Air Rifle Hunting

sidneyreilly

Quote Sparks:And while I know that you can't hunt with a "normal" airgun in the UK (you need a different kind of licence for the >12ftlb rifles over there, I think it's a section 5?), I don't think there's any such restriction here.

Can we hunt with air rifles? If so what and is there power restrictions? Any takers?

jaycee

A friend of mine used to hunt bunnies with a .22 air rifle ..

I owned a BSA meteor .177 , It wouldn't have been capable or humane to use
hunting anything ..

I don't doubt that at short range some of the newer air weapons are more than
up to bunnies etc ..

The main problem is that they are treated exactly the same as regular rifles here
both for licence fee and also the difficulty in obtaining a licence.
Most gunshops here don't have much by way of a selection either and the better ones can cost much more than a .22Lr , so mostly people here tend to just head straight for the rimfire section.

A pity ..as they are a great training rifle and provide a relatively safe and controlled introduction to shooting .

Citizen_Erased

I used to have a .22 12 ft/lb er. I wouldnt describe its method of despatchment "human". I was that great at operating it either though. It would be enough to dispatch most vermin and smaller birds.

sidneyreilly

Thanks all, just found this on http://www.justice.ie/80256E01003A21A5/vWeb/pcJUSQ5YBJWM-en: Air Rifles
Firearms certificates for air rifles are granted by the Superintendent of your local police district. These weapons are dangerous and can only be used for target practice purposes; they can never be used to shoot small animals, birds or protected species of wildlife. You will be required to complete an application form in the presence of the Garda on duty who will forward your application to the Superintendent and make recommendations on your application. The Superintendent will grant or refuse your application.

kind of answers that question

Sparks

Is that their opinion or something from the wildlife acts though sidney? Remember, the Acts aren't always drafted by technically qualified people. So for example, you can see that ISSF air rifles, as used in the olympics, are actually rifled; which means that under the Firearms Act, they're not classed as a sporting firearm!
Didn't actually twig to that myself until recently, mind, but it's an interesting example of how the little details in legislation are in need of overhauling...

jaycee

ISSF air rifles, as used in the olympics, are actually rifled; which means that under the Firearms Act, they're not classed as a sporting firearm!

Eh..?

explain please ..

Sparks

There's a definition in the Firearms Act JC, that says that a sporting firearm is a .22 rifle, a shotgun with a barrel longer than (if I recall correctly) 24", or an unrifled air rifle. The idea is that any crime committed with any other kind of firearm would automatically receive a far more severe punishment, the assumption being that a non-sporting firearm would be something like an AK-47 being used by a paramilitary group or whatever.
Thing is, the drafters didn't know that ISSF air rifles are rifled.
That's the problem really - the guys drafting the laws are experts in law, not in firearms (and vice versa, obviously). And we've never really seen a meeting of the minds in drafting a firearms bill that could clean up the messy bits of the act.