What Rifle

[Knifebar 0]

Does anyone know or could suggest the best rifle and cailbre for shooting foxes and rabbits.

Rabbits mostly, up to about 150metres out. Is a person permitted to shoot birds

ie crow magpie grey if feeding on the ground with a rifle.

 

Thoughts forum.

 

 

Knifebar.

[SportingShooter 0]

Personally, to get an effective rabbit rifle and fox rifle in one is a bit of a challenge. If you were hard pushed then the .17HMR springs to mind for long range rabbits and foxes under 100 yrds.

The best bet is to get an effective rabbit rifle such as a .22 R/F and a dedicated centrefire for fox. This will prove to be easier to someone who hasnt done an awful lot of rifle shooting, such as myself, the HMR will drop a fox well if the bullet placement is spot on, this i have found out in the last week when i shot a fox at 75 yrds with the HMR face on and he still managed to crawl 20 yrds, wont be shooting many more with the rimfire for a while.

The HMR makes a mess of rabbits if head shots are not taken but you have the range of around 200 yrds if you can see them.

The .22 R/F is the out and out Rabbit round for clean and effective control, plus the ammo is much cheaper than for the HMR.

As for foxes then something like a .223 seems to be the most popular choice for effective fox control to 250 yrds and maybe a bit more.

And yes you can shoot birds on the ground with a rifle as long as you have vermin on your certificate. Both the .22 R/F, .17 HMR and .223 are deadly on birds on the ground.

Hope it gives you a bit of an insight.

ss06

[dwighet 1]

rimfire for the bunnies(22lr/22mag/17hmr)17-24 cal centerfire for the fox.It also depends on which part of Ireland you live for the centerfire rifle. I live in the south so anything over 223cal i need a deer licence and anything under i need either to be in a gun club(game) or have 2 written permissions from farmers.

 

Grey crows and maggies are considered vermin down south so if there on the ground and its a safe shot...BANG..

 

rgds

Dwight

[Guest JohnGalway]

I'm in the two rifle camp also.

 

Either a .22lr or 17HMR for the bunnies Both will drop foxes as long as the shot placement is spot on BUT they are very far from ideal for shooting foxes, please take that into consideration. The HMR does have the advantage of not nearly as many ricochets as the .22lr, it's also got much longer range so is pretty much ideal in more open country for rabbits and safely landed winged vermin such as greycrows and maggies. The .22lr has it's own advantages in that it's quieter and cheaper to run, it's ricochets and loopy trajectory as it's main drawbacks IMO.

 

For fox, well lets see now. .17REM, .204Ruger (although I'm hearing a LOT of complaints against this round on foxes using factory ammo which is all that'll be available to you if you live in the Republic.), .220SWIFT, .222, .223, .22-250.

 

Out of those centrefire rifles I'd seriously consider either a .223 or a .22-250.

[Mr_Logic 5]

223 or 22 Hornet

 

Hornet is the perfect compromise round, it's effective on rabbits without being too messy, and foxes to 175 yards. Ammo's not cheap though unfortunately.

 

223 is overkill for a bunny really (in that it CAN be messy, but isn't always) but it's cheap.

[jamie g 17]

hmr and 223 i would have

[SportingShooter 0]

Same here jamie, except i have a .222, i think now i would have put in for a .22 LR aswell when i applied for my FAC but theres always variations.

[spudlington 3]

Agree that a 22 for the bunnies and a centrefire for the foxes is the way to go. If it has to be just one rifle then what about a 22 hornet? The hornet shooters on here will be able to advise you how it is on bunnies, i've only used one on foxes a few years back.

[garyw 0]

get a 17 rem and it will do both fox to 200yds ,rabbits to 250 if you can hit em!

[Mr_Logic 5]

As a Hornet shooter, like I said, apart from cost it's perfect.