Sights were calibrated, parallax was minimal. A manufacturing quirk placed the impact point slightly high and right, but I was already used to compensating for that.
The hardware: a Daisy Powerline 970
The projectile: .177 lead field pellets.
The target: an aluminum can (identity confirmed).
The range: whatever the width was from the grass to the far side of the tractor garage.
Vicinity was clear, devoid of sisters. Windage was nill. Time to engage.
I was no novice at this. Taking too deep a breath would cause imbalance–too shallow and natural muscle twitches would be exacerbated. I inhaled slightly more than a standard breath, held it, took approximate aim, and let the sights fall onto target as I slowly exhaled, squeezing the trigger in time with alignment.
The crack of expanding air indicated discharge. The round, as expected, impacted the can with the standard ping, knocking it over. More pumps would have increased velocity, preventing the can from falling. But that was unnecessary at this range. The target was down.
One shot. One kill. Time for exfil.
***
The average human reaction time is .215 seconds.
Along the projectile’s path, I noticed a small gray dot. The dot became larger. And in less than .215 seconds, the pellet I had just fired impacted my right cheekbone.
You’ll shoot your eye out with those things.
The lesson: check your background. The barn siding was corrugated steel. Some things only need to be learned once.
–Simon