doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com wing shooting wood boring CARPENTER bees!!

I have a little 9mm rimmed "Garden Gun" (FOLDER) Works well out to 20-30 feet. I think that Winchester made a single shot in 9mmR back in the 20's or 30's. Midway has the shells in stock. A fun little shotgun.

Crossman M59 CO2 semi-auto. I only take shots on pauses at ten to fifteen feet. Great sport and good for the pistol hand. A good shooting air rifle would work great. I used to be hell on dragonflies with a M25 Daisy about 1964. I don't remember what the limit was in those days but I'm sure I limited out a few times.

As an example of how time has changed things: In High School in 1966 I used a Daisy Powerline semi auto CO2 air pistol to learn how to shoot targets in the air. I would throw cans up in the backside of the school parking lot during lunch.

One day, I noticed the assistant principal walking toward me with a stern look. I figured the best way to talk my way out was to pretend there couldn't possibly be anything wrong with me shooting an air pistol on school property so I continued to shoot as he approached.

I could hit about nine out of ten and when he got to me, he remarked, "You're pretty good at that."

I explained my plan to become a great shot with a pistol and he asked me politely to move to another part of the parking lot because his students were watching me shoot and not listening in class.

I was amazed but pleased. Can you imagine what would happen today?

I did a little research on carpenter bees and found that there is another distinguishing characteristic other than the white dot. The white dot evidently indicates that it is a male, and males have no stinger. Females do have a stinger, but rarely use them unless caught.

The coloration of the abdomen is different altogether on a bumblebee.

So, if YOU put one in your mouth, make sure he has a white dot on his head!

SRH

Those big buggars almost ate my hot tub. Please find me a .410 or even a .22 birdshot with a silencer. The neighbors would report me otherwise.

I find that a military entrenching tool (army shovel) used Babe Ruth style works well. Makes a satisfying "ping!" on impact.

I've been reading this post and you guys have got my interest. We have bumble bees here but they aren't what you describe carpenter bees. Seriously, I would like to see a pic of one laying beside a ruler so I know what they look like. As big and mean as you say they are there must be a season and bag limit on them.

We have a lot of the wood boring carpenter bees in my area. We also have a slightly smaller bee which is a "Blacker" black than the carpenters & at least sometimes nests in the ground. I once weed eated across a nest of them & stirred them up. I got a very painful sting right in the belly, all the way through the bib of a well worn pair of Liberty overalls & a cotton shirt. Mean little buggers they were.
PS; I guess I'd get mean too if someone came along & was whirring the shade off the top of my home.

Does anyone know how difficult it would be to ream the rifling out on an inexpensive 22 rifle barrel so it would shoot better with 22 shotshells? Has anyone on the forum done this? I know I could get a Winchester 61,etc. made as a smoothbore but these are are real pricy.
Jim

Uh ohh, I can see this thread digressing in the realms of using Bats for target practice. We had a real 'dust-up' here a few years ago on that subject!...Geo

Remington used to sell some .22's, not sure what all models, with a special bore for the shotshells. They called it a Routledge(?sp) bore. As I recall it had about 6" forward of the chamber at regular size & then was enlarged to about 5/16" (3.125) dia for the rest of the length with some amount of choke at the muzzle. It was supposed to shoot the shot loads real good (I never owned or shot one). This should not be too hard for anyone with a good lathe to do, assuming they know how to use it.