Forum menu
Bought a field and it’s full of rabbits as been left fallow for lots of years. Need to reduce the rabbits
I'd be asking in the local pub who the best ferret guys are . We've got a local father and son that supply half the village with netted rabbits.
Hi I am thinking of getting an air rifle. Need to dispatch a few longtails.Want something cheap and capable. Any suggestions? Thanks Steve
Can you shoot? As in, accurately place a shot into a 20 pence at 10 yards minimum? In red light.
If you know the answer, why are you asking?
If you don't, buy traps. And clean up whatever it is that's attracting them. Both are far more effective and less likely to go wrong.
@squirrelking The traps seem less than effective. Of the two types I have One in a box and 2 open. Both snap traps. The 2 open ones were fairly successful to start but now tend to just go off without capture. Unless something is taking what's in them. It only seems to take the smaller rats. The traps also attract other things like birds so would rather avoid killing the Dunnock population off in the area.
"Can I shoot" Yes! With any success? no idea as I have no gun. I don't know how accurate i would be until I got one and tried it. I wouldn't just start firing shots off until and if I could be sure I could shoot true. I might even find I want to take up target shooting or garden plinking instead.
I won't use poison!
Looking at the number of runs/holes we have there is a nice little network/highway so not just coming in for food.
Anyway. The question was based on could I get a cheap gun that would be accurate if my aim is good and good enough to get rid of the rats without any more suffering than is required.
There's no point spending a fortune then finding out you can't shoot the damn thing.
Very true, glad you've also taken the time to consider whether you can land a humane kill.
For close range ratting you don't need anything fancy, almost anything on the market would work but some people prefer something a little lower powered to prevent over penetration. Whatever you do consider where the pellet is going if it goes through as its a firearms offence if it leaves your property or causes someone alarm out on a "highway".
Cheap options are Remington and Stoeger, slightly less cheap but massively better would be Hatsan 50 or 60. Second hand you can do far worse than a Weihrauch. Break barrels are generally cheaper and lighter than fixed barrels.
My cheapo Webley has died, and annoyingly (understandably, really!) can't buy a replacement for the moment.
Suggestions for a quality springer? Garden plinking, and pest control/food for the pot. Up to £400, maybe?
Anyone with a Weihrauch HW95 or BSA Lightning GRT XL SE?
Trouble with ratting with an air rifle is that they don't hang about for long, and are off like scalded cats the moment any light hits them. To be really effective you need some form of night vision. I built an add-on a few years ago using a cctv camera and a reversing monitor coupled with an IR torch, and rigged it up on a gas strut break-barrel. It was a game changer. Went from half a dozen in a week on an infested dairy farm to dozens every night. My lad's PCP with a dedicated IR scope (Yukon) is a bit more user friendly. It isn't a "budget" option though.
CFH. Look for a BSA Lightning XL SE. RRP is £299 so room for a scope in your budget. I've got one of the early iterations and it's the most accurate springer I ever owned.
Ta. Edited while you were posting!
The one I have is the XL Tactical ( synthetic stock) which I got when my son was 10, so it's 12 years old now. It has accounted for a huge number of bunnies, pigeons and rats. Lightweight, short, with a truly good stock, it's really accurate with its short carbine barrel, and has a decent enough trigger for an air rifle. A year or so ago it needed a new mainspring, and BSA had just started to fit them with the gas strut, so I bit the bullet and converted it to GRT. You'll hear reviewers complaining about the "recoil" of the GRT, but either they are used to shooting PCPs and so can't learn to shoot a rifle with any movement, or simply don't know what recoil is. Where a springer has that "lash" of movement which we learn to ride or control as we shoot, the GRT is snappier and more linear. It isn't recoil, it's simply the release of the action. Once learnt, it's certainly no barrier to accuracy.
I worked for a while in a shop that sold air rifles, and so have had plenty to compare it with. I don't think you can get better for the money. Any cheaper and you're in amongst some nice enough, but just not quite nice enough stuff. Any dearer and your onto the law of diminishing returns.
CFH - have a look at reviews for the Diana 280 or carbine 280K.
The latter comes sans open sights.
It has the renowned TO6 trigger unit and is a lovely rifle to shoot.
It isn’t recoil, it’s simply the release of the action.
It IS recoil. There is still an equal and opposite reaction to the weight of the forward moving piston. The fact that a coiled spring is replaced by a compressed gas makes no difference. The characteristics of the recoil are different however. The lock-time with a gas strut is shorter which once managed can result in improved accuracy. Gas struts in .177 calibre rifles are notoriously angry and snappy.
My local dealer sold 3 Air rifles to doctors last week. Apparently they're stress relief was going to be a bit of garden plinking.
It IS recoil. There is still an equal and opposite reaction to the weight of the forward moving piston. The fact that a coiled spring is replaced by a compressed gas makes no difference. The characteristics of the recoil are different however. The lock-time with a gas strut is shorter which once managed can result in improved accuracy. Gas struts in .177 calibre rifles are notoriously angry and snappy.
Yebbut, the reviewers who claim the snap of a gas strut affects their accuracy has never fired a 168grain target round through a Tikka T3 lite .308... #willywaving
I had an HW90K rammer for a while and my god was that snappy. It was very accurate though, that's another regretful sale.
CFH the 280 is a good shout as is the HW95. Again, a new Hatsan 60 or 50 with Quattro trigger set is a budget option with a good rep. If you check the classifieds on AGF or AGBBS you can sometimes pick up something fancy, my last Diana 52 was picked up for £150 because it was a working gun and not pristine. Straight shooter though and gives me a nice project to work on. You might even get a TX200 for that money which gives you a lot of tuning options (Tony Leach and Nick Gibney make decent short stroke and cylinder reducer kits, I have one of Tony's on my 52).
Another thumbs up for a 'rammed lightning from me. Mine has a Theoben gas-ram conversion from before BSA offered them as standard. My PCP is much easier to shoot but for lack of faff and not having to haul a cylinder about, the Lightning is brill.
Lightning is brill
Apart from the heavy, unpredictable trigger!
I haven't used it for a good few years now but I never thought it was *that* bad compared to either my S200 or Daystate Mk3.
Can you shoot? As in, accurately place a shot into a 20 pence at 10 yards minimum?
Most would go for a five round group inside a 2p coin at 25m with iron sights as a starting point for assessing whether you can shoot. Maybe showing my age...
For rabbits yes but you can get closer with rats since there tends to be more to hide behind.
Update - Bought a BSA GRT Lightning XL SE today.
Spent a while sorting the scope this afternoon, and happily grouping in a 2p sized target as mentioned above, with only one in ten going a little astray over the edges of the target. (I'm rusty, new rifle, etc!) It's very quiet, and seems to pack the required punch! The cocking action is lovely and smooth, too.
Now, be vewwy, vewwy quiet...
Try different pellets and die sizes as rifles can be fussy as to accuracy with different makes.
Now, be vewwy, vewwy quiet…
🤣 You do know he’s been banned from using a rifle now, don’t you?