Hunting with air rifle, which .177 or .22 ?
Discussion
I had a BSA lightning that was pretty noisy with or without a silencer. Strangely became more noisy when I fitted a theoban gas ram to it.
So from my experience its the actual way the air escapes rather than the spring mechanism.
Back to the daystate for a sec. They do a nifty thing where the pressure behind the pellet is computer controlled. The nifty bit is they turn the pressure off just as the pellet enters the throttle section of the gun. The bit at the end of the barrel that narrows to give the pellet its accuracy. This seems to settle the pellet and make sure when the pellet leaves the gun the tap is off so you don't get the air escape crack at all. You obviously can't do that with a spring or a ram
.
So from my experience its the actual way the air escapes rather than the spring mechanism.
Back to the daystate for a sec. They do a nifty thing where the pressure behind the pellet is computer controlled. The nifty bit is they turn the pressure off just as the pellet enters the throttle section of the gun. The bit at the end of the barrel that narrows to give the pellet its accuracy. This seems to settle the pellet and make sure when the pellet leaves the gun the tap is off so you don't get the air escape crack at all. You obviously can't do that with a spring or a ram
. I was always taught .22 for fur, .177 for feather.
I remember the old 'Prometheus' pellets. They were super accurate but would just punch straight through things without a great deal of stopping power.
And to all those who take a sniffy attitude to hunting with a pellet gun, well, I'd like to see how handy you are when you're being charged by an enraged nuthatch.
I remember the old 'Prometheus' pellets. They were super accurate but would just punch straight through things without a great deal of stopping power.
And to all those who take a sniffy attitude to hunting with a pellet gun, well, I'd like to see how handy you are when you're being charged by an enraged nuthatch.
bad_roo said:
I was always taught .22 for fur, .177 for feather.
I remember the old 'Prometheus' pellets. They were super accurate but would just punch straight through things without a great deal of stopping power.
And to all those who take a sniffy attitude to hunting with a pellet gun, well, I'd like to see how handy you are when you're being charged by an enraged nuthatch.
Right been looking and decided on this one ( the same one some of the guys had in a previous thread)I remember the old 'Prometheus' pellets. They were super accurate but would just punch straight through things without a great deal of stopping power.
And to all those who take a sniffy attitude to hunting with a pellet gun, well, I'd like to see how handy you are when you're being charged by an enraged nuthatch.
http://www.dowlings.uk.com/acatalog/Gamo.html
The £130 shadow, full powered and .22 ( also looks pretty smart with a decent scope on it ). It is the cheapest one I have found and has good reviews.
I am getting it before the weekend. So unless anyone knows of any where I can get a second hand .22 rifle ( not necessarily a gamo ) cheaper near heathrow or has one for sale ( I might ask later at lunch on P+P ) I am going to grab that.
Give air sport direct a call...
http://www.airsportdirect.com/acatalog/AirRifles.h...
...I found them very helpful indeed.
I just wanted something to plink with on a budget and went for an smk xs19 in the sport package (ie with a scope) for not much money. If you want properly accurate then these cheap rifles are not as good and you'll want to find your local gunshop with second hand stock.
http://www.airsportdirect.com/acatalog/AirRifles.h...
...I found them very helpful indeed.
I just wanted something to plink with on a budget and went for an smk xs19 in the sport package (ie with a scope) for not much money. If you want properly accurate then these cheap rifles are not as good and you'll want to find your local gunshop with second hand stock.
julian64 said:
My recommendation for bunnies is a .22 daystate airwolf with a silencer. You pretty much don't hear anything but a click. The bunnies often don't even scatter. A big problem if you are using rimfire or even a normal airrifle silenced. Fairly spooky when I consider the other airrifles I had as a boy. What bothers the bunnies is seeing their mate fall over more than the noise of the gun.
expensive though, but you seem to get what you pay for
Wow just taken a look at one of those. Blimey when I think back to my first airgun which was a BSA Meteor....they've come along way!expensive though, but you seem to get what you pay for
I think I may have to invest in one of those.
Tampon said:
bad_roo said:
I was always taught .22 for fur, .177 for feather.
I remember the old 'Prometheus' pellets. They were super accurate but would just punch straight through things without a great deal of stopping power.
And to all those who take a sniffy attitude to hunting with a pellet gun, well, I'd like to see how handy you are when you're being charged by an enraged nuthatch.
Right been looking and decided on this one ( the same one some of the guys had in a previous thread)I remember the old 'Prometheus' pellets. They were super accurate but would just punch straight through things without a great deal of stopping power.
And to all those who take a sniffy attitude to hunting with a pellet gun, well, I'd like to see how handy you are when you're being charged by an enraged nuthatch.
http://www.dowlings.uk.com/acatalog/Gamo.html
The £130 shadow, full powered and .22 ( also looks pretty smart with a decent scope on it ). It is the cheapest one I have found and has good reviews.
I am getting it before the weekend. So unless anyone knows of any where I can get a second hand .22 rifle ( not necessarily a gamo ) cheaper near heathrow or has one for sale ( I might ask later at lunch on P+P ) I am going to grab that.
and i'd also ask for advice from the members of the local club and/or www.airgunbbs.com (they also have a good for sale section and stuff is about 50% of the new price) re this choice.
dern said:
Give air sport direct a call...
http://www.airsportdirect.com/acatalog/AirRifles.h...
...I found them very helpful indeed.
I just wanted something to plink with on a budget and went for an smk xs19 in the sport package (ie with a scope) for not much money. If you want properly accurate then these cheap rifles are not as good and you'll want to find your local gunshop with second hand stock.
They don't sell air rifles any more because of the change in law.http://www.airsportdirect.com/acatalog/AirRifles.h...
...I found them very helpful indeed.
I just wanted something to plink with on a budget and went for an smk xs19 in the sport package (ie with a scope) for not much money. If you want properly accurate then these cheap rifles are not as good and you'll want to find your local gunshop with second hand stock.
Tampon said:
dern said:
Give air sport direct a call...
http://www.airsportdirect.com/acatalog/AirRifles.h...
...I found them very helpful indeed.
I just wanted something to plink with on a budget and went for an smk xs19 in the sport package (ie with a scope) for not much money. If you want properly accurate then these cheap rifles are not as good and you'll want to find your local gunshop with second hand stock.
They don't sell air rifles any more because of the change in law.http://www.airsportdirect.com/acatalog/AirRifles.h...
...I found them very helpful indeed.
I just wanted something to plink with on a budget and went for an smk xs19 in the sport package (ie with a scope) for not much money. If you want properly accurate then these cheap rifles are not as good and you'll want to find your local gunshop with second hand stock.
And whatever you do, don't try putting a dart through it as someone else has suggested. Darts are made of a much tougher material than lead, and are designed for use in smooth bore barrels. If you try and fire one through a rifled barrel, I guarantee it will jam and render your rifle useless.
DIW35 said:
And whatever you do, don't try putting a dart through it as someone else has suggested. Darts are made of a much tougher material than lead, and are designed for use in smooth bore barrels. If you try and fire one through a rifled barrel, I guarantee it will jam and render your rifle useless.
I have read that rifled barels are illegal now here. I won't be shooting darts or anything other than pellets out of it.I have checked out the BBS site and they recommend the Gamo as a good starter gun, perfect for what I want. Thats the bad boy I am going to get, i have also been looking at accessories, jesus you can get carried away with this stuff, I seen one of these guns looking like it should be in Iraq, cool as feck, but must stay calm.
Tampon said:
DIW35 said:
And whatever you do, don't try putting a dart through it as someone else has suggested. Darts are made of a much tougher material than lead, and are designed for use in smooth bore barrels. If you try and fire one through a rifled barrel, I guarantee it will jam and render your rifle useless.
I have read that rifled barels are illegal now here. I won't be shooting darts or anything other than pellets out of it.I have checked out the BBS site and they recommend the Gamo as a good starter gun, perfect for what I want. Thats the bad boy I am going to get, i have also been looking at accessories, jesus you can get carried away with this stuff, I seen one of these guns looking like it should be in Iraq, cool as feck, but must stay calm.
happy shooting
AFAIK - rifled barrels are NOT illegal.
ETA - darts are crap. lead pellets are the only things to put down the barrel of your rifle (if you want to hit anything more than 10 yards away *and* you don't want to knacker your barrel)
Edited by SpydieNut on Wednesday 11th June 14:36
DIW35 said:
And whatever you do, don't try putting a dart through it as someone else has suggested. Darts are made of a much tougher material than lead, and are designed for use in smooth bore barrels. If you try and fire one through a rifled barrel, I guarantee it will jam and render your rifle useless.
The little steel ones with the 'feather' are, but the longer ones with the metal tip and plastic body should be ok as it's only the plastic catches the rifling. They're all s
te for accuracy though. Don't use darts for hunting.Rifled barrels are not illegal, and are a 'must' for accurate shooting - esp hunting.
I still hunt regularly, mainly for the pot, but not always.
First things first, in order to kill your quarry, you have to hit it in a deadly spot ie brain/heart/lungs/upper spine. For bunnies, I would suggest nothing but head shots. Aim directly at the back of the head if the rabbit is facing away from you, and about 10-20mm behind its eye if sideways facing. Never shoot them from the front, there is too much bone for an air rifle pellet to do the job cleanly. All you will end up with, is seriously injured bunny.
Having the ability to cleanly kill your target takes lots of practice. A .22 rifle is less accurate for the reasons outlined above, but does impart more kinetic energy (hydrostatic shock) into the quarry when successful. For this reason, I mainly use a .177 pre-charged pneumatic. When I shot in competition, I used to weigh and grade batches of pellets to get consistency, but this is overkill (no pun intended) for bunnies. For short range stuff (<25m), I use .22, or better yet .25
Whatever rifle you decide on, sit down with several different tins of pellets, and find one that gives the best accuracy for you. Once you've done this, go and buy a load more tins of it, and practice. When you can hit a 10p sized target every time at a certain range, you are ready to shoot at that range. Practice further to extend that range. My personal opinion is, that size/weight of pellet is nothing more than a marketing ploy. I have never seen a hollow point spread after being shot at a rabbit (or anything else for that matter), when fired from an air rifle. The sabot pellets mentioned by another poster, just allowed a smaller/lighter projectile to be fired down a larger barrel. The easier option, would of course been to have used a smaller calibre rifle in the first place.
Silencers, or "muzzle flip compensators" as they are known in the US (illegal to own a silencer in the US), are an essential piece of kit IMHO. They will allow you several shots if used properly, allowing you to bag more of the little buggers. The whole noise issue is very pertinant. A pre-charged pneumatic, with a good silencer is almost totally silent. A cheap springer without silencer is loud. It's the difference between getting one shot and waiting all night, or picking them off steadily over the course of an evening. It is also desirable to keep disturbance to humans down as well, as a small majority seem to think that you are some mad Hungerford style murdering bd that is out to kill everything and then break some windows. They will usually call the police, who react as obtusely as possible when someone mentions "gun". If you are miles from anywhere/live in the countryside, this isn't a problem normally.
I would suggest building yourself some sort of hide, that you can enter discretely, and that the bunnies will get used to, or at least something that allows you to get into position without disturbing them every time you move.
If you are getting quite a bag, I would suggest having a word with a local quality butchers, who will more than likely be prepared to buy them off you (especially if you have a lot of old dears living locally).
HTH?
First things first, in order to kill your quarry, you have to hit it in a deadly spot ie brain/heart/lungs/upper spine. For bunnies, I would suggest nothing but head shots. Aim directly at the back of the head if the rabbit is facing away from you, and about 10-20mm behind its eye if sideways facing. Never shoot them from the front, there is too much bone for an air rifle pellet to do the job cleanly. All you will end up with, is seriously injured bunny.
Having the ability to cleanly kill your target takes lots of practice. A .22 rifle is less accurate for the reasons outlined above, but does impart more kinetic energy (hydrostatic shock) into the quarry when successful. For this reason, I mainly use a .177 pre-charged pneumatic. When I shot in competition, I used to weigh and grade batches of pellets to get consistency, but this is overkill (no pun intended) for bunnies. For short range stuff (<25m), I use .22, or better yet .25
Whatever rifle you decide on, sit down with several different tins of pellets, and find one that gives the best accuracy for you. Once you've done this, go and buy a load more tins of it, and practice. When you can hit a 10p sized target every time at a certain range, you are ready to shoot at that range. Practice further to extend that range. My personal opinion is, that size/weight of pellet is nothing more than a marketing ploy. I have never seen a hollow point spread after being shot at a rabbit (or anything else for that matter), when fired from an air rifle. The sabot pellets mentioned by another poster, just allowed a smaller/lighter projectile to be fired down a larger barrel. The easier option, would of course been to have used a smaller calibre rifle in the first place.
Silencers, or "muzzle flip compensators" as they are known in the US (illegal to own a silencer in the US), are an essential piece of kit IMHO. They will allow you several shots if used properly, allowing you to bag more of the little buggers. The whole noise issue is very pertinant. A pre-charged pneumatic, with a good silencer is almost totally silent. A cheap springer without silencer is loud. It's the difference between getting one shot and waiting all night, or picking them off steadily over the course of an evening. It is also desirable to keep disturbance to humans down as well, as a small majority seem to think that you are some mad Hungerford style murdering b
d that is out to kill everything and then break some windows. They will usually call the police, who react as obtusely as possible when someone mentions "gun". If you are miles from anywhere/live in the countryside, this isn't a problem normally.I would suggest building yourself some sort of hide, that you can enter discretely, and that the bunnies will get used to, or at least something that allows you to get into position without disturbing them every time you move.
If you are getting quite a bag, I would suggest having a word with a local quality butchers, who will more than likely be prepared to buy them off you (especially if you have a lot of old dears living locally).
HTH?
philthy said:
It is also desirable to keep disturbance to humans down as well, as a small majority seem to think that you are some mad Hungerford style murdering bd that is out to kill everything and then break some windows. They will usually call the police, who react as obtusely as possible when someone mentions "gun".
Yes...d that is out to kill everything and then break some windows. They will usually call the police, who react as obtusely as possible when someone mentions "gun". I think the rugby pitch might present a problem.
Already mentioned that permission of the land owner is a legal requirement.
I believe there are also restrictions regarding the proximity of people, but can't remember the details.
This has all the makings of a quest to smuggle files into one of Her Majesty's buildings for Tampon...
mickken said:
SpydieNut said:
mickken said:
I just find it laugh out loud funny that small game hunters are willing to spend time and money in the pursuit of shooting small animals.
I am trying to understand where the joy comes from?? Is it the fact that you stalked it, approched from downwind etc?? Is it the fact that with your hollow point pellet you, with the aid of a 1000 X 1000000 telescopic sight, managed a head shot, one shot, one kill? Do you wear face paint, camo's and NI gloves? Do you skin/eat the Squirrel there and then?
There's just so many unanswered questions.....
ETA...I'm not against it, but find it funny that it would be fun. Each to their own I guess.
not sure if you're trying to be antagonistic, but anywayI am trying to understand where the joy comes from?? Is it the fact that you stalked it, approched from downwind etc?? Is it the fact that with your hollow point pellet you, with the aid of a 1000 X 1000000 telescopic sight, managed a head shot, one shot, one kill? Do you wear face paint, camo's and NI gloves? Do you skin/eat the Squirrel there and then?
There's just so many unanswered questions.....
ETA...I'm not against it, but find it funny that it would be fun. Each to their own I guess.
Edited by mickken on Tuesday 10th June 13:07
i never said i found it fun - i don't.
i do it because the rabbits need to be controlled (we have a horse farm and rabbits dig holes in our fields - risk of a horse sticking it's leg down one and breaking it - this would need to be put down).
it is, however, challenging. because the range is limited to 50 yards (max and that's sitting, on a still day), you have to stalk. and they are very hard to get that close to. then there's the shot - trying to get good enough that you can group your shots within 1/2" at the distance you shoot.
now i only speak for myself - others do get pleasure in hunting. i do, however, get a lot of pleasure from target shooting and having a good session - good grouping.
i'm also not trying to convert anyone into shooting animals - i was just trying to explain why i do.
What about natural means? If you have a horse farm then presumably you wouldn't mind encouraging natural predators such as foxes which do no harm at all to horses. It'd also be far less effort and emotional stress on your part than spending your spare time shooting things! Plus, you're going to be leaving an awful lot of lead about the place with an air rifle, and I'm not sure I'd want a horse of mine munching grass seasoned with lead...
Interesting that everyone seems to agree on using pointy pellets. I use those in my .22 for zapping magpies, but use slightly concave headed pellets for rats on the advice of a gunsmith as they have better "whack" effect. I think they're called Bisley Pest Control - are these the hollow points that others have mentioned?
I haven't shot bunnies with my air gun as I've never had problems with them, but the OP's outing sounds like fun - beer, male bonding and rabbit meat! From what I remember of my visit to that rugby club many moons ago you shouldn't have problems with old dears ringing the police, but I suppose that the adjacent river banks could be built up now.
I haven't shot bunnies with my air gun as I've never had problems with them, but the OP's outing sounds like fun - beer, male bonding and rabbit meat! From what I remember of my visit to that rugby club many moons ago you shouldn't have problems with old dears ringing the police, but I suppose that the adjacent river banks could be built up now.
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