Decisions, Decisions…
Howdy All-
First post here so go easy on me, eh 😉
We have a small urban farm here in the Northwest. It is bordered by a creek, and we have a big nutria problem. Our cover crop which should be knee high looks like a putting green right now, so I can only imagine what they are going to do to any food we put in towards the spring. I have been plinking at them with a .177 with a cheap scope, and it is just not getting it done. We also have issues with moles or something that is leaving nice little dirt piles around, but I may just need to trap those.
I am looking to get a gun built up by Tony, and I am having a hard time deciding what to do on this. Looking for some thoughts from the group here on what would be best for my situation.
I measured it out, and it looks like most of my shooting will be < 50 yards. We have a little over an acre of field, about 3 acres total. There I could see needing to do the occasional 75 yard shot, but I imagine most of my shooting is going to be around 25 or 30 yards. If I decide to roam the creek edge, I may be doing 10 yard shots across the creek.
The other problem is that they come out just after sundown. I have a pretty brief window where I can see them thru the tiny scope I have.
It is not legal to shoot in the city we are in. We have some houses overlooking the field, so having a really quiet rifle and the ability to take care of this in the dark is what I am leaning towards.
I was just going to buy a stock SS and go at it, but after reading all the comments from people who have had work done by Tony, I think I am going to have him build up something to take care of these water rats…Did you know they have tits on their back? That alone is reason enough to shoot them if you ask me.
Ok, so here are my questions:
1) Gun
I am pretty sure I want to go with an 18″ barrel with an 8″ shroud. (though I like WalkonKing’s 16″ setup as well) The question is do I go Condor with a .25, or an TSS in .22? These things are around 15-20 lbs, and I think the .22 will be enough. I would also like to target shoot with this for fun, so shot count is a bit of a factor. However, since I am already having the thing built up I am thinking hard about the .25. Should I be concerned about getting something too powerful in my situation? Could over-penetration and ricochets be an issue? The creek is lined with rip-rap, so if I miss, it is most likely going to be hitting a large, flat rock. The money is a factor for me as well.
2) Scope/NV
Due to my stealth needs, and the fact that these things come out at night, I think I need to go with NV. I have looked at the Yukon NVRS and NVMT setups. I would ideally like something that I could easily switch to a day scope. Seems like the NVMT mounted behind a scope would be a good setup, but I imagine I would need to move the scope forward. If I have to mess with the day scope anyway, why not just go with the NVRS and switch scopes? Are there quick release mounts available that will keep your zero between scope changes?
What sort of magnification to you folks suggest for shooting 30-50 yards at night? The NVRS is 2.5x and they have a doubler available.
Also, can I use a laser with these NV scopes? Will it be too bright?
If you have read this far, I really appreciate it!
thanks,
Howie
All Replies
Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
I’d have Tony build me a .25 condor. You can easily just lower the fill pressures to get the velocity you want and or order a 12” barrel to go with it. The pellets should disintegrate against the rip rap. What is the range of the Nutria? I would love to pop one.
for dusk and night hunting a real good scope is needed
the leapers, centerpoint, cheap bsa and tasco stuff just doesnt cut it
consider bushnell 4200 with an iluminated reticle (dont choose the firefly reticle its to bright and will mess with your natural nightvision)
on a budget take the bushnell legend
both of them pass more light to your eye than any 56mm leapers or centerpoint will do.
you could possibly just use a flashlight mounted on the rifle to help you see
nightvision will set you back 1000 bucks for a 2.gen which is what you need….1 gen will definatly need ilumination to be worth anything so you might as well be using a regular flashlight
Not in a second would i try and discourage anyone from buying one of these guns..but… if you need to get rid of the nutria you need to lay some steel.. they will be on call 24-7 and will get the job done..160-220 conibears 1 1/2 coildsprings or #2 double longspring where you can drown them..At one time was a registered nuiance trapper for the state..tell the wife you have to get the gun, then after you got it tell her you also need the traps.. 😉
So i was just thinkin, around here the govt. trapper has eradication programs, they have silenced 10/22 that they hunt at night with. They might come over for free and help you out. Might be more fun to shoot them yourself though. 😈 Just an idea.
Go for the .25, if youve seen many of the nutria in the daylight, they can be pretty darn big. They are a non native species and should be exterminated. Get a nice head lamp that has a red led or red lens, and a scope with a lighted reticle. Just find a good spot and watch for their eyes, hold in between them and squeeze. You can watch for their grazing circles(where they cut down a ten foot or bigger circle of grass at night and drag it back to their den before daylight) so you know where to set up to find em working. I recently saw a nutria at daylight, and at first thought it was plainly a beaver. It was not, the classic rat tail(just big rats) gave it away. I would have to guess that big boy over thirty pounds. No gun. Damn. Best wishes on your extermination project.
Welcome to the forum,
I hunt for tree rats and crows here in Massachussetts with My TSS .22
stock. Great gun and a great choice for plinking.
Upgrading one of these air rifles is a simple 5 min task to change out the barrel, say to a 20+in .25 cal. leaving all the rest stock you will have the knockdown power for hunting bigger game.
Sound will be louder with the longer barrel so if it is too lound you could order a shroud at a later time.
Scopes, I have only used 3, none of which are night vision, the closest would be what I have on My TSS, the leapers 4-16 x 50 with lighted rectile. I like it but really can’t compare it to higher end optics.
Hope this helps
Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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Good suggestions here. Forget a laser. The red dot disappears on dark fur at any distance. For low light, I use a Zeiss Scope, but they are way pricey. A light mounted on your gun will do just fine. I have a Sure Fire C-2 on mine, but will be switch out to a OLight M-2 Warrior soon. It will give great run time with up to 225 lumen’s.
You don’t have to use an expensive mount. A simple 1″ scope mount made for our rails works just fine.
A few night varmints.
Mike
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