Ethics of airgun hunting

[jimbo]

Just to kick off this column, I think we should consider the ethics of air gun hunting, as to what can be legally hunted and humanely dispatched with an air gun. They are not the most powerful things around as we know. Along with some other guys, I have spent some interesting evenings shooting feral pigeons in work sheds in the industrial area of Adelaide. I usually use a 22 cal air rifle fitted with a low power scope, and another person carries a low power torch. The 22 cal will kill them stone dead, and in some cases will go straight through even with a full body shot. We have used a .177 cal and this will certainly knock them down, but not always cleanly kill. All shooting is done inside sheds, so no pellet escapes into the sir. I have not attempted to shoot rabbits with an air gun, but I would imagine that nothing less than a 22 cal (maybe a 25 cal is better) should be used.
It would not do us any favours as ethical hunters if air guns are used to shoot game that is not cleanly dispatched.

[Drew Jaeger]

...I have not attempted to shoot rabbits with an air gun, but I would imagine that nothing less than a 22 cal (maybe a 25 cal is better) should be used.
It would not do us any favours as ethical hunters if air guns are used to shoot game that is not cleanly dispatched.

I disagree. It all come downs to being familiar with your gear. Know your rifle, know your pellet and finally know your game. My Weihrauch HW97K (with maccari kit) in 4.5mm has taken three rabbits (3 for 3) cleanly with Beeman FTS pellets. Each shot has been in the scone at distances of 20-25m. In the photo below the FTS pellet actually exited!!!



The rifle is used mainly for Metallic Silhouette matches and removing Indian Mynahs.

[7mmmag]

Jimbo

I can vouch for Drew as i was present when he shot the above rabbit. Shot was roughly 20-25 metres and the rabbit was dead as soon as the trigger was squeezed.

[kjd]

I can't say that I agree with airguns coming under more scrutiny then any other firearm.

My airgun does 30ft/lbs and has the accuracy and power to kill a rabbit with a headshot at 50m. My airgun is not the most powerful around and there are 22 and 25 cal airgun getting around that are shooting around 50ft/lbs.

In fact in the USA there are big bore airgun that have taken white tail deer humanely by expers over there.

I think there is a stigma attached to airguns being like the old gecado you had as a kid that would barely kill a sparrow. Fact is that airguns are a serious thing with serious power in which you can seriously hunt with.

You will find most PCP airguns are as accurate out to 50m as most 22lr hunting rifles and even more so when you compare a pcp with a marlin or stirling 22lr.

Used within its limitations (its up to the owner to be serious about their airgun and truly get to know it) the airgun can be a brilliant small game rifle.

[Peter O]

When Skins were worth money two of my mates used .22 cal air rifles for all their fox shooting and never had any problems killing the animals with one shot. Never underestimate the power of an air gun.

[RayG]

When Skins were worth money two of my mates used .22 cal air rifles for all their fox shooting and never had any problems killing the animals with one shot. Never underestimate the power of an air gun.

I agree with your comment. I had a BSA Major underlever .22 for years and took my share of foxes with it,at appropriate ranges of course. it took some whistling to get 'em in close enough but I got the majority of clean kills.
Know your gun is the thing.
Cheers Ray

[Chrispy]

I confidently took naive rabbits outside Kingaroy with my .177 Gamo hunter using RWS Superpoints. Two head shots and one chest shot at 25 to 30m. Never moved from the thwack spot.

It's all about knowing the limitations of the rifle. I certainly wouldn't take longer shots on the big game bunny. But birds to 40m no problems.

I recently did a feral pidgeon shoot in the sheds outside Dalby, the owner laughed at me hysterically when I pulled out the Gamo, then retracted that when I presented him with a swag of dead pidgeons.

The humble springer has come along way from our childhoods, and with the PCP coming in, I think people will really be surprised.

I just want a Quackenbush Brigand.

[thwackkk]

I trust my Xcally in .22, doing 28FPE at the muzzle, to cleanly kill:

- Pigeons - Body Shot - to 80m
- Crows - Head Shot - to 60m
- Rabbits and Hares - Head Shot - to 60m
- Cats and Foxes - Head Shot - to 30m

I (will) trust my R7 in .177, doing 7FPE at the muzzle, to cleanly kill:

- Rats, Mynahs, Starlings - Body Shot - to 30m
- Pigeons - Body Shot - to 20m

Knowing your trajectories and being confident of your shooting UNDER HUNTING CONDITIONS (higher pulse, breathing rate, shooting position etc) is the key to confidence in shot placement.

If in doubt, DON'T TAKE THE SHOT!

[ogre6br]

When my .22 Excalibre was shooting at 24 FPE I cleanly dispatched a feral cat at 17 yards.
No big deal you say- I shot that cat through an old pailing fence.

I could see the top of its head and ears over the fence but couldnt get a clear line to make a head shot.

I was loaded with JSB exacts and had 95+% of a charge in the rifle so I lined up between its ears and then went down 3/4 of an inch.

Cleanly through the fence pailing- old and half rotten but still with some substance- and into the cats head. It dropped foward and twitched twice- the head was mushy to the touch.

Lewis advised me to load only Exacts in the Excally and provided I placed it right that it would NOT let me down under 40 yards. He has been proved correct 100%. All my missed or fluffed shots can be put down to driver error.

Lewis is great - I wrecked the fill seal and sent it back to him for repair I mentioned the bolt -on occasion- not moving the mag around when cycling- Lewis said "no probs I'll fix that too"- he did it under warranty.
Heres the really great part about it.
I didn't buy the rifle from Lewis I brought the Xcally S/H from the guy who brought it from Lewis. Lewis said it was one he brought into AUS so it was a warranty job- He wouldn't even let me pay postage.
Lewis fixed the fill seal, fixed the functioning, set it to 20 FPE and cleaned/polished the stock and had it back to me a week later
From Vic to QLD back to Vic with a repair in there as well in 7 days- amazing service.

Since I have owned the rifle I have put a couple of boxes of Exacts through it and I have had 8 shot groups at 25m standing pole suported that a 20C piece would cover.

So I was confident of my placement as I was shooting with a sand bag rest on the window of the dairy of the property I was shooting on.
The farmer was very happy as his geese were laying/hatching at the time.

Another place I was asked to shoot on was a bird breeders farm. It was a 12.5 acre rural zoned farmlet in the midest of other farmlets/lifestyle blocks. He was having lots of trouble with rabbits digging under his aviaries and foxes trying to raid the aviaries.
The closest spot I could get to set up a hide and a rest was 18.5 metres to the front and 33m to the rear aviaries.
I never got a chance at a fox but cleaned up 9 rabbits over 2 visits.

He told the neighbour that there would be a little shooting going on as he didn't want to use poisons. Neighbours never heard a thing. one even asking him weeks later when the shooting was going to start. On one of the days I shot she was in her front gardening- didn't hear a thing from less than 100m away.

Very effective tools if used within their limits and modern high power PCP have much larger range limits than what people think and airgun is capable of.

Even with the Xcally now set a 20FPE I would be confident taking head and neck shots on foxes, cats, rabbits hares out to 40 yards and large birds -crows, doves etc to 50m and mynas etc to 60m.

When Lewis finds me an FAC rated SLR with 18+FPE I cannot see those ranges changing much- maybe a drop of 5 metres on my ranges to be prudent but I will have to see how the SLR groups and if it has the accuracy to make me confident of shot placement I can see my range limits staying how they are now.

later
P

[samthedog]

I will back the comments about shooting larger pests with an air rifle. I have my theoben mfr scoped in at 50 yards and frequently do head shots on "large, flying, black rats". They are a tough bird but providing I do my thing right they drop like a stone. Lewis assured me that JSB's and the MFR were a lethal combo and he was true to his word. The furtherest kill I have acheived with my MFR was 70 yards with a head shot on a very still day (from a bipod mind you...). As for Lewis's service, it's second to none as anyone who has dealt with him will tell you. In fact it's so damn good I have put a deposit on a .25 break barrel.....

[fritz]

I do agree to not underestimate the power of an airgun. .22 and some .177 air guns are just as effective on small game as a .22lr or maybe a .17hmr.

Most of the issues with clean kills is the hunter himself, if you can squeeze off a headshot on a fox with a real powerful .22 AR I would not doubt that it would drop right there, if worst comes to worst it might get 5 meteres before dieing of blood loss or it's brain shutting down. A good shot to the heart or lungs would probably be comparable to hitting a deer in the same area with a .30.

EDIT: My first squirrel kill I was plinking outdoors and the little guy wandered into my field and stood up kind of looking at me, I made the mistake of thinking that squirrels functioned like deer... they don't I hit him in the upper chest and he ran off 5 meters, I could have easily gotten the headshot off my bench at like 10 meters. Dumb squirrel.

[fenring]

We have used a .177 cal and this will certainly knock them down, but not always cleanly kill. All shooting is done inside sheds, so no pellet escapes into the sir. I have not attempted to shoot rabbits with an air gun, but I would imagine that nothing less than a 22 cal (maybe a 25 cal is better) should be used.
It would not do us any favours as ethical hunters if air guns are used to shoot game that is not cleanly dispatched.

Higher powered .177's are renowned for "icepicking" pest birds, whereby they punch clean through causing a narrow wound channel and the bird flies off - only to drop out of the sky soem distance away. Or the bird flaps around for a while before dying. I've even had it happen with my .22 on occasion if the bird is hit too high in the breast.

Pellet choice can help with this - pointed pellets in a high velocity .177 are a recipe for "icepicking" much like FMJ ammo in centrefire rifle. In that respect domed pellets, hollowpoints or even some wadcutters are better.

IMO shot placement is more important than calibre - a brain shot on a rabbit with a sufficiently powerful airgun of any calibre will do the job. A poor shot with any calibre won't.

It's amazing how little energy can kill typical airgun quarry if there's sufficient penetration into the vitals. In that respect airguns are no different that firearms in that a boatload of energy in the wrong spot still won't get the job done.

[ATN]

ogre6br stop it,your just being mean now you know i want the lovely rig of yours it had me wen you showed me the pellets that went into the old car door

[tankey]

I know this is a little off topic, but could someone PM me some contact details of this Lewis fellow?

I've got a little shanghai .177 air rifle that my dad has had since he was a kid, at 10m it doesn't knock down my pellet traps target return, so i don't know that i'd trust it for anything bigger than a mynah, even then i'm not sure i could hit it as off a bench it shoots groups at the absolute best 4cm... not confidence inspiring!

[kjd]

I guess the ethics should be considered when you use inaccurate airguns with over stated "power" claims (1000fps anyone??)
Gamos and Hatsans and other cheap shit shouldn't be used on larger quarry such as rabbits but a high quality airgun is fine to be used as you know you can depend on it. .

If only magazines reviewed more of these and talked them up more then the latest offering from the larger distributors airguns wouldn't have a crappy rep for non-clean kills!