achosenman

I'm aware of the claims and counter claims of the numbers of civilian deaths. I personally don't buy it. "Innocent" people who harbour, supply or otherwise give succor to these animals, are more likely to get caught up in the crossfire. Having some experience of terrorist methods first hand in a previous career, experience tells me many are not as "innocent" as portrayed by NGO's with an agenda, or terrorists with an agenda.

I got an XT a few weeks ago for my partners son. It worked right out of the box. I put a Tracer Led Ray on it as its for short range rabbits on an air rifle. The NM 800 is overkill for anything less than 100m. I used Sports Match adjustable rings for coarse zero and a couple of clicks on the scope to fine tune. Some shooters have run out of adjustment using other rings. I Personally went Longbow after struggling with dedicated and add on for years. I spent years searching and trying different units...including military offerings. It's the best out there by a big margin in my experience. I can drop foxes well beyond ranges typical for day shooting let alone at night. The big downside is it's pricey if you want an XD4 tube or better and they are built to order, so you get to wait. I do switch it out on 3 rifles using Recknagel Picatinny QD's with no loss of zero so far. Drone Pro has had issues from memory as well as other offerings in NV. Improvements are happening on an almost yearly basis. IME the Yukon is a remarkable bit of kit for its price point. Good luck

I believe that's absolutely correct..to an extent. The trouble for me is it assumes the only reason for terrorist attacks are due to the "intervention" Their stated aim is to rule the world under their particular ideological interpretation of Islam. The attacks will not stop until Sharia holds sway in the west...period.

She's sounding more gullible than smart, to me. The £10 minimum wage will mean the young lass I have just employed will be on reduced hours at best, or redundant at worst. As for hitting small business with higher corporation tax...ahh no. We are smart enough to run a company, we are smart enough to prevent the government from robbing us blind. Also it's prudent to remember, higher operation costs mean increased prices for the customer. JC still doesn't understand, there is no magic money tree.

Benjamin Franklin once said: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Every action/decision has a consequence. If you invite the fox into the chicken coop on Monday, don't expect to have any chickens left by Tuesday. Why should we give up basic privacy to cure poor, politically correct decisions, made by politicians too stupid to smell the coffee?

I believe the most besieged nation on Earth has to be Israel. They have procedures and processes that must be hugely effective, considering the staggeringly high proportion of the Islamic world population who wants them wiped off the face of this planet. Of course the big no no for our left leaning luvvies, is those procedures more than likely contravene "uman rites" so are unacceptable in modern day UK. A much better idea is to get someone else to pick up the body parts, while the "great and the good" bravely make heart signs and walk across a bridge.

No we don't just have to live with it. That's just a wet hand wringing sheeple mindset. BTW, punctuation is your friend. I almost run out of breath trying to read your posts

You only have to look to realise that some have not grown up in "English society" Multiculturalism has enabled them to be indoctrinated from early school age onward in a medieval barbaric faith. There is very little integration in some parts of society in this country. It's about time all public office and schools were secular by law.

Internment has been tried. The sad fact is, the general public have short memories and even shorter attention spans.

The 48ft lbs of the .25 is not required, nor desirable for my needs. I have a 22lr if I need that kind of power. As has been mentioned, the .22 option is still useful enough at decent range, but not too powerful that it restricts the user to just 22lr type applications. IE into trees, in and around barns and in enclosed area's. The other consideration is that I have never found any reduced power 22lr round that could hit the proverbial barn door, so air it has to be.

On my patch I eradicate the problem area's only. I can sit back at 300yds + and clear out a warren in a few days if pushed. I've had to do this on a couple of occasions on my main patch due to the damage being inflicted. These days all they need is controlling. If there is a problem crop and there have been several over the years, I can eradicate in excess of several hundred over a few days with a 22lr and a Longbow NV unit. This is purely vermin control, nothing sporting about it. TBH, the logistics of dealing with the carcasses takes more time than shooting them. As for the FAC .22 slot that I have just acquired, I want to fill a niche in the power bracket between 12ft lbs air and .22lr. I have some area's that are close to A roads that I cannot shoot safely with a rimfire. A center fire rifle is simply not suitable. ATM, walking around with the NV unit on a sub 12ft lbs air rifle has proved somewhat effective, but IMHO is far to limited to be truly useful at the ranges I need for rabbit control. Atb

For vermin control I use whatever makes me more effective. I have a lot of land to cover and only so much time to do it in. The Farmer wants me to do the job, he doesnt trust anyone else after several bad experiences. For deer stalking I would never dream of using thermal or night vision, (except for the yearly census) I am not clearing problem pests, rather managing and maintaining a valued asset.

The trouble with the internet is you only get a view designed to reinforce the authors prejudices. As I said, the law allows the use of firearms in certain circumstances. The government publication Guidance on firearms licensing law (guidance to Police) states: Dogs 14.61 Section 9 of the Animals Act 1971provides a defence for killing or injuring a dog if the defendant acted to protect livestock, and subsequently informs the police within forty-eight hours of the incident. The defendant can only act in defence of livestock in such a way if the livestock, or the land on which it is, belongs to them or to any other person under whose express or implied authority they are acting. Note that the Animal Act 1971 does not extend to Scotland – see section 13(4). And below is section 9 of the animals act 1971: 9 Killing of or injury to dogs worrying livestock. (1)In any civil proceedings against a person (in this section referred to as the defendant) for killing or causing injury to a dog it shall be a defence to prove— (a)that the defendant acted for the protection of any livestock and was a person entitled to act for the protection of that livestock; and (b)that within forty-eight hours of the killing or injury notice thereof was given by the defendant to the officer in charge of a police station. (2)For the purposes of this section a person is entitled to act for the protection of any livestock if, and only if— (a)the livestock or the land on which it is belongs to him or to any person under whose express or implied authority he is acting; and (b)the circumstances are not such that liability for killing or causing injury to the livestock would be excluded by section 5(4) of this Act. (3)Subject to subsection (4) of this section, a person killing or causing injury to a dog shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to act for the protection of any livestock if, and only if, either— (a)the dog is worrying or is about to worry the livestock and there are no other reasonable means of ending or preventing the worrying; or (b)the dog has been worrying livestock, has not left the vicinity and is not under the control of any person and there are no practicable means of ascertaining to whom it belongs. (4)For the purposes of this section the condition stated in either of the paragraphs of the preceding subsection shall be deemed to have been satisfied if the defendant believed that it was satisfied and had reasonable ground for that belief. (5)For the purposes of this section— (a)an animal belongs to any person if he owns it or has it in his possession; and (b)land belongs to any person if he is the occupier thereof. As I previously stated, I think any prudent firearms user should get proper legal advice, not rely on internet chatter.

Ordnace there you go with the cut'n'paste. As I said, I am happy with my position and will do what is lawful. You must do what you are happy with, but then again I suspect you have never had to make a decision where there are profound consequences if you get it wrong. Again, I'm not going to debate this with you.

The truth is always the from the POV of the person telling it. That is why there is frequently discrepancies about the same incident from differing witnesses. If you are tacitly suggesting I would lie and needlessly shoot some-ones dog, you couldn't be more wrong. The dog I mention above could have been shot by me and no-one would have been any the wiser. I don't do that sort of thing, just like I don't shoot peoples pet cats. Atb

No offence intended, but I'll take the advice of the Police and my solicitors' over yours. Since I may be called on to do the deed, I took precautions and got professional legal advice. The are certain restrictions true, but as long as you clearly state when you give your statement indicating that those conditions were met, then it is a lawful shooting. Again, respectfully, I'm not going to re-hash this debate on PW, it's been done to death on a myriad of other forums ad nauseam All I would suggest is get legal advice from a proper solicitor, it will cost money but doesn't everything. Atb

Shooting a dog worrying sheep is legal. Hampshire Police (Petersfield) instructed me to just get on with it and inform them when the job was done because it saved paperwork. They were going to charge the owner under the dangerous dogs act to boot. This particular animal had history, and the owner was warned by myself, the Police and the farmer on several occasions. Thankfully the family moved before the errant hound could do any more damage. Not something anyone wants to do, but sometimes unpleasant things happens.

Well that Bobcat certainly gets the job done.

The solutions available to mount/carry kit is vast these days. It used to be the exclusive preserve of the military, but is now so main stream pretty much any requirement can be met.

That's good to hear, can you mount a sling? I use a single point sling on the Impact using a Magpul Picatinny rail ring attachment. It makes life a lot easier. Atb

Thanks Louis the truth is I still think the .25 is "better" than a .22 for all the reasons you mention. Hamster's posts got me thinking about what I'm really looking for. The truth is I need a .22 for its lower power ability. IE, less than 20 ftlbs for in and around the farm but because its a lighter pellet the velocity will be faster than the .25 generating the same power, but with a flatter trajectory. As with all FX's, being able to turn the power up to around 38 ftlbs for open fields etc means it's probably the ideal caliber for my needs atm. If I need a longer reach, I start with the powder burners and then it goes out to hundreds of yds. How are you getting on with the Bobcat? I tried to get to handle one before I discovered the Impact, they are like hens teeth. I tried a Wildcat during my search and didn't get on with it for some reason. It didn't fit me that well and was a bit light, especially at the muzzle. The Bobcat seemed to me to be the more "grown up" version of the design, I tend to shoot rifles that have a bit of heft a lot better than the their light cousins. I think there were only two or three Bobcats' available in the whole of the UK when I was searching. How is the accuracy at 50 yds? With a .25 I would think that's where it really starts to shine. Atb

Normally on JSB's and AA's it's on the back on a label

I take a slightly different path. My ratting is done at 30 yds or so at night, so I chuck my Longbow on. Because everything is Picatinny on my rifles and every scope uses Reknagle QD's, it's a simple job to switch them over. I do make a change for the IR though since the Dragonfly is overkill in a barn. Once you note the vernier setting on the turrets after initial zero, you don't need to re-zero when you swap, just dial in the numbers and go shooting.

Thanks Stonepark the Impact has a power wheel on the side with an adjustable hammer spring, adjustable regulator and adjustable valve control, all tweaks are done with from the outside. Cheers.

Thanks Hamster, I'm going .22 FAC. As you say, if you need a rimmy, take one with you. The .22 FAC should be powerful enough out in the fields without restricting where you can use it and still give a good shot count. I suspect dialing down the power to 15ft lbs or so when ratting in barns will be a bit easier with a .22 over the .25. Atb