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why 12ft pounds why not 20 or 30 ft pounds


tunza
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Rumour has it that 12 ftlbs was the power that an air rifle was capable of putting a pellet through a thickness (can't remember how thick) of board (can't remember what board either) but not through a second piece and was decided in the time before cronos.

6 ftlbs was a just halving the power of a rifle and they used a thinner board. How true this is I don't know but it was in a notable airgun book I read as a child and still makes sense so probably truer than not.

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It wasn't the best they could produce! It cam about because they wanted to PROTECT the British gun industry. They looked at foreign gun power and set the UK to 12fpe. This was way below foreign guns, and the thought train behind it was "foreign manufacturers wouldn't bother reducing power" there for allowing uk manufacturers to make more sales! Now all and sundry make PCP which can be fettled easily to be below the 12FPE, and the majority of British manufacturers are gone, I feel its time to drop it. Either that or those with SGC, or FAC should be allowed to own on ticket an airgun not restricted to the 12fpe limit. But not over 35fpe unless on FAC. Muzzle energy of a shotgun with multiple projectiles is far more dangerous that a single projectile. Buck shot is .38cal balls flying at between 1100 and 1500 FPS. If your licence covers that, I don't see why you cant have an airgun on there too.

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It wasn't the best they could produce! It cam about because they wanted to PROTECT the British gun industry. They looked at foreign gun power and set the UK to 12fpe. This was way below foreign guns, and the thought train behind it was "foreign manufacturers wouldn't bother reducing power" there for allowing uk manufacturers to make more sales! Now all and sundry make PCP which can be fettled easily to be below the 12FPE, and the majority of British manufacturers are gone, I feel its time to drop it. Either that or those with SGC, or FAC should be allowed to own on ticket an airgun not restricted to the 12fpe limit. But not over 35fpe unless on FAC. Muzzle energy of a shotgun with multiple projectiles is far more dangerous that a single projectile. Buck shot is .38cal balls flying at between 1100 and 1500 FPS. If your licence covers that, I don't see why you cant have an airgun on there too.

Good point.
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Good point.

Course it is! Those .38 balls are doing around 300 fpe. Now if a shotgun cert gives you the nod for multiple projectiles at that power! Why not a single at 35 fpe? It doesn't make sense!

 

The rifled barrel argument dont cut it with me either! A rifled barrel is more accurate at a specific target than smooth bore! Less likelihood of a stray than 6 or 9 .38 cal balls flying down range!

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It wasn't the best they could produce! It cam about because they wanted to PROTECT the British gun industry. They looked at foreign gun power and set the UK to 12fpe. This was way below foreign guns, and the thought train behind it was "foreign manufacturers wouldn't bother reducing power" there for allowing uk manufacturers to make more sales! Now all and sundry make PCP which can be fettled easily to be below the 12FPE, and the majority of British manufacturers are gone, I feel its time to drop it. Either that or those with SGC, or FAC should be allowed to own on ticket an airgun not restricted to the 12fpe limit. But not over 35fpe unless on FAC. Muzzle energy of a shotgun with multiple projectiles is far more dangerous that a single projectile. Buck shot is .38cal balls flying at between 1100 and 1500 FPS. If your licence covers that, I don't see why you cant have an airgun on there too.

This is a long version of what I was trying to say although I thought UK manufactures of the time were struggling to produce air rifles at more than 12ftlb and to protect UK intrests set the limit to prevent people buying foreign.
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There was very little that actually did 12 ftlb when the limit was set. We were looking at webley mk4 and early airsporters right?

There were some American pump guns that you could basically carry on pumping but actually I believe it was to stop development of super high power airguns when firearm restrictions were first brought in for more of the powder burners.

 

I am following meeting an innocent victim who ended up loosing a third of his brain in favour of Licencing on 12 ft lb

If we do our own thing we can get away with a Shotgun style licence with a simple legislation change. If we wait we will get fac because it's real simple to bring in

 

Airguns are not the great recruiter to our sport they once where and I believe the misuse and calls for more controls do our sport more harm than good

They also cost our organisations to great an amount to fight against the memberships subs

 

Think on also currently we have the situation were many rifles are made close to the limit and small faults can lead to a possession charge.

 

The days are gone when a young lad could walk out with his Airgun to shoot rats on waste ground or along the canal without anyone or the police even bothering

 

Raise it? My gosh that would really stir up a storm it's bad enough the number numpties trying to lift the power with thier diy

Edited by kent
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Take all of the above answers and divide by pie, or discard totally. In reality when the regs were set out to the level we have to comply to we looked at the maximum distance we could shoot at live quarry with open sights on at airgun, we realise that we need to have a minimum sufficient power at 30 to 35 yards similar to a shotgun pellet striking energy to kill our target, that is around 3 to 4 ft lbs so to take that back to the gun realistically is around 12 ft lbs, with energy depleting to get to the target/quarry etc.

 

If you want more power get a a ticket, the cost easily outweighs the pcp charging and fudging around to get a sweet spot, the guns are generally better built and quieter, not to mention depending on model more accurate.

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I thought crossbows were illegal on live game in U/K ?

 

 

My point is you are only allowed a 12ft/lb Airgun because any more is apparently dangerous. But you can go and buy a crossbow that can shoot straight through a person without much hassle.

Edited by Bleeh
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