After not having a air rifle for many years I was given a .177 Winchester *** springer. I have been making due with it for a long time and while it is a *** it was somewhat accurate and did a job on Squirrels and pigeons.
Well I decided to get a new rifle. I got the Benjamin Trail NP2 combo .22 cal. I cleaned the barrel and it was rusty and dirty. I scrubbed until it was clean. Then I cleaned and degreased the rail, rings, and scope. I mounted them up and sighted it in. Shortly after sighting it in I knew this was going to be a very fun gun. I shot a couple starlings and a Eurasian dove. Then I shot my first squirrel and it hammered him.
Last week I was on vacation, working around the house and I hear a rock chuck. I head over and find him on a wood pile. I hit it between the neck and shoulder. It balled up and rolled off the wood. It regained it's self and crawled into the hole. By the looks of the blood trail it didn't make it far.
About 30 minutes later I hear another. I grabbed the rifle and head over. I put the cross on the Atlas joint, the joint between the neck and head, The shot was 20 yards. The medium sized chuck rolled off the wood pile at the muffled shot. Instant kill, that was awesome!
When I went over to get rid of the body and take pictures I hear another one in the pile. That one had a much lower pitched chirp. About an hour went by and I worked my way back over to the wood pile. The same shot, in the same place as the last one. At the shot the chuck balled up and fell off the wood. I reloaded fast and when he hit the ground he was trying to crawl off. A fast second shot sealed the deal.
The last hunt for the weekend was a squirrel. This one ran out of my tree and tapped another tree. He bailed out of that tree and went up a BIG evergreen.
I found him peeking over a limb and it was close like 8 yards and steep up the tree. I held a little high from between his eyes and let it fly. The bullet impacted the space between the eyes and exited the back of the head.
In all I am super happy with the rifle so far. The Crossman Super Dome .22 cal bullets are very accurate out to 25 yards that I have shot them. The scope is keeping it's zero and the rifle is quiet. I couldn't be happier with it.