First Steps for Air Rifle Hunting

[Scythe13]

[Devonian]

Thanks S13, very useful post!

Any chance you can post up the Permissions Slip as the link provided needs you to be a registered member of Hunting Life to download them.

[Scythe13]

[Talon]

Nice post Scythe.One thing worth remembering regarding ftlb's.As a general rule of thumb spring guns prefer lighter pellets and pre charged prefer heavier.
This is in no way set in stone as skirt thickness/hardness/the rifling all play a part,including pellet weight.Just because your particular gun is shooting close to the limit with a particular pellet doesn't necessarily mean that it is 100% legal.

The police (if you were ever unfortunate enough to have them test your gun) can test it with whatever pellet they choose. The safest thing is to have your rifle chronographed with as many pellets as you can find,you should try as many different ones as you can anyway to see which one suits the gun you're using .

My HW80 is set so .177 RWS Superdomes leave the rifle at an average 10.7 ftlb's,still perfectly adequate for all british air rifle quarry but it gives me some leeway if the rifle was ever tested with something like RWS Hobby or one of the new composite style pellets.

If the gun goes over 12ftlb's by even a fraction you could very well go down for it (at the very least they would likely confiscate and destroy it).

For a first time gun I would personally recommend a springer.They're self contained and are much easier for first time tinkerers who want to venture into tuning their gun.They're also more unforgiving of poor technique and generally are more accurate with a relaxed hold.

If a scope is going to be used a spring gun really needs a quality scope and preferably a good one piece mount.Spring rifles have a push/pull recoil due the piston first travelling at speed then coming to an abrupt (though cushioned) stop,and can wreck a cheap scope pretty fast.
Definitely better to start with open sights though.

.177 vs .22 is a never ending debate,both will do the job if the shooter does their part.I prefer .177 at 12ftlb's for it's flatter trajectory.

Gun oil is great for protecting the bluing,but for the cocking linkages or the barrel hinge i use a molybdenum grease.

The most important thing in this climate though is make sure the gun is on the right side of the limit.A chrony is money well spent,but it is vital if you want to start down the path of home tuning (and who doesn't)

[Scythe13]

Talon, I agree with everything you've said. Most of it was probably too tech for a first time shooter though. The whole PCP, Scopes, and that kind of thing...they'll be in the Second Steps for Air Rifle Hunting post

To start shooting, I wouldn't bother with tuning or anything like that. I'd just go with the basics that I've outlined above. Off the shelf, in the hand, into the field. That sort of simplicity, to start with.

Once you've become well bedded into the sport and are comfortable with your progress and want to take the next steps, then we'll look at what to do next.

For now though, follow the above and have fun doing it.

[Talon]

Sorry about that Scythe,I did go off on a tangent a bit there.I just wanted to emphasise that beginning shooters really need to make sure that they stay legal.

When I was younger I never gave a care about the legal limit(neither did the police to be honest),but age not to mention mortgage has given me a new appreciation for not getting my collar felt by the gendarmes.

Shooting has gotten a really bad press these past few years so it's best that we try to ensure we keep to the rules for the preservation of our shooting heritage..
Air rifles can have a tendency to stray over the limit even when bought new from a RFD,especially after they've bedded in after a 1000 shots or so.
Looking forward to part 2.

[Scythe13]

Shooting has gotten a really bad press these past few years so it's best that we try to ensure we keep to the rules for the preservation of our shooting heritage..
Air rifles can have a tendency to stray over the limit even when bought new from a RFD,especially after they've bedded in after a 1000 shots or so.
Looking forward to part 2.

That's one of the reasons I recommend the BASC insurance. It's a solid policy, and the BASC do some great work with preserving shooting for us all.

With the off the shelf stuff, if it is over the limit, the police will come down heavy on you if you modified it. But if you can prove it's off the shelf, it will get confiscated, but you should be able to get a new one straight off the manufacturers at no extra cost, as 'it must have been a default' in the initial product that made it over 12lbs.

I'm going to be doing a few more posts about simple mods, e.g. moderators, bipods, scopes, etc. But that's really not needed to build an awesome foundation.

I know guys that went straight for the really high tech stuff. Great PCP's, fully kitted out, Zeroed to perfection, etc. No field craft or marksmanship. Their gun was hitting the targets, not them. They could hand the gun to their grandma and she would be hitting bull, every shot. The real funny thing...they couldn't stalk a dead crow, couldn't shoot any other gun than their own, and they had ZERO skill without a scope, or from standing. When it came to hunting, they could not control the adrenaline and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!

Without great foundations, shooting is nothing more than luck.

[Tarrel]

Very, very useful post. Thanks for sharing.

[Talon]

Very true Scythe.I've known a few people with the best high end pcp's fitted with quality optics shooting at a given range,It takes very little skill on the part of the shooter.I fell for it myself for awhile until I found the whole set up lifeless.I sold the kit.
My field craft is sorely lacking these days since I'm now predominantly a paper puncher using diopter sights. Anyway enough of me derailing this thread.

[Scythe13]

It's good info Talon.

Your comment about "field craft lacking these days" is one of the reasons I'm going the photo challenge thing and why I created this thread. The photos is to help people develop their fieldcraft and stalking, then this thread is to help them take the next step, to convert those skills into actual hunting.