The Air Rifles & Pistols thread

atpbx said:
I haven't read the thread so I apologise, but the previously deceased Theoben has now been resurrected as Impact Air guns.

Theoben were beautiful guns, just ferociously expensive, I have no idea what the quality or price of impacts products are.
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Good news. I hope the retain the same quality and accuracy. Theoben Rapid rifles are awesome. They were not Daystate expensive, but still out of reach for most people.

I remember shooting a Rapid MK2 at a friends place once. First time I had ever picked the rifle up and got a perfect hit score on some chalk disc targets at 25 yards. OK, its not an epic range but for a first go it was pretty impressive. Just felt like the gun did it all for me and I have never been a particulalrly great shooter! :p
 
Since happening upon this thread yesterday I spent most of Saturday researching current laws and the most popular rifles available. Watching hunting vids on YouTube is very educational. I have hovered over buying a couple of different guns last night and this morning and I can't really go above 300 for a rifle and scope. Ideally would like a silencer if possible. Before I do make any purchases I wondered if any of you guys could advise.

Would rather avoid having to refill with gas so I guess I'm looking more at a Springer and .22 something that will have no issue with rabbits, rats pigeons etc. Also which pellets best for the task in general? Cheers lads
 
For £300 you can get some really excellent second hand springers.

HW97K/TX200 underlevers, very accurate, quite heavy.
HW95/HW80 Break barrel springers Very accurate, medium weight.
An HW98 might be pushing your budget but you never know.

All should come with scope/bag/tin of pellets other bits.

Get yourself to a club or shop to see what you like and then hit the forums for second hand sales.

Pellets are barrel dependant, what works for one might not work for another with the same rifle. Stick with quality pellets though there is no point with cheap ones that you can't hit anything with.

Finally. Practice hitting small targets at unknown ranges before trying to shoot anything live. And remember the law about needing permission from the land owner before shooting and that if you are shooting birds, you need to comply with the rules of the general licence.

Simon
 
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scorchisio said:
Since happening upon this thread yesterday I spent most of Saturday researching current laws and the most popular rifles available. Watching hunting vids on YouTube is very educational. I have hovered over buying a couple of different guns last night and this morning and I can't really go above 300 for a rifle and scope. Ideally would like a silencer if possible. Before I do make any purchases I wondered if any of you guys could advise.

Would rather avoid having to refill with gas so I guess I'm looking more at a Springer and .22 something that will have no issue with rabbits, rats pigeons etc. Also which pellets best for the task in general? Cheers lads
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.177 will dispatch bunnies very easily With Air rifles it about placement rather than power. A .22 might carry a bit more power but the pellet drop over 30yards is considerably more than a .177 which has a flatter trajectory.

Also bear in mind you will need permission on the land your shooting on and you cant just go popping bunnies on anyone s land as that then becomes armed trespassing. Permissions for land is quite fierce among air-gunners and small bore shooters and is generally all taken up.

With a moderator it will be quieter but springers are inherently noisy anyway so expect a reasonable note of noise. Something like an Airarms Tx200 would do you well. you can pickup used ones for around £250 with a scope, pushing about 10.5-11 ft lbs and very reliable
 
SimonCHere said:
....
Get yourself to a club or shop to see what you like and then hit the forums for second hand sales.....
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Also This, in the processing of applying to my local club and all the chaps down there are great. Was firing one of the guy's BSA R10 today a limited edition one of only 1000 made and my god it was so nice.

The Chairman of the club on my first visit said if I do go out and look to buy an air rifle to consult him and some of the other members first as they have years of experience accross target and pest shooting and can offer sound advice.

I recommend you get involved with a club and feed from their knowledge.

Complete side note: talking to one of the chaps today and noticed he was limping more than usual and asked if his leg (which i knew wasn't great) was playing up. He said it was then proceeded to slap his leg on the bench, whip up his trousers leg and while doing this said "it's an allergy"... my response was "what to?"... his response... "Argie bullets" while poking his nice scarred bullet wound!

Made us all laugh!
 
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Cheers for the input mate all taken onboard. Rats look a doddle to kill I can see that with squirells and rabbits it's headshots only. My uncle shoots squirells regular in his garden he showed me his gun on Facebook I'll put a pic on. What's the main differences between .177 and .22
 
scorchisio said:
Cheers for the input mate all taken onboard. Rats look a doddle to kill I can see that with squirells and rabbits it's headshots only. My uncle shoots squirells regular in his garden he showed me his gun on Facebook I'll put a pic on. What's the main differences between .177 and .22
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Rats arent a doddle by far. Theres a video somewhere of a guy shooting rats on his perm and shooting a rat in the head 4 times and body twice to kill it. Plus wounded rats get really ****** nasty so stay well clear unless 100% dead
 
scorchisio said:
Cheers for the input mate all taken onboard. Rats look a doddle to kill I can see that with squirells and rabbits it's headshots only. My uncle shoots squirells regular in his garden he showed me his gun on Facebook I'll put a pic on. What's the main differences between .177 and .22
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.177 has a flattery flight trajectory but a a little less power delivered on target
.22 has a more prominant drop off in the flight trajectory but delivers a little mroe power on target

Below is a mild example:

Lets say you range a .22 (green line) and .177 (red line) both at 30 yards. if your shooting anything under 30 yards you would need to hold the reticule under the target (hold under). As at say 10 yards, if you aimed with the cross-hair on the target you would shoot over as the pellet is increasing in height as you're aligned for 30 yards so you need to hold under with the reticule to hit the target. Both are relatively predictable at under 30 yards. and follow a similar pattern as per my paint wonderwork!

At 30yards both should hit as per the zeroing to 30 yards.

Over 30 yards the pellet drop on the .22 will be more prominent as per my drawing. So to hit something at 50 yards with same scope and zero. You will need to hold over or aim over the target area to compensate for the drop/ difference in the scope zero in relation to the target. With a .22 you would need to hold over the target considerably more than the .177 as per my drawing which makes it potentially harder to hit

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The range/club ive started going to is underground in a railway tunnel. It's about 5 degress C, on a 30 degree day in there and quite damp in the air. It's nothing pretty by far and very low facility but it's a mans range!
 
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