Air Rifle Questions...
Discussion
I've just become the custodian of some air weapons. My uncle, now 74, has finally accepted that his eyesight will no longer allow him to shoot. It's taken him about fifteen years to accept it, so the guns have been idle for at least this long.
Three rifles, two .177 and a .22, with one Japanese made BSA scope between them, and a pistol.
Pistol is a Milbro Cougar .22 jobbie with an extendable wire 'stock' to make it more rifle-like, and according to my uncle it needs mending as it doesn't 'cock' and load reliably.
Rifles are all BSA, two break barrel, one underlever. One of the rifles is unidentified, but according to my uncle it is "at least 60 years old" because he bought it second-hand when he was 14. There's also a bucket load of pellets so I'm good for ammo for all the guns.
The one thing my uncle wouldn't give up was the Diana pistol that takes darts and slugs. He's kept that for now, along with the darts for it, and that would probably have been the only one safe to use in my garden.
So the questions.
1. I'm a perfectly decent shot, after 25 years in the army. But Air rifles are not service rifles, so do they need a different approach to cleaning and maintenance?
2. Before re-commissioning the guns, would it be best to get things checked over and serviced? Or do I just buy some oil to lube seals and moving parts, check the barrels for debris, and shoot away?
3. My garden isn't really big enough for shooting. Maybe forty feet long, sharing fences with five other properties, and worst of all, my wife's summer house (her sanctuary from a houseful of hairy boys) doesn't look like it'd make a great backstop. So any advice on getting permission to shoot on someone else's land?
4. I'd like to do this properly. Join a club, target shooting in a safe, controlled environment. I live in Farnborough, Hampshire. Apart from the club at Bisley (waiting list, but I'm going to see about a visit as a guest prior to applying to join the waiting list) does anyone know of any local clubs or groups with access to ranges and a pool of advice?
As I said, I've 25 years of experience with 7.62mm and 5.56mm centre fire rifles and machine guns, so the act of shooting, and the safety aspects are not alien to me. But I've not fired a weapon of any sort for about 6 or 7 years now. So I'm not arrogant enough to presume I can simply rock up and introduce myself and get handed the keys to a range. I'm willing to take advice, and to be supervised and coached, but a couple of clubs who's websites I've looked at just come across as a bit, well, dare I say it? "Walty". I want a friendly club, where I can shoot safely, regularly, and with sensible rules. Not petty Hi-Visery and clipboard colonels laying down silly rules that relate little to actual shooting. I also want to be able to shoot in tracksuit pants and trainers if it takes my fancy, not feel obliged to get cammo'd up to knock ping-pong balls off water fountains.
Does anyone know of a local club that fits the bill? I realise that shooting is quite a minority sport, and that there aren't clubs on every street corner. I grew up using these very guns on our local common and in Granny's garden, under supervision, so I didn't want them to go for scrap. My uncle mainly had them for pest control reasons (he worked for Verminex Services in the 70's and/or 80's) but I simply want to enjoy some responsible target shooting, possibly doing some pest control if I knew of anyone who needed it doing.
I did use the PH search facility, but none of the air rifle threads I found was particularly recent, and I wasn't sure that the "PH Gun Cabinet" thread would welcome something as mundane as an air weapon into their rarefied world of Shotgun Certificate, and FAC licensed weapons. A brief scan through their thread certainly didn't reveal any air gunners in their midst.
I'd post some pictures, but I don't have access to a working camera right now. All three that I'd normally have are currently broken.
Three rifles, two .177 and a .22, with one Japanese made BSA scope between them, and a pistol.
Pistol is a Milbro Cougar .22 jobbie with an extendable wire 'stock' to make it more rifle-like, and according to my uncle it needs mending as it doesn't 'cock' and load reliably.
Rifles are all BSA, two break barrel, one underlever. One of the rifles is unidentified, but according to my uncle it is "at least 60 years old" because he bought it second-hand when he was 14. There's also a bucket load of pellets so I'm good for ammo for all the guns.
The one thing my uncle wouldn't give up was the Diana pistol that takes darts and slugs. He's kept that for now, along with the darts for it, and that would probably have been the only one safe to use in my garden.
So the questions.
1. I'm a perfectly decent shot, after 25 years in the army. But Air rifles are not service rifles, so do they need a different approach to cleaning and maintenance?
2. Before re-commissioning the guns, would it be best to get things checked over and serviced? Or do I just buy some oil to lube seals and moving parts, check the barrels for debris, and shoot away?
3. My garden isn't really big enough for shooting. Maybe forty feet long, sharing fences with five other properties, and worst of all, my wife's summer house (her sanctuary from a houseful of hairy boys) doesn't look like it'd make a great backstop. So any advice on getting permission to shoot on someone else's land?
4. I'd like to do this properly. Join a club, target shooting in a safe, controlled environment. I live in Farnborough, Hampshire. Apart from the club at Bisley (waiting list, but I'm going to see about a visit as a guest prior to applying to join the waiting list) does anyone know of any local clubs or groups with access to ranges and a pool of advice?
As I said, I've 25 years of experience with 7.62mm and 5.56mm centre fire rifles and machine guns, so the act of shooting, and the safety aspects are not alien to me. But I've not fired a weapon of any sort for about 6 or 7 years now. So I'm not arrogant enough to presume I can simply rock up and introduce myself and get handed the keys to a range. I'm willing to take advice, and to be supervised and coached, but a couple of clubs who's websites I've looked at just come across as a bit, well, dare I say it? "Walty". I want a friendly club, where I can shoot safely, regularly, and with sensible rules. Not petty Hi-Visery and clipboard colonels laying down silly rules that relate little to actual shooting. I also want to be able to shoot in tracksuit pants and trainers if it takes my fancy, not feel obliged to get cammo'd up to knock ping-pong balls off water fountains.
Does anyone know of a local club that fits the bill? I realise that shooting is quite a minority sport, and that there aren't clubs on every street corner. I grew up using these very guns on our local common and in Granny's garden, under supervision, so I didn't want them to go for scrap. My uncle mainly had them for pest control reasons (he worked for Verminex Services in the 70's and/or 80's) but I simply want to enjoy some responsible target shooting, possibly doing some pest control if I knew of anyone who needed it doing.
I did use the PH search facility, but none of the air rifle threads I found was particularly recent, and I wasn't sure that the "PH Gun Cabinet" thread would welcome something as mundane as an air weapon into their rarefied world of Shotgun Certificate, and FAC licensed weapons. A brief scan through their thread certainly didn't reveal any air gunners in their midst.
I'd post some pictures, but I don't have access to a working camera right now. All three that I'd normally have are currently broken.
I can't really help with clubs as i am in Scotland, although air rifle only clubs seem very thin on the ground up here. I have not used my Webley Omega 22 for 25-30 years but recently dusted it off after my hand was forced by the Scottish Govt deciding to criminalise ownership without a £70 licence.
In terms of maintenance i won't be doing anything to mine before using it again for the first time in quarter of a century, although i understand the springs lose power over time so mine is likely to be well down. I did replace a spring on a cheaper break barrel air rifle in my teens and it was pretty straightforward - only tricky bit was compressing the spring. I think for spring air rifles maintenance is therefore pretty simple to DIY.
In terms of maintenance i won't be doing anything to mine before using it again for the first time in quarter of a century, although i understand the springs lose power over time so mine is likely to be well down. I did replace a spring on a cheaper break barrel air rifle in my teens and it was pretty straightforward - only tricky bit was compressing the spring. I think for spring air rifles maintenance is therefore pretty simple to DIY.
OP, you do realise you're a 20 minute drive away from Bisley, don't you?!
http://www.nra.org.uk/
It's the Mecca of all things target shooting in the UK.
This looks promising:
http://www.bfto.org.uk/
http://www.nra.org.uk/
It's the Mecca of all things target shooting in the UK.
This looks promising:
http://www.bfto.org.uk/
Rosscow said:
OP, you do realise you're a 20 minute drive away from Bisley, don't you?!
http://www.nra.org.uk/
It's the Mecca of all things target shooting in the UK.
This looks promising:
http://www.bfto.org.uk/
http://www.nra.org.uk/
It's the Mecca of all things target shooting in the UK.
This looks promising:
http://www.bfto.org.uk/
Thanks for the replies chaps!
I was aware of the BFTO club at Bisley, but also aware that there's a waiting list for membership.
Marlow was a good shout, but it's the better part of an hour away for me.
I shall continue to try Google, and maybe buy an Air Gunner type magazine too. Currently I just want to 'exercise the rifles' occasionally, rather than making a hefty commitment to a club. Maybe I should just pose as a complete newbie and see if any local clubs have taster sessions. Anyone with any other suggestions is more than welcome to add them. It's just a question of getting around to firing off some emails to enquire about membership now...
I was aware of the BFTO club at Bisley, but also aware that there's a waiting list for membership.
Marlow was a good shout, but it's the better part of an hour away for me.
I shall continue to try Google, and maybe buy an Air Gunner type magazine too. Currently I just want to 'exercise the rifles' occasionally, rather than making a hefty commitment to a club. Maybe I should just pose as a complete newbie and see if any local clubs have taster sessions. Anyone with any other suggestions is more than welcome to add them. It's just a question of getting around to firing off some emails to enquire about membership now...
If you struggle to find a local club, then approach a local landowner and ask if you can use their land. When I was a lad the local farmer let us use his fields for plinking cans and he actively encouraged us to shoot rabbits in the fields and rats in the farm yard.
Air rifle maintenance is pretty simple, no gas plugs and the like obviously, but as for recommissioning your ones, it may be worth a service from your local gun shop. YouTube has many instructional videos on everything from airgun law to basic maintenance so it's worth watching a few of those. And finally, as you have discovered, there are many walts and walt groups about who have no idea about weapon safety drills and they are best avoided. You can usually identify them by the excess DPM, webbing and the ownership of air weapons that look like assault rifles backed up with a BB pistol tucked into their trousers.
Air rifle maintenance is pretty simple, no gas plugs and the like obviously, but as for recommissioning your ones, it may be worth a service from your local gun shop. YouTube has many instructional videos on everything from airgun law to basic maintenance so it's worth watching a few of those. And finally, as you have discovered, there are many walts and walt groups about who have no idea about weapon safety drills and they are best avoided. You can usually identify them by the excess DPM, webbing and the ownership of air weapons that look like assault rifles backed up with a BB pistol tucked into their trousers.
FurtiveFreddy said:
How about Basingstoke Air Rifle & Pistol Club? Closer than Marlow.
Good shout. Thanks. Again, though, talk of a waiting list on the front page of the website. I'm not trying to "queue jump" but it seems odd that there's enough demand for membership that there are waiting lists at local clubs, yet not that many clubs. But Basingstoke is a far more realistic prospect for me than Marlow, so this will be one to try. Or is it a notional waiting list, to put off undesirables I wonder? Ho-hum. I just hope I don't end up coming across as an undesirable!!!It's a couple of weeks away now though, as I'm neck deep in a kitchen refit after a bathroom flood damaged the kitchen ceiling. Damn that pesky wife and her skewed sense of priority! Rifles are tucked in a cupboard for now. They've waited a long time to be used again. A couple more weeks ain't going to make a jot of difference.
Chainsaw Rebuild said:
You have 3 rifles, could you start a weekly shooting evening with some mates? You bring the guns and someone provides the garden. I used to just use a big cardboard box with collapsed cardboard boxes in it as a backstop.
This one's not a bad idea, but is a bit of a non-starter around here. It's the problem of garden size/shape/neighbours/proximity to highways really. The only person I know who The biggest problem locally is that the majority of the land is owned by the MOD, and air weapons are strictly contrary to the Aldershot Miltary Lands byelaws (although regular organised game shoots are permitted). Local authority owned/administered public access land has the same issues, and another large landowner is The Crown Estate. We're short on privately owned farms in the immediate locality, and I'm a bit reluctant to rock up at the door of random local farmers further afield, asking for permission to shoot. Just uncomfortable with the idea I guess.
Gassing Station | Sports | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff