daystate64

Pigeons are not at all interested in Oat drillings. They much prefer to get onto the rape just after the Cleoptile stage, and on stubbles. Rabbits are not too keen either on Oats because the leaves are a bit hairy. This has been used to the farmers advantage because growers are now introducing cereal varieties that have hairy leaves which the bunnies hate thus keeping them from destroying thousands of hectares of crops nation wide, not so good for us shooters, but for us farmers yeah! :0

I use a BSA contender 3 - 16 X 50 scope on my .22 This has range finder on it and it also has BDC, (BULLET DROP COMPENSATOR). This is a very good system which enable you to have about 8 different Zeros on your scope. This allows me to take bunnies out at about 120yards wind permitting. scopes with BDC are usually found on target rifles but i have found it a very useful addition to my armoury. They usually cost a bit more than conventional scopes but they are worth it. I picked mine up at teh young farmer show 3 years ago for £75 ex demo. A new one costs around £100 good luck dave

I currently run a Falcon FN12, at about 20lb/ft. This is very effective on rabbits, pigeons, rats, etc., out to about 65-70 yards, providing you are on target Most rifles running at 12lb/ft will consistantly kill, (cleanly), rabbits out to about 45 yards, maybe 50 if your lucky, but shooting should not be about luck especially rifle shooting, it should be about skill because the "lucky" hunter will wound alot more of his/her quarry then a skilled shooter. It is best to keep air rifle ranges to a maximum range of 35 yards to be sure of killing cleanly. If you cannot consistantly get 10 shots into a 2" circle at 30 yards you should not be trying to shoot game at that distance. Air rifle shooting is all about field craft. The art of rifle shooting is to get as close to your quarry as possible without being detected. Practise makes perfect, so a good dose of target shooting every week will enable you to take good clean kills out in the field. Good luck Dave