Crow Busters Forum

Sounds like you have prior experience with the police??  Hey great job on the bandits!! That is a very nice bird count for this time of year.And considering that you transitioned to a metro-barrel in one day,is really outstanding!!The TCP deploys the metro,no doubt they will chime in with some great info on loads and targeting!!

Man, I'd love to shoot a couple rounds of trap with a metro barrel...it'd be a hoot with the guys at the club.

I assume that you have already checked into this but if not make sure MA does not consider the Metro Barrel to be a silencer device. Up here in NH the law is written in such a way the Metro barrel is illegal to use.

NH law cited as example: "207:4 Silencing Devices. –
I. No person shall possess a rifle, pistol, or other firearm fitted or contrived with any silencer or device for deadening the sound of explosion, for the purpose of taking wildlife. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the use of a muzzle brake, polychoke, or compensator."

Hello Pete,

It was good talking with you last nite over the phone. Since I uesd to live in you're part of the world I know that by now some of the leaves are changing color and the crows are bunching up!

Hope you have a banner year, tell Shayne I send my regards.

Bob A.

Hi Mr. B and all,

As T-Matt said, the factory Featherlites or our clones, loaded with 8's seem to work quite well.  I loaded up some 9's and thought the factory 8's work just as well.  If you miss, it is "the indian and not the arrow" as a great skeet instructor once told me.  Belly, beak, bang was another chestnut he liked to repeat...

Anyone looking for Metro barrels might want to check out the www.RugerForum.com site as someone has been listing them for the past few weeks.

Just heard from FoxPro today they are finished building our Snow-Crow-Pro II +, yippee!

Regards,

Mr. Benelli:

Congratulations!  Seems like you caught on very quickly with 40 birds - that's great!  As you observed and others have responded, you do have to accommodate the lower power Winchester featherlights.  We burn them in metro barrels on just about all of our operations in orchards, primarily because we're convinced that the quieter reports result in more birds coming to Gadget Bob's Fox Pro equipment.

Try cranking up the volume on your calling equipment if it seems the reports are alarming the crows.

We have found them most effective in orchards when the leaves are still on the trees and, as Texas Matt described, most shots are very close, inside of 35 yards.  In those tight situations, the crows are just clearing the nearest trees when we see them and are close to stall speed as they approach the caller source and see the decoy display.  Bead on beak and pull.  Traverse to wing man, repeat.

It's hard not to focus on the longer, five foot  barrel, especially when you have overhead limbs and branches that you're trying to navigate it around.  I suggest two remedies: careful positioning of your blind/gun position, trimming if you have to and, when shouldering it for a shot, I chant to myself, "Cheek weld!" "Cheek weld'"

Gadget Bob has brought his long tube to the local skeet/clays facility and it is great fun to watch experienced shooters react to it.  The TCP has contemplated shooting a round of clays or skeet with them but we haven't yet - if we do, we'll get pictures!

NH: I agree with your assessment - regardless of the specific regulation in your state, I think you would be in danger of violating any law which forbids "suppressors" or any device that "attenuates" the report and I always try to avoid putting a game warden in a position where he has to use his judgment.  In Texas, state law does forbid the use of any device that suppresses the report of any gun used to take game animals but luckily crows are classed as "non-game" birds.

Thanks for the helpful info. Great tip on increasing the volume and using the Metro. Do you have to put it in HP mode everytime you use it?

I will try it again, but the praire blaster when in front of me (and speaker facing away) doesn't ring my ears like the SCP2 . Bob A. suggested getting a coupler for the SCP2 speaker so I can use the with the Praire Blaster. I think I am going to get a Decibal Meter this week.

Also does your metro barrel have tiny holes in the sides vertically? My box printed "hasting" and the safety warning was also written in french on the barrel.

Mr. Benelli:

Yes, all the metro barrel extensions we use have holes drilled along the length of the tube. 

An engineering friend of mine who inspected the tube also observed vestiges of what he termed "annular rings" on the inside surface of the tube located where the holes were drilled.  He surmised the rings helped channel the gas to the holes and aid in the report attenuation.

I understand that Hastings purchased the rights to make or market the tubes a couple of years ago.

Here are the photos.    I took close ups to show you the holes.  Its not for everyday use but it is a nice addition to my crow and geese arsenal.    You can read more at http://www.metrogun.com/




Pete

Great advice. I just wrapped mine in 3/4 foam pipe insualtion until I can make something up. Thanks for all the advice from the Texas Crow Patrol. I just read that Federal is coming out with a metro barrel round that is 7 1/2. product ID TGM123 Have you tried it yet?
I couldn't get any from my local gun store.

Hi MJ,


I will have to take a close look at the PB to see about external speaker use.  Today Big Ed and I hunted a little plot southwest of Dallas without success using just the Fury.  It was after lunch and in the mid-90's and while we heard some crows in the AO, they would not respond.  Probably just locals, that have been educated by other locals!

We also tried one stand of daylight raccoon hunting without any luck.

The new SCP II - Plus with twin SP55 speakers mounted to the base unit is slated for arrival via UPS tomorrow.  Yippee, next Friday and over the weekend a variety of crow/raccoon sorties are on the ops plan.  Reports to follow...

Bob Out!

Hi Pete,

As you requested, here is the SCP II - Plus, it just arrived today, bracketed by its little brothers in arms the Fury and Prairie Blaster.  FoxPro really delivers for us.



The TCP likes our guns quiet and our callers very loud.  We do NOT use those external speakers very often, as they just aren't needed as the base unit makes mucho volume through those "mounted" speakers.  The optimal configuration would be to have this SCP II - Plus set in the crotch of a tree with the Prairie Blaster set in another tree, offset 90 degrees to "spray sound" 360 degrees.  One would be playing the JS Owl and Crow Fight and the other playing that same sound with a one minute starting delay.  As crows are dropped, one caller would be occassionally switched to Death Cry of a Crow.  Both callers would be muted every 15 minutes or so, to let the woods quiet down and new crows to filter into our AO.

Regards,

Gadget Bob

Great photo and th SCP2 looks great. Did they direct wire the speakers or are the plugged into the other side. Also those mounted speakers...would two of those be louder than 2 of the camo ones that come with the stock unit?

Thanks!

Thanks for the feedback. I went to radio shack and purchased a noise meter and did some testing.

Here are my results. I did the testing indoors in an 8x8 room. I put the caller, noise meter and speakers on the floor. The speaker(s) were 12 inches away from the noise meter and facing the speaker.

I tested the Johnny Stewart tape caller, Praire Blaster in HP mode and Regular Mode and the SPC2 with the two camo speakers which attach to the side. I played "Crow Come Here (Johhny Stewart) in all of them.

The SCP2 was the loudest.

Johnny Stewart Max 114 DB, AVG 109

Praire Balster Max DB 117 avg 115

Praire Blaster in HP mode (it seams you must have to set this HP mode all of the time by holding the volume button on the unit down when powering up and wating for HP to light up)
120 MAX DB avg 116

SCP2 MAX 127 DB Avg.123


Just standing in the room and not looking at the meter there was a noticable differnce in the volumes. Basically there is a big difference with every 5 DB. And the SCP2 made my ears hurt while the others just annoyed them.

Pete

Hi Pete and Dust,

I was using the SCP II - Plus and Fury together on Sunday afternoon, both cranked to 40, as it was windy and I wanted to be heard.  Shot several crows, of 29 total bagged on this day, over this setup with my Maxus.  Used the Metro gun BPS rig in the morning hunting for most of the 29.



I had to put on my ProEars, and turn them off, just to not get a headache.

Is there anything more fun than shooting crows on a nice cool fall day?

Regards,

Hi Pete,

You are correct...  You must choose the HP (high power) mode each time you turn your Prairie Blaster on.  The excellent support team there at FoxPro (Joe and Scott) said if you desire, they can reprogram our PB's to stay in high power mode if you ever want to return it to them for this reconfiguration.

Regards,

Gadget Bob

Hi Shane,

I got the impression you needed to return the unit.  A quick call into FoxPro support will get the right answer.

Regards,

Gadget Bob