CountryByNet.com Forums :: Got the air compressor going!

Dave, No joke, that is a felony in California now. I'm not sure but I think kicking your neighbor's cat is a big crime too in the people's republic of Kalifornia.

When I was in high school (after we moved from 40 acres 7 1/2 miles north of town) we lived 2 1/2 blocks from the school and 3 1/2 blocks from the police station. We had oodles of really big feral cats living there and breeding profusely. This was back in the days when you used a 50 gal drum for a trash barrel in the alley behind your house and burned the trash AND the trash men actually picked up the heavy barrel of glass jars, steel cans, and ashes and dumped it in the garbage truck (single handed.)

The feral cats would jump up and get into the cans to eat anything they liked before you burned (didn't burn every day.) Then to exit (witnessed by their ash laden foot prints on the soot covered inside walls of the cans) you could see where they jumped part way and rebounded from side to side till they made it to the top in a couple increments. Some of these cats were pretty heavy duty and more than once turned the heavy drums over.

Our neighbor across the alley had a Pomeranian dog and the lady and her daughter (high school junior when I was a freshman) used to "ride shotgun" with their BB guns to keep the cats at bay when they fed the dog outside. Otherwise the cats would mug the dog for its food.

My bedroom window was at the rear of the house facing the alley. On a few occasions I would, on seeing a big feral cat in the backyard garden or closer, remove the screen from the window for a shot with my single shot bolt action .22 rifle. Short hollow points are not really loud but are effective at close range with good shot placement.

My mom made me bury #2, # 3, etc since I just put the carcass of #1 in the trash and when burned (partially burned?) it did not smell nice.

I now have a muzzle suppressor (aka silencer) which will interchange between my Ruger 10-22, Ruger MK II target pistol, Ruger 22-45 pistol, and the neat little Walther P-22. The rifle requires subsonic ammo to be stealthy but the Walther with its short barrel is quiet with every long rifle shell I have found including the CCI mini mags and such.

In the event that the target is concealed in grass or weeds and a follow up shot is required I find they are not particularly apprehensive or put on alert by the first shot even though the feral cats are much much more "nervous" than the bobcats. In 7 years I have shot at 3 feral cats. One overwintered several years in a row and was particularly elusive and sneaky when approaching his hunting ground (our bird feeders.) I never saw the cat in warm weather, only with snow on the ground.

I bore sighted the 6.5-20 X 50 mil dot scope on the 6.5mm Creedmore flat top AR yesterday when I was at the gun shop getting a target trigger installed. I will be taking a few shots to zero it in later this afternoon. When I get used to it the rifle should be capable of taking a cat sized target at several hundred yards. Anyone with really good skills should shoot a 10 inch diameter group with this rifle at 1000 yds (over half a mile.) The top marksmen of course do way better at least much of the time. I think 120 grains coming out of the muzzle at over 3000 ft per second with flatter trajectory than a .308, less wind drift, and greater retained energy too will "do" a cat (or a lot of other varmints) fairly expeditiously.

Pat

"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"

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