Air Rifles - hunting

vcsggl

Hello everyone - just joined this group. I'm a frequent visitor to a family farm in Co. Monaghan - I'm resident in England. Question - is it legal to shhot rabbits in the ROI with an air rifle? I've had conflicting reports about this. I've been told by some folk that air rifles can only be used for target shooting in the ROI and that shooting of vermin or any animals is not permitted. Not quite sure how the Gardai would ever know what you were shooting at! I would be bringing the gun with me from England - I've enquired about bringin in a shotgun and that seems to be no problem at all according to the Gardai in Monaghan but I'd also like to bring a .22 air rifle. So - any thoughts on hunting with an air rifle in the Republic??

George

Umiq88

to bring the shotgun and airrifle you'll need to licence them over here but if the police say it isnt a problem well there the ones issueing it. An air rifle is treated the same as a rifle here in terms of licensing. My understanding on hunting with it is game birds or protected animals that have an open and closed season are not allowed to be shot with an eir rifle but vermin like crows pigeons rabbits and the likes is fine i dont think any fuss will be caused if you shoot a few vermin the laws were made ages ago and air rifles weren't half as powerful as they are now so its quite ridiculous that the same laws should apply but that does give you an excuse to break them either.

Genghiz Cohen

Pigeons? I heard they were......'game birds' now(a shooting buddy told me).
not to say i wouldnt drop them on sight, baxtards.

Vegeta

you can hunt away as the other poster said but make sure you do it by the book.

I had heard that about pigeons also and am reluctant to shoot them ever since. Can anyone clear this up

vcsggl

Thanks for the info guys. You all probabably know this site but I've just found it http://www.justice.ie/80256E01003A21A5/vWeb/pcJUSQ5YBJWM-en. Here it states quite categorically that airguns are dangerous weapons and must only be used for target practice purposes, they must never be used to shoot small animals, birds etc etc. On this basis it seems that is actually easier to bring a shotgun into the country than an air rifle in that if I tell the Garda that I want to use the air rifle for rabbits they should say no but they seem perfectly happy that I bring in a 12 bore!

On the subject of gun cabinets which I've picked up elsewhere on the site the firearms officer that I spoke to in Monaghan yesterday told me that strictly speaking they currently can't insist on a secure storage cabinet but that "the Superintendent prefers you to have one" and with regard to proof of such a cabinet being available given that it is not a statutory requirement they might or might not ask to see it!

As if this wasn't enough I now have the problem of finding out what the policy of the ferry operators is with respect to carrying a gun. Norse Merchant claim that the gun must be locked in the boot of the car during the crossing and the boot must be "all steel construction" - what about estate cars or 4x4's with no "boot" - didn't know the answer to that. I don't believe that they permit the gun to remain in the car but that's what the man said! Stena Line say that the gun must be handed to the check-in desk and will be returned on leaving the ship but there is no requirement for the weapon to be in a locked case! Anybody who has had any direct experience - I'd really like to hear from you!!

George

Vegeta

That info on the website is wrong, you can hunt but only vermin and not game birds or protected species such as pheasant and duck. I know its hard to believe but we have to put up with this sort of ignorance from the government and local garda the whole time.

I applied for a .223 rifle the other day and the Firearms Officer had never even heard of the calibre.

maglite

that is not his fault

as regards givin the gun to a check in clerk hell no as soon as they docked she /he would be in posetion of an unlicence firearm,if i was to carry 1 in a situation like that i would use a rod bag

Blunderbus

When I came to Ireland (1999) I bought my shotgun and rifle with me on Irish Ferries. I was required to leave them with the ship's Master at Arms (I believe that was his title) during the voyage, which I did. There was no problem.

When I returned them to the UK (I gave them to my son-in-law) I din't bother with the usual protocol, other than declaring them at Pembroke, where they were handed over to my son-in-law, in the presence of the port police. No problems at all.

When I brought these firearms into the Republic. I reported them to the gardai on duty at Rosslare: he told to report to my local gard when I arrived at my destination. Again, no problems.

vcsggl

Thanks Blunderbus.I'm getting fairly helpful responses from the ferry companies to my enquiries about their policies on transporting guns etc. and the local Gardai in Monaghan are being very helpful - so far! Looks like I can realistically look forward to having either an Air Arms TX200 MkIII or a 12 bore shotgun available at the place near Clones. Either would be fine for starting to deal with the rabbit population!!!

George

syconerd

as a person who uses an air rifle to hunt with i can tell you that it will kill any vermin/pest, up to rabbits with ease. The reason that its hard sometimes to kill a pigeon is that they have whats called a crop in the front of their throat/chest and this can be full of food so it acts like armour making them difficult to kill, Hope this helps you if you need any more info email me and i will send you some more info.
syconerd

maglite

how can you measure the power of an air rifle without a chrono

vcsggl

syconerd wrote:

as a person who uses an air rifle to hunt with i can tell you that it will kill any vermin/pest, up to rabbits with ease.

Many thanks for the info Syconerd. I got an AirArms TX200 .22 at the weekend - what a lovely gun! Didn't take long before I could put pellet after pellet through the head of a "rabbit target" at 35yards. Both Stena and Irish Ferries have been very helpful and it seems that so long as I have the necessary bits of paper there's no problem at all in carrying weapons on their ferries. Norse Merchant however are a real pain - they will only allow guns to be carried in cars with an "all metal boot" that cannot be accessed from inside the car i.e. by removing the rear seats. I don't know of any cars that meet that requirement and interestingly they couldn't tell which ones do either!
All being well will be back in Monaghan before long with the TX299 and fully equiped to deal with the rabbit population. Need now to start to look seriously at an O/U 12 bore to get at the ducks on the loch at the back of the house!

George

Vegeta

My 97 corolla xli has an all metal boot that cannot be accessed from the rear seats.