Air Rifles

[i_am_jim]

i couldnt agree more. i do also have a really cheap nasty chinese .22 ( was given it my an old boy down at the allotment), that i plink cans with not much good for anything else also produces lots of thick smelly smoke when fired. strange chinese mystery oil. if you can afford to, buy the best you can. you can usually get some good second hand deals. doesnt hurt to ask. you can also buy good quality cleaning kits and oils quite cheaply from ebay.

[nickdutch]

It's currently unlawful to hunt live quarry with a cross bow, long bow or sling shot. The powers to be have deemed that these methods are likely to cause suffering.

Personally I think the cross bow is an awesome hunting tool. As for a sling-shot, I don't think it should ever be used to kill small quarry as it's simply not accurate enough or indeed powerful enough. A sling-shot is however great fun if you use it for plinking at targets.

Of course when the "baloon goes up" the authorities won't concern themselves with policing such things. Personally I would never want to use any impliment that might result in an inhumane death.

I'd advise those of you who want to hunt and kill small game (upto rabbit size) with a sling-shot or similar to instead use a UK legal sub 12ftlb air rifle. Go for something capable of at least 11.5 ftlb (some cheap Chinese made guns struggle to produce this level of power).

Have you got a source for that? It was my understandings that if you get permission from the land owner and have the right insurance and license, you can hunt with a slingshot no problem

[JohnRio]

It's currently unlawful to hunt live quarry with a cross bow, long bow or sling shot. The powers to be have deemed that these methods are likely to cause suffering.

Personally I think the cross bow is an awesome hunting tool. As for a sling-shot, I don't think it should ever be used to kill small quarry as it's simply not accurate enough or indeed powerful enough. A sling-shot is however great fun if you use it for plinking at targets.

Of course when the "baloon goes up" the authorities won't concern themselves with policing such things. Personally I would never want to use any impliment that might result in an inhumane death.

I'd advise those of you who want to hunt and kill small game (upto rabbit size) with a sling-shot or similar to instead use a UK legal sub 12ftlb air rifle. Go for something capable of at least 11.5 ftlb (some cheap Chinese made guns struggle to produce this level of power).

You are correct about it being illegal to hunt with bow and crossbow in the UK - which are ancient prohibitions due to the aristocracy wanting to keep hunting to themselves and out of reach of the plebs. These restrictions remained in place in modern times as silent weapons lend themselves to poaching, again, ticking the landed gentry off.

Unfortunately, you are labouring under what are very common misconceptions re. slingshots and UK law.

There is no restriction by statute on hunting (certainly not on "vermin" like rabbits, grey squirrel & wood pigeon) with a catapult / slingshot or sling in the UK. There is no specific statute law regulating slingshots in the UK at all.

There IS legislation against causing "unecessary cruelty or suffering" to an animal. Shooting at animals with weak, sub-lethal slingshots, such as those used to launch fish bait, would certainly qualify. However, a modern hunting slingshot banded with the latest rubber e.g. double Theraband Gold will deliver something between 12 to 27ft lbs* of power when loaded with suitable ammo e.g. a 12mm lead ball weighing 150grains** this will hit harder at under 20yards than any off-ticket air rifle, more than enough to humanely kill rabbit sized or smaller game. Such slingshots can be purchased for between £10 to £20 or you can buy the Theraband Gold and build one yourself.

While it is harder to shoot accurately with a slingshot compared with an air rifle, it is possible to train yourself to shoot with surprising accuracy, if you are prepared to make the effort.

A slingshot is very portable, and extremely discreet. It also posesses one huge advantage over the air rifle in the UK:
- If you are seen shooting with an air rifle in the UK, even if you are doing so legally on land where you have written permission, the average MoP (Member of Public - who has been trained to believe that all guns are magic-eeeevil-can-shoot-through-a-car-and-kill-two-people-at-once) is quite likely to call the police and report "ZOMG! Man with a GUN!" at best this may waste your and police time, at worst it could result in your facing a Firearms Response Team armed with real guns.
- Even if a MoP were to bother calling the police about "Man with a catapult!" the police will be unlikely to respond at all (read Inspector Gadget and PC Bloggs about police priorities in the UK atm) and even if they do they will not be bringing guns with them.



*Depending largely on style / length of draw. I use an archery style draw to the corner of my jaw that gives me a 32" draw length. People who use a "butterfly draw" may be drawing 40" or more! Longer draw = more speed and more power. Kinetic energy = mass multiplied by velocity squared.

**If you find this unbelievable: bear in mind that a .22 air rifle pellet weighs only 15 grains! That's 1/10th the mass of decent slingshot hunting ammo. I shot a 12mm lead ball straight through two water-filled beer cans, one behind the other (that's penetration of four steel layers) and it still had enough power to penetrate the box behind it. Also, google "The Slingshot Channel" or "oldmansballbag" on YouTube and watch Joerg Sprave or John the Gamekeeper, respectively, shoot over a chronometer (to give accurate power readings), and clean through a chicken carcass. You may also wish to join The SlingShot forum and take a look in the hunting section, where skilled slingshot hunters regularly post their game bags, taken cleanly in one shot.

[JohnRio]

i couldnt agree more. i do also have a really cheap nasty chinese .22 ( was given it my an old boy down at the allotment), that i plink cans with not much good for anything else also produces lots of thick smelly smoke when fired. strange chinese mystery oil. if you can afford to, buy the best you can. you can usually get some good second hand deals. doesnt hurt to ask. you can also buy good quality cleaning kits and oils quite cheaply from ebay.

That "smelly smoke" comes from excess oil in the barrel that has vaporized and burned under pressure. It's called dieseling. And it can spoil your accuracy / damage your piston / make your pellets go faster. That latter could, technically, get you in trouble with the fuzz on account of it pushing your pellets over the 12ft lb UK limit, which would then = a Section 1 Firearm! (Although, if you are careful, legal and discreet in your air rifle use the fuzz should not have cause or opportunity to test it).

You can buy foam / fibre "cleaning pellets" from your local gun shop, which you simply load and fire through your air rifle. (Warning - they are noisier than lead pellets!) These might help swab out any excess oil left in the barrel and stop the dieseling. Unless you introduce more oil into the barrel or piston, it should stop dieseling eventually just through normal use.

You're right that it's better to buy quality if you can - my Weirauch has never dieseled!

[JohnRio]

It's currently unlawful to hunt live quarry with a cross bow, long bow or sling shot. The powers to be have deemed that these methods are likely to cause suffering.

Personally I think the cross bow is an awesome hunting tool. As for a sling-shot, I don't think it should ever be used to kill small quarry as it's simply not accurate enough or indeed powerful enough. A sling-shot is however great fun if you use it for plinking at targets.

Of course when the "baloon goes up" the authorities won't concern themselves with policing such things. Personally I would never want to use any impliment that might result in an inhumane death.

I'd advise those of you who want to hunt and kill small game (upto rabbit size) with a sling-shot or similar to instead use a UK legal sub 12ftlb air rifle. Go for something capable of at least 11.5 ftlb (some cheap Chinese made guns struggle to produce this level of power).

Have you got a source for that? It was my understandings that if you get permission from the land owner and have the right insurance and license, you can hunt with a slingshot no problem

While you would need permission from the landowner to be within the law, there is no licence required by law, nor is there a licence available to shoot / hunt with a slingshot in the UK.

You can get insurance when shooting with guns (including air rifles /pistols) the easiest way is to join the BASC (I think that's the acronym. Bristish Association of Shooting and Country sports?). I've never heard of anyone offering insurance for slingshot shooting! Just be very careful! And wear eye protection, in case the band or frame fails!

[modplod]

Apologies - yes you're right there doesn't appear to be anything in law stopping a sling-shot being used for live quarry (rabbits and birds).

Personally I think that a sling-shot can never be accurate enough to ensure an instant and humane death and for this reason I think it's not a good idea to use one for hunting.

If you cause an animal to suffer then the law quite rightly covers this scenario.

Anyone wanting to hunt small ground game should consider using a good quality and sufficiently powerful air rifle. You can usually find a BSA Lightning for about £150 secondhand. Either calibre is fine (.177 or .22) but keep distances down to 35 yards for .22 and 40 yards for .177. The ranges here are for spring airguns, with PCP's the ranges can be increased by about 10 yards or so. If you need more range then perhaps you should look towards getting a .22LR Rimfire instead. Obviously with a live round rifle you will need a firearms licence.

[the-gnole]

You are correct about it being illegal to hunt with bow and crossbow in the UK - which are ancient prohibitions due to the aristocracy wanting to keep hunting to themselves and out of reach of the plebs. These restrictions remained in place in modern times as silent weapons lend themselves to poaching, again, ticking the landed gentry off.

All of about thirty years IIRC.

The Wildlife and Countryside act 1981

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18038 has a very good thread about it.

[the-gnole]

Back to rifles, It is a lot to do with the skills of the hunter as to what distance a particular rifle will be capable of a kill, I personally use a PCP BSA Ultra Multishot, gives me the opportunity to get a second shot into the target within a couple of seconds.

Will be trying out my new CO2 rifle tomorrow hopefully.

[nickdutch]

You are correct about it being illegal to hunt with bow and crossbow in the UK - which are ancient prohibitions due to the aristocracy wanting to keep hunting to themselves and out of reach of the plebs. These restrictions remained in place in modern times as silent weapons lend themselves to poaching, again, ticking the landed gentry off.

All of about thirty years IIRC.

The Wildlife and Countryside act 1981

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18038 has a very good thread about it.

Its a shame that sling-bows are therefore out of the question then. Dashit and double dashit !!

[JohnRio]

You are correct about it being illegal to hunt with bow and crossbow in the UK - which are ancient prohibitions due to the aristocracy wanting to keep hunting to themselves and out of reach of the plebs. These restrictions remained in place in modern times as silent weapons lend themselves to poaching, again, ticking the landed gentry off.

All of about thirty years IIRC.

The Wildlife and Countryside act 1981

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18038 has a very good thread about it.

No, it goes back much further than that. During the Middle Ages poachers could be hung or have their hands cut off for taking a deer.

A lot of relatively recent statutes just re-frame / modernise pre-existing prohibitions, or patch up where other changes have encroached on gentry privelege.

E.g. In the early 1900s most plebs who might've wanted to hunt would've been able to get a gun without hindrance of laws anyway, as Firearms restrictions were progessively stepped up from a start point of zero controls in the UK at the turn of the century. So there would've been no pressure to legislate against poaching by bow-hunters, per se. Poachers would've probably used .22s (pretty quiet) or other methods e.g. netting, dogs.
Also, prior to the 1949 Countryside Act, most plebs would not have been able to hunt legally anyway, as wandering about on the relevant land would've been straight-up trespass. Hiking about on moors and such became legal after that, but didn't start to get really popular until the 70s and 80s....

....and then the Wildlife & Countryside act 1981 was passed.