Evilv

Are you sure it's pigeons you are putting in your pies old bean not mixing a few magic mushrooms with it are you. It's amazing what you can train your body to do, depends if you can be bothered, go and practice breathing and heart rate control and you'll see it can be done. Suppose you are right in saying that i'm dieing, we all are, it's just a matter of time innit B) I completely agree with Old Rooster and Devilish Dave. Any athlete or club runner will have a much lower heart rate than the average couch potato.

LOL - Yes, I suppose a .243 would make an oil bottle explode impressively. I do remember the cost of the .22MAg was frighteningly high. As I recall, it was more than five times as much as its little brother (LR). I bought 500 german hollowpoints which expanded bigtime. They were better than the American ones - can't remember whether they were Winchester or Remington. Anyway - I'm all out of date on this stuff since the hmr came out. Its 25% faster than the old .22MAG. I remember getting it on the ticket as well as the .22LR because a farmer asked me to shoot foxes. In fact though I only used it on rabbits, beer cans and the odd pigeon. I sold it for a song with 300 rounds of ammo and spent the money on a rubbish computer - blo*dy fool! It was around the time of Michael Ryan and the whole sport had a sort of nasty wiff about it as far as the public were concerned.

I had a Winchester underlever in .22 MAG about twenty years ago and I loved that rifle and the round really. That was before .17 hmr of course. Put the cross on the target, squeeze and down it went - right out to a hundred yards... Maybe nostalgia is at work here, but no rabbit ever got up after I put the cross on it, even though plenty of them were smashed to a pulp by those jacketted hollow points. More expensive to feed than .22lr mind, and a LOT louder. I'd like to try out the hmr round mind. They do sound great, but I doubt I'm a good enough shot to take advantage of its range. Once we'd cleared out the shoot, which we soon did with two rimmies, we used to fill old beer cans with water and explode them with the .22 MAG at a hundred yards. When I say 'explode' I mean it. Looked like they'd been shot by a tank shell. I wish I had some video of those games. Wish I still had that gun - Ah - the folly of youth and avarice...

I got the feeling that you'd been asked to control pests, and that you have a LOT of land to work over. I'd say you'd better do the control thing first and then when all is well under control, you can think about a bit of conservation. As for which tool to do the job, well that's for you two chaps to sort out between you, but I'd hope you'll be able to do it and remain good mates.

Is that in .22? Is it 12 ft pound or fac? If Axe isn't interested Rooster, and you still want to move it, send me a message if you like. Cheers

Recently, I've been enjoying shooting on a place that hasn't been shot over for years. The rabbits at first were completely tame, allowing me to approach within 15 - 25 yards when there was a little cover. They'd also come out quite quickly from burrows after being disturbed, meaning that I could sit twenty yards from a hole I'd just shot a rabbit at and shoot another as it came out five minutes later for a look around. After taking out 75 rabbits in four visits from this shooter's paradise, they are now getting somewhat harder to approach - all the tame ones are dead, only the wary are left. Contrast this with another neighbouring farm which has been regularly shot over with shotguns. I got permission to shoot there this afternoon by tapping the farmer as he was doing a bit of contract work on the first farm. I went down there and saw about forty rabbits in two fields, but boy were they hard to get near. I did get three, but found them very shy - ********* off when I was 150 yards off. Also, they won't sit near walls, so my usual tactic of creeping up to a wall and shooting them over the top of it, won't work. I have to say, this is how I get most of mine. Regarding your question, this is what I think will happen. The rimfire rifle will allow you to remove the ones that you can't get now because they run off before you're within 35 - 40 yards. You'll get them at ten to thirty yards further, and then you'll only be left with the ones that are super shy. I suppose in time, more tame ones will be born, but ultimately, only the really shy will reproduce and they will tend to pass this shyness on to their offspring. So, your mate could be right. Ultimately, he's bound to get fewer shots after you've shot over it with a .22 LR PS - I've had quite a lot of experience with unsilenced .22lr. It's a lot louder than an air rifle of the TX 200 type - nowt like a 12 bore, but enough to send the ******* scrambling for cover for a hundred yards around. You might find you get a lot fewer shots unless you silence it, but your idea of taking a mate with a .22 lr to try it out is a good idea. They certainly have advantages: less prone to windage ( a lot less, because they're in the air for half the time for a given range). Also, the trajectory is a LOT flatter, and hollow point ammo will stop the ones you hit with a less than perfect shot, but then if you get one, you'll need a variation for every new piece of land until they eventually give you an open certificate. Can't plink in the garden with it either. Twelve foot pound rifles have their disadvantages, but the flexibility of go as you please shooting is quite nice in my opinion. EDIT: Forgot to mention that .22 lr are really cheap and light too. cHECK OUT THESE PRICES THE cz 452 is well thought of I think and I had a Ruger 10/22 whcih was a good reliable little ten shot semi auto. http://www.gunshop-eb.co.uk/Rimfirerifles.htm

The CZ 452 is pretty cheap - cheaper than my TX200 was... Funny that, of course they're simpler than air rifles really. Nice looking too, very traditional and the stock looks ambidextrous - important for me as I'm left eyed. I used to have a ruger 10/22 semi auto and a .22WMR underlever winchester - that was a real little cutie... Flat as a pancake for a hundred yards, but it blew the rabbits up like they'd been hit by a tank (well, almost - but they were inedible if body shot, unless straight through the ribs side to side, but that whole section was useless. That round has about 130 ft pounds at 100 yards. We used to shoot beercans full of water with it at 100 yards once we'd wiped out the rabbits. They went off like bombs - honest - just blew up in a big spray of water like they'd exploded, which of course they had. Happy days.

Those are well tight groups Frank. With that round, and that kind of shooting, those hares are as good as in the jug when you step out of the car, boyo. I'd quite like to get back into rimfire, it's just a pity I'll have to sweat around getting land inspected all over again. I used to have an open cert for Northumbria Force Area, wish I hadn't let that go... Too much work in those days - didn't have the time.

Hope you didn't have far to walk carrying them... You'd be sick if you did. I used to shoot a lot of .22 rimfire once upon a time. Just getting back into shooting with the air rifle. Surprisingly effective for such a low power thing, but only if the shot is vey precise.

"Now look here fellah - this is how I see it - we either gets on civil, or things is gonna get rough - now its all the same to me see - tell you what - you decide..." Yeah that would work with Michael Cain, and of course, he only does cockney. :o LOL.

Hi Frank, is that supersonic ammo? Must be I guess, how does it group by comparison to subsonic? There is a view that the transonic phase upsets the stability unless it[s a very fast rifling twist, in which case a jacketted bullet is needed to hold the grooves - like .22WMR, or hornet. Just wondering how you find the group size.

No Snakebite - I gave most to my freinds and just finished skinning, butchering and freezing the rest for myself. Yes Ernyha - lead poisoning was an additional complication... LOL. I'm just not that good at telling jokes - I can ruin the best comic material. I've had 61 rabbits off this ten acre shoot in three weeks and you'd think I'd never been to look at the place. There are so many, the dry stone walls are falling into holes and a barn too. I think the whole valley is overrun. It's like the Garden of Eden as far as I'm concered. I look over a wall and there's ten of the ******'s within 25 yards. I need a repeater, but then I'd have to get a pickup to cart them away. It reminds me of that great old film Zulu - remember when the guys with the spears all came over the hill beating on their shields? Maybe the place should be renamed Rourke's Drift. Perhaps a Martin Henry rifle would be more appropriate.

Probably Viral Haemporrhagic Disease, but I'm guessing. Shot another twenty rabbits today. I stop at twenty because it seems enough. Thirteen of them died of TX haemorrhagic disease and another eight of a Chinese fever, we'll just call B3, that started to effect them when my arms got tired.

Cheapskate! I bet you put bits of cardboard and old lino in your shoes when the soles wear out... Yes Dunganick the ratio thing is important. My old man bought me some 15x22 binoculars - you can't see a thing unless its June an the sun is fully out - oh and between 11.00 and 14.00. Too much mag and not enough light gathering ability. Poor old ******, he thought they'd be great - I told him they were fantastic.

I know. When I was a kid the only rabbits I saw were the ones in cages. See how much of our shooting permission evaporates if there are no bunnies... :thumbs:

Oh poor you.... LOL. It makes me sad to see you so overburdened. :( Point taken about the pump vs diver's bottle. On the rabbit numbers thing - there's a new rabbit killer disease about, though I don't know if it's in Britain yet. If we don't keep on top of this population explosion, it'll be like my childhood in the 1950s when you only saw wild rabbits in books (myxi). Some ****** will bring it in and spread it - you watch.

I had no idea it would take so little in the pumping department. That's outstanding economy. The pumps aren't cheap mind, but still, it means that you're independent of outside assistance. How do you get rid of the rabbit corpses Axe? I give mine away when I can, and I've had rabbit stew for lunch three days in a row, but at the moment, can't use them all or give them away. I'm going to the less good of my places on Saturday, but that will bring me at least another couple - it's far from as good a place as the one I told you about, but I can't afford to let them feel neglected - places aren't as easy to get as that.

Bargain's the word for sure Axe, and like somebody said somewhere, if it ain't broke - don't fix it. From what you've said, I'm sure you'll be having many a happy session out around those hedge lines with it. Good shooting! Do you charge it from a bottle, or a hand pump? I'd be interested to know how much work is involved in hand pumping a PCP rifle - say, in comparison to pumping a car tyre with a stirup pump whoch I've done.

Cheapo home made target shot with a five shot group with the open sights £35 rifle from China at 60 feet. There's a 50p piece there for scale. Maybe it's just the magical AA hunter pellets that do the trick, but I kind of think the rifle has a bit to do with it too.

That's quite a catalogue of woe there Axe, but if it's all been sorted - why worry. Rome wasn't built in a day, was it? I read about the bolt and double loading thing this morning. The blurb on the site talks about shooting them off at a hell of a rate, and then swopping magazines in a trice. I think they were saying 16 shots in 15 seconds or something - I'd like to see that done - bet they'd be grouping worse than a 12 bore at that fire rate. (was that comment on the Logun site, or somewhere else - not sure?) The bipod would certainly be a nice idea, kind of like resting on a sand bag when prone without the weight. I could do with one of those maybe. I try to rest on posts, or walls or steady the rifle on tree trunks when I'm out on my two places, but when I'm standing up, there's always that slight sway of the body to contend with -prone is a different matter - it's good to see the crosshairs absolutely steady on the target. Shot one yesterday like that, lying in a small steep sided gully and aiming uphill. He was sitting outside a burrow on the hillside. Thirty yards and the first shot bounced off the dirt five inches downwind of where I'd aimed. He looked startled, but settled down, while I reloaded and tried again. Same aiming point, same result, I'd never thought I'd have to allow five inches windage. Next time, I fired at him, he tumbled, kicking down the hill with a shot in the neck. I quickly recovered him and finished the job, but he wasn't going anywhere. That's the problem with wind on a day like yesterday, the gusts can vary so much, moment to moment. It was bending the trees at times. As for the S16 being cheap on the second hand market - I hope you didn't buy it new, or if you did, I hope you're keeping it. Sounds as if you are. I just checked the Logun pricelist £495, but Ramsbottom has it for £345.

I checked out the s16 - wow - it's a rather futuristic looking assassin rifle, isn't it... I'm more of a traditional sort myself, but I can see that it's eminently practical and modern. Sounds accurate too, from what it says on the site. What do people have against them - apart from the looks which I can see might put some off - it's a bit like the stealth from a layman's point of view, but probably more expensive.

I wonder if you snapped his spinal cord Axe? My best ever shot was from behind a rabbit from about twenty yards. I aimed for the back of his head, under the ears. He just slumped - not a twitch. The pellet entered the base of the skull beneath the left ear and exited through the eye. Obviously took out exactly the right spot on the way.

Thanks Axe, it's funny how some types are in the fashion and others not. I know some are things of beauty and triumphs of engineering, and some are NOT mind... I don't know the s16 at all, so I'll look it up after this post and find out about it. I have the feeling it's a Logun, but am probably wrong. That permission is shooters heaven. The woman who owns it said yesterday, 'Come every day if you like.' when I checked it wasn't too much if I came once a week. 'Bring a tent and stay here - sleep in the barn' she added, as two rabbit kittens waltzed around the yard ten feet from her front door. While I was doing my hens this morning, I was fantasising about living up there in a caravan - utter bliss mate - a solar panel for the tele, a full gas bottle and I'd be made... LOL. Did you notice the crack in the B3 stock Axe... It was filled with some kind of **** filler. I just dug that out and stuffed it with hard wax. It looks kind of 'lived in' that rifle, and I don't care if it gets wet or scratched, I'll just oil it up when I get home and stand it in a corner. It's rough and agricultural - but what else is pest control mate? I'm all the time trying to protect the blueing and my oiled stock on the TX, as I crawl through woods, and sneak over walls, or rest on them for those longer shots - which I wouldn't take with the B3, because its trajectory is 7 ft pound howitzer style - 20 yards tops, and aim right at the b*gger.

Ha ha ha - some chance of that Axe mate! Mine knows if I've bought a tin of pellets - doesn't object to anything I do, but she knows, and now and again, I get a raised eyebrow.

I wanted to take my youngest son out with me when I was shooting the TX and not wanting to spend a lot, especially since I didn't know if he'd like shooting, I bought him a £35 Chinese B3 rifle (generous fellow, I hear you say). He did ok with it, knocking over six on his last trip out. Today, he couldn't come with me, so, I took the cheapo rifle out with me, along with the TX. It was windy, strong gusts and showers, a lot different to my outing last Tuesday, and I had to allow quite a lot of windage - as much as 5 inches, which surprised me. Remember, I'm quite a new airgun hunter, a refugee from rimfire and shotties. Anyway, I kept the ranges short, about 60 - 70 feet, and soon had fifteen rabbits with the TX. Some were rather too small to carry about, so I dumped them under rocks and such. The farm is on steep ground in the North Pennines and by 2 o'clock, I was getting a wee bit sick of lugging the TX, so I strolled back to the car, ate an apple pie, had a swig of coffee and drew the Chinese B3 from its box.... It was light, came to the shoulder nicely and felt extremely pointable for offhand shooting... I smiled and strolled to the wood, where I'd seen rabbits earlier. Now, several pounds of TX lighter (i was at least three pounds lighter with the B3 in my hands, or was it just the coffee?) I sliped the gate open and stepped into the lush green of the wood. A steep lope lay ahead of me, strewn with rocks and fallen trees - close quarter stuff this, snap shooting, and plenty of cover for me with all the downed trees and boulders, though little for the quarry in the short, nibbled grass. I moved slowly and listened - felt the wind, sniffed the rotting corpse of some dead cony. I take most of my kills away, but the farmer doesn't. I moved on, felt the sting of a long nettle on my face as I ducked under a fallen trunk, and there he was, nibbling grass twenty yards off. He must be able to see me, surely? If he could, he didn't care. I slowly brought the B3 up - it floated to my cheek and there he was, sitting on the bead at the end of the barrel. I squeezed the heavy trigger - a bad feature of the B3, and squeezed again, staring hard at his head, with the bead just under his eye. A muffled crack, and he sprang into a somersault, and lay twitching on the grass. I reloaded in a trice, a lighter spring than the old TX, and no clackety clack clack clack of anti beartrap mechanism. He was safe, not a runner, so I glanced around. Other eyes were watching, ears alert, one, eminently takeable, further up the bank. I rested on a convenient trunk and rotated towards him slowly. He was sitting bolt upright beside a large rock. A strong gust came across the field of fire, so I waited, holding my breath. He stayed stock still, and when the wind dropped, he jumped as the pellet smashed into his skull, and then he rolled thirty feet down towards me, and lay still. I got three more with the £35 rifle inside half an hour, missing only one when a gust carried the projectile further to the right than I'd allowed for. A puff of dust kicked up an inch from his head and he was gone, but still, I now had twenty - that would do. I paunched the ones I knew I had takers for among my freinds and, burried the smallest that were left. I like that little rifle, I know it's only about 7 ft pounds, I know it has open sights, I know I had to refinish the disgusting stock and oil it, but it bloody well does the job, and it's light, accurate, and predictable. Futhermore, it points like a dream, and stays on the target while I squeeze that bloody trigger until it finally lets go. You can see what I shot with it at the link below. It's the second picture on the page and the B3 rabbits are in the pile under the gun. Thirty five quid delivered to my door - money well spent in my book. See what I mean by heresy? A good day out. http://huntingblog.blogspot.com/