Br - I've shot airguns all my life and never seen anyone injured by been shot by a pellet.
Edited my initial response to this idiotic post!!! 🙄
Our air rifles as kids would go through plywood easily.
That seems dangerous enough to harm someone.
b r
Can I ask why you shoot air rifles? Just targets or rabbits? If the latter just think about the damage to a bunny and what makes you think op has tougher skin?
Clean through a rabbit skull at 30yds at 12ftlb. Ill pass ta.
I would just move.
A long way south will probably do it, maybe even north if you can get a job in Norway, otherwise just suck it up it comes with territory.
I've shot airguns all my life and never seen anyone injured by been shot by a pellet.
A mate was shot in the wrist when at school, 2 hr op to dig out and mend damaged bits n bobs.
No harm done hey 🙄
My loving Brother shot me in the arse when we were young from about 50yds it stung like holy h3ll and bruised my sorry arse, and that was a pretty weak airgun. I was not a happy chappy and I let me Bro know.
I had a weihrauch (sp?) and back then you could buy plastic pellets with steel heads, these pellets would go straight through a can over 50 metres away.
Very dangerous in the wrong hands!!!
One of the most awful injuries to the face I've seen was during a visit to see my bro in hospital when I was about 6. I remember staring and thinking what the hell could have done something like that. I asked the guy what had happened to his face and he told me the story. His mate shot him in the eye with an air gun. He was in there for at least a few weeks and the swelling and colouring was something else. Even the week after I first saw him it hardly changed. Who knows what kind of air gun it was but what a mess his face was.
I had a weihrauch (sp?) and back then you could buy plastic pellets with steel heads, these pellets would go straight through a can over 50 metres away.
Called Prometheus, nylon and zinc/tin alloy iirc. Great fun pushing the heads into the body of. 500 pellets. Not.
When I was younger a mate shot me "by accident" from about 15m away with his air rifle (albeit with illegal spring), cue trip to hospital to remove the pellet from just under the sking at the back of my leg as it had travelled through from the front, new respect on what an air rifle can actually do was quickly learned.
Shame you're not a Swan, that would have got the SAS out.
Bad news that happening as I regularly ride round there.
But - bridleway "called baby head alley" sounds good but I've never ridden anything that fits that description or heard it used before, I'm all intrigued, where is it ?
+1 Mattsccm
Kid up the road shot me in the shoulder with his Dad's 'rabbit' gun, we went for the Western approach to pellet removal, slug of his Dad's whisky, Stanley knife in the cooker gas burner and he dug it out. They must have heard the screams in Sheffield. Still got the scar. His Dad went mental and I went to A&E where the nurse told my Mum he'd done a decent job all things considered.
Not a fan of guns.
steel4real - MemberBad news that happening as I regularly ride round there.
But - bridleway "called baby head alley" sounds good but I've never ridden anything that fits that description or heard it used before, I'm all intrigued, where is it ?
Me too, never heard of it!
I have seen young lads on Norland with air rifles in the past, they were about
15/16 years old, never got shot at though 😯
When I was growing up, a lad living nearby lost the sight of one eye thanks to an idiot with an airgun. Long time ago, but I don't suppose he was the last such.
As a young boy I shot my Sister with a BSA 1.77 loaded with bone meal from Mum's garden shed ( ran out of pellets ), apparently she still has the scars on her thigh 30 years later. My Dad confiscated the Rifle and didn't give it back to me until I was thirty !
Someone shot my car with an air-rifle.
I think they were aiming at the foglight, but they missed and left a hold about the size of a 10p piece in the bumper.
Bumpers are tough old things - I wonder what damage that would have done to a person?
"Shame you're not a Swan, that would have got the SAS out. "
hahahaha spot on oldgit, that's how f'd up the UK is.
25 years ago a lad at my school was killed by an air rifle after being shot in the mouth which then penetrated his brain ! This definitely needs following up & they most certainly can be charged with firearms offences ! After all I remember a few summers ago, when a group of lads were driving around with supersoaker water pistols & firing water at passers by. The police took this very serious eventhough they were just having a laugh & a very slim chance of anyone getting injured !
sound like a good idea, if you cant beat them....
I've shot airguns all my life and never seen anyone injured by been shot by a pellet.
My brother was hit in the neck by an air pellet which almost hit the cartoid artery. He was in surgery for several hours. Still, as long as you never saw it happen that'll be ok.
Steel4real and nigew, baby head alley runs from the edge of Norland Moor down the left side of Norland Clough into Packwood Scar. It used to be far more loose than these days. You probably know it. The right hand side of the Clough is also rideable but not for me. It's fairly technical and also a footpath.
One thing i will say is these guns looked brand new. I hope it's not the start of something regular for these lads. If they have taken a shot at me I doubt they hesitate with a dog.
'Baby Head Alley'?
I ride/Live in this area and have never heard a bridleway called this...I'm intrigued...which end of the moor is it at?
br - what about eyes then?
Isn't it an offence to just be wandering around with an air rifle? Its not private land up there - its common land open to everyone but I'm guessing there are rules on where you can shoot those things?
Absolutly awful response from the rozzers.
In a slightly related matter, glad the trail is making a name for itself - I named it babyhead alley 😀
DBW I believe I may have heard it from you so it's maybe just me and you who call it that. Either way its a good decent. I left part of my left ear on that path. Have you tried the other side?
Happened many times before.
Police not bothered unless someone is hurt.
speckledbob - yep, the one that comes down from the bridge? Techy with steps and rocks and stuff? Great trail. When it veers right into the woods and gets to a really boggy bit... I've been thinking of ways of making that section rideable or cutting a new trail earlier that climbs above the rocks where the spring comes out the ground and then joining back onto the trail on the other side of the boggy bit as it winds down towards terrible turns.
I'd be onto the cops again and saying you weren't satisfied that you were shot at with an air rifle and it was shrugged off by the officer you spoke to.
And you;re right - the babies head sized rocks seem to have gone these days and its a proper flat out blat down there now! That, then the cheeky little section that drops down steeply onto the cobbles above Wireworks and then Wireworks is a top way of getting back into the valley...
Yes, that whole section from Norland is a good long decent. A good 5 mins plus of decending. Not sure how it will be at the bottom of wireworks once that estate gets built. It will probably end up a doggy toilet.
Anyway just e-mailed the NCP as suggested bu deluded. See what happens.
Top end of Norland from the Lad Stone, along that funky little trail right on the edge of the moor with the drop-off etc, short climb back onto the main trail and then hammer all the way down the moor, Babyhead Alley, cheeky bit, Wireworks - ace descent 😀
I got shot in the back when I was 9. The gun was a Diana SP50, a low powered, pop-out barrel design. It hurt a lot and gave me a massive bruise.
Airgun misuse is frightening as the consequences can prove fatal or life-changing.
A legal (sub 12ft/lbs)modern pre-charged pneumatic air rifle in .177 cal. is capable of generating muzzle velocities in excess of 780 feet per second. It may not be a devastating amount of energy but the potential for deep penetration of tissue is obvious.
SpeckledBob - I know where you mean now, we call it The Fradge Factory, dont ask 😉
Its a great descent, just slow down at the farm, hes getting very pissed off with bikes flying past.
DBW the cheeky bit is always good for catching folk out 😈
The lads with guns definatley need a talking to if you can find them, maybe head over there at a similar time next week, creatures of habit and all that.
EDIT I mean to get another description for the police
http://content.met.police.uk/Site/firearmslicensingairweapons
If you quote the relevant bit of legislation when reporting a crime then even the most dim witted civilian or policeman will feel obliged to do something.
Babyhead Alley? is that near Shoot-Up Hill?
Under the Violent Crimes Reduction Act of 2004 (or it might be 2005, I can't remember) it is an offence for anyone to be in possession of a firearm or imitation firearm in a public place, without good reason unless said firearm is in a condition which prevents it from being fired (i.e. unloaded and in a case or slip). Breaching this regulation carries the possibility of a mandatory 5 years imprisonment.
The VCRA includes air guns and airsoft ("BB") guns in it's definition of firearms.
Also, if IIRC it is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to be in possession of any air-powered firearm at any time unless on private land.
It is an offence to discharge an air rifle within 50 feet of a public right of way, if in so doing you cause a nuisance or danger to members of the public.
Under the terms of the VCRA, what happened to you was a firearms offence. The police should have been far more proactive in responding to it, and should have sent a firearms response team to investigate.
Well the NPT (not NCP like I put earlier) e-mailed back saying someone else had reported seeing youths with rifles in the area about the same time and a search was done but nobody was found.
John Ellison that is interesting. Clearly a few offenses committed here then. I was asked over the phone whether they had cases for the rifles.
Its been posted on the Calderdale MTB facebook page so people are aware of it and to report anything.
Same thing happened to me some 15 years back, me and the mrs had just bought our first house together and I was out on the bike doing some exploring of the area.
Riding through a nearby quarry I passed three youths with an air rifle (who I found out later were at least 17 as I saw them driving around.)
Said orate as I passed then heard the ping of the pellet wizz passed so I span the bike round and took off after them and they bolted.
I headed straight to the one with the gun and caught up with him ghosted the bike and flattened him with a right hook taking his stupid looking cap off.
Snatched the gun from his hand and was real close to smashing it when one of the others came back pleading me not to smash it as it was his.
At this point I had calmed down a little and gave them a bollocking about shooting at people etc and then went on my way.
It was a couple of weeks later when I found out the one that took the shot lived about 4 doors down on the same road we moved to.
I still see him now as we have kids at the same school, he never looks me in the eye.............scrote!!
@Robidoo - long shot but are you the same Robidoo who used to own a Blue T3 camper with a white pop top?
I shoot air rifle at sub 12ft/lb. If you are accurate enough you can easily kill rabbits at 50 yards. The pellet goes straight through the head !
Re the offences listed above, the law is pretty tight on such things. In addition to the above, you must have the rifle in a suitable cover in a public place when transporting to point of use.
It is an offence for the pellet you shoot to cross into private land where you do not have permission to shoot (even if it subsequently ends up in an area where you do have permission (no shooting across corners of other fields) - so whenever I shoot it is my responsibility to ensure no ricochets flying off into adjacent land - only real way to do that is to shoot into a back-stop or downwards.
Any shot fire upwards would need to be up to 400 yards away from adjacent land in case of a miss - even air-rifle pellets travel a long way !
Oh, and br, you should have your rifle confiscated with an attitude like that. You're dangerous.
A couple of years ago I had some moron taking potshots at my cat with a pellet gun. Teey were firing from the window of a flat on my block so I couldn't see which window (tbh I was so angry I wanted to sort it myself) - when I couldn't identify the window I reported it to the police.
5 minutes later 2 plain clothes cops were on a spying mission to see if they could ID the window - I spoke to one of them and was told that an armed response unit were waiting to storm the flat once identified. It was scary stuff. Police did likewise for a guy with a laser pointer who was dazzling motorists.
Obviously you've had a bad experience, but generally (or in Scotland at least), the police response to air weapons etc is good to the point of being pretty scary.
As other have suggested, go into a Police station and make a complaint, I think it'll be taken very seriously.
