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Your help appreciated, Rat gun setup!


Dekers
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I have a pal who has recently started to keep chickens in his garden and has rats already.

He is against traps and poisons and doesn't want a cat, and has decided to get an Air rifle.

He is starting at ground zero with a TOTAL budget of £300, absolute max of £350 for EVERYTHING, and must be new, not used.  He has quite a long garden and they are near the end, so I'm guessing shot distance maybe to about 25yards.

So, Break barrel only, (he does not want PCP and can't afford it anyway) 12ft lb, what calibre, what scope, what mounts, what moderator, what pellets, forget a gun slip at this point.  Are there any he should avoid like the plague?  Use will only be rats, he has no land and is only interested in keeping the rats down around his chickens.

What is the story with Cabinets and 12ft lb air rifles at the moment, are they law or recommendation or what???

Over to you guys for recommendations for everything within his total budget please.

Cheers

PS     I've told him I will ask advice but he rather wants to get on with it, and is hoping to head out this coming weekend and invest in a setup!

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27 minutes ago, Dekers said:

What is the story with Cabinets and 12ft lb air rifles at the moment, are they law or recommendation or what

If there are no under 18s then the rifle doesn't need to be secured,  and even then they can just be up out of reach of kids, cabinets aren't a requirement. 

As far as new goes? HW99 or 95 but I wouldn't want new, I'd want second hand and more for his money,  because a Decent rifle & scope new for 3-350 is probably pushing it.

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No cabinet required. Just kept secured away from kids etc.

.22 traditionally for rats but .177 flatter shooting and therefore perhaps a little easier for a novice. Pellet choice is all important especially if .177. Hollow points to avoid over penetration. 

Any cheap scope will suffice. Nikko Sterling or hawke are good value. Plenty of used ones about. Fixed at maybe 6x40 or variable with 3-9x40

Budget for the kit puts most weihrauch, AA, and BSA out of reach but does leave a few choices.

Avoid the Gamo multi shot offerings.

Worth looking at some of the Remington stuff as a budget gun. Pest controller, Express and a few other. Some decent options among them.

Stoeger offer a couple of decent packages (x20 and similar) that have a better feel than much of the other stuff in the price range.

It is possible to get a pcp set up within budget if he wanted and it will do the job but also maybe worth considering co2?

 

Edd

 

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Sub 12 springer .in .177 cal shooting flat head pellets. 

I find air arms match are very accurate 

But good old hobbys will do very well also. 

As for the gun 

Hw 99 , bsa lightening  , walther terrus 

A 3- 9 x50 will do just fine 

Hit them in the front 1/3 of the rat and it will be dead  

 

I bought a cheap smk xs20 earlier in the year and it shoots extremely  well for £160 .

Avoid the xs19 though .

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A few bargain HWs on Guntrader.  Secondhand may be the way to go.  £225 for a mint HW35 is better than anything off the shelf new at that price.  

 

Second hand or borrowed scope and mounts with only £75 quid left in budget though, or Weihrauch diopter at £90+ secondhand also.   Uttings have 4x40 Hawke at £55 and mounts at £20 if new is desired.  

 

That said...  I bought a second had Stirling scope with steel mounts for £10 delivered from Farcebook marketplace not long ago.  

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Security.  as outlined above already. 

RATs and air rifle Up to 25 yards and sticking within  the criteria of the OP.

there are many spring powered air rifles that will do the job it all depends what is available in his area or he might have a wait for an order.

 Guns. Londns best quoted the Hatsan and if you can get one a model 125 (Striker IIRC) would do the job and its what i would try to get in spring power and give,n the budget .

 Another readily available option that is sub half the budget and is not only capable but possibly if he so wishes a project long term with a host of information and mods/ parts available , is the crossman ratcatcher. This the 2250 is the rifle layout of the ubiquitous 2240 range of CO2 powered Crossmans.  recoiless and accurate and the addition of a moderator which is well within the budget will be a clear improvement on noise reduction (something which is not so clearly defined in the noisier springers)  Not quite up to the 12ftlbs legal limit in purchased but will do the task outlined and has the potential for further improvements and all inside the budget.

Crossmans and co2 in general have a few considerations you need to take into account however. and obviously the CO2c cartridges themselves need purchasing and the price though minimal needs adding to the equation and perhaps not so obvious the practical number of  shots that retain consistent FPS  per cartridge need monitoring. And further to this the fact CO2 is not at its best in low temps ( But its never bothered me because i dont work/ sit around waiting for rats at low temps either). And yet more bad news CO2 can and will eventualy erode the seal if CO2 carts left long term in the gun so remove a cartridge if storing it long tern say a week or more . This will help preserve the seals integrity. The seals are available and a simple enough job but its another consideration that needs to be taken into account. 

Still on CO2 there are way more CO2 options out there than the crossman 2240 ish range, SMK rabbit stopper and victor or victory mp2 the list goes on and some may work great but in my view i would stick with crossman they are a known quantity and cheap well made in the stock form for the price and modified easily with lots of dedicated well documented mods that can make improvements if appropriate.

Cal & pellets.  .177/ .22/ .25 . Any all got pros and cons and all will do the job . But .25s seem hard to find  on the shelf for me anyway . YOMV.

Pellets for rats i use an old Webley  vulcan .177 and a SMK X17 i was given in.22 and i use RWS hobby in them both.

If i was buying new and at that price point i would buy a hatsan  model 125 in .25. if you can find one. I have no experience with .25 but if i had the money or the desire to spend it on an air rifle for rats that's where i would spend my money.

 

 

 

 

 

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On 29/05/2022 at 22:28, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, there are lots of springers around £150 /£200, plus a Hawke scope that's recoil in specification, a 1 piece mount and red torch, it's likely there's no silencer , 

Hello, £350 should get you a 22 HW 99, Hawke scope with mounts, and red torch with scope mount, there's a few people on the AGF who will make a decent slip on silencer about £30 if you take the fore sight off, scope reticule needs to be one you can see clear with red beam to 25 yards, you need a torch with a clean red beam , spot to flood, low/medium/high if shooting shorter distance to max 25, I cannot see he will be shooting many so the rats won't be to bothered about the red light, saying this there are night vision add ons that you can use on a Springer,

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Get a good condition BSA Mark I Airsporter in .22. The one that self-opens the "tap" when you operate the cocking lever. I used one for years. It gives a huge increase in firepower. Use a good quality (that is NOT Wasp pellets) projectile and shoot through the shoulders. Note later Airsporters do not self-open the tap. Iron sights if your eyes are up to it are good enough for shoulder shots.

Edited by enfieldspares
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11 hours ago, Mice! said:

https://www.airgunforum.co.uk/community/index.php?threads/gx-40-for-sale.383274/

This was available second hand,  add in a pump and your sorted, but new means your very restricted 

Hello, I've seen these in the RFD and look surprisingly good for the money and you don't see many bad feedbacks , bit heavy for me, did it sell ? Sid was peed off with someone, 

22 hours ago, Ultrastu said:

It's never a good idea to put expensive electronics on a recoiling springer .

The chances of damage to the unit is high 

Ask me how I know ? Even torches can stop working .

 

Hello, you can buy a NV day scope add on for less than £100 and will take the recoil from a spring air rifle 

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1 hour ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, I've seen these in the RFD and look surprisingly good for the money and you don't see many bad feedbacks , bit heavy for me, did it sell ? Sid was peed off with someone, 

Sold now to someone else,  his latest add with conditions is hilarious 😂 

Yes the gammo range are decent money with very little bad said about them, certainly a good starting point. 

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