How to work out killing distance

[Gtbaker369 44]

Hi all,

I realise this may have been discussed before so apologise in advance. 

Now I understand that killing a rabbit has a lot to do with target placement rather than power etc but I just wondered if there was some way I could figure out what distance (dependant on pellet placement) a certain left Airgun will kill at. 

I’m new to FAC Airguns so not sure what ftlb I’m going to get as it probably depends what is available at time etc but when I get one I would like to have an idea what the max distance it will kill at once I’ve got it sighted and my pellet placement is acceptable to take on a kill. 

Cheers all

[mattwhite 1,993]

Download chairgun and it will work it out for you.

You need roughly 3ftlb to the brain to kill a rabbit humanely but just to confuse matters, that means my BSA R10 will drop a rabbit at 116 yards with 11.5ftlb at the muzzle yet that's a shot I would never even consider taking.

Even if it's on FAC, I wouldn't pay too much attention to maximum distance kill shots as they appear great on paper but in practice there are too many variables such as wind etc to send the pellet off course and risking wounded quarry?

[The one 8,476]

Its no about the gun its how comfortable are you about pulling the trigger  at any range if your no comfortable dont pull the trigger and whatever  gun you buy get out and practice at targets at various ranges then practice some more 

[j j m 6,539]

as above

[The one 8,476]

Aye Practice , Practice and more Practice 

[villaman 9,983]

27 minutes ago, The one said:

Aye Practice , Practice and more Practice 

Spot on 

[Rez 4,961]

1 hour ago, The one said:

Aye Practice , Practice and more Practice 

That's a fair point that I thoroughly agree with, but you can't practice on live game. And only at live game do you feel that feeling... being comfortable and not having those adrenaline urges comes with experience. Is my thoughts. But I agree with you completely. 

[philpot 4,982]

You need complete confidence with the gun and pellet you choose and as already said, practice is key. Also remember that unlike a sub 12 rifle, an FAC rifle could be any fpe / cal so far more test work is needed.

My .22 Rapid at 28fpe has a wildly different performance level to my .25 Impact at 47fpe so don't try to establish what an FAC rifle will do without a fair bit of range time for serious testing.

 

Phil

[pianoman 3,587]

I'm at risk of maybe repeating what the lads have said here because it is sound, positive advice. But, I've been shooting an FAC rated HW80 .22 that's been superbly set-up, very happily for nigh on 20 years now. And the only really useful, practical lesson it has taught me is this.

USE THE EXTRA FAC POWER TO COVER SENSIBLE AIR RIFLE HUNTING RANGE DISTANCES FASTER THAN A SUB-12 FT/LBS RIFLE CAN!

Use the extra power in the pellet to hit your rabbit faster than sub 12 at the same distances. It amazes me the number of posts about folk wanting to go to FAC power and the questions are always about the  "magically" increased ranges that might be the result. It honestly doesn't work that way because it will not transform your standards of marksmanship excellence at a stroke overnight.

It doesn't matter what calibre, or whether you shoot spring or PCP. You will encounter more problems with your marksmanship the further out the ranges you attempt to shoot to.

By shooting at normal air rifle ranges you will soon find FAC power gives you at least two advantages of velocity, and a flatter trajectory than sub-12 has. The further you try shooting out to, you are putting yourself back into the business of estimating looping trajectories and wind solutions.

Zero a .22 rifle at 25 yards.

You will not need much holdover to hit a rabbit through the head at 45 to 60 yards.  Only about half to 3/4 of an inch of holdover above the crown of its head, depending on your power output. And that's a pretty decent effective range on a moving target in anybody's book.

Zero a 16-17 ft/lbs.177 at 35 yards and you can pretty well rely on straight-on headshots at 45-50 yards for very little adjustment.

Nobody can answer this one accurately, I'm afraid, with a simple "Do it like this and I swear this will be guarenteed to happen"; ending. Too many variables of what type of action your rifle has, pellet preferences, weights, headsize etc. accurate FPE reading on a Chrono, your standards of marksmanship, the scope mag setting you are using. And how bloody good are you, honestly and really, with it all.

I've been shooting spring air rifles for 53 years, latterly PCPs, and I can tell you. You will miss more rabbits at 15 yards than you will at 30. Regardless of what you've brought to the field.

The longer your pellet has to travel the more it will be affected by present winds and breezes. The longer your pellet is whistling on its way through those breezes, the greater the chance you give your rabbit to hear it coming and bolt for cover and you miss. And you've alerted the game to your presence!

 

There is no other way forward. It's all down to practice. Practice and more practice. Till you can estimate sensible ranges and the holdover needed to hit them in your sleep. And that's after you can gather a fair understanding of what your pellet's trajectory is doing from the moment it leaves the muzzle to your point of zero impact. Then you can start walking out the increased distances and the holdover you are going to need to stay on top.

 

One final thought. I have six air rifles and only one of them is on ticket. The other five get more use than my HW80. For very sound, practical reasons.

 

All the best.

Simon

 

[mark williams 7,551]

Hi GT,

            I`ve always been a strong believer in " Accuracy trumps power" period !

            I practice on paper a lot and will practice on walks also - I`ll go through a tin a week practicing in the summer months, easily, but I always practice at what I consider air rifle ranges, - never beyond .

            The greatest test in air gun hunting is concealment and getting within range, as said, a lot of people think more power will dispense this burden, it most certainly does not.

            Greater the power x greater the distance = greater the demand on skills and marksmanship.

             For me, 35 yds to 50 yds, is an easily achievable range to get within and a 12ft/lb rifle will give the same result as a 50 ft/lb rifle - if your marksmanship is good.

             Greater ranges - you need a rimmy ( for me).

                                       

 

                                         Good luck Mr Baker  

            

 

[philpot 4,982]

Quote:-    I`ve always been a strong believer in " Accuracy trumps power" period !

I really don't understand why you keep saying this Mark me ole duks, nobody on here or any other forum says otherwise. It is however a great advantage to have both which is what you get with FAC. As I have said before, you should come out with me and use the FAC, then you can form an opinion based on fact and experience of actually using one to know what they are capable of doing.

 

Phil

[The one 8,476]

11 hours ago, Rez said:

That's a fair point that I thoroughly agree with, but you can't practice on live game. And only at live game do you feel that feeling... being comfortable and not having those adrenaline urges comes with experience. Is my thoughts. But I agree with you completely. 

The last thing you should be doing is shooting any type of game till your confident you know your rifle and your happy you can safely kill your target  at what ever range you pull the trigger  , but there's nothing stopping you from going out and shooting targets , scots pine cones etc in fact any thing   your happy pinging away at and all different sizes the better  after a few outings you will have a better understanding of what you and your airgun can do . I don't know if the guy has any experience of a normal air gun  before getting a fac rated gun as i believe doing the apprenticeship  would certainly help as i call it 

[mark williams 7,551]

Well here we go again,

                Mark and Phil have the craic and have a bet on a shoot out  £££ 

                Mark has a 12 ft/lb rifle.

                Phil has an air cannon doing 50 ft/lbs  

                Mark takes 5 shots at the bull at 35 yds and scores a perfect 50 points.

                Phil also takes 5 shots at bull and also scores a perfect 50 points. 

                                             SO ! 50 yds it is then !

                Same happens again at 50 yds !

                                              Had the air cannon missed slightly on any of those shots Mark would have won the bet because of accuracy not power !

                                              Again " for me" accuracy trumps power,- you have to hit it to kill it !

                                              With regards to FAC, it`s only my opinion Phil, - I think a rimmy is the next step after an air rifle.

                       

                                                Only saying like .

p.s. You think I`ve never had any experience of shooting FAC air or powder ? 

 

                                      

                

[Rez 4,961]

53 minutes ago, The one said:

The last thing you should be doing is shooting any type of game till your confident you know your rifle and your happy you can safely kill your target  at what ever range you pull the trigger  , but there's nothing stopping you from going out and shooting targets , scots pine cones etc in fact any thing   your happy pinging away at and all different sizes the better  after a few outings you will have a better understanding of what you and your airgun can do . I don't know if the guy has any experience of a normal air gun  before getting a fac rated gun as i believe doing the apprenticeship  would certainly help as i call it 

So we're both agreeing then  

[just-A-snap 1,269]

Only you will know what you can hit cleanly at any reasonable distance  with whatever kit you are using.

All the very best