AIRGUN HUNTER | AIRGUN
▲Shooting...
T
he majority of airgun hunters and
defi nitely rimfi re shooters who have the
opportunity to drive on and around their
permission in a 4 X 4 do so in search of
rabbits. Well, that’s exactly the intention I had
on this occasion when I ‘hit the ground
running so to speak’ with what at the time
was BSA’s newly launched and quite
revolutionary designed ultra-carbine – the
very fi ttingly named Ultra (MS) multi-shot PCP.
The original Ultra was far removed from
the present day model as it used what the
company then termed a ‘Drop Lever Loading’
system and ‘Micro-Movement Cocking’
mechanism (MMC). The fi rst ‘actions’ primed
the rifl e (cycled the 10-shot magazine/then
direct loaded the pellet into the match-grade,
hammer-forged tube and then by depressing
the front position ‘cocking knob’ a minimal
amount of movement was needed to ready
the Ultra (hence the MMC denotation) and
you were set for a shot.
However, that’s history as the rifl e now
uses a more conventional rear mountedcocking bolt and has been up-graded with
many more modern features. From here on
in I’ll leave the mechanics of the rifl e as this
isn’t a ‘fl ashback fi eld test’ but I do feel a
basic and brief background of that
particular ‘landmark’ air rifl e relevant to this
piece because back then it was so effective
at the job it was designed for it quickly
became a regular passenger in my ‘4by’
when I ventured onto land I had allowance
to do so.BUSINESS AS USUAL?
Initially this trip was intended to be like
many others before – that being I’d follow
my usual ‘modus operandi’ of slowly
‘trundling’ approximately 30 yds out in the
fi eld but keeping alongside the hedge lines
that were riddled with holes that lead to
established warrens. Thus in effect using
the vehicle as a mobile hide. And with the
BSA Ultra MS safely resting across my lap
while waiting in a static position or more
often than not lodged between the sidepassenger seat and centre console to my
left meant it was never far from reach when
required.
However, as so often can be the case
this particular trip out didn’t go exactly to
plan as the rabbits had decided to stay
underground with the fi rst few hours of me
stopping regularly alongside several known
‘hotspots’ proving to be fruitless. Thankfully
my fortunes changed when I decided to
move further along the large expanse of
fi elds at my disposal. In this case it was an
area where I could cruise down a couple of
the recently cut stubble fi elds that lay
further along this particular shoot. I was
still hopeful I might spot a bunny or two sat
under a hedge or slightly out in the fi eld
feeding. However, that wasn’t to be!SLOW DRIVE
I eventually drove up and over a slight rise
of a hill whereupon I disturbed a large fl ock
of wood pigeon feeding on the stubble
ahead which of course all immediatelyPete Wadeson recounts a drive around the fields primarily in
search of rabbits to shoot from his 4 X 4 only to bag a couple
of rather unexpected and unsuspecting pests...
Drive By