Well guys, wandering through Cabelas a few days ago, I fell in love with and purchased a little bearcat shopkeeper (stainless 3 inch barrel, birds head grip). Before dark I shot her about 75 times and saw that my CCI standard velocity solids shot relatively well out of it.
Later in the day a neighbor and friend of my 16 year old step brother asked us to go see if we could rid him of some of the critters that eat his cow feed at night. So around 9 pm he, with the CZ American 17hmr wearing a Redfield 2-7 (a Christmas gift from me) and me with my tiny little .22 wheel gun headed out to the property.
About 75 yards from the truck my brother spotted a coon watching us from an oak tree. We got up under the tree and looking through the scope of his rifle all i could see was half a head poking out behind a big fork and the leaves prevented any other angle. So i tried it and missed twice before he handed me his rifle. A .17 hmr game point is a beautiful thing.
So we continued on our way and got to the big cow feeder. Standing in said feeder eating his heart out was a poor little opossum. (Not the brightest of creatures, and I in no way call this HUNTING. Just pest elimination in a fun way) so flashlight on him we walked up to about 15 yards and I pulled my little pistol. Man stainless on stainless fixed bearcat sights are not the best at night.
I popped off 2 shots before I remembered that whole "trigger control" business, then slowed it down, rested his ear atop my rather hard to make out front sight and squeezed it off. Bullet struck nearly exactly at point of aim.
Instantly afterwards my partner took off towards a nearby oak tree and smoked coon number 2 with the cz.
Walking back to the trail, within 5 minutes another set of eyes lit up in the flashlight beam. Poor possum number 2 was waddling through the grass. He held the light on him while I walked to about 20 yards and rested my forearms against a small tree and set the front sight behind the front shoulder (his head was turned where I couldn't see it) and touched off the little pop gun. Again striking within an inch of point of aim.
Unfortunately that was the end of our success, but a run in with a group of hogs in a thicket beside a trail between fields made me realize I truly need myself a big bore to match the possum slayer ASAP.
Just a simple little night time shooting but these were my first handgun kills. A year ago I would have never believed that I could kill anything with a brand new to me, 3 inch barreled, fix sighted .22 at night! Lots of fun. So here are a few pics!
