Air gunning/vermin control

[Tarmacsurfer]

I know some of you are current so lets see what BCF has to recommend. Given that the airgun market has changed so much in the last twenty years or so (my last regular shoot was a BSA Air Sporter S) I'm in need of assistance.

Got an old stone built bungalow in the middle of nowhere and as you'd expect this time of year the rats are coming flocking, any suggestions as to a half decent lightweight multi shot, preferably not PCP as the setup costs are a bit prohibitive.

Needs a bit of range as it's covering a sizeable garden but most of the shooting will fairly close in, having said that, thoughts and opinions on a decent lamp/scope setup are welcome.
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I'm immortal. Well, so far.

[unitynotsocri...]

Get a powerful single shot springer .multishots that are cheap are not that powerful.
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nearly a normal tax paying tosser.......with ferrileness suzi100,cg125,cb125scb100n,cb175,cd100,cj250t,kh250,c15,125 bantam,super 6,rickman gs750,xt500,250rs,dt175,lifan125,dolomite1850,metro,Morris220ld,morrisfg,leyland princess,range rover,corsa,vw camper .now struggling with legs. MORE ORDER = MORE CHAOS

[Joncrete Cungle]

Get a springer and get practicing. Have a look on gun trader, gun watch, airgunbbs, airgun forum, the various manufacturers / owners club forums and facebook. You can pick up a great gun for half the original price second hand.

I got a .177 Weihrauch HW95K that has had a stage 1 Sandwell Field Sports tune for £200 off facebook. It is the smoothest and most accurate springer I have ever used.

I would recommend a springer from either Weihrauch or Air Arms. Webley have in my opinion gone down the pan since they started making their guns in Turkey.

[Tarmacsurfer]

Got a couple of old springers I still plink with but nothing that I'd care to shoot at a live target with. Suffice to say I'm reasonably confident in terms of marksmanship, just feeling out the current market as to hardware.
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I'm immortal. Well, so far.

[Joncrete Cungle]

A couple of cage traps, pair of fenn traps set in a tunnel and a few little nipper rat traps should help you clear them out.

[Joncrete Cungle]

What is your budget for a new airgun?

[Polarbear]

My Gamo .22 varmint hunter kit, complete with scope & bag cost me £250. I'm getting good at picking off rats.

Is it a good gun, TBH I wouldn't know as it's my first air gun and was recommended by the man in the gun shop but it does the jub.
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Victory Cross Country American tractor.

[stevo as b4]

Would poison not work just as well or are these the new super rats that are immune to all deadly chemicals?

I'd be tempted to fill a shed full of paper/straw and food, then after a few weeks drench it in petrol and light a match.

[recman]

[331X2]

Rats are hard bastards, if this is a reoccurring problem then it might work out at similar money to go for SGC and a bolt action Webley .410, hits a lot harder and noise is not an issue if you're on your own in the sticks.

Advice above is good, I'll add that my mate has a BSA lightning which shoots nicely for a budget springer, Weihrach or AA are top of the tree though. I've had very good results with a red LED ultrafire torch with a pressure switch, about a tenner off eBay, low mag scope or open sights for close range and fast target acquisition.

The .177 vs .22 argument will be enough to make you wince but I honestly think the energy transfer of .22 is the winner in what is usually close range rat shooting.

[defblade]

Right, this is right up my chicken coop

First off, I've found full power guns to be too much for ratting, ranges tend to be under 10 metres and you've got fences etc around usually that you don't want pellets going through.

My current ratter is a second hand BSA meteor which shoots very nicely, about 7ft/lb. £90 from Airgunbbs.

Multishots are expensive, I'd not bother. Also, get some poison bait boxes to kill off the ones you can't see.


This is then topped with a home-made night vision setup - see threads here and here.Sit in a chair facing their holes, watch the screen, when you see their little beady eyes light up, swap to crosshair camera and shoot right between them

You can tempt them out by putting a smear of peanut butter on a rock (so they have to stop and eat it there) for a few nights, before setting down to shoot... make sure there's a decent backstop, and make sure your scope is zeroed for the rock

Guess what I'm doing tonight
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Honda Varadero 125cc => Suzuki Bandit 650 33bhp => 77bhp =>
BMW K1200R Sport 163bhp => Aprilia Shiver GT 750 95bhp

[mudcow007]

i go all apocolypse now on rats...

https://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c81/mudcow007/Apocalypse_Now-1_zpsec407009.jpg

check out my boom stick

https://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c81/mudcow007/28062007218.jpg

its a Weihrauch HW35e (walnut stock etc) running at 12lb

it makes a mess of rats....

[Tarmacsurfer]

No debate on calibre from me, I'm looking at .22, probably wadcutters given that it's close range.

Target is around the £300 mark although I may wait a bit and push the budget a little higher early next year, just use a poison rotation for now. Looked at the Umarex 850 (this is what really prompted the question in the first place, CO2 rifles/pistols were strictly toys last time I looked around) and a Crosman "Night Stalker" as options so far.

As to baiting, always used liquified cat food in the past. Means the little bastards can't grab a mouthful and run, they have to stop and lap to eat - easy shot.
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I'm immortal. Well, so far.

[MaybeGuy]

I've got a crossman 1077 in the UK, and to be fair, it'll be more than adequate for rats at about 20 meters, although it sucks after more than 20 shots per cartridge.
I've used it for rabbiting for a couple of years, although now it's pretty much abandoned.

They're cheap as tits too. I combined mine with a completely overkill 4-12x scope with illuminated reticle etc... Don't do this. the standard ironsights (plastic) are just fine.
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Blue_SV650S wrote: it was a sh1te wheelie, but it proves that he can get it up in 3rd and can do angles. In summery, mattsprattuk is a gobby little sh1tebag, dopehead tw4t, but sadly for all of us, he probably isn't THAT full of sh1te!!
Kickstart wrote: Hi I tend to agree with Matt. All the best Keith

[unitynotsocri...]

For a budget end springer try sportairarms d 20 ?basiccly an 11lb springer thats got a heavy stock. Its so cheap and pokey that the weight of the stock helps accuracy enormously,
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nearly a normal tax paying tosser.......with ferrileness suzi100,cg125,cb125scb100n,cb175,cd100,cj250t,kh250,c15,125 bantam,super 6,rickman gs750,xt500,250rs,dt175,lifan125,dolomite1850,metro,Morris220ld,morrisfg,leyland princess,range rover,corsa,vw camper .now struggling with legs. MORE ORDER = MORE CHAOS

[mjn51]

forums.pigeonwatch is a useful place for this info .
M.

[unitynotsocri...]

Maybe we can have a page for people who kill things?
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nearly a normal tax paying tosser.......with ferrileness suzi100,cg125,cb125scb100n,cb175,cd100,cj250t,kh250,c15,125 bantam,super 6,rickman gs750,xt500,250rs,dt175,lifan125,dolomite1850,metro,Morris220ld,morrisfg,leyland princess,range rover,corsa,vw camper .now struggling with legs. MORE ORDER = MORE CHAOS

[defblade]

[Furrybiker]

We had a plague of rats earlier in the year, our youngest greyhound was bringing them in to the house in all states of chompedness...

I tried shooting them(the rats ) but got bored so I went down the poison route, don't bother with the high street stuff, it doesn't seem to touch them.
Found this to be very effective https://www.pestcontrolsupermarket.com/rat-poison-62-c.asp I haven't seen a rat for several weeks.