Pneu-Dart manufactures a wide array of dart projectors. You do not have to “break the bank” to get set up with a reliable remote drug delivery system; however spend as much as your budget will allow to obtain as many features as you can when picking a projector. With proper gun maintenance and care you will be able to hand it down to your grandkids to use. Here are our hints for choosing your Pneu-Dart equipment.
1. Optical sights are highly recommended with any of our projectors. This makes possible the use of “reticule referencing”, which facilitates holding the sight high at long ranges in order to achieve precise dart placement with minimal impact dart trauma to the animal.
2. Choose dart capacities of a size, (ml/cc) that will correspond to the weight of the animals you anticipate doctoring; and your drug of choice’s recommended dosage. Draxxin is just one drug many people “dart” with. The recommended label dosage is 1.1cc per 100 pounds. (Darts need to be completely full of fluid.)
Examples:
300 pound calf……Draxxin……. choose 4cc darts…….(3.3cc of drug plus 0.7cc water)
500 pound calf……Draxxin……. choose 6cc darts…….(5.5cc of drug plus 0.5cc water)
700 pounds………..Draxxin……. choose 8cc darts…….(you get the idea)
900 pounds………..Draxxin……. choose 10 cc darts
1200 pounds………Draxxin……. choose a 10cc plus a 3cc dart
3. Purchase practice darts to correspond with the live disposable darts you choose. You will utilize the weighted practice darts to sight your rifle in. Become familiar with your equipment prior to doctoring or tranquilizing your stock.
4. After determining the dart capacities you will require, be sure to order both your live darts and practice darts according to the chosen projector; i.e. type P for gas operated rifles or type C for cartridge fired rifles. Also, order your darts with the proper needle lengths to correspond with the animal’s size and the drugs you will be administering. Use . inch needles for Sub-Q injections and . to 1 . for I.M. injections. Gelatin collared needles are required on dart sizes above 1cc capacities.
5. Order one and one half inch by 19 gauge hypodermic needles to be used in filling the darts with the drug of choice.
6. For dart propulsion order CCI blank cartridges for the cartridge fired rifles, or Crossman CO2 cartridges for the gas operated models. Pump up models require no more than elbow grease. Regarding blank powder charges, brown loads are for small darts. Most ranchers use a combination of green and yellow loads; depending on dart size and the distance the shots are taken.
7. A copy of the second edition of “Shooting the Bull” will aid you in not only your decision making regarding equipment purchase; but many other topics such as properly sighting in dart guns, projector maintenance, medicating with productive antibiotics, tranquilizing and sedating, and general overall uses of how to properly operate your equipment.
8.Most missed or poorly placed shots are due to miss-judging distances. The bulk of poorly placed shots result from poor range estimation. Consider purchasing a rangefinder.