total newbie air rifle hunter

[TheWolfman 0]

Hi im 24 from Luton,Beds and im totally new to air rifles and air rifle hunting. i have a SMK Custom B2 .22 with a 4 x 32 Nikko Sterling scope..last year i went out hunting rabbits a couple of times and got absolutely nothing,i got a few rabbits in my sights but hit nothing..at first i thought i was just a sh*t shot,but on thursday i took a few shots down my back garden at an empty cereal box,i was not hitting on target at all...so i invited my mate over (who has owned a few air rifles over the years plus ex forces) to get his opinion..he tried to re-zero the scope whilst taking shots down the garden...he says he doesnt know and to keep trying to tinker with the sights. my intended quarry is your typical small game..rabbits,pigeons,grey squirrels etc. I am looking to eat everything i kill,mostly at home but hopefully quite alot when my and my mate are out doing bushcraft.

 

My kit consists of British Army soldier 95 issue combat cammo skit,complete with a matching bush hat. I have also got a woollen 3 holed (IRA style) balaklava. funilly enough my 'game bag' is actually a combat cammo gas mask carrier,which in my opinion,makes an ideal small game bag.

 

if there's anyone on here from the bed/bucks/herts area,i would love to maybe meet up some time so i can learn new techniques.

 

TheWolfman

[19powell90 89]

Hey mate nice to see your getting into the sport.

 

If you are planning on hunting on a regular basis you WILL need to get a better rifle pal. Plain and simple cheap £100 chinese bollox are a load of shite been there done that.

 

Your cheapest and best option for a new rilfe is a Weihrauch HW95k they retail at £300 and can also pick them up second hand - these are fantastic rilfes

As for your scope you can pick up a hawke hd 3-9x40 mil-dot with adjustable objective for about £50

 

The best thing you can do mate is read read read, look through this forum and the same things will keep cropping up.

 

I know what position your in because i started out about 2 years ago and have now gained much experience and knowledge from this site

 

Like any tradesmen knows their tools have to be good and reliable its the same with hunting the rifle is your tool and the best you can afford the more time you will enjoy it and not be pissing around with wondering whats going wrong

 

if you need any help just ask

 

scott

[villaman 9,983]

Hi

Same as above crap gun have a look at Air arms, HW, BSA. Then practice until you can shoot a group of pellets at a 20 mm target before shooting any thing live. That's my 0pinion.

[TheWolfman 0]

cheers fellas..at the moment i simply cannot afford anything like that,i think i will try and get my current rifle sorted and then build up my marksmanship. whilst doing that i will try (big emphasis on try!) to save up for a decent rifle,but this will be abit tricky as i still have things to get for my harley!

 

if there is anyone in the bed/bucks/herts area that is willing to have a look at my rifle,that would be good and i would be gratefull.

 

TheWolfman

[Cbutler703 2]

im afraid theres probably nothing you could do with that your just gonna have to get a better gun!

[Phantom 631]

I have a SMK XS19 and it's a lovely springer, taken many rabits with it.

 

The thing with the SMK, especially the early models (such as the B2) is that they are seriously rough on the intenals, crap springs, lousey in machining tollerances and trust me, no matter what you do to the B2 you will not get that rifle to shoot straight

I refurbed a B2 a while back made it as accurate as I could and I could just about get a group into an inch at 6 yards, out in the field I could barely hit a 5 inch target card at 25 yards let alone get a group of an inch.

Scott mentioned the £100 cheap bollox, for a £100 I could get THREE of those things for that!

No matter how much you money throw at that, it will still be awful

If you simply MUST have a cheapy rifle, the XS19 is superb once youve run it in (although the trigger is still very rough, it is workable).

The XS19 is about £120

Or if you want a decent co2 powered gun then the QB range is very good (based on the old Crosman's) they are running about £90 ish brand new.

 

But the only thing you will hit with the B2 is whatever you decide to smash it against :oops:

 

Tony

[hugo1 31]

i had a qb 78 a while back i only paid 65 new it was a great gun for the money could take rabbits at 35yds

[TheWolfman 0]

cheers chaps..i realise now that when i bought it,i rushed in and bought the cheapest one..and also probably the crapiest one also haha..i saw on the shop's website where i bought the B2 (Ronnie Sunshines in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire) the BSA Lightning XL for £309 or £409 for the full kit..I have messaged them explaining that i bought the rifle and full kit from them early last year and that its not suitable for what i need it for in hunting,would they be willing to possibly take it as a part exchange? I have a motorbike project (stripped down bike) in bits in my garden and it looks like i might have to ask the gypsy rag n bone man what he would give me for it for scrap. I know i wont get 300 notes for it,but it will hopefully give me the bulk of it.

..the project is another example of me rushing in and buying something on the impulse! DOH! lol

 

TheWolfman

[TheWolfman 0]

for the lightning XL bedford country pursuits sell rifle and scope for £350...or from Pellpax Target Sports LTD (WHO ACTUALLY DELIVER AIR RIFLES!!) sell the basic Lightning rifle complete with a Hawke sport HD 4x32 (HK3004) scope and scope mounts for £299.98! they sell the Lightning XL complete with Hawke sport HD 3-9x40 scope and scope mounts for £344.94.

 

so it looks like if i want a new Lightning XL and scope im looking at around 350 notes where ever i go.

[secretagentmole 1,701]

cheers chaps..i realise now that when i bought it,i rushed in and bought the cheapest one..and also probably the crapiest one also haha..i saw on the shop's website where i bought the B2 (Ronnie Sunshines in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire) the BSA Lightning XL for £309 or £409 for the full kit..I have messaged them explaining that i bought the rifle and full kit from them early last year and that its not suitable for what i need it for in hunting,would they be willing to possibly take it as a part exchange? I have a motorbike project (stripped down bike) in bits in my garden and it looks like i might have to ask the gypsy rag n bone man what he would give me for it for scrap. I know i wont get 300 notes for it,but it will hopefully give me the bulk of it.

..the project is another example of me rushing in and buying something on the impulse! DOH! lol

 

TheWolfman

cheers chaps..i realise now that when i bought it,i rushed in and bought the cheapest one..and also probably the crapiest one also haha..i saw on the shop's website where i bought the B2 (Ronnie Sunshines in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire) the BSA Lightning XL for £309 or £409 for the full kit..I have messaged them explaining that i bought the rifle and full kit from them early last year and that its not suitable for what i need it for in hunting,would they be willing to possibly take it as a part exchange? I have a motorbike project (stripped down bike) in bits in my garden and it looks like i might have to ask the gypsy rag n bone man what he would give me for it for scrap. I know i wont get 300 notes for it,but it will hopefully give me the bulk of it.

..the project is another example of me rushing in and buying something on the impulse! DOH! lol

 

TheWolfman

 

Don't scrap the Harley you twonk! Join an HD owners group website, stick it on there for about £1000, someone will buy it off you! Harleys are liable to attract fools with too much money. They are not the best bike in the world, only the best marketed bike in the world!

[Halfinch 51]

Jeeeezz, Am i right in thinking you bought an air rifle, plonked a scope on the top and went out shooting at Animals?

 

OK, so you have Totally gone about things the wrong way, and unfortunately it's probably gonna cost you a few quid.

 

First thing you want to do is take some pictures of your Rifle, stick it on Gunstar, or some such website and put it away until it is sold.

Secondly, do as secretagentmole says and put the Harley on a Harley owners/collectors/restorer's website, between the two you should raise enough capitol to begin looking for a decent rifle and scope.

In the mean time, have a good read on this forum, and get an idea of what are decent Rifles, (a few have already been mentioned), now obviously it is cheaper to buy secondhand, but you have to be careful your not buying a second heap of shite, so go and see the rifle and shoot with it (at a Target), you can always try out different rifles at your local gunshop too, and find out what one YOU prefer, most do secondhand stuff and maybe able to do you a good deal.

Now, before you even bother to start shooting at live quarry, you need to be able to 1) hit what your aiming at, which means you will need to spend time setting up your scope, and practising your ability to consistently hit a very small target from any given distance. Which brings me onto point 2) What distance are you expecting to shoot Live quarry from? You will hear all sorts of stories of 60, 70, + yard shots that killed the quarry stone dead. DON'T believe everything you read, i'm sure there are people capable of shooting those distances, but MOST people will very rarely be shooting a sub 12ftlb rifle much over 40yds at live quarry.

So you need to be able to get to within that distance of your intended target in the first place, something else that isn't as easy as it sounds, but again you can practice this without a Rifle, (while your waiting to sell yours ). Simply go to wherever it is you have permission to shoot, (I'm assuming you DO have permission to shoot somewhere. If not you could be arrested for Armed Trespass! Not Good ) and learn to stalk your quarry to a distance of about 25 -35yrds.

Once you have done these basics, you could be ready to buy a rifle, plonk a scope on it, and go shoot something.

Good luck.

 

Halfinch.

[TheWolfman 0]

cheers chaps..i realise now that when i bought it,i rushed in and bought the cheapest one..and also probably the crapiest one also haha..i saw on the shop's website where i bought the B2 (Ronnie Sunshines in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire) the BSA Lightning XL for £309 or £409 for the full kit..I have messaged them explaining that i bought the rifle and full kit from them early last year and that its not suitable for what i need it for in hunting,would they be willing to possibly take it as a part exchange? I have a motorbike project (stripped down bike) in bits in my garden and it looks like i might have to ask the gypsy rag n bone man what he would give me for it for scrap. I know i wont get 300 notes for it,but it will hopefully give me the bulk of it.

..the project is another example of me rushing in and buying something on the impulse! DOH! lol

 

TheWolfman

cheers chaps..i realise now that when i bought it,i rushed in and bought the cheapest one..and also probably the crapiest one also haha..i saw on the shop's website where i bought the B2 (Ronnie Sunshines in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire) the BSA Lightning XL for £309 or £409 for the full kit..I have messaged them explaining that i bought the rifle and full kit from them early last year and that its not suitable for what i need it for in hunting,would they be willing to possibly take it as a part exchange? I have a motorbike project (stripped down bike) in bits in my garden and it looks like i might have to ask the gypsy rag n bone man what he would give me for it for scrap. I know i wont get 300 notes for it,but it will hopefully give me the bulk of it.

..the project is another example of me rushing in and buying something on the impulse! DOH! lol

 

TheWolfman

 

Don't scrap the Harley you twonk! Join an HD owners group website, stick it on there for about £1000, someone will buy it off you! Harleys are liable to attract fools with too much money. They are not the best bike in the world, only the best marketed bike in the world!

Jeeeezz, Am i right in thinking you bought an air rifle, plonked a scope on the top and went out shooting at Animals?

 

OK, so you have Totally gone about things the wrong way, and unfortunately it's probably gonna cost you a few quid.

 

First thing you want to do is take some pictures of your Rifle, stick it on Gunstar, or some such website and put it away until it is sold.

Secondly, do as secretagentmole says and put the Harley on a Harley owners/collectors/restorer's website, between the two you should raise enough capitol to begin looking for a decent rifle and scope.

In the mean time, have a good read on this forum, and get an idea of what are decent Rifles, (a few have already been mentioned), now obviously it is cheaper to buy secondhand, but you have to be careful your not buying a second heap of shite, so go and see the rifle and shoot with it (at a Target), you can always try out different rifles at your local gunshop too, and find out what one YOU prefer, most do secondhand stuff and maybe able to do you a good deal.

Now, before you even bother to start shooting at live quarry, you need to be able to 1) hit what your aiming at, which means you will need to spend time setting up your scope, and practising your ability to consistently hit a very small target from any given distance. Which brings me onto point 2) What distance are you expecting to shoot Live quarry from? You will hear all sorts of stories of 60, 70, + yard shots that killed the quarry stone dead. DON'T believe everything you read, i'm sure there are people capable of shooting those distances, but MOST people will very rarely be shooting a sub 12ftlb rifle much over 40yds at live quarry.

So you need to be able to get to within that distance of your intended target in the first place, something else that isn't as easy as it sounds, but again you can practice this without a Rifle, (while your waiting to sell yours ). Simply go to wherever it is you have permission to shoot, (I'm assuming you DO have permission to shoot somewhere. If not you could be arrested for Armed Trespass! Not Good ) and learn to stalk your quarry to a distance of about 25 -35yrds.

Once you have done these basics, you could be ready to buy a rifle, plonk a scope on it, and go shoot something.

Good luck.

 

Halfinch.

 

Haha..no i would never scrap the harley! (although the wife would be happy as its 18 years old) the bike im on about is a honda VFR 750 streetfighter..no my harley is my baby!! lol

i have got Cammo-tape on my B2,so if i put it on Gunstar,or similar website,it will look more attractive to a beginner.

 

and to answer your first question Halfinch,yes i did buy a rifle and go out and start shooting at live rabbits..i was too eager..but thankfully every shot missed (as i was using a B2!) as i know the dangers of a bad shot and how it can injure and give an animal a slow and painfull death..and thats the last thing i wanna do.

 

being in Herts,where is your local gun shop??

 

TheWolfman

[TheWolfman 0]

.....right ive put my B2 for sale live on gumtree.co.uk...fingers crossed i get some interest!!

[8shot 191]

i love it when people say there b2 are good guns. . dont see many in comps tho do ya

[Halfinch 51]

You should get a couple of hundred quid for the streetfighter, if it runs, bloody good engines the VFR.

I use Park Street Guns in Park Street, between St Albans and Radlett.

They seem helpfull enough, but it's not like i am in there all the time.