Airguns: Getting Started

Brendygg

Hey,
just want to ask a few questions about air rifles as i want to get into the sport.

I have a budget of about 350 euro maybe more.
I have a bushnell scope from my dads .22 so i dont need one.

whats the story wit precharged rifles do u buy your own air tank?
what distance are they capable of killing crows rabbits etc.
can anyone recommend a decent rifle within the budget ?

thanks

Umiq88

I'm no expert but my friend has a really expensive one he paid €900+ for and airarms gun and that came scoped and with a divers tank. its good up to about 40-50 yards id say once your used to it but a .22wmr would be a much cheaper option and better option imo but then again it depends what you want it for and with a air gun you can shoot birds out of trees and ammo is really cheap

Brendygg

my dad has a .22 but as u said i want to shoot up into trees and cant wit a .22.where i shoot is fairly flat land wit sheep in it so it some times limits shots wit a .22

mr potato head

i wonder could anyone give me a better idea of the location of the wilkinstown shooting range.. just want to take a look and talk to afew shooters... i'm an archer who wouldn't min having a go at air guns.
What way do beginner courses work with the air guns? (insurance and licence/laws)

Sparks

i wonder could anyone give me a better idea of the location of the wilkinstown shooting range.. just want to take a look and talk to afew shooters... i'm an archer who wouldn't min having a go at air guns.

Four/five miles due north of Navan, marked on most maps. When you go into the town, which is basicly just a crossroads with attitude, you'll go over a railway line and then immediately on your left is a pub called Tiernan's. Go in there and ask for Geoff Cooney, he's the secretary of the club. The range is just adjacent to there, and he'll show you round. Just don't go for the next two or three days, they're all absolutely exhausted at the moment, having just gotten back from Bisley this evening!

What way do beginner courses work with the air guns? (insurance and licence/laws)

You'd start off using a club gun so no problems with licences for the first while, and you'll be shown how it works, what the basic safety rules are, and then you'd shoot heavily supervised for a short while to get used to it, and then the supervision tails off as you get more experienced at it. Nothing to worry about at all.

dbar

With regards to buying an Air Rifle:
You need to be aware of a couple of things before you start looking,
On your budget a pre-charged pneumatic is probably out of your range
as the compressed air tank required will eat most of the budget.
I paid over € 800 for a pre-charged Air Rifle plus € 280 for the tank.
That leaves you with spring - powered rifles, but modern spring powered rifles
are very accurate and can be just as effective as pre-charged for hunting purposes.
Effective range varies but be aware for a clean dispatch you generally need a head shot with an air-rifle on the quarry,
this will probably bring it to 25-30 yds.
Do some digging about the rifles before you buy. Last months "shooting sports" magazine
carried a free guide to buying air rifles. It might still be on the shelves in the smaller news agents.
Ask about power and calibre from the dealer. .22 calibre is a good choice for hunting.
Power is measured in foot/pounds pressure. (lbs).
Your Dads .22 is about 100 pounds pressure using standard .22 ammo. So an air rifle with 20 lbs pressure
will be about one fifth of that, to give you an idea.
A moderator is also a good idea for hunting. You might need to get clearance from the Guards for it.
Go to www.reviewcentre.com, there are some excellent reviews on the different makes and models.
Hope this helps

civdef

Power is measured in foot/pounds pressure. (lbs).

To be picky, you're talking about muzzle energy, which can also be expressed in Joules - though the older foot-pound units are more common when describing air-rifles.

Pressure is a bit different, in the case of pneumatic airguns, it tells you how much air is squeezed into a tank of a given size. A higher pressure gives you more shots, rather than more "powerful" ones, as the amount of air usd for each shot is controlled by a regulator.

airy-fairy

With the budget you have you will restricted to a lower end spring gun with Irish prices. Unless you know someone who will help with bringing a gun over from the UK.

Best bet is to ring around some dealers and ask them about current prices.

The scope you have may not be up to the job as most spring guns are hellish on scopes not rated for them or larger centre fire calibers. A .22 rated scope will not last long on a spring gun. It will be very short lived on a 20 ft/lb gun mentioned above.

Most airguns are less than 12 ft/lb. Good enough for most vermin and rabbits out to 35m. But with rabbits a head shot is a must, otherwise too many runners. A good chest shot will take out pigeons, crows and magpies. Rats can be very tough to kill and ranges will generally be less than 15 m.

For a wide range of opinions and views on good guns, budget guns and airgun hunting there is a very active uk forum here: http://www.airgunbbs.co.uk/

I got a "cheap" Gamo cf-30, an underlever modle. Since replaced by the CF-X. My gun is a fairly caplable 11(ish) ft/lbs which has counted for plenty of rabbits.

Spring guns need a lot of practice to become proficient with due to the unique recoil and long lock time (time it takes the pellet to leave the muzzel after pulling the trigger).

My advice would be to buyt the best balanced gun you can find. You might have to travel around a bit to find many models in the shops so getting to a club is the best bet.

When you have the gun picked try out a few types of pellets, these guns can be extremely pellet fussy and one type can pattern like a shotgun another leaves a ragged hole. If you don't try a few you end up thinking you or your gun is no good.

If i were to do anything different since i got into airguns, it would be spend more on a better gun. A good HW or AirArms would be the way forward if getting a springer.

I decided on an airgun as there loads of horses around where i shoot, the land is flat and using a rimfire would totally limit the number of safe shots you could take at quarry.

fiacha

see lots of references to hunting in this thread.
to the best of my knowledge it is still illegal to hunt / kill animals with an air rifle in S.Ireland.

has this changed ?

airy-fairy

Does the wildlife act state it is illegal to use an airgun on rabbits or crows/magpies. I think it says anything other than a shotgun or rifle is for certain quarry is illegal (those with close seasons i think).

My original application stated that I intended to use it hunt with. I sign the declaration that I will hun and am a member of a ginclub on the renewals. The gardai have never questioned me about it and counter sign.

I only recently heard about the fact that they are more than likely to hunt with on a uk airgun forum and saw the same information with a link to the justice website posted here.

I don't think it is a grey area, just not one they are bothered about doing anything about. I could be wrong.

Rovi

airy-fairy wrote:

I sign the declaration that I will hun

Hun? What, like Attila???-

airy-fairy wrote:

and am a member of a ginclub

Hmmmmmmm... I can just picture the monthly meetings-




Sorry airy-fairy, I couldn't resist.
I'm a weak person.

.

Ri_Nollaig

lol that is genius

airy-fairy

got, and got bad!

Just to clarify what I wrote (loosely) above.

I contacted the NARGC to establish the legality of hunting with an airrifle.

This is the response.

"The Wildlife Act prohibits the hunting of all birds with a rifle and under the definitions that includes an air rifle. The Act does not prohibit the hunting of rabbits or vermin such as rats, mink etc with an air rifle."

Good luck.

Rovi

airy-fairy wrote:

got, and got bad!

Fair enough airy-fairy, as I said, I'm a weak person. I don't usually comment on typos, but these were just toooooo good to let slip by.

airy-fairy wrote:

Just to clarify what I wrote (loosely) above.

I contacted the NARGC to establish the legality of hunting with an airrifle.

This is the response.

"The Wildlife Act prohibits the hunting of all birds with a rifle and under the definitions that includes an air rifle. The Act does not prohibit the hunting of rabbits or vermin such as rats, mink etc with an air rifle."

Many's the pigeon and crow that's fallen to a rifle, and small boys with pellet guns have accounted for plenty of dickey birds too. All illegally by the look of it, and doubly so for the dickey birds (protected species, AFAIK).

Also AFAIK, deer is the only game for which particular calibre limits are stated. Does this mean that it's 'legal' to go after foxes with an air rifle???

More stuff for the CJB to clear up.

.

fiacha

airy-fairy wrote:

I contacted the NARGC to establish the legality of hunting with an airrifle.

This is the response.

"The Wildlife Act prohibits the hunting of all birds with a rifle and under the definitions that includes an air rifle. The Act does not prohibit the hunting of rabbits or vermin such as rats, mink etc with an air rifle."

cheers for clearing that up.

Umiq88

Is it just me or are crows hard to kill with a rifle i shot a couple of crows with a .22wmr rifle at about 60 yards and i can see a burst of feathers so i know i hit them but they just fly off . My aiming is fine cause i've shot plenty of targets and i can see feathers coming off the birds and the bullets can take down foxes 40gr JHP.

Nightprowler

How's it goin, I'm over in Germany at the moment just bought Weihrauch HW77, Highly recommended! You can buy air rifles over the counter up to 7.5 Joules, and then while you're at it buy an original spring over the same counter and fit it yourself. I paid 399euro for the rifle and 20euro for the spring, which ups the power from 130 mps to 290 mps It's a bit more than I was planning on spending but it's probably the most reliable brand on the market, the accuracy of a sniper rifle ( it's the extended barrel version ) and F**k me is it powerful! anyway if your interested here's the website

http://www.weihrauch-sport.de/englisch/e_startseite/e_index.htm

I'll be bringing mine back to Ireland in september, we'll worry about the legal side of it some other time.

Sparks

I think we'll worry about it now.
There's nothing illegal in bringing back the air rifle, modified with the replacement spring or not - so long as you have a licence for it.
Get caught bringing it in without a licence, and you'll not only be in trouble yourself, but you'll risk bringing crap down on the heads of everyone else in the shooting community.

rrpc

I think he's referring to some other time between now and September

BryanL

if your looking to get a airgun i would say look to ones that are meant to be upgraded to what the english call FAC levels,HW80,HW97,AA pro sport,AA TX in the springers or if going for pre charged or PCP as they are called then the Rapids alot of the other pcp's give few shots per charged at the higher levels.
another option instead of getting a tank is to get a hand pump,they work well and keep you warm!
Bryan

Our man in Havana

airy-fairy wrote:

got, and got bad!

Just to clarify what I wrote (loosely) above.

I contacted the NARGC to establish the legality of hunting with an airrifle.

This is the response.

"The Wildlife Act prohibits the hunting of all birds with a rifle and under the definitions that includes an air rifle. The Act does not prohibit the hunting of rabbits or vermin such as rats, mink etc with an air rifle."

Good luck.

Is the hunting of rats and rabbits allowed with a .22lr?

l33t-krew

sorry to hijack but I just moved over from england.

I have got an air rifle which has a stated power of 23lb/sq inch.

This isnt powerful enough to require a license is it?


Its good for the occasional hunt or target range shooting. (shooting bottles)

cheers

bullets

l33t-krew wrote:

s
I have got an air rifle which has a stated power of 23lb/sq inch.
This isnt powerful enough to require a license is it?

Need a licence for Airfifles here in Ireland.
Anything over 1 joule of energy is defined as a firearm
and all firearms need a licence.

~B

yank_in_eire

sorry to hijack but I just moved over from england.

I have got an air rifle which has a stated power of 23lb/sq inch.

This isnt powerful enough to require a license is it?


Its good for the occasional hunt or target range shooting. (shooting bottles)

cheers

l33T Krew - is this not the same question you asked in the Airsoft forum? Were you not satisfied with the answer from them?

Do everyone on this forum a favour and get yourself a license.

bunny shooter

133t....

As you probably know in UK any air rifle over 12 FT LBS requires a FAC (Firearms Certificate) which is a firearms certificate here !

You need a licence, suggest you get it sorted. Give rifle into a firearms dealer, get a letter from him and apply for a licence. Guards should be understanding of how it actually got here ...........

Remember ! Ignorance (or claiming it !) is no defense in law ! ! ! ! ! !

Up to 10 years in jail and/or big fine if I remember rightly, and a criminal record for firearms offences, which means never legally getting a firearms certificate ! ! ! ! !

rrpc

Bond-007 wrote:

Is the hunting of rats and rabbits allowed with a .22lr?

Yes.