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Coypu Hunter

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Everything posted by Coypu Hunter

  1. Coypu Hunter
    Young male magpies don't breed for a couple of years, they fly around in gangs with other "adolescents" during that time, generally creating mayhem. You've probably got one of these teenage gangs in your vicinity.
  2. Coypu Hunter
    That's a bit strange. If you're using Chairgun, the trajectory chart should show negative values up to your primary zero, then positive values until your secondary zero, then negative values thereafter. That's because the pellet's trajectory will be below the scope's axis to start with, rise up to meet the centre of the crosshairs at the primary zero, continue rising, then fall back to intersect the crosshairs again at the secondary zero, before continuing on to fall to the ground. So, if the target is closer than your primary zero or further away than your secondary zero, you will apply h
  3. Coypu Hunter
    Nice shooting. Must admit, when I top up our bird feeders, I drop a few peanuts on the ground deliberately, come back inside, load the rifle, and wait. Nine times out of 10, a bandit turns up within a few minutes...
  4. Coypu Hunter
    Yes, they're aquatic animals. They use flowing water to travel around (streams, rivers, even ditches) but breed on still water -- canals and ponds/lakes. If there's no water on your land, it's unlikely you'll ever see one, although they might use any ditches as pathways on the way to somewhere else. People and dogs have been bitten after wandering into ditches for whatever reason and getting too close to a cornered coypu. Since they have very sharp incisors but don't brush their teeth too often, the end result is normally a trip to A&E or the vet's. They do carry some nasty diseases.
  5. Coypu Hunter
    Yeah, they'll keep coming back if you have water on your property. Good fun sniping 'em with a .22LR, though! Get yourself a cheap Eastern European 22LR, they're accurate with good subsonic ammo out to 100 yards or so. Or use an air rifle, like everyone around here does, just don't tell anyone... oops...
  6. Coypu Hunter
    Well, I know a guy in Provence who uses one... maybe I'd better ask him if it's actually legal down there...
  7. Coypu Hunter
    It's a mutant guinea-pig on steroids, Rez. The French killed off all the wabbits years ago, so they released coypus into the wild to make up for it. Oops...
  8. Coypu Hunter
    13 fpe saw off that one. They have thick skulls, but good shot placement takes care of that. I've never heard of anyone hunting with catapults in France, since it's so easy to get a firearm. You'd probably be arrested and pilloried in the town stocks, before being hung, drawn & quartered and then deported. You can pick up crossbows fairly easily though, and they're legal to hunt with, in some departments.
  9. Coypu Hunter
    Posh?!? It's where we keep the fecking mud!
  10. Coypu Hunter
    Cheers! I have to admit to a bit of self-interest. Our little orchard has a stream on the far side, which flows out of our lake, under the road, around the orchard and away. So when the coypus find the orchard, they generally keep moving upstream and eventually find their way through the fence around our property, and take up residence on our lake. That's when they start tunneling and undermining the lake banks -- so if I can catch 'em before they get in, I save myself a lot of work!
  11. Coypu Hunter
    Drove back from getting a couple of things in the village. 5pm, about half an hour of daylight left. Pulled up in front of the gates to open them. Turned back to the car, and looked across the country lane to our little orchard, and saw a coypu munching away happily on the grass there. They have poor eyesight, but since the car was 20 yards away, it was either stone deaf or taking the pish. Either way, it wasn't bothered by me -- I got back in the car, drove up the gravel drive and parked in the garage. Came back and got the post, locked the gates. Coypu still there. Too good an opportunity
  12. Coypu Hunter
    Yup, join a gun club and you'll have a licence within a couple of weeks, and can then buy a shotgun, hunting rifle, .22 or whatever. If you want to hunt outside your property, you'll need a permis de chasse however, which requires a written exam and a practical gun handling session to check your safety awareness. Talk to your local Chasse organisation about that -- it's not too hard so long as you have a reasonable level of French.
  13. Coypu Hunter
    No catch, so long as you can show a French address and some ID. Most of France is rural, and pretty much all farmers and many other rural people shoot. Some even have gun licences!
  14. Coypu Hunter
    Whereabouts in Brittany? I have several options we are looking at, but the favourite one so far is near huelgoat, I am looking to the north for my sea fishing and ease of travelling, but early stages so would actually consider other options. Nice area, but a bit far west, unless you're planning to travel from Brest. We're closer to St Malo, which is handy for trips back to southern UK. The st malo area was my original first choice, as you say travelling back and forth it is ideal, however the right property (and price) was not available when I found the one I am looking at now, Brest see
  15. Coypu Hunter
    Whereabouts in Brittany? I have several options we are looking at, but the favourite one so far is near huelgoat, I am looking to the north for my sea fishing and ease of travelling, but early stages so would actually consider other options. Nice area, but a bit far west, unless you're planning to travel from Brest. We're closer to St Malo, which is handy for trips back to southern UK.
  16. Coypu Hunter
    Phew. Thought I was losing it there...
  17. Coypu Hunter
    Yes, I believe it was allowed at some point. .22s became declarable in 1994, I think it was, at which time I believe the regs were tightened up. Before then, anyone over 18 could wander into a gunshop and buy a .22 They are still used for pest control, but not for open-country hunting. The regulations do differ from department to department, though, so if you plan to shoot in France, a quick call to the local Mairie, chasse, cop shop or Préfecture should provide the answer.
  18. Coypu Hunter
    Whereabouts in Brittany?
  19. Coypu Hunter
    Another missed message... With the European Firearms Passport you can transport your firearm to any EU country, and buy accessories or ammo for it in that country (or bring your favourite ammo with you -- some brands like Eley are difficult to find over here). You would need to inform the ferry company/airline in advance that you wish to transport a firearm, and get their permission to do so, and details of any specific conditions (trigger lock, bolt taken out of a rifle, or whatever). You might want to inform the local gendarmerie that you have the firearm with you, and show them
  20. Coypu Hunter
    Only just seen this post, for some reason -- my apologies for not replying sooner, unless I have, and the Alzheimer's is kicking in... To answer your questions: 1. Any calibre except "military" (i.e. .223/5.56mm). If you want a .223, get a .222 instead! The main restrictions are on mag capacity -- you can buy a bolt-action rifle or pump-action shotgun with any capacity magazine, but semi-autos are limited to three-shot capacity (rifles and shotguns). 2. No. Each department, district and commune sets its own seasons for specific quarry. You'd need to check with your local chasse/
  21. Coypu Hunter
    Yes, it's called a fouling round. It "fouls" the barrel by depositing lead and/or copper and/or GSR in the grooves and on the lands, and basically takes the bore diameter and rifling back to the state they were in when you zeroed it. I clean my .22LR when the ejected cases start to pull chunks of carbon out with them -- after 250 rounds or so. The rifle then needs a few rounds through it to restore POI after cleaning. I then leave it until it needs cleaning again after another 250 rounds. The barrel has never shown any signs of corrosion, since it's coated by the layer of lead/GSR.
  22. Coypu Hunter
    If you look at online reviews, they'll be mixed -- but the older Relums seem to be better regarded. Sounds like they're very basic, but get the job done, and can keep going for years. Chambers & Co do spares for them, I think, so you can always fix 'em if they go wrong. If you didn't pay over the odds for them, you may find they do what you need in terms of plinking and pest control. See here for some reviews. http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews81895.html
  23. Coypu Hunter
    I'm not THAT good a neighbour! I did once lend him an 18 fpe Cometa in .22 that I used to own. He knocked down a few maggies with that. I told him to take the SMK apart, put about a pound of washers behind the piston head, reassemble and see what happens. Haven't heard back from him on that one...
  24. Coypu Hunter
    I used to own a Umarex 850 AirMagnum, which uses the same action as the R8. It just used CO2 capsules rather than HPA, and had a synthetic stock. In .177 it was as accurate as any good PCP.
  25. Coypu Hunter
    Yup, the black one looks like an old SMK. A shooting buddy gave me one of those recently, it had a nice orange varnish finish on the stock. If there's Chinese ideograms on the top of the action at the back, you're fecked. The rifle felt like it was putting out around 1 fpe. Gave it to my neighbour, who doesn't have the dosh to buy his own air rifle to plink the magpies that plague his stables. Even he said it was shite!
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