Any air gun owners here?

[kevpuk]

Airsoft is a lot of fun - wayyyy better than paintballing - and you can then churn out BBs at 350fps, on full auto....
Dem squidgels won't know wot 'it 'em!

[Dark Black]

Great thread - I've been wanting to get into airguns and/or Airsoft (yes I know the difference ) for ages and this has rekindled my interest again.

Currently in suburbia but planning on moving rural soon which should certianly make it easier.

Looking at the various laws surrounding air weapons and/or replicas. They seem to be getting increasingly tough (which I suppose I can understand these days) but appears there are still plenty of reasonable defences to be used for obtaining the right weapon.

Rather fancy one of these...

Umarex Colt 1911 A1 Government Black - .177 Pellet - CO2 Powered Air Pistols - Pellpax

[TestMangler]

Great thread - I've been wanting to get into airguns and/or Airsoft (yes I know the difference ) for ages and this has rekindled my interest again.

Currently in suburbia but planning on moving rural soon which should certianly make it easier.

Looking at the various laws surrounding air weapons and/or replicas. They seem to be getting increasingly tough (which I suppose I can understand these days) but appears there are still plenty of reasonable defences to be used for obtaining the right weapon.

Rather fancy one of these...

Umarex Colt 1911 A1 Government Black - .177 Pellet - CO2 Powered Air Pistols - Pellpax

They are toys basically, for popping holes in coke cans from 5-10 yds. CO2 is painfully inconsistent (I've got that exact model myself). Google the way CO2 guns work. The theory is nice, not so good in practice. If you want a pistol with that kind of look but a bit more powerful and accurate and without the kick of a spring pistol, try a Webley Nemesis.

[DallasDad]

I use a single shot, sprung Webley Xocet .22 almost daily.
I have a basic scope with an illuminated reticule for dusk.
I use a red light mounted on the scope for lamping.
I have never tried any bolt on night vision systems but I do have a hand held night vision scope for spotting.

PCP is nice but knackering to recharge with a pump and a Pita visiting a Scuba shop too often.
I quite fancy a PCP 177 with a 10 shot magazine for multiple ratting, the trajectory of the 177 pellet is flatter so less adjustment for range needed with the scope but to date not needed one.
PCP offers less recoil which is useful to the beginner and also if you understand how to follow through
Anyone Army trained especially on an SLR will know how useful follow through is over open sited or at long range how indicative swirl can be.

I am quite able to hit what I need to with the tools available to me.
Typically 25-30M is a reasonable kill range without having to pop in a finisher

I dispatch Rats all around our Smallholding regularly and I take the odd Rabbit or Pigeon from time to time for dinner.
Their is no shortage of Rabbits here although I tend not to eat shot Rabbits when there is not a R in the month because in the summer they have the highest viral load.
If you do start to take rabbits alway paunch them immediately or the meat is rapidly tainted

Also if you like Rabbit try to process more than one at a time, there only about 1.5 portions of meat on a Bunny making it inefficient to process just one,
We boil 4-6 at once, normally until the meat is falling off the bone then pull it off in bite sized pieces store it in a bowl in the fridge covered in olive oil which last ages.

Some golden rules always shoot within the confines of your permission or with a safe backdrop and leaves do not qualify!, stand and aim down if necessary to do so.
Shooting birds and Tree Rats in Trees carries a lot of risk of overshooting the permission.
If a pellet goes outside of the boundary it is an offence and neighbours can get stressed with bits of lead messing up the roses.

I have fields so not typically an issue but a free pellet can easily travel a couple of hundred yards + and still do some damage.
You can kill a Fox with a .22 air rifle pellet, you can also maim one and then it gets nasty best not to try Foxing unless you have to it a very contentious subject if using a legal (12ft lbs) air rifle to do so.


HTH

[Platypus]

You've got to be vary careful these days. e.g. I believe I'm right in saying that firing over a public highway is a firearms offence and warrants £5k find AND 5yrs in jail. I recently sold my beautiful BSA .22 break-barrel lightning carbine to a mate, for only £100. He changed the spring for a gas ram. Wish I hadn't sold it now, but I hadn't used in in years due to paranoia about various new rules. In Scotland I believe that a licence is now required.

I still have a Weihrauch HW45 pistol that I can't bear to part with but daren't use


EDIT: for anyone looking to buy or sell, these guys have air weapons in their auctions:
http://www.southamsauction.co.uk/

[NigelJK]

I have a Webley Vulcan Mk2 but don't use it much these days. I used to use these as pellets as they contain no lead.

Second the comments about prepping the rabbits 'in the field' and do hang them properly or the taste is very gamey.

[TestMangler]

You've got to be vary careful these days. e.g. I believe I'm right in saying that firing over a public highway is a firearms offence and warrants £5k find AND 5yrs in jail. I recently sold my beautiful BSA .22 break-barrel lightning carbine to a mate, for only £100. He changed the spring for a gas ram. Wish I hadn't sold it now, but I hadn't used in in years due to paranoia about various new rules. In Scotland I believe that a licence is now required.

I still have a Weihrauch HW45 pistol that I can't bear to part with but daren't use


EDIT: for anyone looking to buy or sell, these guys have air weapons in their auctions:
http://www.southamsauction.co.uk/

Firing outside the boundary of a property you own or have written permission from the owner to shoot on is a firearms offence, even with an airgun. Punishments can be up to what you quoted.

[Dark Black]

Firing outside the boundary of a property you own or have written permission from the owner to shoot on is a firearms offence, even with an airgun. Punishments can be up to what you quoted.

Yep, already noted that (and it's common sense anyway) - moving back rural soon and (hopefully) have a bit of land so overshooting the boundary shouldn't be an issue.

Some interesting comments / advice here, thanks all. Am in the process of doing lots of research on the various options - no great rush as we haven't moved yet and it's a bit pointless getting one where were are now (unless I join a local club and use their range).

Fancy a trying a bit of AirSoft too (different beast I realise) but probably need to get a bit fitter for that