ShootingSquirrels.com

I mounted a video camera to my Savage 17HMR so that I could video tape the squirrels I shot last Saturday in Unity, Oregon. It took me awhile to figure out how to do it, but when I was done, it looked way more professional than I could have hoped for, especially since I did the whole job without any duct tape at all.

Here’s how I mounted my Sony Handycam to my .17HMR rifle:

First I went to Wal-Mart and bought the tallest set of rings they had. Wal-Mart had pretty good prices on their rings, and I got a set of Leupold scope rings for less than $17.00.

I then went to the local camera supply store and bought a whole bunch of odds and ends that they had in their junk drawer. The main things though, that I ended up needing for my scope mounted video camera, were the base screw and washers that are used to screw video cameras to all tripods.

I then went home and dug through a box of over 150 scope bases that I bought a few years ago at an auction. I ended up finding one that was the right length, and fit the rings I bought at Wal-Mart to a “T”. Then, all I had to do was drill a hole in the base so that I could mount the screw so that it would hold my video camera to the rail.

I then attached the new set of scope rings to my scope, which now has 4 scope rings on it instead of the usual two. Unfortunately, the rail with the video camera on it now goes over the vertical adjustment knob on my scope, but, oh well, I can live with that.

After getting the whole thing put together and mounted on the rifle, the thing was crazy top heavy. So I ran back to Wal-Mart and bought a bi-pod for $40.00. Once I got the bi-pod attached to the rifle, everything worked like a charm.

I then sighted in on the neighbor’s house down the block. (Don’t try this if you live in a town with jumpy cops. LOL) When I put the cross hairs on the scope on the doorknob on my neighbor’s house, the camera was dead on. As a matter of fact, the knob was actually 3/4 of the way down the screen, which is perfect for catching squirrels on tape when you pop them into the air with a Hornaday 17HMR ballistic tip.

Here’s a picture of the rifle without the camera. Notice the extra set of rings and the rail on top of the scope:

Here’s a picture of the rifle with the video camera mounted to the scope:

Here’s a picture that shows you where the action takes place when you pull the trigger. You can see how the picture captures your subject about 1/4 of the way up from the bottom of the camera.