Which Air Rifle?

[Jjv110]

Hello people,

I was wandering if any of you knew of a decent air rifle for rabbit hunting. I used to have an HW77K many years ago and it was excellent. I am now thinking of the same again but without the 'K' in .22. :AR15firin

Any opinions?

Cheers, Julian.

 

[FGYT]

nothing wrong with the HW77 then and nothing wrong with them now

however for New its been replaced by the HW97 & K

or if you want British the Air Arms TX200

ATB

Duncan

 

[rapidboy]

The 77 is a classic, i always fancied a nice venom tuned Tyrolean with a quality 6 mag scope - bit of a grail gun for me i must admit.
As FGYT says the 97 is every bit as good.
I really regret selling my TX200, it was an SR version and it could out shoot all the modern PCP's no problem, they don't make the SR any more but the standard gun is a real work horse rifle.
The Theobens with their gas ram's are a little more expensive but if you something a bit special they are well worth a look and for something in between you could look at an HW90, Weirauch built but with the Theoben gas ram instead of a spring.

 

[nobby]

Can I ask a question here?
I have the Crossman Ratcatcher that I was using to kill rats in the garden. Don't need to do that now because my new Cocker Spaniel is faster than me at geting them :0)
I have modified with the all metal bolt and have a air bottle conversion. I have read somewhere that if I fit the longer barrel it will be ok for rabbits. Anybody know about this.
If this seen as hijacking the thread tell me and I'll delete it.
Cheers

 

[FGYT]

you can get rabbits with a ratcatcher and get them up to a good 10ft lbs just on the old CO2 sparklets but with a longer barrel (rabbitstopper)

but you need to hit them and the ratty has never been that good to me in accuracy .
I used a Souped up Ratty with a £1500 night site a long time ago for Rats and ferals in barns at night out to 15-20yrds

my advise get it Chronoed and if its in the 9-10 ft lb range see how far you can group 3/4" but 20yrds would be about it I used to get the best out of heavy pellets so long range was a pain

ATB

Duncan

 

[rapidboy]

I used to have a standard ratty for ferrals , close range 15 - 20 yards and using accupell loaded backwards (not kidding) it was great and probably the best gun i ever had for the job but it wasn't really fit for much more and rabbits with a standard gun would need to very close.
Better to get something with a little more power and more importantly consistancy.

 

[Ralph]

In the wake of more expensive and more publicised Weihrauchs, many people overlook the HW57. I have had one (.22) for a few years and it has not failed me yet. It is accurate (small groups at 30yrds) and as a bushcrafters rifle it excels because it is so light.

 

[CLEM]

Well I am biased but I wouldent ever part with my Webleys!

 

[Jjv110]

I'll check out the tx200s and the hw97.

What is it, that makes the difference between a sporting rifle and a hunting rifle?

Cheers.

 

[FGYT]

I'll check out the tx200s and the hw97.

What is it, that makes the difference between a sporting rifle and a hunting rifle?

Cheers.

the name on the box

Sporting is generally a hunting configuration

Target is a differnt kettle of bananas

most differnces are just the stock and a Target gun may have Target sights

Oh some modern springers DONT have open sights as std any more

ATB

Duncan

 

[jack sparrow]

The first air rifle i had was the hw77 excellent bit of kit, i then upgraded to the air arms TX200sr, which was just an unbelievable bit of kit for a spring rifle. had it for many a year, till i then made the final upgrade to the Air Arms S410 pcp, well thats just another storey, I cannot fault it one bit, and has accounted for more rabbits than i could ever remember, personaly i would go for one of them, you can pick them up with all the kit at not a bad price second hand. And belielve me you wont regret it.

YIS
JS

 

[Miggers]

Hi Julian

I have a fondness for the HW97K never let me down. Whatever you choose go for .177, far flatter trajectory and just as much 'stopping' power as .22 at legal power limit.

Pete

 

[rapidboy]

Hi Julian

I have a fondness for the HW97K never let me down. Whatever you choose go for .177, far flatter trajectory and just as much 'stopping' power as .22 at legal power limit.

Pete

Now that's a can of worms to open

 

[Miggers]

Hi Rapidboy

Oh yes!

 

[nitram55]

Hi Julian

I have a fondness for the HW97K never let me down. Whatever you choose go for .177, far flatter trajectory and just as much 'stopping' power as .22 at legal power limit.

Pete

.177 gets my vote every time, however I am sure the most important thing is consistancy and confidence in what ever you choose to use.

Martin

 

[JungleJim]

Choice of air rifle is largely down to cost. Any branded air rifle will despatch a rabbit cleanly at 30 yards if ther shooter has the necessary skills. A good beginners rifle would be a spring powered 'break-barrel'. These rifles are light and simple to use, a Weihrauch 95k would be a great choice but anything from Webley, BSA, Gamo etc would all be up to the job. .177 or .22 choice is a difficult mine field. The rule I adopt (though again not without exception) is .22 for fur and .177 for feather.

Don't forget to keep £50 aside for a decent 3-9x40 scope and a quality set of mounts.

Hope this helps.

 

[jack sparrow]

.177 has less stopping power than a .22, what it does have though is more penetrating power, but it does lack the shock factor you get to the rabbits nervous system like you get from a .22, when i say shock factor i mean the amount of shock waves that move away form the area of impact to the rest of the body, these shock waves also have an impact on the kill factor. this means your pellet has to be placed more acuratly on the rabbits head than with a .22, the prime kill zone for both is just behind the eye, but with a .22 you can get away with a misplaced shot to the head, as we all know you should only attempt head shot with air rifles on rabbits.

Its like when the british army changed from 7.62 and went to 5.56, its been found that there is a much reduced shock to the rest of the body compared to the 7.62, in turn this is causing more people to survive been shot from the smaller round than the larger one, and believe me there is a big difference.

I personaly use .22, but my shooting partner uses .177 and that suites him and he makes just as many kills as me, its what suites you at the end of the day. as long as the end result is one dead rabbit, with a single head shot. The rabbit deserves that much at least.

YIS
JS

 

[FGYT]

:Tin of worms open:

Stopping power is B@llK5 in air guns. so is shock waves etc the energy involves simply isnt big enough

in the past .22 spring guns where more powerfull than their 177 versions as technology couldnt get the less effecent 177 pellet up to speed so you got 22, fare enough. Now both (infact all 4) calibres common in airguns are manufactured to the same Muzzle energy and are accurate to far beyond our shooting abilitys in the field (no excuses left it was the Nut behind the Butt that missed )

calibre is irrelevent or we should be actually recommending 0.25" cal as its clearly bigger than .22 (the 50cal of the airgun world )

7.62 and 5.56 centerfire isnt a good comparison either the 5.56 round was designed NOT to kill was designed to be light and storable in large Qty's etc and as all militarry rnds is not expandable on impact (cos thats not Cricket )

if you scale up .177 and .22 to equiv human size its more like a broom handle and a scafold pole size either of which hitting a human in the head at high speed (enough to pass through to the other side) WILL kill and you wouldnt care which it was


Anyway clearly your all wrong .20" cal is the king cos thats wat i shoot :BlueTeamE :swordfigh

:Tin closed:

as all above have said it reall dosnt mak a difference shoot what you know and like

ATB

Duncan

 

[rapidboy]

I use .177 and .22, truth is I'd rather have the .22
I sometimes find over penetration a problem with .177 but with a .22 the pellet remains inside and all energy is absorbed.
I'm happy with my ability to range find well enough to dial in or aim off correctly with either but this is down to years of practise, hunting and competitive FT shooting.
I do like the .177 at night when range finding is harder but most of my hunting is with a .22

Recently i have been using a laser range finder and it's been working well with my .22 rimfire , i was thinking that over the summer i might try some long range hunting using that and an FAC air rifle, should be a nice project.

 

[xairbourne]

Air Arms S410 i loves it.... I got left a HW90 when my mate died i find it too heavy but it's a lovely gun.