Air rifle... recomendations

Simo Hayha

hi all,
anyone any exerience with precharged air fifles, BSA etc etc., was thinking abut one for rabbits or plinking etc..
budget up to 1k
thanks in advance
Simo

kildare.17hmr

with a budget like that i wouldnt be buying an air rifle for rabbits, have you considered a .22lr or a .17hmr?

Simo Hayha

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

with a budget like that i wouldnt be buying an air rifle for rabbits, have you considered a .22lr or a .17hmr?

well yea, mybe the budget is ott, was thinking 1k incl scope maximum
besides, i have a 17

zen260

hi simon,,
i have a lot of expereince with pre charged air rifles,,a lot depends on no1 do you want a take down rifle for example?i have a gunpower stealth .22 pcp and its amazing,the air cylinder doubles as a stock its running at 30ft pound with a 16grain rws pellet,also its a very easy rifle to up the power on as the valve system sits directly at the barrel,its only a single shot but you can kill rabbits out to 100yds easily and you get roughly 300 shots from a single charge,,you can you a divers tank but i use a stirup pump its handier for me as i dont really have any access to filling a diver bottle,,you can pick these up handy in the uk,,i also used a bsa ultra carbine .22 this is a 10 shot pcp very good rifle to out to 50/60 yds,but you will only get 30 or so full power shots per charge in .22cal,its nowhere as powerful as the gunpower stealth but a very good rifle none the less,also air arms do some nice guns to s400 nice gun,,dont under estamate the owl break barrel either?bsa lightning xl in .22 cal fantastic gun and you get them really handy,,,

kildare.17hmr

is it ok to shoot rabbits with precharged air rifles in ireland?( i know the op guy is in france)

zen260

yes as far as iam aware you can shoot vermin with air rifles in ireland,ie rabbits-crow-magpies ect

kildare.17hmr

I heard differant, my girlfriends lil brother was looking to get one for rabbits but was told he couldnt hunt anything except paper targets by law! told this by, youv guessed it, a guard!! i must check it out

FISMA

I like the Diana RWS side lever action airguns.
http://www.pyramydair.com/s/m/Diana_RWS_54/398

Even the break action are great
http://www.pyramydair.com/p/rws-48-spring-sidelever-air-rifle.shtml

Put some decent glass on and you are set.

However, I second the motion of buying a 22LR. I bet a Ruger 10/22 would be cheaper and a CZ 527 about the same price.

Sparks

zen260 wrote: »

i have a gunpower stealth

One of the WTSC shooters hunts rabbits with one of those, and I've shot it a few times at 50 metres (which was a bit of a mental double-take for me at the time since to me 50m=.22lr ). Interesting piece of engineering. A bit black and scary, but very lightweight, very efficient, quite accurate and he has no problems whacking bunnies out to 100yds with it. Very quiet with the moderator as well, next to no noise at all outside of the click of the mechanism and the whack of the imact with the backstop.

zen260

hi sparks,,
yes they are a scary piece of kit alright,,and as you said extremely quiet,only sound is the click of the firing pin in your ear and whack of the target,,i use a logun silcencer on mine which is 90% quieter than the orignal bean tin silcencer that gunpower make,,its the kind of gun you either hate it or love it,,its that kind of design but for a high power-take down compact rifle its hard to beat it

kildare.17hmr

Hey sparks, air rifle hunting in ireland, legal or not?

Sparks

As I understand it, and I'm more familiar with the Firearms Act than the Wildlife Acts, it's legal to whack bunnies (or smaller vermin like rats) with them. Birds are a big no-no and anything larger than a bunny is either too big for an air rifle or illegal without a game licence that won't be granted unless you have above a certain muzzle energy and caliber. But like I said, I'm more familiar with the Firearms Act than the Wildlife Acts so I might have it wrong.

kildare.17hmr

http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/..._held_firearms

Air Rifles
Firearms certificates for air rifles are granted by the Superintendent of your local police district. These weapons are dangerous and can only be used for target practice purposes; they can never be used to shoot small animals, birds or protected species of wildlife. You will be required to complete an application form in the presence of the Garda on duty who will forward your application to the Superintendent and make recommendations on your application. The Superintendent will grant or refuse your application.

Thats the info on air rifles from the link. I think i read a fella sayin he needed to shoot birds in a shed and got air rifle licence bacause it was all he could use, cant find where i read it tho!

Sparks

That link's broken kildare...

And if I remember right, that's a page that was up before the criminal justice act 2006 rewrote the entire firearms act and it was still wrong back then.

Though I really do have to say, the DoJ Firearms pages are getting a lot better than they were before, and are now immensely more useful.

kildare.17hmr

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1976/en/act/pub/0039/sec0033.html#zza39y1976s33

Wildlife Act, 1976

33 1976 39
[GA]Restriction on use of certain firearms etc. 33.—(1) It shall be an offence for a person to kill or injure—
[GA]( a ) with a repeating or automatic shotgun (other than a repeating or automatic shotgun which is adapted or modified so as to render it incapable of carrying more than three shotgun cartridges), with an airgun, air-rifle, gas-rifle, pistol or revolver, or with any firearm fitted with a silencer device, any wild bird,
[GA]( b ) with a rifle, any protected wild bird.
[GA](2) It shall be an offence for a person to kill or injure any wild bird or wild mammal with a spring gun, or with tracer shot or with a floating container containing an explosive substance.
[GA](3) It shall be an offence for a person to kill or injure with a shotgun a protected wild animal other than a hare.
[GA](4) Subject to the foregoing subsections of this section, the Minister may make regulations specifying the type and calibre of firearms and ammunition which may be used to hunt wild birds and wild mammals and providing that firearms and ammunition of any other type and calibre shall not be used to hunt such birds or mammals.
[GA](5) In this section "rifle" includes both a gas-rifle and an air-rifle.

locum-motion

Subsection 33.1 contains 2 different sets of rules for what one can do with an air rifle (in sub-subsection 33.1a) and a rifle (in sub-subsection 33.1b).

Then subsection 33.5 says that (in Section 33) an air rifle is included in the definition of a rifle.

So, which is it, Statute Book? You can't have it both ways!

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1976/en/act/pub/0039/sec0033.html#zza39y1976s33

Wildlife Act, 1976

33 1976 39
[GA]Restriction on use of certain firearms etc. 33.—(1) It shall be an offence for a person to kill or injure—
[GA]( a ) with a repeating or automatic shotgun (other than a repeating or automatic shotgun which is adapted or modified so as to render it incapable of carrying more than three shotgun cartridges), with an airgun, air-rifle, gas-rifle, pistol or revolver, or with any firearm fitted with a silencer device, any wild bird,
[GA]( b ) with a rifle, any protected wild bird.
[GA](2) It shall be an offence for a person to kill or injure any wild bird or wild mammal with a spring gun, or with tracer shot or with a floating container containing an explosive substance.
[GA](3) It shall be an offence for a person to kill or injure with a shotgun a protected wild animal other than a hare.
[GA](4) Subject to the foregoing subsections of this section, the Minister may make regulations specifying the type and calibre of firearms and ammunition which may be used to hunt wild birds and wild mammals and providing that firearms and ammunition of any other type and calibre shall not be used to hunt such birds or mammals.
[GA](5) In this section "rifle" includes both a gas-rifle and an air-rifle.

kildare.17hmr

im confused:P

Sparks

Locum, welcome to Irish legislation
The phrases "spaghetti code" and "rats nest" are useful tools in describing that legislation, especially when you realise that for each Act, there are several SIs which commenced different parts of the Act at different times (so the actual law at any one time won't exist in any one document) and several more that act as technical appendices to the Act.



BTW, does "spring gun" differentiate between spring-piston type air rifles and PCP type air rifles?

mallards

How about this one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH_nLs4esFM

Mallards

Tackleberrywho

mallards wrote: »

How about this one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH_nLs4esFM

Mallards

love it!

BELOWaverageIQ

mallards wrote: »

How about this one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH_nLs4esFM

Mallards

brilliant; Irelands newest custom builder, I think there's an opening for him..... Once he's not a toolmaker or a coalman.:D

kildare.17hmr

mallards wrote: »

How about this one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH_nLs4esFM

Mallards

That was sweet!

Odysseus

I a bit confused as to the answer to the question about hunting with an air rifle above. The answer is yes you can take bunnies with an air rifle, I used this on my application as I can no longer use it for target as I'm not a member of a range. Small vermin such as rats are ok too, basically as Sparks said. Birds of any kind are a no no with a air rifle.

bazza888

cz 527?in 22lr?