What Sort Of Range?

[man o kent 269]

Evenin all, was given some permission today, small but crawling with bunnies. I have an old but solid break barrel 22 air rifle that I can use. Going to fit a new scope, but as I intend to go for a head shot, what sort of range is a safe humane distance? I know its a simple ques, but im a novice, and prob be using round head pellets. Many thanks all

[the big chief 3,099]

i zero my scopes at 25 yards then move back five yards and see where it hits on the mark on my scope and do this up to around 60 yards then its a matter of find the range if a rabbit is at 50 yards i wwill place the 50 yard mark on its head but 60 yards is my max range i will shoot at practice at diferent ranges till ya hit a target just about every time i have been shooting since a kid so i am confident at far range if you are new as you say zeo the gun at 25 to 30 yards and stalk to the bunny till you get to whatever you zero at then you should be good buddy

[Andy_c 210]

Yea I defiantly would get as much practise in punching paper

[Corinium Stew 6]

I think Man o Kent was refering more to the reliable kill energy of (I'm assuming a sub 12lb springer) which would in my limited experience be around 30 - 35 yards. Any thing less than 35 will be a clean kill if on target anything over, you are pushing the down range energy to the limit on a sub12. If your grouping 5 shots under a 1 pence piece at 30yds start there. Always remember accuracy first then down range kill energy second, which for sub12 think is about 35 yards max.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, I am new to this and still don't know cr*p.

Stew

[zini 1,939]

I wouldnt be thinking about hunting yet mate.

 

I think your much better shooting at paper or metal targets and practicing lots mate before your ready to humanely hunt rabbits.

 

Theres not much more off putting than watching a rabbit in distress due to a bad wounding.

 

Id personally advise zeroing at 25 yards and practicing at that range.

Edited June 29, 2013 by zini

[Skot Ruthless Teale 1,701]

They retain enough kinetic energy to cleanly kill at more than 35 yards mate.

 

stick to as far as you can shoot accurately tho.. like me, I wouldn't shoot further than 45-50 yards, if the conditions were good.. I always try to get to about 30 yards if I can

[zini 1,939]

Stu,

 

Some of what you put is correct mate but please dont believe everything that you read in the airgun mags buddy.

 

35 yards is no where near what can be achieved with practice mate.

 

Si.

[Skot Ruthless Teale 1,701]

Like tonight there has been a feral pigeon in the farmers shed that has eluded me for the past 2 weeks..

 

I came round the corner , 45 yards on the lazer range finder.. seen a low wall type structure about 10 yards closer.. slowly walked up to this ,, clicked the lazer again . 35 yards, the range I had just zeroed my scope with the rws superdome pellets.. so taking a carefull steady kneeling supported shot to make sure I gave as much respect to this pigeon as it deserved I squeezed the trigger and down it came. pellet impacting exactly where I wanted it, behind the eye.

 

I could have taken a standing unsupported 45 yard shot, I could see the pigeon was nervous.. but I thought its a 35 yard shot or nothing.. it will surely be there another day for another opportunity, rather than a 45 yard shot going wrong and injuring the bird.

 

be responsible, don't take risks.

 

no offence mate but practice makes perfect, and we don't want to be serving time for animal cruelty now do we.

 

cheers, SKoT

[paulk73 151]

first and only thing to be worried about is your capability. if you can hit a 5p at 20 yrds every time. but not at 25, you have your answer. practice practice practice. you will get there but it takes time. its a horrible feeling wounding an animal. do everything you can to avoid this. it will still happen from time to time. it happens to every one but the less times it happens the better.

[Corinium Stew 6]

Your are bang on Zini, as a newbie you assume the mags are straight up and totally correct with their info, reading and being a member of this forum has told me otherwise.

Stew.