hunting with air rifle

tommyboy26

Can anyone give me a run down on hunting small game (birds, rats, squirrals rabbits etc)with an air rifle.

What kind of distance can you shoot with them?
What calibres are good?
Do you need to buy a really expensive one?

Regards
Tb26

extremetaz

- <40m, you'll hear lads talking about landing shots out past 100 but there's no small measure of luck in that sort of shooting where air rifles are concerned. Stick to the near side of 40meters if you've any respect for your quarry.

- .22 is the best of them, it's easy enough to get, doesn't overpenetrate they way .177 does, and with Irish legislation the way it is, it's as flat as any of the alternatives.

- Debatable, high quality ammo is VERY important in any instance, but whether or not you can get along with the recoil of a springer is down to you. PCP's are the easiest to shoot but the most expensive, springers and gas ram are cheaper and come in underlever and break barrell version, with the latter, it's paramount that the barrell resets consistently. A good quality secondhand springer in good nick can be had for about €400.

tommyboy26

What about something like this?

http://www.lakelandsportssupplies.ie/shooting/Used-Air-Guns/Gamo-Viper-Max-176-0-983.html#prettyPhoto/0/

What is the cost of ammo?

Snakezilla

They are a very effective tool if you keep the distances realistic. Ive never shot at live quarry past 50 yards , Ive a.22lr for that... Within 50 yards its accurate enough to shoot staggered groups all day. I have a Weihrauch hw90 in .22 and ammo costs between €8 and €15 per 500 , as said above - good quality ammo is very important. Im using Crossman hollow points and theyre costing me €11 for a tin of 500 ! Very accurate and great power

extremetaz

Gamo rifles wouldn't be my first choice, but others will tell you they work grand.

Snake' alludes to Weihrauch, which are a phenomenal brand and Kirwins (same place you've linked above) are a dealer for them so will have them there.

I use a Weihrauch HW100KT myself, which is at the top end of the price spectrum but I wouldn't be without it. The HW90 referred to above is also an incredible machine - far more accurate with decent ammo than you're likely to be for a very long time. Only thing is they tend to be north of €550 in any condition.

Best thing you can do it take a trip to lakelands and have a chat with Niall, he'll run you through what's available and you'll get to shoulder them as well - they're heavy pieces of kit so you'll want some handling before you buy in any case.

1shot16

Get urself a Weihrauch Hw97 was my first gun i had and was .22.Jsb pellets were savage in it,Got for 400 second.Its gone now and regret it!

skipking

as 1shot16 said a weihrauch hw97 is a good choice of gun. .22 is a good rabbit stopper out to 40m with head shots.
try a few different pellets and you will get one that your gun likes and then stick with then. i use jsb exact heavy or
air arms heavy 18g both are made by jsb in a air arms s 410 sl extra fac.