[Closed] Air rifles hunting / plinking

My PCP cost about £450 without a bottle. That was another £50, both s\h although I should have have bought a pump as the bottle needs inspecting about every 2nd fill.
Having a 10 shot mag and a 100 shot air chamber makes the world of difference to rapid shooting. Especially rats around the Hen houses.

I'm thinking multi shot. Like the look of the aa s200, can the be converted to multi? Assume it's the same as bikes, in that the big boys have keep value and the cheaper ones are difficult to sell on? The walther rm8 looks interesting

AA S410 is what I have. Had it years and never had any issues. Ultra quite with a silencer and deadly accurate out to 55 Yds or so.

AA S200 has an official conversion and Rowan Engineering (think Hope for guns) make one as well.

£1k would get you a tidy Theoben Rapid, scope and bottle with probably enough spare change for a couple of tins of pellets.

Of course there are much cheaper guns and to be honest you probably wouldn't notice much difference. Air Arms are a good bet, Falcon are old but well regarded and older Daystates are decent guns. A bit more money will get you a Weihrauch HW100 (popular) or a Diana P1000 (not popular).

Have a look on Guntrader, Gunstar and Freeads for a feel of how pricing works. Yes you get jokers but by and large the second hand 70% rule applies (good condition ask for 70% of RRP). Airgunforum is friendly and no issues with using classified, Airgunbbs can be toxic and can be a pain trying to get someone to approve you to use classifieds.

Some gun shops can be snobby, their loss.

Depending where you are there are some gun shows coming up.
Nec and Harrogate, both places will let you have a play with a selection of whats on offer.

Thanks guys, much appreciated good advice

At the risk of hijacking, for which I apologise, can someone who knows explain to me the various Weirauch spring guns? I can read the website, obviously, but the hierarchy, if that's the word, is not particularly clear to me.

Not sure what you mean by hierarchy.. 35,99,95 and 98 are break barrel,57,77 and 97 are underlever..they come in an assortment of stocks and 3 calibres. I have a tuned 99 in .22 its a lovely garden plinking rifle.

I guess the higher the price the better the gun 🙂

Probably the wrong word...

99 is also the 50 IIRC everywhere else in the world. No idea why, probably best to blame Hull Cartridge.

The model numbers are the year they were introduced iirc

v666ern - Member

After a while away from shooting last year a bought a stoeger atac for keeping the squirrels at bay

Not being funny but just wondered why you needed to keep squirrels at bay?

Protecting your nuts?

Greys are an invasive pest species. Debate about effective culling methods aside, that's one reason.

I was just thinking of starting a similar thread. We've got rats in our garden, and while I'm never going to get rid of them completely (near an estuary, loads of avocado and various nut and fruit trees, so an endless food supply) they are appearing closer to the house recently. We also have possums. Both are non-native pest species.

So I was thinking of getting an air rifle. For a PCP I'd need a firearms licence, which is a bit of a faff and an extra $130, so I'm thinking of starting out with a single shot. I generally only see rats out singly, so not needing to fire off multiple shots rapidly (assuming I'm a decent shot, I intend to do a lot of target practice to start with).

I've been to my local hunting shop, after a bit of discussion I have my eye on a Stoeger F40, anyone used one? Also, how do gas spring compare to traditional springs?

Not sure what you mean by hierarchy

What is the order of besterest?

Probably the wrong word

The word you seek is [b]Weiraurchy[/b]

Sbob, we have bird feeders out to supply the small birds over winter and they just eat through them meaning the magpies come in and steal the rest.

Won't somebody think of the baby robin's!

@WillH might be worth asking at your local shop if there's anyone willing to come and shoot the rats for you, a couple of people with full pcp hunting rigs would trim the rat population.

I did look at a Stoeger X20, it was ok but I didn't like the trigger. I had a Theoben Fenman that was gas ram operated it was a good gun.

The word you seek is Weiraurchy

Good work.

Year of introduction makes sense.

lazybike - Member
@WillH might be worth asking at your local shop if there's anyone willing to come and shoot the rats for you, a couple of people with full pcp hunting rigs would trim the rat population.

True, but once I started looking I find myself quite drawn to the idea of a spot of target practice from time to time too. I'm lucky enough to have plenty of room in the garden to be able to practice up to about 70m with dirt banks behind so no worries about overshooting into neighbours' yards, and no need to traipse out to the sticks or local range.

And then there's lots of n+1 shiny stuff to covet too 🙂

thegreatape - Member
At the risk of hijacking, for which I apologise, can someone who knows explain to me the various Weirauch spring guns? I can read the website, obviously, but the hierarchy, if that's the word, is not particularly clear to me.

35 - classic post war design, fine at the UK legal limit or a little below.
Open sights.
Old fashioned but an absolute classic.
Probably my favourite.

80 - really designed to work at much higher power than the UK limit, so a bit overbuilt and heavy. Bombproof.

95 - lighter than both of the above, bit more modern/efficient design.
Probably the best overall compromise for a HW break barrel.

98 - target specific version of the above with an adjustable stock.
Beautiful.

99 - lightweight, has a design flaw which means the cocking stroke can feel rough unless fettled.
Some are fine, some not.
Really pleasant to use, very little recoil.
Open sights.

HW30S.
Lower power rifle for plinking and target shooting.
Physically smaller.
Can have the same galling issues as the 99.
Lots of folks reckon this is the nicest to shoot out of the lot.
Not full UK power.
Open sights.

77 - heavy, quality underlever, bit of a classic.
Very accurate and pleasant to shoot.
Open sights.

97 - as above without the open sights.

57 - underlever again.
Cheaper, lighter and smaller than 77/97.
Seems to divide opinion, some love it, some not so keen.
Derek Starship's just got a tuned one.

All the above come with the brilliant Rekord trigger.

30 - cheaper version of the 30S without the Rekord trigger.

90 - gas ram instead of spring.
Not the Rekord trigger.

Rusty, good summary, couple of things to add:

57 is fed by a tap loader.

98 - as per 95 but with finned barrel and adjustable stock.

Will, where are you, guessing Australia?

I bought myself a BSA Scorpion T10 in .22. It came with scope, sling, siliencer, bag and bottle and cost me £400. Very, very accurate. Single hole groups out to 40m even with me pulling the trigger and will work for plinking (with a decent back stop) or knocking a few rats on the farm. IO'm thinking about putting in a regulator just because you can, but in all honesty, it doesn't need it!
If I bought again, I'd probably go .177 as the local shooting club runs competitions which I'd like a crack at.

I much prefer the self-containment aspect of a springer/gas ram.
I've had a few HWs - 77, 80, 97, a BSA Lightning XL Tactical and a BSA S10 pcp. It's unlikely, but if I ever get another, I'd probably go for a Theoben Fenman gas ram. I like a bit of recoil. Shooting pcp is great for accuracy, but it is really boring after a while...

So my opinion would be decent gas ram, or stick with what you have.

I knew I'd forgotten something.
🙂

Squirrelking - close, I'm in NZ.

How do break barrels compare to underlever designs generally? I've read somewhere that break barrels can develop a tiny amount of play over time as they wear, but this seems to be disputed by some (or at least, the dispute is whether the amount of wear ever becomes noticeable on accuracy). I'm guessing you'd have to give it some serious use over a long period to generate any significant wear?

Thanks Rusty

What would be best for killing rats, and a left hander ?

Silencer, scope, multi-shot and bipod ?

57 is fed by a tap loader

Nope. It's a steel pop-up breech. Far superior to a tap loader like the BSA Airsporters and Webley Tracker use.

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To the OP: I'm surprised you can hit anything with that Stoeger set-up. Shooting a recoiling air rifle off a bipod is IME an exercise in futility. The rifle needs to be free to move throughout its firing cycle to get consistent accurate results. A bipod effectively acts as a clamp which will stifle free movement resulting in point of impact changes from shot to shot.

What would be best for killing rats, and a left hander ?

There is something sinister about that statement.

Oh the irony! Mine didnt come with the bipod so, bored, over xmas i ordered one to try it. Turns out i was also missing the fixing rails so i currently have a bipod and no fixing with my LGS ordering a set in. The holes are something like 30mm cc's whereas everything else appears to be 40mm ccs.

My logic is, they sell it as a 'system' so it must work as this? Otherwise it would be like riding a fat bike on thin rims?!

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What would be best for killing rats

A terrier

Ah, I thought it was a tap loader like the older Dianas, my mistake.

Bipods are, in the main, pointless on springers. There are rare exceptions such as semi recoilless or well tuned guns to that point but in the main artillery hold is king. You ask why they sell them if they dont work, why do Diana sell muzzle brakes? Presumably to keep yanks happy?

Underlevers have consistency, how much more than a break barrel depends on the gun but its the generally accepted rule. Good break barrels are fine though.

If you want PCP performance in a a springer then look at the Diana 54 Air King or 56 Target Hunter. Semi recoilless, if you wanted it tuned for 12fpe (plenty for hunting at 30yards) its possible but more cost on top of an already expensive gun. Same powerplant as the 48/52 so will fire at FAC levels without missing a beat, T06 trigger is excellent as well. If no power restrictions definitely go for .22 (slower) as you dont really want to be going supersonic.

A terrier

The Jack Russell is all mouth, surprisingly.

Deffo a dog. Where i go ratting some guys come with dogs. The farmer recons we have killed 2.5 thousand rats last year between us.
I also have a PCP Pistol with red light and Red dot scope fitted. It is great for shooting through gaps in the Chicking houses when the Rats are about 4ft away in the feeding bowls.

What pistol and sight?

What pistol and sight?

No offence, but if you have to ask you don't really have any business trying to shoot vermin with a pistol.

It should also be pointed out that you should be able to achieve appropriate sized groups (brain), consistently, at whatever range you plan on shooting anything at before even attempting to do so otherwise you risk an inhumane kill which is an offence.

No offence taken but I know what works on the permissions I have.
If I need more power then the Proper guns come out.
This item is also a regular part of ny equipment.

Pistol is a SMK PP700W with a Hawk red dot sight. Again its very accurate out to about 15 yds if your plinking.