lets see your air rifles!!

[HillBill]

www.airgunbbs.com

Register on this forum mate if you havent already, best place to sell/swap your 77 if you do. Great forum too, lots of knowledgeable and experienced members on there.

 

[Miyagi]

Thanks for the pointers Hillbill.

My best mate, who I taught to shoot and became a far better shot than me had a Tx and then a pro-sport.

The pro-sport was a heavy beast but very accurate as I remember. the cocking lever did it no favours IMO.

He now uses precharged and has done for a while.

The 80 was a rifle I knew inside and out and trusted, air rifles these days are a world away from what they were.

I may take a look at the 95K as I'm fed up with the weight these days.

Cheers.

 

[Miyagi]

www.airgunbbs.com

Register on this forum mate if you havent already, best place to sell/swap your 77 if you do. Great forum too, lots of knowledgeable and experienced members on there.

Thanks for the heads up, much appreciated.

Edited to add; the site looks good but registration has been disabled by the site owner.

 

[Everything Mac]

.177 is known as the girlie callibre Yes its easier to shoot, but it does not make as good a hunting round as .22. Like you have experienced it suffers from over penetration and lack of knock down. I too have shot rabbits which have run off only to fall dead half way across a field, its a nightmare though whan shooting near warrens. If the rabbit gets in the hole then you have lost it and it might be suffering.

absolute tosh mate.

all the rabbits i have ever shot with a .177 are dead before they hit the ground.
if you are getting rabbits run off then i can only assume you are taking body shots - not good enough in my opinion as you cannot guarantee a kill.
i only ever take head shots - not only is it an instant clean kill you don't waste any meat .

also you only get over penetration with .177 if you are taking body shots.

i get the impression that a lot of rimfire users take body shots - is this so?

 

[Miyagi]

Hello Everything Mac,

All my shots at rabbit are deliberate headshots whether in .22 or .177. It's either a clean miss or a hit, no wounding.

I've certainly experienced over penetration on head shots from 35 - 40 yards with .177.

I've thought I've cleanly missed on seeing the .177 pellet strike an embankment or gravel behind the rabbit, then watched as it legged it and then keeled over. This has happened several times.

Is there a delay in the rabbit's body shutting down, not getting the message from the brain "Excuse me, we're actually dead now"? I don't know.

I've experienced something similiar with .22 head shots when the rabbit would leap straight up in the air to fall down dead.

177 kills them but it doesn't seem as "instant". Just my experience of it, can't really explain it.

The rifle is an HW77 doing 11.6 ft lbs at last chrono.

 

[Everything Mac]

Hello Everything Mac,

All my shots at rabbit are deliberate headshots whether in .22 or .177. It's either a clean miss or a hit, no wounding.

I've certainly experienced over penetration on head shots from 35 - 40 yards with .177.

I've thought I've cleanly missed on seeing the .177 pellet strike an embankment or gravel behind the rabbit, then watched as it legged it and then keeled over. This has happened several times.

Is there a delay in the rabbit's body shutting down, not getting the message from the brain "Excuse me, we're actually dead now"? I don't know.

I've experienced something similiar with .22 head shots when the rabbit would leap straight up in the air to fall down dead.

177 kills them but it doesn't seem as "instant". Just my experience of it, can't really explain it.

The rifle is an HW77 doing 11.6 ft lbs at last chrono.

how odd.

i have never had over penetration on head shots. - i think i should get my gun chrono'd.

i have never had a rabbit leap up into the air either - they simply keel over dead. then i wander over and pick them up.

andy

 

[Miyagi]

Hi E Mac/Andy,

Yes, I've had this happen when shooting with my best mate and watched it happen on a few of his shots. Maybe it's the rabbit's nervous system reacting to the trauma.

If your rabbits are dropping without;

a) the pellet exiting on the other side
b) the rabbit "tap dancing" etc

then your rifle sounds okay IMHO and the pellets energy has been sufficient and it's all been expended inside it's skull.

Maybe it's me that needs his rifle chrono'd, not you. I know my HW80 had a "tendency" **cough** to go over the limit.

 

[HillBill]

Well our experiences must differ then mate because i speak from first hand experience
from my years of shooting. No animal is always dead before it hits the ground no matter the calibre. I dont do body shots mate, Any shot under 25 yards with .177 has a good chance of going clean through a rabbits skull. Any experienced shooter will tell you that. I have shot many rabbits with a head shot in .177 in the correct spot behind the eye and below the ears and watched them run off, only to drop stone dead further down the field, upon inspection the pellets are generally through and throughs. I have shot air rifles for nearly 20 years and was a marksman in the legion mate so my experience nor my shooting ability isnt in question. Anyone who owns and shoots .177 regularly will know over penetration is a big issue as is rabbits running off when shot through the head.

Got no FAC nor ever owned a rimmy/hmr etc so wouldnt know.

absolute tosh mate.

all the rabbits i have ever shot with a .177 are dead before they hit the ground.
if you are getting rabbits run off then i can only assume you are taking body shots - not good enough in my opinion as you cannot guarantee a kill.
i only ever take head shots - not only is it an instant clean kill you don't waste any meat .

also you only get over penetration with .177 if you are taking body shots.

i get the impression that a lot of rimfire users take body shots - is this so?

 

[HillBill]

how odd.

i have never had over penetration on head shots. - i think i should get my gun chrono'd.

i have never had a rabbit leap up into the air either - they simply keel over dead. then i wander over and pick them up.

andy

Bunny backflips are quite common. Its just a muscle reaction of sudden trauma. It tenses and tries to run but is dead as it does it so it just kind of leaps in a random direction but its dead more or less instantly.

 

[HillBill]

Hi E Mac/Andy,

Yes, I've had this happen when shooting with my best mate and watched it happen on a few of his shots. Maybe it's the rabbit's nervous system reacting to the trauma.

If your rabbits are dropping without;

a) the pellet exiting on the other side
b) the rabbit "tap dancing" etc

then your rifle sounds okay IMHO and the pellets energy has been sufficient and it's all been expended inside it's skull.

Maybe it's me that needs his rifle chrono'd, not you. I know my HW80 had a "tendency" **cough** to go over the limit.

Both A and B are common place mate.

 

[Everything Mac]

Well our experiences must differ then mate because i speak from first hand experience
from my years of shooting. No animal is always dead before it hits the ground no matter the calibre. I dont do body shots mate, Any shot under 25 yards with .177 has a good chance of going clean through a rabbits skull. Any experienced shooter will tell you that. I have shot many rabbits with a head shot in .177 in the correct spot behind the eye and below the ears and watched them run off, only to drop stone dead further down the field, upon inspection the pellets are generally through and throughs. I have shot air rifles for nearly 20 years and was a marksman in the legion mate so my experience nor my shooting ability isnt in question. Anyone who owns and shoots .177 regularly will know over penetration is a big issue as is rabbits running off when shot through the head.

Got no FAC nor ever owned a rimmy/hmr etc so wouldnt know.

please don't make the mistake of thinking i am some know it all 16 year old loud mouth which is the impression i am getting.
i don't wish to get into a keyboard cowboy argument. - i am just speaking from my experience.

i cannot claim to have 20yrs experience but i have hunted for a good 6 or seven years now - and i do not recall ever having a bunny flip on me.
maybe once a few years back but i'm not sure.

of course you are going to get over penetration at under 25yrds - that is not in question - i assumed you meant 30 -35yrd body shots.

i generally hunt at 35 -40 yrds as that is what my rifle is zeroed at. - i take head shots and in my experience they are simply knocked down dead.

andy

 

[HillBill]

please don't make the mistake of thinking i am some know it all 16 year old loud mouth which is the impression i am getting.
i don't wish to get into a keyboard cowboy argument. - i am just speaking from my experience.

i cannot claim to have 20yrs experience but i have hunted for a good 6 or seven years now - and i do not recall ever having a bunny flip on me.
maybe once a few years back but i'm not sure.

of course you are going to get over penetration at under 25yrds - that is not in question - i assumed you meant 30 -35yrd body shots.

i generally hunt at 35 -40 yrds as that is what my rifle is zeroed at. - i take head shots and in my experience they are simply knocked down dead.

andy

Fair enough mate, your post did come across as being a bit of a know it all .

I always stalk as close as i can get, not because i struggle from distance more because thats what i enjoy doing. I usually end up within 20 yards of a rabbit. Its weird that you have never watched the bunnylympics. It really is quite common with head shots. I'd say 1 in 3.

This first one in this vid here almost does one. You will see that every rabbit shot has a jump reflex, the first goes to the side more than up but its the same thing, just the directons different.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-NPI1TQWOg

 

[Miyagi]

Cracking video, he must have good fieldwork to shoot with both camera and rifle.

Thanks for posting it.

 

[Everything Mac]

Fair enough mate, your post did come across as being a bit of a know it all .

I always stalk as close as i can get, not because i struggle from distance more because thats what i enjoy doing. I usually end up within 20 yards of a rabbit. Its weird that you have never watched the bunnylympics. It really is quite common with head shots. I'd say 1 in 3.

This first one in this vid here almost does one. You will see that every rabbit shot has a jump reflex, the first goes to the side more than up but its the same thing, just the directons different.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-NPI1TQWOg

i am sorry i didn't mean to at all.

as i say i can only speak from my experience - but yeah i can't recall a bunny that has flipped out on me. lol.
i wonder if it has to do with the area you hit?

i agree with you on the stalk - that is the part i enjoy too.
i can totally agree with you on using a .22 in that kind of situation.

the rabbits on my shoots are a bit skittish so i have to take slightly longer shots.

they are a funny beast to sit and watch though - i remember a few young ones that were essentially chasing each other about for quite a while.
it was hilarious.

i do apologise for sounding like an A*** i don't mean to - it just gets my back up when i think people aren't taking clean kills.

atb
andy

ps cheers for the video - it was very good.

 

[HillBill]

No worries mate

 

[Chambers]

Got myself a Norica Dragon Camo .22 with a Laserking scope, gotta say I love it, plus the built in laser is just handy to use as a range finder

 

[Ginger Ranger]

I've got an Air Arms S400 Carbine with a Tasco 6-24x50 scope and a silencer for good measure. Just been out for a bit of a target shoot and by far still my fav gun!!

G R

 

[_scorpio_]

air arms may be worse than daystates etc. but the price shows it, and i cant afford any of the daystate range... a s400 is still going to be a massive difference when compared to my old springers that recoil like shotguns.

 

[spoony]

 

[spoony]

good forum for any bsa owners
www.bsaog.co.uk