Help! I need an air rifle

[Smokin Joe]

They tried to get this to work on Myth Busters. They couldn't.

Back to shooting vermin -my dad had the rat man around a few weeks ago. He told him to get an air rifle and shoot them.

They are incredably intelligent animals and expert at avoiding danger. When we first had them I could sit in the back porch, load and cock the rifle and they would not twig till I had fired a shot. Word soon gets round among the rat community however, and now even after a gap of a few years before they re-appeared I have to go to the front of the house before I can load the gun. Even the sound if the safety catch being released is enough to alert them.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Beware that if someone sees you and phones the police it will be treated as "gunman shooting in urban area" and you'll have an armed squad round and be treated as a terrorist.

Things were much more genteel when I was 14 years old. Was firing an air-rifle at a canal near me. Someone apparently called it in as 'a gunman', but in those days they just sent the local beat bobby round to take a shufty. :-)

Ben

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

They are incredably intelligent animals and expert at avoiding danger.

Yes, don't underestimate how difficult it is. I remember a lengthy article by Terry le Charmente in Airgun World on the lengths he had gone to to kill one rat. The magazine had to publish an explanation as to why he went to extreme lengths - the rat was using his toddler daughter's sand pit as a lavatory and and Mrs. le Charmente had read about Weil's disease.

 

[papercorn2000]

Boring serious answer coming up.

You can buy an air rifle with power output of up to 12 ft lbs. without a licence. Do not take any notice of rubbish about "hunting pellets" as pellet placement is all. To kill a rat, you need to hit it in the head, spine or chest. The first two are much the best. Rats are extremely difficult to hit unless you are are good shot.

Don't even think about shooting a living target until you can reliably put every shot into a 2 cm circle at your hunting range. Domed pellets are much more accurate than "hunting" pellets. The maximum killing range for a 12 ft lb air rifle is about 35 metres. You need to make sure that the pellet does not leave your premises and you need a backstop behind the rat to absorb the pellet if you miss. Air gun pellets bounce off wood.

The ideal method is to shot down from an upstairs window and use soft ground as the backstop. Remember that pellets richochet off stones. Beware that if someone sees you and phones the police it will be treated as "gunman shooting in urban area" and you'll have an armed squad round and be treated as a terrorist.

The best way to be discreet is to use a precharged pneumatic rifle with a moderator and to shoot from well back in an upstairs room though a gap in the curtains. This way you will be silent and not seen.

I'm getting all choked up!

Have you tried killing their mothers and children, crushing their paws and blinding them?

 

[Mr Pig]

I remember a lengthy article by Terry le Charmente in Airgun World on the lengths he had gone to to kill one rat.

So are rats smart, or are air gunners just really dumb? I mean let's be frank, a more intelligent human being would just poison the thing and be done with it!

But where's the 'sport' in that? The great white hunter pitting his wits against a foot long ball of fur that lives in sewers and eats rubbish. An equal match right enough ;0)

 

[Plax]

I'll see if you can borrow my mums Westie. So far he has killed several hedgehogs and a parrot. Anything small that moves dies if he gets hold of it.

 

[Smokin Joe]

So are rats smart, or are air gunners just really dumb? I mean let's be frank, a more intelligent human being would just poison the thing and be done with it!

But where's the 'sport' in that? The great white hunter pitting his wits against a foot long ball of fur that lives in sewers and eats rubbish. An equal match right enough ;0)

Poison is a waste of time, they recognise it and ignore it. And a rat can get food out of a trap without springing it. You try that and you won't have any fingers left.

 

[tdr1nka]

I'll see if you can borrow my mums Westie. So far he has killed several hedgehogs and a parrot. Anything small that moves dies if he gets hold of it.

You Mum's Westie is a crack shot with an air rifle!??!

 

[Renard]

Poison is a waste of time, they recognise it and ignore it. And a rat can get food out of a trap without springing it. You try that and you won't have any fingers left.

The point of poisoned bait is that it is palatable to rats so that they eat plenty. The dosage is also cumulative so that levels of poison build up in the rat slowly enough to overcome their fear of unusual objects. It is by and far the most effective method.

 

[Milo]

A trap and nutella works wonders for mice dunno about the rats though.

 

[dantheman]

i have a full power spring action rifle, and a c02 pistol (only about 1/4 of the power, but 8 shots, and quick reload make lots of fun)- all i need now is some ras to shoot, id feel guilty shooting our squirrels, they were kinda here before my house was built, and im sue my son and nwighbours wouldnt like that.

 

[ComedyPilot]

Don't worry about armed police turning up, they still send a local bobby first to assess the situation/get shot.

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

Don't worry about armed police turning up, they still send a local bobby first to assess the situation/get shot.

That used to be the case, but it was decided that this put the bobby in a dangerous position. The standard procedure is that first response is an armed unit.

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

I've just asked the bobby who works in our office. He said that as long as nothing rebounds into a neighbour's garden I'll be ok. He suggested though that I don't shoot from an upstairs window.

That's policeman's advice on not drawing attention to yourself! Most police firearm incidents are youths shooting from upstairs windows, which is why I suggested firing from well back. It's much more difficult to get a safe backstop when firing from ground level. After all, the rat is hardly likely to position itself in front of a pellet catcher.

If you want some practice, come to the airgun range run by BASC at the Denbigh and Flint Show on Thursday. My club runs it for BASC and I'll be there.

 

[lifeson]

What about pigeons?
Can I someone shoot them? are they officially classed as vermin?
Come to that what about my neighbours doves that crap everywhere are they posh pigeons?