NativeFrog

You must be a very early riser indeed...

French gun laws used to be much more lenient a few decades ago - in the eighties you could buy a .22 semi-auto rifle and all the ammo you wanted without a FAC. You didn't have to have your name registered either, so you can imagine that, when the law changed, only a part (???) of these guns were handed over to the police and gendarmerie. I know a lot (a whole lot!) of people who have .22 rifles at home with the ammunition to go with and yes, some of them do use their rifles to shoot the occasional marauding fox or rat.

You have summed it all up quite well, I think : air rifle hunting is considered a definite no-no on French air rifle forums although most French people would view airgun pest control as 'legitimate'...

Because, to my point of view, the fact that an air rifle is used for hunting goes a long way to showing its inherent qualities in terms of accuracy, power and "ease of operation". On the other hand, I have a genuine interest in air rifle hunting, be it as mere "spectator".

Unfortunately although small game abound around here airgun hunting is illegal in our parts. Some people do use air rifles to shoot pests or even rabbits but this is what you could call a taboo subject in France. Since the new gun law of September 2013 airguns up to 20 joules (14.75 fpe) can be purchased without a FAC in France. I am a reserve officer in the French navy so I used to do quite a lot of firearm shooting before discovering airguns three years ago. As airgun hunting is very obviously based on just how accurately you can hit your target, this subject quite naturally became o

Might be the same stuff as what the Normans call "gernotte" - a word which is supposed to stem from Scandinavian roots meaning "earth nut" (Old Norse jǫrð + hnot). I once read a magazine article about it stating the nut had been brought to our shores (I am a Norman myself) by the vikings and was originally found in Norway...

Thank you for welcoming me As far as I know, .22 rimfire hunting used to be legal in France in the old days (until the early eighties?) but was eventually deemed inhumane. Airgun pest control is probably vaguely tolerated although it is wiser not to talk openly about it in the motherland of human rights

The Diana 470 TH is supposed to be a 19 fpe air rifle. I have no chronograph, but judging by the strength its cocking requires and the holes dug into the plank I am currently using as a pellet trap, it cannot be too far off the mark. The rifle is very heavy indeed (almost 11 lb with scope on), so there is absolutely no recoil to be felt and it is extremely stable. I have never shot an HW97 so I can't compare it to Weihrauch's Rekord trigger but I find Diana's T06 trigger sweet as can be compared to the trigger of my Spanish-made BSA Supersport SE GRT... What I would like to

Another question : I have read somewhere (more than once, though) that .22 rimfire hunting used to be allowed in France "in days of yore" and/or still is (?) in some French départements - any information on that ?

Regarding the use of .177 caliber (and provided you shoot accurately) do you think it is capable of killing rabbits "humanely" or would you recommend .22 ?

I'm a 49 year old Frenchman living close to the German border and have always had an interest in firearms. I discovered air rifles a few years ago and have been trying to gather as much information as possible on them ever since. Although airgun hunting is not allowed in France, I would like to learn more about it from British and American airgun hunters.

A question I have been asking myself for some time, as both these air rifles seem pretty bulky and heavy to me as far as hunting is concerned.