About 10 years ago I decided to set up a shooting range in the belly button of suburbia. No kidding, it was a place like I see in your newspapers where the houses are smack together without even a driveway between them.
I still had a back garden about 25 yards wide and 35 yards deep with a good fence all around and a place to hide my shooting position between the back deck and the shed, so I decided to go for it with the quietest, cheapest air rifle I could find.
It turned out to be one if these, a Crossman 760.
https://www.crosman.com/pumpmaster-760-rifle-177
These devices and been around since the early 1960s in one form or another and they also serve as the foundation for the 1377/1322, the rat catcher, the back pacer and the host of CO2 and PCP converted models sold word wide.
The power plant is basically the same for the entire series.
6-8 pumps offers 650-700 fps with BB ammo. That is well below your 12 pound limit and even if one "overcharges" the gun to 10-15 pumps it is unlikely that one could send a BB along at the +1000 fps needed to break UK law!
If you try to put too much air into them they will "pressure lock" since the hammer can not release the valve. Keep going and you can blow the pressure chamber O-ring or ruin the chamber itself. It is just made from aluminum with a plastic valve, so it has its limits.
And one does not particularly need full power for each and every shot! Unlike a springer or single stroke air gun the 760 can be pumped one time or ten times and the BB will exit the barrel with whatever level of power the user desires. Two pumps makes a fine inside the house gun for shooting into a cardboard box filled with crumpled newspaper.
These guns were devised to be one step up from the Daisy Red Ryder BB gun and they fill that niche well. They are double the power of the Daisy and accurate for a few more yards due to the increased velocity.
Over here they are "cheap as chips" as you would say, with a retail price of about half what the manufacturer lists. I got mine new for $20 U.S.
The joy of these little guns is that in the base model they are a smooth bore, best suited to shooting BB ammo, but 4.5mm pellets will also work. That means short range, but in crowded conditions the range will always be short.
They are also quiet, with the sound of the pump handle working usually making more noise than the shot. One of my neighbors told me they could hear me pump the gun, and the "ding" when the BB struck the steel knock down target, but never heard the discharge.
I rediscovered my little 760 the other day and decided to investigate it more closely than before. I did some research and made a few modifications. There are all sorts of strange instructions on the internet about how to force more power out of this little gun, but after watching all of them I came to the conclusion that these people were not doing anything to increase performance more than putting a couple of extra pumps into the gun would do, and in its current design there is no way to increase the performance beyond what UK law allows, so why risk breaking the law and/or messing up a good BB gun?
But being the piddler that I am I could not help but modify the rifle a bit. I did open up the air transfer port just a hair so the air would flow better when the little gun farted. I also lopped the last 6" off the barrel, crowned it on my hobby lathe, and moved the front sight back against the end of the pressure tube.
No real reason for that, I just wanted too do it.
I also installed a cheap "red dot sight". After spending a few minutes getting the little dot positioned where the BB ammo was landing when I stood 10 yards from my target backstop I called the job finished.
Also be advised that one should not use a solid backstop or pellet trap when shooting BB ammo. The steel shot can bounce back with force equal to what it left the barrel. Use something soft like a carpet scrap or a block of duct seal. If you make the trap correctly you can reuse the BB ammo.
All my shots were landing inside the space the dot covered and I was hitting my 2" steel danglers with each shot. You do not want to mess with someone that can hit your danglers from 10 yards!
Rats and pidgins would be in danger also.
No, it is not the best choice of rifle, but not everyone needs the "perfect air gun" along with its limitations of use and added expense for only occasional use. The 760 is cheap, accurate, has adjustable power with ability to shoot inside a small room or enough power for eliminating small pests, and it is easy to shoot.
And it's fun! That is the basic reason this little gun was designed back in the '60s. It was made to promote the FUN of shooting! Inside, outside, by young or old, everyone/anyone can operate this little gun.
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