rjimmer Posted February 20, 2003 Report Share Posted February 20, 2003 It is quite legal to shoot water birds with a rifle. As I mention earlyer in this thread I checked with the basc legal department as I was asked to shoot canadas on a pond.They checked my fac and as it did not say "ground game only" (I think that was the bit) it was ok. Sorry! Still not convinced. I have written to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) for clarification. It could be that the 1954 provisions have been superceded by the 1981 act. but without a statutory permit from someone like DEFRA or the EA, I wouldn't risk it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjimmer Posted February 20, 2003 Report Share Posted February 20, 2003 One of the chaps on our shoot has a 70ft/lb air rifle. It strips the edges of normal pelets, so he has to use lead bullets they look just like the top of 22RF rounds. This is a precharged rifle and is still a lot noisier than my RF both have moderators. Subsonic .22rf ammo is about 90 ft lbs I think. If he uses bullets that are lighter (as inferred) than rf ammo, then they are going to break the sound barrier and cause a 'crack' which is rather pointless. What is the accuracy like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NGhost Posted February 21, 2003 Report Share Posted February 21, 2003 Hi Rjimmer; I'm not sure of the bulet weight, about 30-35gr by the look of them. They did not crack so must have been subsonic. I tried to hit a 12g hull at 25 yards with it, but nether he nor I could, this is not a problem with my RF. (he said it may have been due to low pressure in the bottle) The whole gun made a horrible ringing twang as he shot. My rf just makes a dull click folowed by a slight hiss of the bullet followed by the satisfying thwunk of another bunny making its way to my freezer :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjimmer Posted February 22, 2003 Report Share Posted February 22, 2003 Sorry! Still not convinced.I have written to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) for clarification. It could be that the 1954 provisions have been superceded by the 1981 act. but without a statutory permit from someone like DEFRA or the EA, I wouldn't risk it. This is the reply I got. Not much I can tell them really!!! My original letter to the JNCC is at the bottom of this post. Dear Jim Many thanks for your e-mail. I have passed this straight to the English Nature licensing team for response and follow-up. They will be in touch with you for more information so that they can also follow this up locally. Best wishes, Helen *********************************************** Dr. Helen Baker Ornithological Advisor JNCC Monkstone House City Road Peterborough PE1 1JY Switchboard: 01733-562626 Direct line: 01733-866816 "Some people that I have met on a discussion forum on the Internet, say they have been asked by the local police to shoot geese (Canada Geese, I presume) on certain ponds local to built up areas using their rifles. I put forward the suggestion that the police were not empowered to do this as I thought it was unlawful to kill any species of wildfowl with a solid projectile under the 1954 Protection of bird act. Has this been repealed and if so what now is the situation regarding this practice?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeVeTaS Posted March 10, 2003 Report Share Posted March 10, 2003 FAC air rifles are amazing tools, especially for smaller shoots. I much prefer to use an FAC airgun if the shoot has surrounding houses. My FAC Rapid MKII knocks down bunnies at 80 yards no problems, with 0 risk of ricochet. Sure out in the big farm I take my rimfire, but don't dismiss FAC air rifles. Nothing beats smacking an 80 yard bunny with an airgun :( As for airguns and foxes, if it's 12ft/lb don't bother. However as a pest controler I get called to fox jobs where rimfire / centrefire is not possible to use. A HIGH POWERED FAC airgun, with correct pellet placement, and short range, will smack a fox down. However I know my rifles, and only do this when larger guns are unavailable. .22* centrefire is the way to go for foxing, maybe .17HMR for shorter range stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjimmer Posted March 10, 2003 Report Share Posted March 10, 2003 I caught a biggish cub in a Larsen trap once. A 12 ft,lb spring air rifle pellet in the back of the head did the business, no sweat. A couple more in the heart to make sure though!! Steve, Do you think it is advisable to publish pictures of your guns when your address is readily available online? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeVeTaS Posted March 10, 2003 Report Share Posted March 10, 2003 I have been wondering that for some time. I know feel it's time to move the pictures into my private section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brain dead Posted March 11, 2003 Report Share Posted March 11, 2003 thats quite impressive actually, i didn't know that air rifles of that power could come close to killing a fox.what was the callibre, and is there such a gun as a .25 air rifle? :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted March 11, 2003 Report Share Posted March 11, 2003 Gentlemen, as we have stopped discussing "shooting geese with an air-rifle", could the next post away from this topic, please start another thread. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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