Air Rifles

[FGYT]

that is or was a Webley Axsor Carbine in .20cal
had a little modification By Venom and a bit by Dave Welham and a bit by me
and was my go at making the perfect air rifle (for me)

I call it a AWH_24
http://members.aol.com/FGYT/AWH_24/AWH_24.htm

 

[joejoe]

Hmmn all well and good but I can't find a club in County Durham/Derwentside so I spose i'm stuffed lol.

Kev

hi do not if is still there, there was a gun club in conset,reallt nice bunch of ladsfailing that try mayfair shooting club in sundsrland, thet might help

 

[woodstock]

BSA have never made a CO2 Super 10

I think he was referring to the PCP BSA super10

 

[woodstock]

I teach air rifle use on Saturday mornings. Before shooting rabbits I would advise finding a local club where you can get some tuition and test your abilities. The rule of the responsible hunter is: If you are not 100% sure of a clean kill with your first shot. Don't take the shot. :AR15firin

I am spent years teaching range etiquette but it does not equip you to hunt that is a totality different discipline that's field craft skills Hunting stalking, I know what your saying you need Skill at arms training but there is so much more believe it or not you need more field craft skills to hunt animals than humans

 

[Robbo]

Spring and piston for me, PCP's feel kinda soulless to me, plus I dont like the idea of having to get the diver's bottles refilled and checked regularly or spend 10 or more minutes manually pumping the reservoirs up, dont get me wrong though PCP's are very accurate with no recoil, I just think they feel weird to shoot.

As far as CO2 is concerned I think they vary in power too much with temperature for my liking.

As far as buying one goes dont write off the older models.

This is my hunting rifle, a .22 1974 BSA Mercury MK 2, full length barrel, BSA volumetric moderator and a cheap but amazing clear 4x40 scope, I've stripped and refinished the beech stock with linseed oil to reduce glare and increase grip with wet hands and I've fitted a sling, it's putting out around 10.4ftlbs using AirArms field pellets. and its taken its fair share of rabbits and pigeons.

Regarding the accuracy of a break barrel airgun versus say an underleaver (like the HW77/97, TX200) or a PCP, I held my own at an informal Hunter Field Target comp at ranges upto 30 yards (probably the max range I'd consider it human to shoot live quarry at). Essentially all of the times I've missed a rabbit or pigeon was down to me not the rifle.

If you want resonably cheap no-nonsense gun to put meat on the table then you might want to consider a 2nd hand BSA Lightning, Supersport, or even (if you can find a decent one) a Mercury, I must add that any of the full power HW break barrels are worthy choices too; the time proven HW35 and the legendery beast that is the HW80.

Andy

 

[Salix]

I have a BSA lightening XL the Tactical as oposed to the wooden stock as i just prefer the feel, it's a touchy feely thing Mine puts out about 11.5 lb ft, a cheap Richter 4 X 40 scope, and has been accurate enough for me taking on the squirrls and maggies. It's what i could afford at the time, im not planning on moving up.........im happy with everything

Mark

 

[Ratbag]

I have a BSA lightening XL the Tactical as oposed to the wooden stock as i just prefer the feel, it's a touchy feely thing Mine puts out about 12.5 lb ft, a cheap Richter 4 X 40 scope, and has been accurate enough for me taking on the squirrls and maggies. It's what i could afford at the time, im not planning on moving up.........im happy with everything

Mark

Except the power level! (unless you've a FAC) Be careful...

Rat

 

[Salix]

I stand corrected Ratbag, i gained an extra lb in the excitement of my musings

although i would like the full power version

Mark

 

[Silverback]

I've been hunting with rifles for most of my life. Shot just about everything, one can legally shoot in the UK and I'm never 100% sure of a clean kill.

John

Ditto that - 34 years looking down a rifle barrel and not a single shot where I was 100% sure of a clean kill

 

[In Wood]

I used to have an HW80 with a full upgrade kit on it, Ox main spring, whisper silencer, Moonlighter scope, it was the dog bits. I could not use lead pellets as they disintergrated on exit, used to use Rhino or Prometheous pellets. They would take chunks out of brick at 50 yards.:yikes:
I had that when I had my shotgun licence about 20yrs ago. I sold it to a farmer, boy do I wish I had kept it.
Left shooting for quite a while but a couple of years back was given and old BSA meteor that would not blow the skin off a rice pudding.
So I totaly stripped it, replaced all the seals, fitted an Ox spring and scope and that is my current tree rat bagger. It is no where near as powerful as my HW80, but as least it is legal.
I have shot gas rifels but am an old boy at heart and like the break barrel guns better.

 

[spamel]

I have a BSA lightening XL the Tactical as oposed to the wooden stock as i just prefer the feel, it's a touchy feely thing Mine puts out about 11.5 lb ft, a cheap Richter 4 X 40 scope, and has been accurate enough for me taking on the squirrls and maggies. It's what i could afford at the time, im not planning on moving up.........im happy with everything

Mark

I took my brothers S410 out when he first got it. Now, it was bought off of a well respected member of the AirgunBBS who was a really nice bloke. He said he had recently had it chronoed at just under 12 ft lbs. We had no reason to disbelieve him.

When I went out on my shoot, I came upon a rabbit that hopped through the fence. I was slightly higher, but I sat down and waited for it to hop back out. I could see the rabbit looking at me from behind the fence, but I waited and a second rabbit hopped out. I waited for him to settle, squeezed the trigger and watched as it keeled over and twitched a little on a rear foot, then nothing else!

When I got over to the rabbit, its' head was all domed up at the top. It's wierd, I've seen it a few times before and must be due to massive heamorrhiging (sp?). Somehow, the rifle just felt too powerful. We went down to the gun shop a while later to get it checked and it was putting out at about 15-16 instead of 12! Not much, but that is a third more power than it should have had!

I would very much like to get an FAC and get my Rapid upped and a longer barrel, FAC rifles are the biz!

 

[joejoe]

I took my brothers S410 out when he first got it. Now, it was bought off of a well respected member of the AirgunBBS who was a really nice bloke. He said he had recently had it chronoed at just under 12 ft lbs. We had no reason to disbelieve him.

When I went out on my shoot, I came upon a rabbit that hopped through the fence. I was slightly higher, but I sat down and waited for it to hop back out. I could see the rabbit looking at me from behind the fence, but I waited and a second rabbit hopped out. I waited for him to settle, squeezed the trigger and watched as it keeled over and twitched a little on a rear foot, then nothing else!

When I got over to the rabbit, its' head was all domed up at the top. It's wierd, I've seen it a few times before and must be due to massive heamorrhiging (sp?). Somehow, the rifle just felt too powerful. We went down to the gun shop a while later to get it checked and it was putting out at about 15-16 instead of 12! Not much, but that is a third more power than it should have had!

I would very much like to get an FAC and get my Rapid upped and a longer barrel, FAC rifles are the biz!

hope you got power dropped, law will take it straight off you

 

[spamel]

That's what we did at the gun shop.Looking on the right side of the rifle is a small allen type grub screw, with the central pole to stop normal allen keys being used in it. This had been blatantly snapped off. After the guy removed this, which is just a basic anti tamper cover and dust cover to gain access to the actual adjustment screw inside, it became apparent tht the adjustment screw was missing!

 

[Shewie]

I got a BSA Goldstar when I was 16 with my first ever wage packet from Morrisons. It took me weeks to talk my mum into letting me have one but she eventually gave in. In 1991 I waited months for the launch of the first ever repeating air rifle rather than getting a Weihrauch 77 which was really nice too at that time. Still got it up in the loft although it hasn`t fired a shot in over 8 years, just nowhere to go these days.


Rich

 

[sharp88]

I have an AA S400 beech carbine in the beefy calibre of .22, with a Hawke night eye 3-9 scope and a standard AA silencer. Very lightweight, especially when compared to a Weihrauch, has great accuracy potential and is quite silent.

I'd reccommend joining a local HFT club, as there always full of helpfull and knowledgable people. Good to find places to hunt too. Just ask around, get some decent groupings, do a few competitions, build up a rep' and help out with anything you can. Thats my plan.

 

[Salix]

I took my brothers S410 out when he first got it. Now, it was bought off of a well respected member of the AirgunBBS who was a really nice bloke. He said he had recently had it chronoed at just under 12 ft lbs. We had no reason to disbelieve him.

When I went out on my shoot, I came upon a rabbit that hopped through the fence. I was slightly higher, but I sat down and waited for it to hop back out. I could see the rabbit looking at me from behind the fence, but I waited and a second rabbit hopped out. I waited for him to settle, squeezed the trigger and watched as it keeled over and twitched a little on a rear foot, then nothing else!

When I got over to the rabbit, its' head was all domed up at the top. It's wierd, I've seen it a few times before and must be due to massive heamorrhiging (sp?). Somehow, the rifle just felt too powerful. We went down to the gun shop a while later to get it checked and it was putting out at about 15-16 instead of 12! Not much, but that is a third more power than it should have had!

I would very much like to get an FAC and get my Rapid upped and a longer barrel, FAC rifles are the biz!

Sounds good to me

Mark

 

[galew]

Ditto that - 34 years looking down a rifle barrel and not a single shot where I was 100% sure of a clean kill

I agree, I am 67 been hunting since I was 5 (supervised) I would say I have had maybe 10 at the most that I thought I was 100% sure of. Except using varmit loads in my 243 for jack rabbits, there any hit was a kill, would field dress them at 300 yards with a hit anywhere in the body.

 

[mortalmerlin]

If I were you I would go to a field target club and see what people are using and what they recommend. Remember they will probably recommend whatever they are using

Personally I have tried a lot of rifles but mainly used two rifles for hunting, both Theoben, a PCP Rapid 7 and now an Eliminator break barrel with gas ram. IMHO the best was my Rapid, without question. It's light, silent (the pellet makes more noise when it hits), very accurate and easy to use (and doesn't look like something out of terminator). Sadly I had to sell it and now I have the Eliminator because I always wanted one and I don't have all the re-filling kit anymore. The Eliminator is heavier, hard to cock but a complete joy to use in terms of grin factor. It's very smooth and also very accurate for a spring rifle. I have a HW97 as well, which is okay I suppose in a German kind of way

 

[fishfish]

ime suprised by the number of votes for springers! i used springers for 30 years and until recently would have sworn by them , i got a BSA super 10 for sod all second hand , its silent , recoiless and has a 10 shot magazine . my success rate has soared.

i still have my BSA springer for emergencies though!

 

[Daegurth]

i've used a springer and a pump-up before, but when i buy my first in february, it's going to be a BSA scorpion T-10 (PCP) with a nikko 3-9x42 scope.

does anyone have a definite preference for a particular calibre? if so, why?

i want to get .22 because i'll be using it for hunting as well as plinking, but with the extra accuracy and range of .177, would that be better? or is it just not reliable enough at making a clean kill?