Sport Air Rifles!

[Raven]

I know Throd likes to shoot so maybe he or anyone else can help me out.

I have permission to shoot rabbits on a local farmers land so I am looking into buying an air rifle. I can't really afford an expensive rifle but I would like a gas cartridge powered one rather than a snap and charge one. I am not sure on calibre though, whether to go for faster moving 1.77 or slower but larger 2.2. Naturally I would want something that is up to the job and something that would give a clean kill so as to cause the minimum of suffering to the animal. I can probably spare about £250.

I would start with some target shooting and move on to rabbits later in the year, I used to have a pretty good air rifle and was a decent shot with it. I eventually want to get a gun license and start shooting proper.

 

[Lethul]

I know Throd likes to shoot so maybe he or anyone else can help me out.

I have permission to shoot rabbits on a local farmers land so I am looking into buying an air rifle. I can't really afford an expensive rifle but I would like a gas cartridge powered one rather than a snap and charge one. I am not sure on calibre though, whether to go for faster moving 1.77 or slower but larger 2.2. Naturally I would want something that is up to the job and something that would give a clean kill so as to cause the minimum of suffering to the animal. I can probably spare about £250.

I would start with some target shooting and move on to rabbits later in the year, I used to have a pretty good air rifle and was a decent shot with it. I eventually want to get a gun license and start shooting proper.

Are air rifles enough to kill rabbits? I know its not legal in Sweden at least

 

[Raven]

Yes, they are if you buy a good enough one, hence the thread

I could go out and spend £70 but I know its unlikely to be good enough.

 

[Kryten]

Use a really shit £30 .22 air rifle to pop flying rats at my mums. Oddly enough my brother gave it to her as a christmas present when she complained about squirrels in the garden and wished she could shoot them all.

Usefully, there's a telegraph line behind her house which they all like to perch on, it really is a great target practice

 

[Jail Bait]

Usefully, there's a telegraph line behind her house which they all like to perch on, it really is a great target practice

Haven't you guys over there got telephones and electricity yet?

Still have telegraphs?

 

[TdC]

I doubt an air rifle is enough to kill a rabbit. You'll just make it mad, and it will attack you with all it's rabbit mates. Also, I don't think you should shoot some creature if you're not going to kill it with that shot :/

 

[StRaNgEdAyS]

I used to shoot rabbits with a .177 using hard pointed tip hunting slugs.
A good .22 will serve just as well. They can be beefed up too if you know someone who knows what they're doing.

 

[Kryten]

Haven't you guys over there got telephones and electricity yet?

Still have telegraphs?

They're called by the names they were originally given - telegraph poles and lines. Pretty much exactly the same things they were when they were carrying telegraphs.

 

[Jail Bait]

They're called by the names they were originally given - telegraph poles and lines. Pretty much exactly the same things they were when they were carrying telegraphs.

same only different, power lines look like old telegraph lines if you use your imagination. Telephone lines look nothing like telegraph line.

just poking fun at you

 

[Scouse]

We don't do overhead power lines apart from industrial uses (and a few domestic) in the UK any more. Just phones really...

 

[Gumbo]

A .177 and a .22 will both drop a rabbit if you hit it in the right place. In exactly the same way that neither will if you don't.

Don't be tempted to 'beef up' the power beyond 12ft. lbs. If caught you'll get a prison term for firearms offences.

 

[throdgrain]

The Definitive Answer

Both .177 and .22 air rifle will kill a rabbit with a headshot out to 35-40 yards.

Bear in mind, our european chums, that in the U.K the legal power limit is 12ft llbs, as opposed to 6 in some Euro countries.

Your dilemma Raven is not uncommon, in fact if you went onto a shooting forum asking the .177 or .22 question it's like OH MY GOD NOT AGAIN etc etc

Thing with a .177, as you already know, shoots a pellet much faster than a .22, leading to a much flatter trajectory. This equates to hitting more targets. Having said that, you can do it with a .22, I shoot a .22 myself, but then I have owned air rifles for literally 35 years! So I've had a bit of practice. Even so, I hardly ever shoot air rifles any more, as I far prefer shotguns, but if I ever go back, and maybe I will, the next gun I buy would maybe be a .177. It's just so much easier.

Air rifles come in 2 main types, spring or gas ram, or pre charged. For the budget I'd suggest the former, you can buy a nice spring powered gun for £250. Make sure you leave money for a scope though.

Check out a few here

Once you've bought one, practice, then practice more, before going out shooting. You need to be able to put the pellet behind the rabbits ear, every time, for clean kills. This is not easy at 30 yards +, but is achievable with practice. Dont forget -the responsibility for clean kills lies with YOU, no one else

 

[throdgrain]

This is the only air rifle I own at the moment, the one in the middle. Its a Wiehrauch HW90K. It's a gas ram powered break barrel gun. I dont shoot it much, but you can't have a house without a rifle of some sort, so I hang onto it, sometimes we get rats in the back garden, its highly effective on them. I reckon you could buy one of them in good nick second hand for £250. with scope etc.

The gun below is my old Falcon FN19. It was precharged, fired 8 shots from a magazine operated with a bolt. Was completely recoilless, and very light, very good gun, but the HW90K has more soul somehow, in the same way my 870 pump action shotgun is better for me than two grands worth of over/under, can explain it, it just is

 

[Trem]

Throd = awesome.

Ask the lord of the South anything about bikes or guns and he will give you bestest answer ever.

I love/miss you throdcheese

 

[throdgrain]

Love you too

 

[Raven]

The Definitive Answer

Both .177 and .22 air rifle will kill a rabbit with a headshot out to 35-40 yards.

Bear in mind, our european chums, that in the U.K the legal power limit is 12ft llbs, as opposed to 6 in some Euro countries.

Your dilemma Raven is not uncommon, in fact if you went onto a shooting forum asking the .177 or .22 question it's like OH MY GOD NOT AGAIN etc etc

Thing with a .177, as you already know, shoots a pellet much faster than a .22, leading to a much flatter trajectory. This equates to hitting more targets. Having said that, you can do it with a .22, I shoot a .22 myself, but then I have owned air rifles for literally 35 years! So I've had a bit of practice. Even so, I hardly ever shoot air rifles any more, as I far prefer shotguns, but if I ever go back, and maybe I will, the next gun I buy would maybe be a .177. It's just so much easier.

Air rifles come in 2 main types, spring or gas ram, or pre charged. For the budget I'd suggest the former, you can buy a nice spring powered gun for £250. Make sure you leave money for a scope though.

Check out a few here

Once you've bought one, practice, then practice more, before going out shooting. You need to be able to put the pellet behind the rabbits ear, every time, for clean kills. This is not easy at 30 yards +, but is achievable with practice. Dont forget -the responsibility for clean kills lies with YOU, no one else

Thanks for that, much appreciated, I am up in Lancashire in a few weeks so I may make a detour to Blackpool and have a look.

 

[old.user4556]

Personally, I think you need a 45 long slide with laser sighting - touch the trigger and point the red dot where you want the bullet to go; can't miss.

Sorry , that's what this thread makes me think of.

YouTube - The Terminator gun shop scene

 

[Scouse]

I think you should nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure...

 

[Nate]

Butchers will take Rabbits in if you gut them for a couple of quid or so. If the farmer doesn't want anything to do with them. Best get a dog though, it's too much hassle to go after them. Shoot one in a direction 100 yards away then another in the opposite direction gets tedious fast!

 

[StRaNgEdAyS]

Rabbit hunting tip that has worked well for me in the past:
Climb a tree somewhere central to the Warren, when the Bunnies come out to graze, pick them off.
When one drops, the others will look around for a minute then go back to grazing. They never seem to look up, I have no idea why. You can clear out an entire warren this way if you're patient and some opportunistic predator or dog doesn't come on in to snatch up any of the ones you've already tagged.

 

[Raven]

The only predictors are my two cats who are constantly bringing them home. Don't really want to clear the warrens as there is no point. The land owner will take a couple and I will take a couple. Not planning on some sort of blood bath, just a couple a month or whatever

 

[TdC]

Bear in mind, our european chums, that in the U.K the legal power limit is 12ft llbs, as opposed to 6 in some Euro countries.

ah cheers Throdlar, that must be it then. My uncle had an air rifle that we used to shoot at a target in his attic, and that shot those little lead things that look like shuttlecocks. imo that gun wouldn't be able to kill any animal at all unless you got really really lucky.