Advice on good airrifles to buy for rats and vermin

[lloydi73]

Hey all,

 

Thanks for all the feed back to my previous questions. All very helpful and I will follow up on it. In fact, the reason for this question is as a result of a suggestion to start farmyard and barn and stable rat shooting that will hopefully lead to some land permission for rabbits and pigeons.

 

So, knowing not much about airifles as I mainly shoot Semi's and O/U 12g shotguns, can you suggest good suitable air rifles to shoot farmyards and barns etc.

 

I don't really want to have to charge the bottle, so a lever action or something would be preferred, but with a magazine as i don't want to be breaking the barrell after every shot.

 

Thanks

Edited March 17, 2014 by lloydi73

[kent]

Break barrel .22 cal spring gun, like the HW80 second hand a small scope with wide field of view and good close focus 1.5-5x 20mm Simmonds is about as good as it gets, put it in low mounts. add a sling, Don't spend a lot, just spend enough.

In the heat of the action you want something simple and reliable and fiddling with magazines or fiddly loading mechanisms in the dark in a dirty barn aint good, filling of pre-charged or caring for expensive woodwork / metalwork or picking dung out of dropped magazines is not good either.

Ranges rarely exceed 20 yards, fit a simple torch set up with enough light to do the job or better still work as a pair Torch man and shooter.

 

Of course you can spend a couple of grand on a NV rig with a fancy priced rifle to suit, depends were you want to take this thing.

 

Look out for your H&S at night around farm buildings, I have never met a tidy farmer and falling onto or over dangerous equipment has to be considered as has the risk of infection from the Rats and Ferals that you will be killing. Dust masks, gloves and eye protection should be considered and discuss who picks up the slain and disposes of them how

[browning123]

Break barrel .22 cal spring gun, like the HW80 second hand a small scope with wide field of view and good close focus 1.5-5x 20mm Simmonds is about as good as it gets, put it in low mounts. add a sling, Don't spend a lot, just spend enough.

In the heat of the action you want something simple and reliable and fiddling with magazines or fiddly loading mechanisms in the dark in a dirty barn aint good, filling of pre-charged or caring for expensive woodwork / metalwork or picking dung out of dropped magazines is not good either.

Ranges rarely exceed 20 yards, fit a simple torch set up with enough light to do the job or better still work as a pair Torch man and shooter.

 

Of course you can spend a couple of grand on a NV rig with a fancy priced rifle to suit, depends were you want to take this thing.

 

Look out for your H&S at night around farm buildings, I have never met a tidy farmer and falling onto or over dangerous equipment has to be considered as has the risk of infection from the Rats and Ferals that you will be killing. Dust masks, gloves and eye protection should be considered and discuss who picks up the slain and disposes of them how

Very good advice

[figgy]

If you get a springer a good mod is a gas ram then you don't have to worry about it being cocked for longer periods of time and it stays consistent with less twangy noise.

 

Figgy

[kent]

If you buy a high quality spring it also will not loose power (the gas ram gives a faster lock time and used to give adjustability to higher power, other than that there is no real space between them), good tuning and lube renders a springer almost silent

[secretagentmole]

You are looking for something like an SLR98 by Theoben or a BSA Goldstar, which happen to both be magazine fed underlevers!

[bruno22rf]

With the greatest respect-JEEEEZ-don't want the hassle of charging a bottle-that's PCP'S out then-don't want to be breaking a barrel-that's break barrels out then-want a mag fed gun-that's most everything else out then-have you thought about a Blowpipe? Seriously, if you buy a bottle fed gun and shoot an average amount then you would be filling it maybe 4 times a year-that will cost you about £12-a PCP is easier to shoot "well" if you are inexperienced but want the capability of vermin control in as short a time as possible so I would suggest that you at least dip your toe in the world of PCP's. Whereabouts in Oxon are you? If you fancy a try of some different guns then MK air rifle club meets most Sunday mornings and are a very friendly outfit-it could open your eyes and maybe save you wasting money.-

Edited March 18, 2014 by bruno22rf

[chrisjpainter]

Hey mate, not sure I've said welcome to the forum, or not.

Welcome

I'm with Bruno on this one. In my opinion, a pcp would make more sense. As The Mole said, there are a few types of springers that are multishot, but they can be very hard to get hold of. The other advantage of a PCP is if you get something like a BSA Ultra SE or a Falcon Lighthunter, they are shorter, lighter and a lot more manoeuvrable in confined spaces, a clear bonus for barn work! With a bottle it takes seconds to fill a gun and you'd then be sorted for a few hunting trips - depending on how many rats you're shooting. Yes, the initial outlay might be more, but in my opinion it'd be worth it. It's perfectly possible to get complete kits second hand and save a bundle in doing it. Plus, even the m/s springers are nowhere near as fast to cock as a pcp and you have to take your eye away from the scope as well. Do you have barn shooting permissions already? good luck with them! I have a couple of tough rabbit and squirrel perms, but would love a good barn shoot permission as well, so enjoy it!

[lloydi73]

Thanks Bruno and Chris......I had misconceptions on PCP in the fact that they required filling everytime.....doh, that's me corrected and it that case will now look at PCP's, I'm assuming PCP's being the way to go as that's what everybody seems to rave about over break barrell and lever action etc.

 

Ant has offred me a good set up of a Rapid 7 and quick charge botlle etc for £500 which I'm seriously considering, but also looking at Airwolf aswell...hmmmmm decissions decissions.......

 

I live in Carterton, where abouts is MK shooting club based, maybe I'll have a wonder over this sunday. I haven't got any barn shooting yet, it's a mare trying to find an amiable farmer to allow me to do any shooting at all.......

[Zetter]

Hi Mate

 

I shoot at MKARC its near Hanslope in Milton Keynes. Attached is a link to the Website

 

http://www.mkarc.net

 

It shoots ever Sunday weather depending and if you want to try out a few rifles most people will be please to take about and let you have a go with their current pride and joy. We have people who everyything from SMK Springers up to £2000 match guns.

 

Cheers Neil

[kent]

Its not actually an easy way into permissions. Think on would you want a stranger shooting an airgun round your buildings and stock, risking a claim if they fell over something you had "neatly" stored in there like a bail spike? Or putting holes in things you didn't want holes in? Someone want to shoot rats and such round here fine but round the buildings I should be very careful

 

PCP are certainly the club gun of choice, but give me a dirty and dark barn and I don't want to be dropping mags or filling them. Over the magazines capacity a mag fed is quicker but over the 50 plus shots I might fire clearing buildings I don't like them, having tried both. Much prefer everything simple with an easy to reach loose pellet store and a very simple reliable gun, after all a back up shot is far better with a loaded gun than a puff of air or finding the magazine empty stop

 

As this barn shooting is at present something you might never do I say get a PCP and the gear to go with it, go down to your local club and discuss what is theoretically best with the others in a similar position to yourself as regards shooting. Its a good old day out away from work or family matters / chores. Far better to have £600 worth of kit you use regular than £200-£300 that just sits gathering dust

 

If you want a good quick way into shooting join a local syndicate and you will likely get all the airgunning you want off season on the vermin or join the local gun pack if you have one as mostly they are owned and operated by people who farm and live and work in the countryside (you will find clubs full of people in the same situation as yourself). Some of the Wildfowling clubs I am a member of also often do vermin and pigeons in land during the off season

[Mentalmac]

Another thing - PCP's are nice and quiet (much quieter than a springer) and then also you don't get any scope jump so can watch the pellet hit through the scope which is quite good in the dark with ratting in my opinion.

[kent]

Another thing - PCP's are nice and quiet (much quieter than a springer) and then also you don't get any scope jump so can watch the pellet hit through the scope which is quite good in the dark with ratting in my opinion.

 

If you were closer to me I could transform your view on that one

[Mentalmac]

 

If you were closer to me I could transform your view on that one

I wish I was, I would love to be good with a springer - I have one still in the back of the cabinet (A stoeger X20 Suppressor) which I just found I couldn't see the pellet hit target, even if I rested the gun on my hand without gripping and allowing it to move naturally. I still use it sometimes and is quite fun to not worry to much about any other equipment, but I do find the PCP much easier.

[kent]

I wish I was, I would love to be good with a springer - I have one still in the back of the cabinet (A stoeger X20 Suppressor) which I just found I couldn't see the pellet hit target, even if I rested the gun on my hand without gripping and allowing it to move naturally. I still use it sometimes and is quite fun to not worry to much about any other equipment, but I do find the PCP much easier.

 

I have no experience of such guns, try an Air arms pro-sport or TX if you get the chance though. I have here a Venom Lazerglide HW80 by Steve Pope done about 14-15 years ago to my own spec, its fair to say I should never sell it. Had various PCP guns pass through my hands in that time and a lot of other spring and gas ram models. The only PCPs I should consider in the field today are FAC rated ones because 30 ft lb spring and gas ram guns are very unpleasant and hard to shoot well with. At 12 ft lb levels I feel they bring nothing but hassle to the table as regards shooting pests. You would need a big skip to hold all the vermin I have killed with that gun

 

If you compared a PCP built on the same design budget as the stoeger you would likely find it equally worse if not more so I suspect

[evo]

Lloyd, welcome to PW, enjoy your stay,,

 

I have to be honest ,,at first I was a bit confused by what you wanted and was asking ? . I think I have got it now,,

 

if your wanting to get into air rifle shooting , your best bet would be to join a local air rifle or gun club, meet people with rifles and also new friends and take it from there, this will give you the perfect chance to speak about and try air rifles out and possibly go out with some people shooting vermin on their permissions.it will also help you gain the most important thing EXPERIENCE .

 

secondly about the gun you need,

 

if it was me in your position I would seriously consider one of the cheaper pcp rifles (Hatsan etc), these are much easier to shoot and also in inexperienced hands better to use due to being multi shot

 

if you want to get a rifle that will last you a lifetime also be very accurate and simple to use effortlessly then go for a Daystate rifle, please be warned they are not cheap and it will cost you around £1000 for a full second hand setup, the good point is they are very good rifles,please note there are other rifles out there that will also do the same job ie any air arms ,Bsa, Hatsan to name just a few but daystate offer quality and you did mention the Airwolf(which I own) , this is a little heavy to be humping round all day but it is the Rolls Royce of rifles,

 

basically go and join a club, meet new friends then buy a daystate ( not a springer) and the world is your oyster

 

all the best Evo

[bruno22rf]

Good advice, evo-but if he buys a Daystate he will never be able to afford Oysters . Keep it simple-late model S200 multi or , even better, the S410 and with the money you save you can tan your nutsack in the Canaries

[kent]

There is massive diminishing returns on airguns once you leave behind the junk and forget about anything over 12 ft lb in hunting use. You could spend 3k plus on a rig and it will likely only shoot equal to one that cost £300 at the 35 yards most respect as the humane shooting limits of 12 ft lb in the right hands. I say this after owning some expensive quality airguns

[evo]

Good advice, evo-but if he buys a Daystate he will never be able to afford Oysters . Keep it simple-late model S200 multi or , even better, the S410 and with the money you save you can tan your nutsack in the Canaries

:lol: he will have to make do with some frozen prawns :lol:

 

atb Evo

Edited March 20, 2014 by evo

[stubby]

Hey all,

 

Thanks for all the feed back to my previous questions. All very helpful and I will follow up on it. In fact, the reason for this question is as a result of a suggestion to start farmyard and barn and stable rat shooting that will hopefully lead to some land permission for rabbits and pigeons.

 

So, knowing not much about airifles as I mainly shoot Semi's and O/U 12g shotguns, can you suggest good suitable air rifles to shoot farmyards and barns etc.

 

I don't really want to have to charge the bottle, so a lever action or something would be preferred, but with a magazine as i don't want to be breaking the barrell after every shot.

 

Thanks

start thinking outside of the box, any local business that has outside areas (garden centres, pet stores,horse feed shops etc) will most likely have a feral pigeon problem, go in and buy something, rather than entering just looking for permission, as a customer they tend to chat to you more, within the conversation you can mention the feral pigeon problem, and carry on with "I shoot them for my boss" do you want my help free of charge, I have got quite a few permissions following that route, as you attend a few times after the place is closed to the public, most places like that are visited by farmers, or they know the local farmer, and can then either pass your details on, or give you a direct introduction,