Strangely, Jon.
The Swedish Government don't seem to want anyone shooting vermin with an Air rifle under 12ftlbs, whereas our Government believes that 12ftlbs is more than adequate to shoot vermin. :-
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All the best Mick
Great thread!
I bought a PR900 a couple of weeks ago off here and I'm in the throes of fitting a reg and setting it up. Great little rifles if anyone is thinking of going in this direction- good for learning about pcp's.
Anyone fitted an Altaros reg to one? Any handy hints?
video transferred to DVD, USB etc. Old negs and photos scanned to digital media
www.digitalconversions.co.uk
LOL.
Keep your pants on guys!....
@Born again.
I hear you. No offense but i presume hunting in general is "bigger" around here than in Britain. Like 1000lbs moose for instance, bears, lynx, wolfes and what not. Coupled with like a zillion wild boars, fox, deer, rough deer and so on and so on and so on....
Thing is, our law states that prey is divided into one of 4 classes. Class 1 is obviously "tough" and large game. Like moose, bear and so on. Class 2 is rough deer and the likes. Class three is where you´ll find beaver, mink and so on and in turn class 4 is all the little ones. Including rats.
Thing is that class 4 states that the rifle used must be CAPABLE of a 150J minimum and you´re not allowed to hunt any class 4 prey down with anything less. Say WUT? You need 150J to shoot a mouse?!? Yes.
Mark the words hunt down, cause keeping your dwelling free of rodents for instance is a different matter.. that´s one of a number of exceptions to the law that to this day states 22cal minimum and 180m/s.
Not one yota about pill weight. Nothing. Just 22cal and 180m/s minimum.
You know and i know that 20J suffice for this, and then some. However, like Born again here says putting them down with a 25cal Impact at 100J.. one hit. No movement no nothing and INDEED as the Impact is a rather accurate piece of kit.. you´re correct.
A 25cal for instance H&N "Grizzly" of 31 grains or a 34 grain JSB "Knock out" (both hollwpoint slugs) will decapitate the damn rat when you pull a head shot. Literally. There´s to the letter no head left.
Do it for the sport of it on occasion, because i can . From an ethics point of view, please don´t get me wrong here, putting them down with a dead silent Impact like that.. dispatch of them is sure fire. Rats, as you all know, are rather "soft" targets and TBH as you hit them basically anywhere with that 25cal slug travelling at 900fps and up.. they´re stone cold dead. On impact.
No "nerves make the thing jump around", no nothing, it is to the letter dead in its tracks. End of story.
When i HUNT (as in prey to put meat on the table and to fill the freezer) it´s a different matter all together. Wild boar for instance is a class 1 animal to us. Ie; use a 308Win or similar at a minimum.
That said being VERY well aware that with a PCP gun as accurate as my Impact (other ones are too to be quite honest) and at 120J.. put that hollowpoint pill just behind the ear of that hog and what happens is instant tilt. Knock out. It just freezes up completely and falls over. Dead as a doornail, right there.
That.. with a 25cal PCP. Deadly accurate and deadly silent. If you ask me, a win/win if ever.
But. The law is the law and indeed it works different in different countries i guess
For the sake of argument.. Got my shop on the absolute ledge of an industrial area. Closest neighbour is a smaller piece of forrest. This means, to the letter, that we´ve got wildlife around the shop you won´t believe. It´s the house and then like 500 square meters of lot. I´ve had moose, often so, at a distance of like 5 meters from the windows. We´ve had wolf tracks around the house (clear to see them massive paw prints in the snow). I´ve had a rough deer buck scare the living crap out of me as i put the key in the lock to open the shop up and that thing was at rest like 2 meters away from me in the high grass. Jumped straight up like a meter into the air before taking off like a bat out of hell!
Wild boar in turn is a downright ISSUE and within that industrial area alone we´ve got 4 packs, where none of them are of less that 13 pigs. The destroy everything in their path, gardens close by annihilated. What´s more they´re rather aggressive and "turf minded" too. Ie; not something you walk over to pet, and just imagine that.. a pack of 13-35 pigs grunting away in the dark maybe 10 meters out as you walk for your car.
PCP´s then.
Take that Artemis P15 i´m working on die hard ATM. As i got it, adjusted to a meek 10J and barely that, i fired away all in all one clip.
Like i said, you guys in Britain are EONS ahead of us up here when it comes to the use of PCP´s. No two ways about that. But.. again, it works a little different around here.
Poaching is about non existent, apart from the occasional moose or two up north. PCP´s are "limited" to 10J but noone cares, they´re "just" air rifles and are thus sold sans any and all tampering devices.
Ie; a brand new in the box PCP of any form of quality, just lift it out of the box and adjust the hammer spring. All needed..
For those lacking a drill press or a lathe, "full on" transfer ports are sold over the counter everywhere you find air guns. Ditto for springs for springers or rams for gas ram guns.
What this brings is that in essence ALL PCP guns around here are "tuned" to greater or lesser extent. A completely die hard stock one would be a one in a million kind of deal.
So.
Were i to move by the law here i would HAVE to bring the Anschutz 22LR out. Issue is that a silencer for that (in contrast to a moderator for a PCP gun) is under permit, still.
It has been ruled that permits for silencers for rifles are to be let free.. just.. politics. But our Riksdag has ruled so a few yrs back. That brings that according to the law if i were to hunt the damn rats down i would have to do so with a 22LR rifle at a bare minimum. From a practical point of view though that would bring that i´d have "your" SAS boys at the front door of the shop in 3mins flat. A non muffled 22LR is sure loud enough.
A silencer for a 308 Winchester though, no worries what so ever. For those that believe it´ll turn the thing quiet, think again. The silencer will remove a lot of the felt recoil and from a sound perspective basically keep you from going deaf. But that´s about it. Super sonic ammo for you..
A PCP though, with a shroud and a moderator, as you are very well aware sounds of.. nothing. Thus i can dispatch of them rats to hearts content and noone cares.
Am i allowed? Yes, as it´s within my own dwelling. That brings, could i move under the same rule at my friends house him not present? No, cause that would be me hunting them down = 150J minimum and out the Anschutz comes...
Then? Is it alright to bring the PCP to a friends house with him PRESENT and go at it? Yep. As long as he´s there it doesn´t have to be him doing the shooting.
Moronic?
Might be, but rats and the likes pests are not really considered hunting per se and i guess due that the "rifle demands" have been set at a level that IS moronic.
You know it, i know it. But.. as stated.
That Artemis P15 in 22cal. All i did was turn the hammer spring adjuster and the thing spat out 25,4 grain JSB slugs @720fps. Ie; approx 40J. Just to get a "feel" for the thing i took it pesting (rats). Is there a difference in terminal performance on rats between a 40J gun and a 100J one? No doubt, yes.
From what i´ve seen them slugs start to expand for real as you approach approx 850-900fps.
That is however NOT the same as stating that it is needed! A rat will no doubt fall over dead from a regular el-cheapo pellet of X amount of grains from a 177 gun too. No argument there.
What i´m saying is that to benefit the real virtues of them slugs it takes a bit of speed on the pill.. To go test on it so to say.
But to toss and turn fellow shooters alike, from what i´ve seen on YT... what i´ve read up and so on you guys go at it with even 177 guns? That and a very popular pill is the Hades and the Barracuda?
I´ve tried, on occasion, using regular pellets like the 33,95 grain JSB heavy monsters and then leaving at like 850 or so. IME they basically just pass through and leave like a stamped hole? No expansion what so ever, or.. very little at least.
I´m kind of curious of that there you Brits pull off and have understood that you use these 12lbs rifles on rabbits, foxes and so forth as well? Where´s the limit at in Britain? Thinking larger prey.
As for the Impact i´ve been using an older ATN Aries for a while. Distances are limited after all but.. as late as tonight i picked a used Pard 008LRF up and installed it.
Big difference. Fact is all of the PCP´s sport some sort of night sight by now. From el-cheapo Asian ripp off deals with a screen to a Yukon to an ATN to a Pard.
All of them "work" from that regard i guess and in turn all of them have dedicated high power scopes to boot. But IR sure do make for a difference when talking rats..
On that note..
Can for the Impact. Have seen like 10 iterations by now and as is, it´s an "old" Mk1 Impact in 25cal as stated, i´m happy with it. It´s the one that sees the LEAST attention for the time being, i just pick it up and shoot it. Sorts.
The others are all in some state of "development" though. This Artemis PR-900 in turn, to be all candid never had i believed. Really.
Which is what inspired me to pick a P15 up and do that one, which i´m head over heels into right now. Thought i´d put a post up on that one too as it progress, but will do so sans the "power mods" i guess. LOL.
Pity as it is a somewhat.. "different" rifle to fool around with as you aim to push the envelope a bit. As for the PR-900 here it since a few days sport a completely home brew valve and what not too.
First trials have shown great promise, will report back on it.
Anyways.
Britain and prey. What gives with these "limited" guns?
Last edited by Racing; 20-01-2022 at 11:31 PM.
Oh!
..on that downright "barbaric" T handle to pull the bolt of this PR-900
Certainly not the end of all ills, but the issue at hand is that this rifle.. Well, the long story is that we´ve sorts of taken an old homeless man under our wings at the shop, so he resides in an old caravan on the lot.
This PR-900 is for him, and i thought that bolt handle i turned was da bomb ( rather stiff hammer spring TBH), but.. nope. Having led a hard life and 65yrs old he simply can´t wrap his right hand and arm to cock the thing.
So what i did was just TIG weld a piece of stainless rod to the end of the bolt for now, and having done that he can at least use the thing.
Idea for him to keep after maggies, crows, rats and what not when we´re not around.
But yeah. Idea is to expand on that a tad.. correct. Function before form though
Well, i´ve certainly had the entire tube apart if that helps. Installing a reg is a rather straight forward proposition in most cases, and the ones for the PR-900 is no different.
Just be anal about going by the book (pamphlet i guess) to the letter.
Where many fail from what i´ve seen is that residual air needs to be able to escape (thus more often than not a small hole needs to be drilled) and many fail to understand the importance of flat mating surfaces.
Classic example of that is when a reg is to be installed to a Hatsan BT-65. The reg closes up and seals vs the stock rear "pressure out" bung and the thing is that these bungs, the machining done to them by Hatsan is insanely coarse.
Thus that surface often needs to be leveled and polished on a lathe to make the thing work.
The bungs on the PR (as i´ve seen them) are not though. Machining is ok as far as surface finish. Fit of parts though, as noted, is a different matter.
But as stated. Just be anal in your approach to the install and you´ll be just fine. Need be, hollar... and we´ll take it from there. These are VERY simple rifles to work on.
Just be sure to have the correct metric allen keys and so forth on hand.
What´s more if you haven´t already download an exploded view of the thing. It´ll help, and in turn take a crap loads of pictures with your cell. More than you think you´ll ever need.. cause with them on hand you can ALWAYS back track.
To that make sure you´ve got a tube of silicone grease and spray on oil too. Liberal amounts (while not friggin drowning the parts) applied to all o-rings is good habit.
We never shoot fox with airguns. Many police authorities consider HMR as a minimum for fox, it's what I use.
We regularly shoot rats and rabbits with sub12 airguns, and consider it humane, but it takes skill and self-control. A well placed shot from a sub12 airgun will kill cleanly, generally UK hunters will limit their ranges to around 35m max to ensure it. We're very aware that the continued legality of hunting with airguns depends on us, so in a sense we are self-regulating. If we abuse it, we'll lose it.
I've thought about getting FAC airgun at around 40fpe for rats, but the rimfire is more versatile and less hassle.
So sub-12 guns are considered suitable for most of the species on Open License, which are generally small vermin and invasive species that can be shot all year round with no close season, as long as they are causing crop damage or present some kind of health hazard (like pigeon or rat shit in grain stores) and you have permission to shoot from the land owner (there is no Hunting on public land).Originally Posted by Racing
This includes rabbits, pigeons, rats, crows, grey squirrels, things of that size (last time I looked parakeets were still on the list too!).
Sub 12 is definitely not suitable for foxes and I don't know anyone who would try it. 22lr or shotgun at closeish range would be a bare minimum, but most dedicated fox shooters use a small to medium centrefire round.
Hunting at sub 12 is rewarding for the species it is suitable for - its easy to be safe and you don't have to worry too much about backstop, ricochets or rounds going for miles. It does mean though that you need to be no more than 40 to 45 yards away from your quarry at maximum. Realistically 25 to 30 yards is a more common distance, both for practical accuracy and energy reasons.
Hunting like this will make you very good at field craft!
Over 12 ft/lb power airguns are licensed in the same category as centrefire and rimfire rifles. You have to present a case for why you need such a thing. The police may ask to inspect the land where you are shooting it. So few people will bother to get an FAC (firearms certificate) to run an airgun at 14 ft/lb: If you're going through all that hassle you may as well make it worthwhile and go to 20/30. Ironically many airguns are optimal at just a few ft/lb above the UK limit, but this is the least used band of power over here.
Good deals with these members
On the contrary, i find it real interesting to notice the differences, and i bet we can all learn from comparing notes.
I´ll update on the PR-900 soon enough, and in turn there will shortly be posts on that P15 and on the Hatsan BT-65 of mine too.
To go hunt here all you do is pass a "hunters exam". This is handled by authorized examinators and with such a paper/exam in hand you get to apply for a permit for any hunting rifle. This permit is for life. This has been handled by our police, but ppl in general are starting to get REAL tired of their crap as far as permits, where a permit can take three months to get approved for no apparent reason what so ever. Just pure simple obstruction, in direct contrast vs what the law says. Quid pro quo i guess.
(Me i´ve just put in for a permit on an old blackpowder repeater.. since november, not a word yet. This for competition/target use only though as black powder is prohibited for use when hunting. TBH i don´t expect to hear one yota til february..)
As far as i´ve understood (?) in contrast to you guys in turn we still can own full caliber handguns, as well as full auto rifles for competition too. There´s approx 10 million of us and approx 2 million guns. Gone down quite a bit since the early 90´s when the same number was approx 4,5 million guns on permit.
Sweden is a vast country, and so is thus our outdoors. Hunting IS allowed on public land, it comes down to who gets the lease. In my case my former mother in law keep rather large areas so.. not an issue.
In turn i´ve got a piece of land for free to hunt boar not far from the shop and them critters have become a nuisance to the point where the residents just about pulls out the red carpet for hunters that show up.
Hunting is part of the Swedish essence however, so politicians and what have you not would 100% quickly be out of office for whoever dares even touching that.. Kind of like, "everyone" has had moose meat on the plate.. just take my word for it. Hunter or no, no matter.
I live on the southern west coast and around here the two species that form an "issue" is indeed wild boar and rough deer. They not only infest ppls gardens and what not (not to speak of farmers), they are WAY WAY over represented in traffic issues and what not too.
Sweden is a rather large country, as far as area, while there´s only 10mill of us. Up north you to this day can take a walk and walk for days without running into a living soul. That said go figure on wildlife
As for PCP i for one believe we´re just at the threshold of using them for hunting. Albeit we by tradition see most "air guns" as small caliber low on power guns/toys that IS changing and we see the advent of guns we´d never believe like just 10yrs ago. Very very exciting to be around to experience that! FX, to us, of course a big part of that. In country though there´s other rather known PCP builders/developers more than just Mr Axelsson and crew.
Here an example of that. To large part a rip off of the FX 2000 way back. Beautiful piece of kit though. It is an "AirGuns of Sweden". Aka AGoS short eight.
As far as i recall only 200 were made. That there No 19 and TBH i regret selling it.
As it looks right now however there´s a German fellow you might be aware of by the name of Jörgen Sprave. He runs the "Slingshot channel" on YT. In an effort to round German law (their firearms law are rather strict since WWII) he´s currently trying to get the Chinese made AEA Challenger bullpup 50 approved by German authorities as sub 7,5 Joule gun. This by the implement of a physical restriction by the air tank AND getting it approved to fire rubber balls!
I´m on that mailing list and the day it gets approved.. TAKE MY MONEY!
In "full steam spacemachine" mode that thing has been tuned beyond 1000J.. AEA at the moment spitting out new models like they were going out of style..
So yeah. I truly believe that PCP guns will become an ALTERNATIVE to powder burners in the near future. Around here you already can get a permit for one completely unrestricted, but as stated most simply don´t bother..
These guns are of course not abused, hence no issue. Regard them as "garden guns" of old times if you wish.
Ditto. As i wrote elsewhere my real pinpoint is blackpowder arms, and i compete with them and what not.
Britain. Again. What can i say? LOL
Don´t know how many of you that are that into your own firearms history, but suffice it to say that with the Whitworth rifle (and in fact a few Purdeys at the time) the schedule was redrawn. In one blow there in the mid/late 1850 you guys changed how we manufacture small arms for all time.
Went from being able to hit stuff at say 250 meters to be able to do it at 2000 yards. With a muzzle loader. So yes. I´m a lucky enough sod to own and campaign several such so called "451 era" rifles, the Whitworth being the crown of them i guess.
Well. Me blabbering amidst night!
So next Q i guess is self explainatory. What prey IS there in the UK as a whole?
Last edited by Racing; 21-01-2022 at 03:02 AM.
really interesting thread - also the laws and hunting stuff is very interesting too. One of my nephews lives in sweden, but he's not the hunting type, so all news to me.
In uK, rabbit is the bigest thing you'll shoot with an airgun. Going > 12 ft-lb doesn't change this, it just means you can shoot them from further away, and with more margin for error.
Always looking for any cheap, interesting, knackered "project" guns. Thanks, JB.
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" -- Benjamin Franklin