Air Rifles - Which one for my first?

[Countrysidelass 0]

My friends are avid shooters, one has a .22 rifle & the other has a rimfire rifle & a shotgun.

I've never really been shooting before but with having horses my paddocks do get full of rabbits & I'd love to take care of the little buggers myself as they cause so much destruction. My paddock is 50yards or more away from a road so I can happily shoot their with an air rifle but was really wondering whether I should go for a .22 or .177? I dont have a firearms license so only want an airgun preferrably with a silencer but that is as far as my knowledge goes. Ideally i'd like to get my hands on a second hand air rifle. Can anybody recomend what to go for and roughly where to look for a decent 2nd hand air rifle that wont cost me the earth??

 

Thanks in advance.

[Phantom 631]

A lightweight Air Arms S200 in either .22 or .177 (doesn't matter as long as you can learn to shoot and put the pellet where it needs to go) with a pump to charge it up from.

A scope, (Hawke Sport High Definition ones are great and reasonable prices), a Twink MKII Silencer and a lot of paper targets to practice with and your sorted

 

Tony

 

PS welcome to the forum

[pianoman 3,589]

Welcome to the section Countrysidelass.

 

I'll second Tony's suggestion of the Air Arms S200 rifle for a lady.

 

Around £200-£300 will buy a very good second hand S200, possibly with a good scope included. Do not look for cheap as chips bargains with these. There will invariably be a problem with it.

 

This is a lightweight, Pre-Charged Pneumatic air rifle that needs to be filled or charged with compressed air from a diver's air tank via a hose and connection (unlike a heavier, spring air rifle which draws its compressed air by a spring and piston when you cock it) . So you will need to spend money on that item too. Alternatively, you can get your rifle filled at a gunshop but, that will mean a trip out and petrol every time. Or you can use a hand pump!

 

I'd suggest .177 as a calibre to go for. Very accurate and flat shooting. A. 22 pellet has a more pronounced curve of trajectory and you need to understand how a pellet in .22 calibre performs in flight from your gun to the target. A .177 pellet being smaller, flies faster and thus has less of a trajectory curve and is easier for a novice to shoot accurately with.

 

(Please gentlemen let us avoid the eternal calibre debate here eh?!)

 

This will be perfect for your needs at the likely ranges you'll be shooting to.

 

You must, in all cases shoot humanely. You must shoot at the head of the rabbit, A half inch behind its eye and into the brain area.

This means practice with your rifle until you can confidently put 10 shots into a 2p size disc at 25-30 yards. Otherwise you will either miss completely, or cause a great deal of suffering with a wound. And that's just not on.

 

All that said, good luck with your search and good shooting.

 

Simon