Ultrastu

I'm not an air arms fan boy - I'm a bsa fan boy admittedly .but I would never say air arms are **** .far from it . They make very good and reliable guns with a quality that is hard to beat. The only air arms I had (tx200 ) was super accurate and reliable. To Diss. Airarms is to make your self look stoopid .

Very interested in this .as I mainly shoot .410 these days. And would love a decent steel load with eco wad for the pigeons . I'd like to see 16 grms of no 7 steel doing around 1300 fps .

Winter rape .is the hardest pigeon decoying there is ,no doubt . I've struggled and I don't think there is a formulate it ,I've certainly not found one .I do think if you set up too early in the morning you can just scare them all out the area with the first shot . They do tend to feed best from around 10 - 2 pm when it's warmest .and light . Try a silenced gun if your surrounded by wood land as these will be where the birds are resting and try to shoot away from the wood or into a head wind as this will break up the noise better than shooting with the wind behind u . Get the decoys up as high as possible above the crop .and relatively close together so they can be seen . As many real birds as possible Try also to get your plastics to move on the wind I hang mine from fishing line below a bent wire . Best of luck I've not had a rape field for a few years now .so your lucky .

I know. "Does anybody want to buy a norica"

That could be a loose barrel If the accuracy is shocking and you get shots that are much lower speed than others . Maybe a loose barrel and a transfer port is bleeding air randomly when you fire . Just a thought . obviously it could be a reg or a knock open valve worn out .Split orings . etc .

I bet it has that's lovley . I have a 1985 birmingham one .that's great to get out and plink tins with in the garden .it's not super accurate or powerful .but it is fun and challenging putting tins at 20 yds (which it will hit )

The angle your shooting at a pigeon makes a big difference .when shooting a pige on the ground I aim just above the sternum which from the same level as the bird is surprisingly low on the chest area . But shoot a feral on a perch above you and a h/l shot is difficult as the sternum bone protects the h/l zone .go too high and you could hit the neck(which kills ) but its very thin on a feral . The best shot placement on a bird above you is just below the head where the neck meets the head (practice your elevated shots for accuracy ).but remember .a birds primary organ is its heart .not its brain so it will flap around with a head shot . But still be dead . As said before the most reliable and easiest shot is to the rear of the bird (lungs ) between the shoulders , this is possible from below but only if a shallower angle presents . Texas heart shot can also work .though you will need a pellet that penetrates well for this .a heavy .177 or a good .22 . Cheers .

That's an excellent pattern at 50 yds . For any gun /cartridge .Well done . I'd love some for my .410s

So new gun excuse fulfilled. I would choose a .177 pcp multi shot with a short barrel and light weight . And the top rail that will allow a low scope to be fitted (I'm thinking bsa ultra ) set the 1- 4 x 32 or 2- 7 x 32 scope around 1.4 inches above barrel and using cheap rws hobby at 835 fps (10.8 fpe ) zero at 25 yds this should give you a , shoot bang on rat head ,from 10 - 30 yds no holding off .often ratting is fast action so a quick bolt or side lever is good . This combo may give you the ability to add a nv scope on the back of the scope or swap out for a dedicated optic . All my bsa s really like the air arms match .177 flat heads even at fac power .(above 1000 fps they still hold a group at 25 yds ) that almost makes rats explode . Not as cheap as hobbys but work well . The h+n econ .177 flat heads are really good also . and very cheap .

OK 2 other things to consider . First .As the magnification drops the scopes exit pupil gets bigger meaning its possible to get more parrelax error with less than perfect eye alignment especially at closer ranges .though having seen how adrift those groups are you would have to be trying really hard to force that error and it wouldn't group . Second . If to zero your scope initially ,on ?was it 12x . you have to crank the turrets right over to nearly the maximum . Then you won't be looking through the centre of the lenses so as they rotate and move forwards and backward when zooming they can shift the image around (similar to a front objective lens can do this when changing focus ) . Again to be fair that's still a hell of a lot to be out at that range . I'd suggest the reality is there is a lens loose inside . Or zooming is somehow pushing on the internal zeroing gimbal or its springs .either way it's a duff scope . Lenses do come loose usually after being on a violent springer (I've killed a couple before now ). Good luck

Hi sorry a bit late to this thread . For me a .177 is superior to a .22 for 20 yad rats . It's not really because one kills better than the other (it's not hard to kill a small mamal with such a small skull ) .but from a safety point of view. Ricochet is the biggest issue around barns and walls etc .coming back at you or hitting windows, cows etc . A slower heavier pellet will always over penetrate more than a fast light weight one especially one with a flat head on it. So a .177 fast light weight flat head will stop that rat in its tracks and you can shoot in safety .mount the 1 - 4 x scope as low as possible for optimum close range hits and you will have a perfect ratting machine .even a 8 - 9 fpe gun will suffice .if you prefer just be aware of co2 winter issues .

Absolutely the bacon test will only show realistic penetration depth and any pellet deformation .but not indicate the shock wave /trauma radius. The issue with clay is that its not really the same as flesh .and could give a false impression of the the shock wave . I guess if a pellet penetrated the same distance and deformed the same in clay and bacon /,flesh then we could deduce that the captured clay cavity is representative of the shock wave ? Humm something to have a go at in summer .I'd suggest we would need a base bacon test first with 3 different pellets .then try and replicate depth and expansion into clay with different temperatures and consistency . The idea (to my mind at least ) of a winder shock wave and trauma radius is to give you the best chance of a clean kill with a shot placement that isn't perfectly on a vital organ (heart /brain ). Even the poorest expanding, low energy, shallow penetration , pellet will kill if placed just right on the vital organ .it's those shots that go a bit adrift we are trying to make count . Cheers

I find that the gun swings smoother and is more deliberate with a can on the end .only real down side is if you have very jinky birds changing direction ofter and quickly .then the extra weight on the muzzle is a hindrance. But I try to leave those birds anyway as they are always hard to hit .

Nice .I love my a620 with mod on the end .how long is your moderator ? The one I had made is 8 inch and sits on the 2 inch barrel extension so I can swap the chokes about .

Hobbys are an excellent pellet .I have a couple of guns that they are the best pellet in. Though I do use them for shorter range plinking and ratting . The air arms pellets don't seem to be quite as accurate in your gun as they could be .I dont think that's the pellets fault, just a compatability issue .maybe your magazine Is shaving a bit of that soft lead off when loading the gun (and the harder rws lead doesn't) worth a look . Maybe try some h+n pellets - field target trophy are always worth a try .these are a bit harder lead than jsb/aa . But softer than rws .