4sight

Welcome to the site. If you havn't shot before then you might be putting the cart in front of the horse. I spent quite a bit of time at a local club learning how to shoot accurately before going out to kill gods critters. If you are a confident shooter then good luck with getting your first permission. If you are a newcomer the only advice I can offer is to make sure you can hit a 1" target consistently at your hunting ranges. Either way,, the guys on here are very experienced and you will always get good advice from the site.

It is not illegal to send an air rifle by courier company. There is no law (that I am aware of) that applies as such. However, if you read the terms and conditions and the 'permitted' and 'not permitted' sections for the various courier companies - including TNT, you will find that air rifles 'weapons' are NOT knowingly permitted. This means that if the package were to become damaged or lost in transit you would not be insured. Some of the couriers T&C's state that if they find a banned or not permitted item, they will confiscate and destroy. However, ParcelForce Express48 will happily

Aligns the eye in the same place all the time. Removes glare Reduces distractions. If they were worthless, the FT guys wouldn't all have them, As above. However. If you are firing a springer you might want to think hard about the amount of recoil you get (ouch). If you wear glasses, you can smear your lenses when the rubber/compound comes into contact, also it can push your glasses backwards. Dave

I was at my club and counted 8 Hawke scopes, 6 on springers. Maybe they are not quite as bad as you are suggesting.

As has been said so many times. Until you have picked up and shot the equipment, no-one is going to know what is suitable. Your budget will dictate whether an entry level springer, a full power springer like the AA TX200 or to go for a PCP with bottle. Are you going new or second hand. Join a local air rifle club, talk to the guys, try out some of their kit. Nothing worse than buying a .22 £50 springer when you need a .177 PCP at £600 second hand for HFT competitions.

There will be a stamp on the neck of the bottle giving the size and date of manufacture so that you can work out the re-test date. The guys who do your filling will also be able to tell you by the size of the bottle if someone has removed the stamp with a grinder

If they only fill a 300bar to 260, then they will only fill a 232bar to 190, based on your figures.

Depending on how little you use your air rifle, the 3l is a good liftable bottle for carrying around. If you use your kit every week on a regular basis, unless you live next door to the place that is going to refill it, go for a nice heavy 7l bottle from Best Fittings or GoDive, many more fills. Dave

As above. From experience, a good domed pellet from a major manufacturer is the way to go. Whatever you use, it must group accurately at your hunting ranges. Not a lot of good if perfect at 15yds and crap at 40. My rec is to use Air Arms or JSB Field/Diabolo ( JSB make rebadged pellets for Air Arms and Daystate). Dave

There are several makes of shooting mats on Ebay. Which type are you looking for? Dave

Hi Muzzie, welcome to the forum. You have come to the best place when it comes to picking up tips on hunting/shooting. I've put a link below which you might want to read. It covers just about all of the main points when it comes to airgunning along with a link to the 'General Licence' Good luck with your pest control. I assume that you you are able to put a pellet inside a 10p piece at all of your hunting distances, every time. If not, don't shoot/injure your prey until you can guarantee a kill every time. All the best. Link here: http://basc.org.uk/airgunning/basc-air-rifle-code-of-pract

If you download CHAIRGUN you will get a better idea of a pellets flight through the air, depending on variables such as, pellet weight and design, pellet speed and the height of the scope from the centre of the barrel. You need to zero your scope at (say) 35yds and then put out targets at 5 yard intervals to see where in reality the pellet lands. If you have ordered a mil dot scope, I'm not aware of Hawke scopes being biased to either yards or metres - you should be able to use the markings to relate to either.

Sorry Sarah, I'm not sure if they are sold over here in the UK. Dave

Hi Lee, welcome. I would recommend you pop over to your local air rifle club and have a chat with the guys there. You need to hold and shoot a range of kit to see what suits you, there is nothing worse than finding you have bought the wrong rifle. I have no experience with the rifles you are considering, but you won't go wrong looking at an Air Arms S400 or S510 + recharging bottle. I now only buy second hand as I have the confidence to repair the kit myself and I'm not stuck with anti tamper which stops you stripping the rifle for servicing and adjusting the power. Good luck with your fin

I just typed' southern ireland airgun licencing' into a well known search engine and quite unexpectedly found this - amongst others http://www.thehuntinglife.com/forums/topic/162813-air-gun-licence-ireland/ I don't know if this link helps but if you duplicate my search you will get additional links. If you do, let us know the answer, sounds interesting. Dave