Air Rifles

[NVWOCI WVS]

I'm looking into buying a new air gun, and wondered if anyone on here knows much about them, and owning them.

I'm 20, I live in the middle of nowhere, and I've done quite a bit of shooting before, mainly with high power air rifles. I've read up all I can find on the legal side of it, and I don't need any kind of licence if the gun is less powerful than 12 foot lbs (which is more than enough for what I need). However, it says that if I was convicted for an offence in the future, the fact I would be a firearm owner can be brought up in court, and have a big affect on sentencing, even if it is completely unrelated. Does anyone know any more about this?

I'm looking to use it for pest control on our land, and target shooting. I may also ask permission to shoot on the neighbouring farm/woodland, but obviously I'd get written permission from the land owner, and try not to do anything stupid.

[Sam-Addy A3]

Me and the dad do alot of shooting on other people's land, pest control etc, not with air guns but with rifles and shotguns and have had no problems.

I don't see why there would be a problem unless you intend on commiting a crime bad enough for something like that to be brought into court.....

As long as you do everything properly and don't cut any corners there shouldn't be any problem.

Edited January 2, 2010 by Sam-Addy A3

[NVWOCI WVS]

Me and the dad do alot of shooting on other people's land, pest control etc, not with air guns but with rifles and shotguns and have had no problems.

I don't see why there would be a problem unless you intend on commiting a crime bad enough for something like that to be brought into court.....

As long as you do everything properly and don't cut any corners there shouldn't be any problem.

Excellent. Any tips on owning the gun? The bit I don't fully understand are the rules about keeping the rifle at home. Do you require a full gun cabinet for an air rifle, or can it be kept in an unlocked cupboard?

[trialsmax04]

As far as im aware any air gun under 12ft/lb's doesnt require any licence and security. I have one and keep it in a rifle bag under my bed....

[Sam-Addy A3]

Now i have only owned one or two high powered air guns, and as you need no license for them, i'm pretty sure there are no rules for where to keep them, but don't quote me.

If i were you, i'd keep it in a locked garage, or a subtle place in a loft or something.

But honestly, if you want some real fun, get a firearms license, soooo much more choice

[NVWOCI WVS]

That's okay then. Any advice on calibre choice? From what I've shot before, I think a .22 would probably suit my requirements best, but you guys sound more experienced than me. What are the pros and cons of .177 and .22?

[trialsmax04]

ive never used a .177 but ive heard there good. Quiet too. But to be honest .22 are so common and widly used now, yo uhardly see .177's any more.

[Sam-Addy A3]

Well.... .177 travels faster than .22 , but has the same energy as the pellet is lighter.

Just use .22 haha

and yeah as trialsmax04 said, more choice of guns and general equipment with .22

And get a surpressor (silencer) if you're hunting.

Edited January 2, 2010 by Sam-Addy A3

[trialsmax04]

A silencer on a 12ft/lb .22 is just pointless. i put one on ours and it was no quieter. If your using something 40ft/lb + fair enough, but its overkill on anything smaller.

[Lawnmowerman]

Do you have access to a decent gun shop? You can't buy them mail order anymore. I live near a quality one if you want one sending to you. Check out blackpool airrifles. I think it's bar.com or something

[Sam-Addy A3]

Suppose it depends on whether its a cheapish one or a more expensive one, and yeah how powerful th gun is.

As i say i don't really use air guns very often, i use real guns

But yeah you probably know more than me, but from my limited experience with air guns i like to use a silencer....

[CurtisRider]

Theres also a pretty decent one near me Sam, so about an hours journey for you if you still live where you used to.

[NVWOCI WVS]

Yeah, there's an awesome gun shop about 5 miles from where I live, so I'm going to go and talk to the guy in there. I used to buy fishing tackle there too. Thanks for the offers though. Anyone got any recommendation on specific guns to avoid or look out for? My budget's probably upto about £200, so nothing too flash, and I'd like to include a half-decent scope in that price if I can.

[Lawnmowerman]

Have a look at the air arms range. I had an s200 a few years ago and it was amazing and really cheap. You should look at getting a used one too, the shop will service all the used guns so you could get a minter a lot cheaper

[Sam-Addy A3]

Have a look at the air arms range. I had an s200 a few years ago and it was amazing and really cheap. You should look at getting a used one too, the shop will service all the used guns so you could get a minter a lot cheaper

Pretty much took the words out my mouth....

[DannyBazz (:]

I used to be into air rifles before I discovered the world of shotguns.

I still have a high power rifle... about 11.8ftlbs I believe. Sent me back about £550. It's a .177, but it still packs a punch like.

If you're serious about getting into the sport, don't buy cheap rifles. That's my only advice. Cheap ones f*ck up. With air rifles, you basically get what you pay for.

Regarding the law, you don't need a gun safe or anything at home, but it's best to keep it out of the way, in a gun slip/ hard case, under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe...

And also, it's illegal to carry an air rifle in public, without it being in some type of case. I vaguely remember it having to be in a hard case if it's not in a car or something, not too sure. You must also have a valid reason for carrying the gun, ie, you may have just purchased it, or are going shooting etc etc.

There are loads of different laws and regualtions to owning an air rifle, and I'm sure if you visited your local gun shop, they'd be happy to advise you

EDIT: as said above, the air arms range is superb wuality and value for money. As it happens, I too owned an s200, although it had a few little goodies attached (multi shot, suppressor, scope etc etc )

Edited January 2, 2010 by DannyBazz (:

[Dr. Nick Riviera]

Yeah, there's an awesome gun shop about 5 miles from where I live, so I'm going to go and talk to the guy in there. I used to buy fishing tackle there too. Thanks for the offers though. Anyone got any recommendation on specific guns to avoid or look out for? My budget's probably upto about £200, so nothing too flash, and I'd like to include a half-decent scope in that price if I can.

[Nic84echo]

You have very little to worry about by way of regulations on commercially available air rifles in this country, over the counter you can only buy rifles set below the legal power limit, and there are no regulations on how, or where, you store them. When you transport it you're meant to keep the gun bag/case locked, and your ammo seperate. I work on a rural Estate and keep several guns. Mainly for pest control. But some for target shooting.

For £200 your choices are a little slim. You could pick up a decent spring powered rifle for that. The classic break barrel single shot ones. But I'd budget a 1/3 of that again for a scope. And a decent scope does make a big difference. I'd say a better bet is a second hand pcp (pre charged pneumatic), which is recharged from a compressed air canister, like a divers bottle, but again you may be pushing that a little on the budget. Don't, whatever you do, buy one thats run off co2 bottles, they're terrible. A springer is better than that by a long shot, and is pretty much maintenance free too.

As for calibre. The .22's are pretty standard for pest control, a .22, due to its larger size packs more of a punch for actually killing things. .177 does indeed travel faster through the air. This makes it more use for compettion target shooting. If you intend to use it for mainly pest control I would recommend the .22. They still make fun target shooters. Esecially if you can get a full power one (watch out for cheap chinese ones that claim to be 12lb/ft, they dont often manage more than 8). Someone said something about silencers. They're better known by anyone serious about this stuff as noise suppressors, they dont do what you see in the movies when used with an air rifle, you need to remember it only supresses the muzzle noise. Since the vast majority of noise created by a spring powered rifle is from the spring, they make little difference on these. They make a massive difference on any of the air powered variants. On a rimfire rifle, they lower the noise level to a loud crack, rather than a bang (if you know what I mean), none of those james bond swooshing noises haha

I have to say though (like someone else has here already), if you're in the middle of nowhere, and you genuinely intend to use it for pest control, but want to learn to do some target shooting too, get a firearms licence. .22 rimfires are the most underated rifle of all. Perfect for close distance pest control, and great fun for target practice. And they're great for honing your skills for when it comes to more powerful guns, should you want to go hunting at any point (ie stalking or whatever......again, I know this first hand as I work on a gaming Estate). Getting a licence is easy, but you will need a gun cabinet, and somewhere seperate to store your ammunition. They're also pretty cheap as far as real guns go, and so is the ammo.

If you need some specific recommendations on make or whatever feel free to give me a buzz. Air rifles can be loads of fun, I'm sure you'll enjoy whatever you decide to get.

[TJ.]

I would go for a spring powered one as the co2 powered ones I have never been quite as powerful, also if you are going to be shooting pest i would go for a .22 rifle and use pointed pellets not round nosed ones.

But for target practise dome head or flat head pellts can be fun, or if you can get hold of them hollew tipped pellets or the ones with a plastic spike on the tip are really nice to shoot with.

[TROYston]

=[

Edited January 4, 2010 by TROYston

[Brisa]

Barstard i was about to tell him that, air pistold are a max of 6, i have mine at 7.233 and it feels like its about to backfire. So maby its for safty and not just law.

You are aware you just admitted to owning an unlisenced firearm on a public forum. Something which can hold a 5 year sentence.

I would try and budget a bit more if your looking a decent quality gun that will last, a good spring rifle like the Weirauch HW95k is around £300 and I would try and allow around £100 for a half decent scope. I would go for a .22 if your planning on pest control but it does have a loopy trajectory in 12ft/lb guise so you will need to really get your range estimation down. .177 will shoot a fair bit flatter (less in the way of range estimation needed) at these power levels and if taking head shots (which is all you should be taking with an air rifle) out to 12 ft/lb ranges (40ish yards) a .22 isn't going to make it any deader than a .177.

Hi Nic, I see you are fairly local to me. Must get out for a ride when I get this new bike sorted.

[Trials Punk]

Weirauch HW95k

Excellent recomendation! I've had mine for about 10 years now, I think. Been an awesome gun even though I hardly use it anymore. Solid german build, once I got the sights zeroed in it was always smack on. Got a rather large silencer on mine, most of the twhack noise is from the spring, but I love the silenced look (gay).

For your price range I'd definatly go for a break barrel, I would never buy a cheap C02 gun.

Barstard i was about to tell him that, air pistold are a max of 6, i have mine at 7.233 and it feels like its about to backfire. So maby its for safty and not just law.

Are you real or what? No wonder people get so scared of Airguns screaming "quick ban them" when theres numptys like you about. Your right though, it is for saftey, The whole reason they limit the air pistols to 6lb is to stop them becoming deadly, even though 6lb is more than enough to kill someone with at close range. GAWWWDD.

[Fish-Finger-er]

Getting a licence is easy,

Is it majorly different in scotland/northern ireland(im sure you said you where from aberdeen, but your profile says county down) to england and wales??

round here, it is nigh on impossible to just get a FAC,unless you own/work on several acres of land, or you intend on taking target shooting seriously.

Basically, unless youve got several acres of land to shoot on, or can get written permission off a farmer, who doesnt mind a visit from the local firearms officer, your not getting a FAC rated gun .Even then its not hassle free as trouble comes as youll be granted a closed certificate, meaning any new land you want to shoot on, will have to be vetted by the firearms officer before your legally allowed to shoot on it.

farmers are extremely hesistant to give out written permissions to shoot on their land, as its a source of income(ok, maybe only £20 or a bottle of scotch at christmas) by having a couple of pest controllers allowed to use his land, if he spoils it, by allowing new people to come onto the land, hes in danger of having the people who used to take care of his rabbits leaving, as theres not enough to shoot, and then when the person with their shiny new gun loses interest, he has no one there to shoot for him. And anytime a farm gives permission for a shoot, which is used on an FAC application, its noted.

Youve also got the catch 22 at the moment of, you cant get a gun without a permission, but whos going to give permission to shoot, to someone who doesnt even own a gun(or have a license for one, and so may be a liability shooting on your land with such inexperience)

the other option for getting a license, is joining a gun club, then either sticking with it and attending regulargly, or getting written permissions and informing your local fire arms officer of it.(since just getting your license, then never attending, will result in a visit of a local firarms officer in a years time to review your need for a FAC)

as for guns airgun-bbs.com is pretty good for second hand stuff, if you can push the budget £50 or so, some very nice PCP's open up to you, BSA supertens(there heavy, but they shoot straight, they shoot every time, they dont break, and you dont need to worry about being to far from the car to fill up as you can make a serious dent in south englands rabbit population before you run out of air), AA s200's, s400's etc, BSA ultras are superlight, with a small air reservoir(ideal for casual shooting, or firing out of a vehicle as there so shot) also, check out the Falcons.

[TROYston]

Dont want to be suspended.

Edited January 4, 2010 by TROYston

[Ullapool Trials Rider]

I'm looking into buying a new air gun, and wondered if anyone on here knows much about them, and owning them.

I'm 20, I live in the middle of nowhere, and I've done quite a bit of shooting before, mainly with high power air rifles. I've read up all I can find on the legal side of it, and I don't need any kind of licence if the gun is less powerful than 12 foot lbs (which is more than enough for what I need). However, it says that if I was convicted for an offence in the future, the fact I would be a firearm owner can be brought up in court, and have a big affect on sentencing, even if it is completely unrelated. Does anyone know any more about this?

I'm looking to use it for pest control on our land, and target shooting. I may also ask permission to shoot on the neighbouring farm/woodland, but obviously I'd get written permission from the land owner, and try not to do anything stupid.

Easy way to get an air gun:Walk into the gun shop, break into the cabinet where there kept, shoot the shop owner and walk out with everything you need.

Obviously you could get a gun license and do it legally. But I think the above would be a lot more fun!