pigeon shooting on telegraph lines

[stewartc46]

hi just wondering have got a air arms s510 fac version and was wondering if i shot at woodies sitting on a telegraph line and missed and hit the telgraph line, is there any chance i could bring it down, any body hit it before

 

[bullet1747]

This one should be good

[-Mongrel-]

...and somebody issued that FAC. Astonishing.

[Gimlet]

I should be careful even with a sub-12 ft/lb air-rifle. You can certainly bust them with a shotgun as our local pheasant shooters have proved on more than one occasion. Electric cables can be damaged as well and I suspect heavy voltage cables would hold a .22 or HMR bullet, which would take some explaining if the lights went out and the electric board came looking for the fault.. I doubt if an air-rifle pellet would make it through the armour though.

I've got a valley I regularly shoot across with a .222 and there are overhead power lines running down the centre. I'm shooting down onto the cables - which are fairly light weight domestic supply - from above and they're hard to see through the scope. The rabbits manage to get directly behind them and I often have to move to get a power line out of shot. I don't know what a ballistic tipped bullet travelling at 3500 fps would do to a domestic power line, and I'm not keen to find out.

I do remember from my youth that the tines of alluminium TV aerials could be pinged off most satisfactorily with a .22 Original 45.

 

Edit: sorry, didn't see it was FAC air. Keep well away from lines with that.

 

Edit 2: In talking of shooting near overhead lines I am assuming a shot with a backstop, not flyers, before anyone makes an issue of it.

Edited September 22, 2013 by Gimlet

[JDog]

There will be a long list of reasons why you should not take the shot and from some of the less charitable PW members a long list of names you may be justifiably be called if you do.

Edited September 22, 2013 by JDog

[Guest stevo]

This one should be good

you took the words right of my mouth ha ha

[karpman]

Go easy fellas, at least he is asking the question instead of finding out the hard way lol.

 

Karpman

[shootgun]

well, it was just yesterday if i'm not wrong, when a well known Youtube hunting clips uploader just posted a movie showing woodies and crows being shoot on the telegraph lines with a FAC air rifle.... at least the OP asked for advice first...

[stewartc46]

yeah i seen hunters vermin video on youtube and i was just wondering never done in my life before, but definetely wont now hearing your comments

[DannyNCC]

If you hit a line and say it broke half the strands of wire

It would create a resistance double what it should be for the current to flow

Which may cause the rest of the wire to burn out as it was never made for such a high flow of current

[RED BEARD]

surely it being a fac air rifle is not an issue in this debate.

[Gimlet]

I might add, I've got a heavy load electric cable running across the field behind my house. Woodies and jackdaws love to perch on it. The ground rises steeply behind so its a safe shot and with the HMR it would be like shooting pegs off a clothes line. But there's no way I'd risk it. The cable is well over an inch thick and I'm sure a bullet could lodge in there. The pigeons have worked it out. They know its suicide to walk about on the ground when I'm about but they'll perch on that power line and laugh at me.

[Scully]

Have no idea about a FAC air,but a full choked Winchester Model 12 will do it no problem,as I found out many years ago when I had to call out Norweb on a Bank Holiday Monday! Brother in law wasn't too chuffed as he was in the middle of milking!

[anser2]

A few years ago I talked to a BT line repairer and he told me that one of the most common faults he found was dammage to lines from shotgun pellets.

[Hamster]

It would depend very much on the angle of the shot, a glancing blow from an acute angle is highly unlikely to do much damage. I'm not advocating the practice because of even greater relevance is the fact that the pellet can travel a very long way when shot upwards so you need to be very aware of your boundaries and likelihood of stock or property damage anyway.

 

Having said that I can't remember the last time I missed and hit the branch the bird was sitting on which is what would have to happen,

[markyboy]

Ha ha ha ha

[wymberley]

Perhaps it's more than coincidence that currently the next topic title in this sub forum index is BASC Insurance.

[-Mongrel-]

Perhaps it's more than coincidence that currently the next topic title in this sub forum index is BASC Insurance.

:lol:

[superspark]

Why cant you just walk up to it with a shot gun, scare it off the lines and shoot it when its well clear of any lines provided you have a safe area for your shot to fall. Failing that leave it alone

[-Mongrel-]

Maybe he hasn't got a shotgun?

[mossy835]

i work for bt, there is a steel wire in side the cable very unlikley you will bring it down, now down in the valleys there is a game shoot and each year,they would pepper it. and it had to be replaced.

[Gee.]

'Telephone lines' or 'Power lines'. 2 entirely different things.

 

You won't 'bring down' either with an air rifle/shotgun, however you will damage a telephone wire with a pellet.

 

Like mossy said, there is a steel cable or steel wires (depending on what type of cable it is) inside telephone cables which are used to support the weight of the span, very unlikely you will bring it down unless you score a direct hit with a hv heavy bullet, but with an air rifle/shottie you could damage the copper wires and the insulation which will no doubt lead to a fault and some poor sod having to go and change the span.

 

Not only that if you were to get seen or caught doing so it would be criminal damage.

 

Above is not an armchair opinion dragged off the internet, I speak from experience.

Edited September 23, 2013 by Gee.

[Davyo]

Ask your FEO, and hand him your FAC when he comes knocking.Its a bit worrying that the thought even entered his head.

Edited September 25, 2013 by Davyo

[Scully]

.

 

Not only that if you were to get seen or caught doing so it would be criminal damage.

 

Unless the damage caused was accidental,as in my case.Wasn't even charged,which was a great relief.

[station]

Anyone shot at the Cloudside Staffordshire?

Lots of cables going along the valley and one stand is very very close and it's difficult to miss the lines !