I have a unique hunting rifle. Its an underlever ten shot repeater made by BSA. Its called the BSA Goldstar and its in .22.

The rifle has a rotary magazine with a white dot which appears on the second to last shot but the shooter has to pay attention in order to keep from dry firing the rifle. You really have to be aware of which shot you're on or the thing really goes BOOM. I'd done it twice in the first year of ownership. it'll scare the heck out of the shooter.

But there's another potential issue with the rifle that can present a problem. This is what this story is about.

I have the priveledge of hunting a certain farmer's land pretty much any time I want to. He's got over fifteen hundred acres of parcels around the town where my inlaws live. What I didn't know was that his father owns forty acres where he uses the trees to make maple syrup. The problem is squirrels can smell the sweet sap flowing through the blue tubes running from the trees to huge holding tanks. Where there's ample food squirrels multiply very quickly. The aroma of sugar in the thick liquid must draw them like flies to honey. They can't get enough of it. So my hunts become a necessity.

Imagine forty acres with paths through them large enough to maneuver something akin to the Kawasaki Mule through them. A small stream runs through these woods. When its dry you can cross the stream without getting your feet wet but when the snows have been heavier or the stream is high I have permission to use the Mule type vehicle. Toss two cases in the bed and head down the path to the back half of the woods.

I've always loved that Goldstar. The rifle has taken as many small game animals as anything I've got. The repeater function accounts for a few double takes meaning two bushy tails in a tree become quick counts for my game bag. Here's the best case scenario: You see a tree with two squirrels. You aim and take one, the other squirrel freezes. It doesn't know what to make of its buddy dropping headlong to the ground. You quietly cock the rifle a second time. The rifle fires and another takes the tumble. The trick is to be behind some kind of cover. A large trunked tree. If the second squirrel sees your movement its gone. But if you can move slooooowly enough, without the second bushy seeing you cock the Goldstar, you can hold that squirrel still. Its the hardest thing because the second squirrel almost mirrors your movement. If it sees you move, it moves. If it doesn't you have a chance it'll remain still a little longer. It sounds pretty easy, doesn't it? Well it isn't. More often than not I don't get that chance on the second squirrel. Unless it moves up a few branches and stops again. Still the advantage of the repeater exists. I've sweated out minutes trying to be as slow as possible just cocking the rifle only to be busted while bringing the rifle to my eye. But when it happens though... man its incredible. You feel like the king of the forest.

I was behind a thick tree. Leaves at five o'clock crunched behind me. I turned to see a very large grey grazing the forest floor. Sideview. Somewhere around thirty yards, so damn close to dead nuts on the crosshairs. After a bit of contortion to keep hunter and rifle behind the massive trunk of this tree everything was in order.

This is where it got ugly.

The rifle came in line. My index finger toggled the safety and moved to the trigger. Pressure. Pressure. The rifle fired. The squirrel froze. Nothing else seemed to happen. The view in the scope showed no clump of leaves poofing from a pellet zipping through them. Was the shot too high? I eyed the area for a sign. Anything. A pellet hole in a leaf or the patches of snow in front and behind the statuesque squirrel. Hunter hoping for sign where there was none. I held dead still. Confused, I held on that dead still animal and reran the sequence in my mind. No answer. All I could do was drift in back behind the tree and try another shot, hoping the squirrel would stick around. I felt a cool rivulet of liquid running down from between my shoulderblades to my lower back. My forehead was beaded with more of the same. Realizing how hard I was sweating, my pulse was also increasing.

I cocked the rifle once again, hoping not to hear the squirrel bark or run.

Repeat the same slow process around the tree.

The squirrel moved. I froze. Thankfully, it was back to grazing. In agonizingly deliberate movements I got myself back into position. It felt like my body was a series of tectonic plates fighting each other to earn a place over the other plates. I was starting to hurt from it. I fired. The rifle made a pfffff sound. What the heck? Now I was mad. To hell with tthe quarry, what is wrong with my airgun??? Forgetting the damn squirrel I recocked my damn rifle again only to hear that wierd sound again. No shot heard, no mark where the pellet should have ended up. It dawned on that you can't fix a thing by repeaedly forcing it to do something it can't. Or won't for reasons you don't know yet. The squirrel was gone and I was confused. And angry. Back to the Mule where the empty case and the second rifle were. I loaded the BSA in its case and grabbed the Prosport. I also moved to a different section of the woods entirely. How I did afterwards isn't important. One or two squirrels with the Prosport if I remember correctly. The thing weighing on my mind was the reason for the failure of the Goldstar.

I took the rifle to friend in Minneapolis. Gary Steel of B&B Supply (612-724-5230) can repair any airgun you can imagine. I told him what had happened.

"You used Crosman Premier .22's in that rifle. You know those are great as long as they fit correctly. But in a repeater with a magazine like your Golstar, Harv, they're not inserted directly into the barrel. Somehow, if that first shot you took turned a minutely undersized pellet sideways just the smallest amount, that thing's only going to go partway down the barrel. Every pellet being it is not going anywhere either. I'll bet that's what happened."

Gary was right, of course. Crosman pellets which come in the brown cardboard box are some of the most accurate pellets in many of my airguns but the design of the magazine-to-barrel precludes me from using them in that particular rifle again. They aren't as exact in diamter as the H&N pellets for example. Every other pellet, and I mean Every other pellet I've used in rifle has since worked flawlessly.

But it was a lesson learned the hard way. Thankfully without damage to the rifle. And I will never forget that day.

Harv

the undisputed champion of the air gun writer.

Harv, these are experiences that everybody has at one time or another. But you remember them vividly and accurately.

It just shows you that in the hurry of the hunt mistakes happened.

Many years ago I had my Benji pumper and in the hurry loaded and FORGOT to pump. I hide, stalk and pick my best spot for the kill, wait until a get a full target squeeze the trigger and nothing, then remember NO PUMPS, at 10 yrds.

That day the animal was lucky but not the next time. From then on by the numbers before putting my finger to the trigger.

warren

and remember "it's 30% the gun and 70% the shooter"

Its getting less and less surprising to me that it takes us making mistakes to learn how to do it right. haha

Thanks Warren, I'll write my best for ya

Harv

and good thing you brought 2 rifles.
A hardware failure can definitely ruin your hunt or you day, so bringing a 2nd gun is always a good idea.

You got some nice collection there Harv! I made an offer to a guy selling an AA ProSport .22 (Walnut!) a little about 10days ago! He was asking $750 with scope and said the rifle was tuned by Paul Watts and he had only 100 shots or so through it. It was also <1yr old. I offered him $575 w/o scope. The scope was just a Bushnell banner but one of the more expensive Banners they carry w/50mm obj.lens. He send me an e-mail saying: "no but thank you for the offer".

A day or 2 later I sent him an e-mail asking him if the rifle is still available. He writes back, "sold for $600"! Well if all he wanted was another $25 why didn't he come back with a counter-offer after I told him $575? People are so weird. That fine Pro-Sport slipped right through my hands.

The Air Arms Pro-Sport is $800 with the Walnut stock at PA. I would 've paid the $600 easily to have this fine "match-like" 16FPE springer tuned by Paul Watts. This is a better gun that the TX-200. Oh well, I came very close to guessing how much he wanted though. I 'm getting better at it..

you did not get your AA proSport and I did not get the 460.

a day that will live in infamy.

and I thought 2008 was going to be a good year, how wrong has it started.


warren

and remember "it's 30% the gun and 70% the shooter"

Com'on man, don't get depressed over a stupid gun! It's only wood and metal. It's not the end of the world. Get some $$ together and grab a 460 from MidSouth for $430 and get it done and over with.
I suspect they 'll raise the prices again soon. If you act soon you 'll be saving $59 over everyone else's price. How did you know they were out of stock? Their web site says the .22's are in stock. Did you call them? I 'm very tempted to get one.

It would be VERY FUNNY if I buy the last one from MidSouth and you place an order a few hours later when they are out of stock! heheh I 'd probably feel bad and sell you the gun

Harry and Warren;

You know, I always bring a couple airguns with me to the "farm". Mainly because I want to sight them in or plink etc. (by the way plinking etc's isn't that easy because etc's can be elusive creatures lol)

I think Warren is saying that you guys didn't get the rifles you were hoping for (at the moment) in a tongue in cheek way. Not seriously probably.

Harv

he was joking but in another post Warren sounded very depressed and was talking about taking some serious meds I 'm sure he 's fine. We all need to understand that we cannot allow airguns or a few bucks$ here and there affect our lives or well being.

Most material things can be attainable down the road. There will be plenty more opportunities in the future.