Air rifles, feathers and fur, food for free.

[Charles Charlie Charles]

Hello all.

I fancy going out and shooting some food, particularly wood pigeons and rabbits 'cos there's fucking millions of 'em. The problem is I know nothing about guns apart from what I've seen in US films and I'm pretty sure a TEC-9 isn't going to be of any use.

Because of *ahem* legal reasons I'm not allowed to own a shotgun (and don't fancy owning something so noisy) but would like to have an air rifle, preferably silenced.

Does anyone here know anything about this type of gun? I've looked on the Web but don't know where to start. What type (.22 or .177); what type of pellet (pointy or flat); trajectories; price; etc.

[Blumf]

A standard RPG-7 should suffice for wood pigeons. Rabbits, on the other hand, are best dealt with using a ceramic hunting knife, jabbing the blade down through the top of their skull whilst screaming out 'Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhh!'

[Tamarind Massacre]

My mum often says she want a gun to kill the pigeons and foxes that damage her garden.  Her birthday is coming up.  Would an air rifle reliably kill pigeons and foxes?  Is it legal to shoot them?  And if so, how much does such an air rifle cost?

(The pigeons might be edible, but foxes look right manky.)

[Dusty Gozongas]

I fancy going out and shooting some food, particularly wood pigeons and rabbits 'cos there's fucking millions of 'em.[...]

Sod the technicalities. Take what you're armed with and go a huntin'.  I'm sure you'll not kill more than you can eat, and you have the added bonus of it not being tofu or somesuch.  Shoot! And be merry thereof!

[Dusty Gozongas]

(The pigeons might be edible, but foxes look right manky.)

There used to be foxhunts to get rid of the manky old four-legged lepers y'know. These days it's just "look at it! Ain't it pretty? Awww.. but he looks sooo illll... awww...."

Pigeons? Haven't had the pleasure. What they like?

[El Unicornio, mang]

I was thinking of buying a gun for home security/going to the woods to let off steam. The laws here are ridiculously lax. I can go to a gun show and buy a gun there and then with no background check and take it home. Or, from a regular gun shop, just have to wait a couple of days.

I can buy one of these if I want! You could kill plenty rabbits with that...



Oh, and due to a law that passed last year, if anyone came anywhere near my house I can kill them and not get prosecuted...

[Dusty Gozongas]

Oh, and due to a law that passed last year, if anyone came anywhere near my house I can kill them and not get prosecuted...

My brother-in-law has a love for that stuff and probably has one of those or similar. You wouldn't want to shoot a wabbit with one of them if you're hungry though. Try a deer. There'll be a bit more left to eat after winging the fucker.

[tiny wee font]
damn. i was going to leave this unedited but it occurred to me that my ex-brother-in-law might get snuffed by the local armed response unit rather than my new bro-in-law in north carolina. sorry cops. keep that finger itchy for the bad guys if you can stand the urge a little while longer... bless yer [/tiny wee font]

[El Unicornio, mang]

I just don't think I could trust myself. My main reason for not getting one is that I know I'd come home drunk one night and start waving it about and the next thing I know I'd be waiting for a ride on old sparky

[Dusty Gozongas]

You're obviously a good bloke.

I'd start with a gat and see how it goes meself :-)

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

I think you can only by semi-auto assault rifles and submachine guns in the US for civilian use so you'd probably have to go your local gang gun merchant if you wanted to a bit proper bullet spraying. I could be wrong though.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Florida is different though...

http://www.bradycampaign.org/legislation/state/viewstate.php?st=fl#aw

ASSAULT WEAPONS
Are there limitations on assault weapons and magazines?  No

Florida - No state restriction on the sale or possession of military-style semiautomatic assault weapons like the AK47 and Uzi. Assault weapons are as easy to buy as hunting rifles. No restriction on the sale or possession of rapid-fire ammunition magazines that can fire up to 100 bullets without reloading. Federal law does prevent the sale of some assault weapons and rapid-fire magazines manufactured after 1994, but the federal law will sunset in 2004 unless Congress and President Bush renew it.

[ziggy starbucks]

Hello all.

I fancy going out and shooting some food, particularly wood pigeons and rabbits 'cos there's fucking millions of 'em. The problem is I know nothing about guns apart from what I've seen in US films and I'm pretty sure a TEC-9 isn't going to be of any use.

wood pigeons = children at local school
rabbits = ex-girlfriend and her family

they will all pay

[Dusty Gozongas]

wood pigeons = children at local school
rabbits = ex-girlfriend and her family

That there sounds like that there vegetarian talk to me.

Even as an occasional meat eater I'd take the ex/inlaws over a woodie but I feel a bit icky now that you just compared them to fwuffie bunnies!

I won't be able to get that image out of my head now. Thank you very much for spoiling my dinner. Bastard.

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

Florida is different though...

http://www.bradycampaign.org/legislation/state/viewstate.php?st=fl#aw

But those are still semi-automatic weapons that will fire a single bullet whenever the trigger is pulled and don't need any other manual actions to chamber a bullet for the next shot. I was referring to fully-automatic weapons that will keep on firing as long as the trigger is pulled and there is ammunition. I'm pretty sure at least those are illegal now.

[El Unicornio, mang]

But those are still semi-automatic weapons that will fire a single bullet whenever the trigger is pulled and don't need any other manual actions to chamber a bullet for the next shot. I was referring to fully-automatic weapons that will keep on firing as long as the trigger is pulled and there is ammunition. I'm pretty sure at least those are illegal now.

No, in Florida assault rifles like the one pictured or an UZI 9mm submachine gun or AK-47 can be set to automatic fire. For example, for the AK-47:

With the selector in the middle position (full-automatic), the rifle continues to fire, automatically cycling fresh rounds into the chamber, until the magazine is exhausted or pressure is released from the trigger.

Edit to add: OK, upon further reading it appears the law is a bit more complicated. These weapons are legal, but are converted to only allow semi-automatic fire, but can be converted by a third party to allow automatic fire. The one I fired at the range was definitely fully automatic so I'm not sure

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

I don't know. I expect there are ways around it. I mean who doesn't need an M16 and maybe a Tec-9 for home D-FENS?

[biniput]

I can see one of those POV shooter games for the playstation coming out soon.  Eating roadkill to survive and having to take on a rabbit warren on with a tank in order to feed a family of 3.

[hamfist]

Christ - you get a bit of flooding and the world goes all survivalist !