does anyone shoot?

Just thought id ask.

I have a shotgun and a few air rifles, one of them (my pride and joy) is a daystate huntsman .25 caliber PCP rifle, I have a firearms licence for this one as its a real powerful motherfucker that's capable of taking down things as big as foxes and permission to shoot on a couple of farms around Bolton. 

I'm not really a 'hunter' in the general sense, I prefer to set up long range field targets however, I do occasionally go after rabbits/hares and wood pigeon/crows if a farmer is having 'issues' with them. 

I make a mean rabbit stew  

Iv'e recently been going out at night with a friend looking for a fox that keeps giving a farmers chickens the eye, I will find the little shit and fill its head with lead soon... hopefully. 

I'm also a regular at atherton indoor shooting range and have done sessions training scouts and army cadets in the past.  

Any other 'sporting shooters' on the forum?

I used to shoot quite regularly. I had a Franchi 5 shot semi automatic shotgun and I knew a farmer out in Carrington who used to let me and my brother shoot on his land. I gave up my shotgun after Hungerford because I had to send it to Stensby's to be modified so it could no longer have five cartridges.

My brother still shoots regularly up at Sedburgh and he is also a member of the Clay Pigeon shooting club at Worsley.

We do abit of Fox and Rabbit shooting in the wood's (27 acre's).
I have a Air Arms TX200 MK3, nice gun.

Mr Magoo wrote:We do abit of Fox and Rabbit shooting in the wood's (27 acre's).
I have a Air Arms TX200 MK3, nice gun.

Do you eat the rabbits Magoo?

Yes cooked over an open fire, I had the kidney last time, tiny little thing.

I've never eaten Rabbit, or Pheasant for that matter. I keep saying I'll try it but you never see it on a menu anywhere.

Bloody hell Trotter. 

Firearms law in the UK is a little far-fetched, I understand they have to be controlled but I think the 12ft/lb power limit limit on air weapons is a little pathetic. 

Magoo, that's a nice gun you have there fella, is it the FAC rated one or the 12ft/lb version? 

if you still hunt and don't have an FAC, I would recommend investing in a PCP rifle, instead of single shot you have a magazine that will hold between 6 or 14 rounds and due to the fact they utilize compressed air they can fire a much heaver grain pellet (thus carrying more kinetic energy to the prey) with greater distance and accuracy. 

The best 'cheap' PCP on the market is the Hatsan/Edgar bros BT65 - 8 shot magazine and full power, rivals some models costing twice as much. 

http://www.solware.co.uk/air-pistol-air-rifle/Hatsan-BT65-PCP-Multi-Shot-Full-Powered-Air-Rifle.shtml

I'm actually considering buying one of these myself as my PCP is FAC rated and i cant take it on most air rifle ranges for this reason.

Trotter, I have a shotgun as well, it was given to me by my dad, its about 20 years old, double barrel, pretty standard thing really, I believe its made by browns. 

Im not a massive fan of shotguns, range is shite and accuracy over about 30 meters is debatable, i much prefer the challenge a rifle gives me.

I agree Rebel, especially when you look at some of the hardware you can buy over the counter in America. The authorities make the argument that events like Hungerford and Dunblaine are very rare in the UK since stricter legislation was imposed but I'm not certain. The majority of registered gun owners in the UK tend to be law abiding individuals by and large. It's not the gun that kills you but the idiot pulling the trigger.

I used to have a BSA .177 air rifle and I used Prometheus pellets instead of lead.

Reebok_Rebel wrote: 

Im not a massive fan of shotguns, range is shite and accuracy over about 30 meters is debatable, i much prefer the challenge a rifle gives me.

I agree about the accuracy with shotguns. If I used BB cartridges I could puncture a fridge door. I called it the alley clearer.

RR when i got it we tested the power on it, it came standard at 12.8 ft/lb.
It was tested 3 times, same result.

Exactly my argument. 

I've owned guns for years, living quite rural ive been brought up in that environment, i know loads of gun owners and like you say - guns don't kill, the idiots behind them do. 

To get my FAC the rigmarole was disgusting, they look in to your mental state and medical history as well as were you intend to shoot and what, you have to have a valid reason for owning one - you cant just 'like' shooting for fun in the UK anymore, the police don't consider it a 'sport' - the police have me down as a 'pest control contractor' at a farm as my reason, good job im friendly with landowners otherwise it would be no FAC for me. 

Be careful with those Prometheus pellets, they are a bit of a fad if im honest, ive never been keen. not only are they extremely light (hence the disgustingly high velocity claims) above anything more than 8/10 meters they become erratic and very inaccurate (noisy too - sonic boom) due to the supersonic speeds they can hit, once anything below say 20 grains weight hits the sound barrier it tends to 'tumble' a lot and accuracy seriously suffers.  Worse is the fact that due to the very light nature of them (i think about 6 or 7 grains in .177 cal) they can push the fps way over the legal limit of 1200fps - then, regardless of the ft/lb rating of your gun, you can fall foul of the law due to the speed of the pellet. risky game. 

Anything (regardless of what gun you shoot) airgun wise that fires about 1200fps is pointless at distance, in my PCP i fire a 30 grain pellet at just under 1200fps - that gives a good compromise between stopping power and accuracy.

Mr Magoo wrote:RR when i got it we tested the power on it, it came standard at 12.8 ft/lb.
It was tested 3 times, same result.

what grain pellet were you firing at the time? 

try a slightly heavier one - not only will the gun be a wee bit more accurate, but the legal limit is 12ft/lb - if the police happen to pop in on you and test it, even if its one billionth of a ft/lb over 12 they will ass fuck you for it. 

police hate air rifles with a passion and will try any means they can to fuck you over.

Mr Magoo wrote:We do abit of Fox and Rabbit shooting in the wood's (27 acre's).
I have a Air Arms TX200 MK3, nice gun.

you shoot fox with a sub 12ft/lb air rifle? 

bloody hell, you would either have to hit it directly in the eye to take it down or pump about 10 rounds in its torso in to it to kill it. 

foxes are tough. you need a very heavy pointed pellet of a large (.22 or above) caliber to get through one...

Diabolo field 5.5mm, 1.037 grams, when shooting we normally go in a group.
Some of the guys have serious guns, mine would not kill a fox,

AA diablo field is a good pellet. 

I like the Bisley range myself for my 'legal' guns. 

If your out hunting, up to about 15/20 meters you cant beat a hollow point though for sheer knock down power.

Does shooting animals make you feel "hard" Rebel? Does it the give you the same buzz as throwing empty glasses at families in Scotts?

Went to a shooting range in West Virginia when travelling the east coast of america last summer. We rang ahead to check we didn't need any licences/permits etc and then when we turned up the guy said 'Were you those Australians I spoke to on the phone earlier?', 'Well we're English, but yeah, that was probably us'. Had a bit of a fun with a .38 revolver, a colt .45 and an AR-15 assault rifle (of sandy hook notoriety). Oh, and this .22 with a supressor and red dot site which was a bit Call of Duty. Good fun.

Natasha Whittam wrote:Does shooting animals make you feel "hard" Rebel? Does it the give you the same buzz as throwing empty glasses at families in Scotts?

not at all. 

As i stated above, I prefer HFT shooting (hunter field target) I very rarely shoot live prey - only when I get asked to as a favor by a farmer. the only exception to this is woodpigeon (the government ACTUALLY asks us to 'control' the numbers of these as they cause a lot of crop damage and the numbers of them are vast - they taste very 'gamey' as well, very much like pheasant) 

I've seen potential live quarry before when shooting and left it alone, I don't kill for the sake of it. 

If you have an issue with hunting then fine, but first consider a few things... 

> have you seen the damage a fox does to a chicken coop? first of all, however much defenses a farmer puts up, they will eventually get in, when they do, they don't just eat a chicken or 2 then bugger off, they eat a few then, when they are full, they rip the rest apart and play with them leaving behind a trail of hundreds of dead, half ripped apart chickens in their wake. If part of your livelihood relied on keeping chickens - you would get rid of them as well, as I have done in the past and will continue to do so. due to the changes in the law regarding foxhunting, the numbers are rising as well now. you don't even want to know what foxes to do Lambs - Lambs that could have ended up on your plate, killed humanely instead of having its throat ripped out and bleeding to death while its parents look on... 

Rabbits and hares may look cute and fluffy but they can destroy entire crop yields if not controlled. Same with crows.

^^ that said, I actually own 2 white lop-eared rabbits, my Little boy loves them to bits...