New Banbury member - advice on pest control

[wemorgan]

Hello,

I hope I've joined the correct forum, as there seem to be a few out there.

I've joined because I'm looking for advice on buying my first air rifle. I keep chickens and have observed magpies stealing their eggs. So I wish to control these pests.

I live in a small rural village north of Banbury, with my garden backing on to arable land, so believe I have a safe backstop.

My questions are simply:

Can anyone please recommend a local shop where I can buy an air rifle and seek advice?
I'm not wishing to spend too much money - what is a reasonable brand of air rifle I should look at?
Are second-hand guns a sensible purchase.

Please feel free to give any other advice.

Many thanks,

Will

[Chandlers]

First off, yes you joined the right forum ! Welcome aboard.

Banbury Gunsmiths in Broad Street would be nearest I take it ? They'll sort you out if you want advice and if you decide to buy from a dealer.

Stoeger combo is ok for an all in one starter package if you want to buy new and be up and ready to go.

Personally I'd buy a secondhand gun or combo off here, once you gain access to the sales section spend a while getting an idea of what's what and how much guns, etc go for,there's some good stuff that comes up for sale at great prices.

Always been a Weihrauch fan myself, if you wanna keep it simple go for a Spring powered gun with a 3-9x40 scope, makes like Weihrauch & Air Arms are the usual favourites for the gun, but there's also BSA, Webley, etc.

Best to go on some of the big dealers websites like JS Ramsbottom, Blackpool Air Rifles etc to get an idea of what's makes of guns & scopes are available, you could also get one of the airgun mags as they have plenty of ads in there with pics etc.

Don't want to sound patronising but whatever you get, practice away on paper targets first to get your shots grouping tightly before you start on the live stuff..

Rgds

dave.

[wemorgan]

Thank you for the helpful advice Dave.

I'll be shooting from about 15-20m - so yes I agree some target practice will be needed as I doubt I'd currently hit much.

Is this thread the right place for further questions, or should I start a new thread? I know sometimes the "Introduction" sub-forum can get missed.

Anyway -

Is a 0.22 the preferred sized for magpies, as in killing humanely?
Rifles with a fixed barrel but small arm beneath for compressing the spring look more robust - is this so? (sorry for terminology I don't yet know)
What budget seems reasonable? I was hoping £200 for rifle and scope.
Are silencers beneficial - is muzzle or mechanism noise the dominant? (don't want to disturb the neighbours too much)

Thanks again.

[monty57]

HI, All sounds good welcome aboard. as well as good advice as to where to buy and what to buy theres loads of other stuff you learn too, like the back stop ends where your garden ends as any round or shot should remain on the land you have permission if the pellets are going to go onto the farmers field i believe you need permision or you are breaking the law. i'm sure if you inform the farmer what you are doing he will be fine with it as they don't want magpies every where either. best be safe and sure there so many people willing to report shooting these days.
Good luck and shoot safe Monty57

[wemorgan]

Thanks Monty. I hadn't considered asking the farmer's permission, but it does sound sensible so will make enquiries. Cheers.

[monty57]

HI , I was wondering if the wildcat mod i have for my .22-250 with a varmint barrel would fit onto my .243 with a standard barrel if i fitted a new rear barrel grommit? any ideas would be appreciated .
Thanks monty57

[Steyr]

You are required by law to ensure that the pellet does not leave your boundary - if it does you are committing a criminal offence.

The way around this is to approach the land owner, say you want to have a crack at the magpies for song bird preservation, you have tried all means of scaring without success and would he be ok to give written permission to shoot over the boundary into his field so long as it is safe to do so.

The other is to shoot from a bedroom windo (assuming it isnt a bungalow) to bait stations that offer containment and soft earth for stray shots to enter into - beware of ricochets.

Do not think you will pick up a rifle and be ready to drop quarry - for evry shot I take at a pulse, I made a 100 in practice.

.22 is not better than .177 in lethality and the loopy traj of the .22 gives it a range disadvantage over the .177. you hit the spot - it will drop.

I would join a club and get some training and advice personally

You need to do your homework and get the practice in once you have bought kit which is a topic all in its own

dont rush a purchase.... the magpie isnt going to disappear just coz you nail a couple in haste.

Neighbours need to be considered - particularly if they take offence at you taking pot shots at the little birdies so if you have neighbours you need to consider your position. A number of people have posted about neighbours foneing police claiing that they have had pot shots taken at them and resulted in an armed response or lots of trouble.

It isnt really as simple as buying a rifle in the shop and then going home dropping aver magpie in sight.

[Steyr]

HI, All sounds good welcome aboard. as well as good advice as to where to buy and what to buy theres loads of other stuff you learn too, like the back stop ends where your garden ends as any round or shot should remain on the land you have permission if the pellets are going to go onto the farmers field i believe you need permision or you are breaking the law. i'm sure if you inform the farmer what you are doing he will be fine with it as they don't want magpies every where either. best be safe and sure there so many people willing to report shooting these days.
Good luck and shoot safe Monty57

Not wishing to be rude monty but if you hold a 22-250 and a .243 you should KNOW not BELIEVE what the law is relating to a projectile leaving land for which you have permission to shoot on.

And to answer your mod question - it might be possible to get a delrin buffer made for the rifles. If you speak to wildcat, they might send you a screw in component that will allow you to acheive this. or you could perhaps get one made.

Also better to start your own thread rather than piggy back off anothers thread and therefore distract from the original OP's quest for enlightenment.

[mr who?]

Hello Will .

And welcome to the forum mate .

All the best .

Andy .

[18 Wheeler]

Otmoors, just South of Banbury in Deddington.

A proper airgun shop which I've used in the past. Prices look sensible.

Worth asking a few questions here on the forum before going shopping IMO.

Happy shooting.

[wemorgan]

.22 is not better than .177 in lethality and the loopy traj of the .22 gives it a range disadvantage over the .177. you hit the spot - it will drop.

I would join a club and get some training and advice personally

I'm a little confused. I'm sure this is a topic well debated before, but I'm new here so are the differences 6 of 1, 1/2 a dozen of the other?

Hello Will .

And welcome to the forum mate .

All the best .

Andy .

Thank you.

Otmoors, just South of Banbury in Deddington.

A proper airgun shop which I've used in the past. Prices look sensible.

Worth asking a few questions here on the forum before going shopping IMO.

Happy shooting.

Thanks for the recommendation. Much appreciated.

Like you say - it's nice to gain some basic knowledge here first, before walking in to a shop and being talked in to buying the wrong equipment.

[Steyr]

.22 is oft used as the calibre of choice as the pellets tend to be heavier and there is a belif that it hits harder.

I do not subscribe to that otherwise we would all be shooting .25.

The reason we dont is the traj of a .25 is so great you NEED to know the range to quarry or you will miss or wound.

.22 is oft punted by gun shops as the hunting calibre. This is bollocks of the highest order.

It is efective but it still carries the curved traj so if you cant read range then at close and extrem ranges of your ability, the degree of missing or wounding becomes geater.

There are fans of the .20...its often described as the compromise calibre but to be honest it has never really caught shooters imagination, you hardly see them and as a reuslt the pellets on offer are much more reduced than the .22 and the .177 calibres.

.177 is flatter shooting and it WILL drop very effectively like ALL the other calibres so long as you know your gun, your pellet, your ranges and you put in the practice.

However, the .177 pellet does fly flatter and gets their quicker.

You then get into the argument of wind effect and I dont mean a vindaloo.

To me this is a false argument. In the same way it is your duty to get to be able to get the range right (either by eye/brain or laser - I dont care so long as you do it) then you also need to know what the wind conditions are like and how it will affect your pellets point of impact.

It is a personal choice and I would probably argue that for a pcp rifle, then .177 offers more accuracy potential then a .22 unless you have immaculate range finding ability.

In a spring gun, I would probably something bigger like a .22 may be better to help the recoil issues especially with cheaper untuned rifles which I suspect is maybe where you are heading.

But then I really hate spring guns but that is just my personal stance

If you want to take the argument even further, then many will say that you need to go for a heavier pellets. Again. I buck the trend and shoot 7.9's and they seem to drop just as hard or harder than 8.9's.....

you have to find your way

[wemorgan]

Thank you, that was a very interesting read. It all sounds quite technical to me.

If it's of relevance, my garden is only 15-20m long and has tall hedging either side, open end on to land - so I suspect/hope the cross wind would be minimised.

I may get in to shooting as a hobby, but initially it's only to control pests. So whilst I want to do things properly I don't want to take it too seriously and ultimately want to make a purchasing decision sooner rather than later

[18 Wheeler]

Purely for pest control at the ranges you mention, either calibre will do the job.

£200 is quite tight for decent new equipment.

HW99s is about the best quality, reasonably priced spring gun IMO. Around £210.

JSRamsbottom (who sponsor/pay for the running of this forum) have an AGS 4x40 scope including mounts for only £26. You won't find anything to beat it for the job you have in mind.

.22 has some advantages, especially in spring guns. It is a little more efficient, so requires less spring power to get the same muzzle energy.

Fixed barrel guns are theoretically more accurate, hence most competition shooters prefer them. However, they also tend to be heavy.

A well made break barrel is capable of excellent accuracy and has much to recommend it, weight, easy of use, very safe for an inexperienced user etc.

[wemorgan]

Thanks for the advice.

I'd be happy with a second-hand rifle, but not knowing anything about them would most likely still buy from a dealer.