elma fudd

[lambert]

Hi all.

Daddy has finally arrived at needing to control rabbits on the farm. This will be by means of an air rifle. What sort and specification should I ask for? Was thinking .22 12lb spring with a scope for clean head shots? Or what would you suggest. Cheers.

[Frankie-Boy]

Sounds about right, plenty of them about, you just have to decide on what you want ie. springer or pcp, I found the pcp type better but you do need to think about topping up with air so maybe a spring type would be easier.

Wish I were closer then I could give you some help with your control problem   

[lambert]

thinking the top one in .22? http://alansairrifles.co.uk/gamo.htm

[denzil]

B S A superten every time. If you get a ticket can easily be modifyed to 30 lb ft.

[lambert]

Ah, ticket. As with everything else here it has to be the cheapest most bodge of jobs as heavens forbid that we might have the proper tool for the job. So yeah a ticket and a shotgun or fire arm .22 will never happen. More's the pity.

[LandRoger]

If i were you stay clear of the Gammo  stuff! Spanish crap  ,a good cheap springer is the BSA Lightning put a 3/9/40 Hawke scope on it and you will have a reliable combo ,.177 is the more accurate no loopy trajectory of the .22 hit a bunny in the bonce and job done , the Lightning can be a tad lively in the hands but just caress it not grip it and stay on aim untill the bunny drops and you will soon make a hole in them (no pun intended), if you go to Airgun BBS .com you can buy a springer/scope for not a lot of beer tokens, your local butcher might buy the bunnies from you so you could recoup the cost of the gun  :grin:that will please your Pa,

[Saffy]

I'd go for an air-arms lovely rifles and one of the best quality out there.

http://www.air-arms.co.uk/

miss mine

[boss]

you need to be carefull when buying, i had a BSA supersport(lightning with a long barrel), weihrauch hw97(in the cool green stock) air arms S410 and S200 and finally a logun mk.2, my dad had a BSA goldstar 10 shot. all of them were .22 and none of them(apart from the logun) were 12ftbls around 10 maby, all proven on the chrono. the gold star had a 177 gas ram put in it and delevered a 100%consistant 18ftlbs (yes it was on the FAC)

in my humble opinion if your talking about springs, you cant beat the underleavers, the break barrels are good but arnt as balenced or as accurate.
get a BSA or a weihrauch(or how ever you spell it) those two brands have been going for ages so they must be doing something right. if you want a pre-charged then things get very expencive but if you do go down that road makesure the rifle you go for has a regulator on it as the curve on the power as the gas depleetes is so bad it makes you wonder why you bother with it atall(AA S200).

cant comment on scopes as ive been out of the shooting game for nearly 4 years and alot changes in that time.
if you go for a mildot DO NOT bother with a variable mag on there, your dot values mean nothing after you zoom in from your zeroing point. if memory serves simmons make a good scope but all mine had deben scopes on them.... apart from my 22-250 which had a schmidt and bender on it but

[boss]

ah! i forgot, an "ANTI-BEAR TRAP" is also essential when buying a springer, its a saftey device that stops you from pulling the trigger whilst your at half cock. if you did that the barrel would snap shut/lever would slam up and whats left of your finger will be left in the breach with the pellet you tried to load 


HTH
boss

[LandRoger]

Oh dear Boss you really have been out of air rifles a while ! Logun are no more same for Simmonds ,think Webley bought them both and then Crossman bought Webley  so Accupells now wear the Webley badge as does the Crossman Ratcatcher, .177- .22 well that one rumbles on and on  from my point of view as a pest controller of 40+ years  now semi/retired and still shooting my air rifles as well as shotguns and rimfires  i own HW 95 carbine, BSA lightning, Falcon lighthunter pcp, air arms s 500, crossman ratcatcher, all in .177  i dont miss much as my wages depend on it IMHO it pays to get as close to your quarry as possible then take on the certs dont worry about the harder targets they will be back later that day or the next,  Saffy i think Lambert mentioned the word CHEAP thats one thing Air/Arms are not  dont think its possible to make that quallity cheaply,
as with everything its down to personal choice but its pays to ask others opinions,

[lambert]

Evidently my recommendation to go branded have fallen on deaf ears as the senile owd twot is after a 50 quid Chinese jobbie. I doubt he will ever understand buy cheap buy twice. Honestly I despair I really do.

Anyway cheers for all the input.

[boss]

buy one of those gamos or SMKs you will be lucky to get 5 ftlbs. You could play around with the buffers in the spring but i dont know how long that will hold up for. Definatly use the promethius dynamic or the paragons. That is if they still make them lol

[Dirt-Devil]

mole bomb's + rabbit holes = no more bunnies :) it's always more fun blowing stuff up, but if I was closer you would be more than welcome to borrow our 2 american bull dogs as they love bunnies

[LandRoger]

Well i can see where you Pa,s coming from money is tight for everyone ,the SMK B2 is ok and will do the job if you do your bit too it only takes 8to 10 ft lbs to humanely knock over a Bunny as i said before make some hides up get in them before bunny comes out to munch and you should get some good bags, brush up on your fieldcraft into the wind ,stay off the skyline, and slow slow movements ,wont be long before your on here telling us about your double figure bags  good luck m8,

[boss]

tha is a shame that simmonds and logun are no more, that was a very good rifle/scope combo and 2 of the bigger names when i was still shooting airguns. i would have thought the logun S-16 would have secured some sence of security on the market, especilally with the bull barrell version. tis a shame.



seems they still make these things....IIRC you got 4-6 shots before you had to recharge. it was the only gun at the airgun show they wouldnt let you fire in the range! lol

http://www.kurversschietsport.nl/home/luchtwapens-in-de-collectie/luchtwapens-in-de-collectie/bowkett-puma-stalker-.45

[LandRoger]

Yea totally agree with you  i still use the little nightview   1.5/5/20 with its nice crackle finish on my Falcon Lighthunter it has a really wide feild of view and its big brother the 5/10/50 set the standard a few years ago as far as hunting glass was concerned thats when it was Jap glass they changed to Phillipines for production and quallity went out of the window,as for the Falcon well Air/Arms bought them out and the quallity went up over night ,the Logun S16 patent was sold to some Egyption firm and they now export it back here not the same finish though Edger bros are the dealers, Those Stalker guns by Adrian Hartley were true superguns in quallity of finish and design they fetch supergun prices now too

[Saffy]

My AirArm was a springer in Air Arms TX200 Mk3 Hunter Carbine. An underlever with bear trap. Loved it though tad on the heavy side. with ppl after pcp AA's the springers are a fair price on 2nd hand market. I'm after my uncles AA 200 sport in walnut with all the shiney bits :D git bought it for

[boss]

had a go at a mk 1 tx200 and it kicked like a mule, then i think they started putting theobens gas ram in there and it transformed the gun!

[Frankie-Boy]

My oldest gun is a springer, its a .177 German made Diana and dates to around 1935, it still shoots fine and is quite accurate but has no fittings for a scope so it has to be sighted the old fashioned way.

[LandRoger]

Dont think A/Arms ever put gas rams in their guns as standard what they did do was put a anti recoil sledge in the receiver it did transform the gun but they still had to keep it hefty to help with the recoil problem, the TX is a crackin bit of kit with 20 years of ongoing development behind it,

[LandRoger]

My oldest gun is a springer, its a .177 German made Diana and dates to around 1935, it still shoots fine and is quite accurate but has no fittings for a scope so it has to be sighted the old fashioned way.

I have a pair of BSA Standards  from 1929 both still giving 10ft lbs but basicly wall hangers now,

[boss]

when i first sarted shooting my dad said i wasnt allowed to have a scope untill i learnt to shoot properly, the way it was decided was getting over 85 on a standard field target, 10 shots at 10m standing. Did it when i was 12 and beat it by 3 points with my BSA supersport. After that it was i wasnt allowed to move over to the PCPs untill i could get a grouping of 10 shots in an area smaller than a 2p at 15m standing. And so on and so on. Looking back on that he was just makingsure i was commited to it enough to warrent not waisting my money.morrel to the story is dont run before you can walk.

[LandRoger]

Well IMHO i would say that if you cant put pellet on pellet with a PCP at hunting range of 25 /30 yards you need to go back a nd start again from scratch ,cant see the point in shooting a recoiling springer as preperation for shooting a none recoiling PCP as there really isnt much of a technique to shooting the PCP just a matter of holding the thing getting breathing sorted and learn to holdover thats about it in my book , PCPs are damn lifeless things with no soul compaired to a springer that you have to hold like your lady,

[bravo669]

I have a Brocock Hunter in .22, single shot and does the job. before that I had a Weihrauch HW35 which I used for many years. My old Grandfather was a gamekeeper and taught us all how to shoot and weve all kept it up apart from my youngest brother who is a paid up member of the playstation generation!lol
Hes also the only one without a ticket for anything other than the cinema! But if thats what he like then thats what he likes

[LandRoger]

The old HW 35 took a bit of mastering heavy,long,Ktwaaanggggggg,recoiled like mad ,BUT a quality bit of kit in its day forunner of everything thats good about HWs,

[bravo669]

definitely a massive twaaaaaaanggggg!lol, I was only little so i put a harris bipod on itjust back from the barrel hinge slot, bit unbalanced looking back but it did the job and did it well.I still have it complete with camo paint job!!hehe

[boss]

so i put a harris bipod on it

fantastic bit of kit!

[lambert]

It gets worse. He has now borrowed one decided he can't get on with the scope removed that and is now mithering that he hasn't got a single rabbit. It's  tragic it really is.

[bravo669]

lol, what i'd do is wait until he gives up and then go out and do the job properly.i used to control rabbits on a chaps massive garden near malmesbury, he couldnt understand that the rabbits were from the neighbouring farmers field which i didnt have the neccessary permission from to shoot on his land, so i could only ever take the odd one that popped over the boundary. he kept calling saying he was over run and whenever i went up there they were all in the next field!nightmare!