hunting laws are very confusingly written, it does not require any paperwork to own or hunt with air, but i am pretty sure a gun is a gun is a gun, once you are in the field)) that one was taken in my yard at about 74 yds iirc. and that gun was the closest one at the moment, as i had just been sighting it in. didnt want to give him time to make it into my garden!

toadmyster223 · Senior Member

I got one with a headshot with my .22 Titan.

Mentolio · Veteran Member

Since May, I've had to smash two more "whistle pigs" who moved in under my neighbor's shed. Both taken with my Hatsan Striker Edge. The first one was pre-Welsh Willie trigger, and took more than one shot to put him down for good. This mostly due to the crappy old trigger that was heavy, and VERY inconsistent. Then I shot one about three weeks ago, after installing the new trigger. It was so light that my first shot missed, as the gun went off before I had the crosshairs on target (I reverted to old habits, and was taking up what used to be a long first stage...pop....dummy!).
Meantime, the varmint ran back to the entrance at the base of the shed...and stood there, totally still. I reloaded, thinking: "there's no way this bum is going to hang out while I reload" but it did. I took a 30 yard shot, heard the "thud" of a hit, but the little bugger got back under the shed...and died.
Today I took out this little guy, in the same spot, from the same distance. One shot, right under the eye, and anchored! The Welsh Willie trigger is a bit too light, but boy is it consistent and predictable!

My neighbor asks: "why do they keep coming to my yard and not yours?!?
I look at his garden, piles of yard waste and overgrowth behind his shed, and say: "I dunno..." Wink

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grizzlyadams · Member

where do you get the replacement trigger? i need one for my striker vortex

Mentolio · Veteran Member

I emailed Woodfield Gun Care Products to enquire about it. They emailed me right back, and about 50-55 bucks later it was ordered. Since it came from England, it took about 2 weeks to arrive (surprisingly, I thought it would take longer), and installed in approximately 25 minutes (most of which was filing about 1/2 mm off of the safety notch). It is a bit too light for my taste, which Will from Woodfield said was fairly common and could be corrected with a new trigger spring from Hatsan (he said they're about 50-50 to be too light, or just right). BUT: it is soooo much more consistent than the stock trigger was. Admittedly, the stocker got better as the gun broke in, but it was never truly consistent at all. It was always a surprise when the gun fired, and where the trigger was in it's travel when it did let off.