Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2022 i Airgun Shooter

A silver fox can be several things. A variation of the red fox with different pigmentation. An attractive middle-aged man with grey or white hair. Or in this case a gas-ram break-barrel from Crosman. Like its human counterpart, this rifle is certainly a looker, the metalwork being finished in a glossy silver, with the ambidextrous sporter stock being made from a nicely contrasting black polymer. But there's more to this rifle than looks alone. “THIS RIFLE CAN OFFER ETHICAL HUNTING ACCURACY OUTTO AROUND 25 METRES” The Silver Fox has a recommended retail price of £189.99, which includes a 4×32 scope and mounts. It's available in .22 calibre, and being a full-power rifle is suitable for back garden plinking, target shooting and short- to medium-range pest control. Measuring 1,110mm and weighing…

FIRST IMPRESSIONS Bullpup rifles are quirky things, and if a traditional sporter is a greyhound then a bullpup is a bulldog, with a suitably squat shape to match. Luckily for bullpup owners, Napier's BullPup DX Air Rifle Bag is specifically designed to swallow a rifle like this. Based on the Stalker version of Napier's Razorback bag, it offers the same technical features and the company reckons your rifle will be protected by the most advanced and robust soft-sided bag on the market, adding that the Bullpup DX protects and performs to the standards of a hard-sided case, while remaining light to carry. Every bag comes with a five-year limited warranty and has a rugged EVA shell construction with lateral load protection up to 50kg. Supplied in green bonded canvas, the…

The team at The Game Fair are putting the final touches to this year's event at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire, with guns high on the agenda and BASC members receiving complimentary admission all three days. More than 120,000 visitors are expected to attend from Friday 29 July to Sunday 31 July, and the event once again promises to be a fantastic celebration of fieldsports and country life. The packed itinerary includes exciting displays, thrilling competitions, educational demonstrations and plenty of chances for visitors to have a go for themselves. There really is something for everyone, and here's our guide to the Top 10 things to see and do: 01 THE SHOOTING LINE The Game Fair boasts the most comprehensive outdoor exhibition for game and clay shooting held anywhere in the UK.…

We all aspire to be a marksman, which just means our ability to hit what we're aiming at, and in order to achieve this we apply the four basic principles - getting stable, pointing the rifle correctly, understanding how to use the sights and knowing how to release the shot. The little pellet that flies out of the barrel has a lot of work to do, and it really does need all the help it can get to make its point of impact coincide with the shooter's point of aim. Here are a few tips and techniques that I've found useful. I hope they work for you too. USE THE CORRECT SCOPE MOUNTS There's no point going out and buying the scope of your dreams if you can't look through…

AIRGUN SHOOTER PRESENTS TARGET SHOOTER INEXPENSIVE OPTICS INSIGHT AND EXPERTISE TO HELP YOU RAISE YOUR GAME YOUR EXPERT ANDY McLACHLAN In my quest for well-priced equipment that's more than up to the job, I have come across a well-specified scope that will be of interest to those of us that are thinking about doing some serious benchrest shooting for the first time. Those of us who can afford the more upmarket optics costing more than £1,000, and often two or three times that price, need read no further. I always recommend buying the best optics that the shooter can afford as it really does make a massive difference to our ability to hit the spot. The problem is of course that for many of us, and I include myself within this…

several of the farms I shoot on suffer serious corvid infestations during the summer months. This seasonal influx is down to two main reasons. Firstly, the farms have large maize clamps, and these feed stores are highly attractive to crows, rooks and jackdaws. Secondly, young corvids leave the nest during the early summer months, so there are a lot more of these avian pests around at this time of year. The annual corvid plague has been causing a real menace on one of my permissions over the past couple of weeks. Although the farm workers do their best to keep the maize covered, it isn't always practical. Consequently, crows, rooks and jackdaws have been having a feast. Apart from munching into profit margins by eating the cattle feed, the birds…

Scopes are funny things and vary hugely in price. You could spend thousands of pounds on top-of-the-range glass, but an alternative costing a fraction of the price will look almost identical and might even have many of the same features. Without doubt, £1,000-plus scopes are wondrous things and we could debate all day and night about whether they are worth the money. However, perhaps the more relevant argument for most of us is whether a budget scope is good enough. So in this issue we've brought together a fair representation of sub-£200 scopes to take a closer look at. Thanks to The Shooting Party, we have a PAO Topaz Pre-Mount 4-16×50 IR PA, which retails for £89.99. John Rothery Wholesale has sent us a Richter Optik Exact 3-9×50 AOE (£72.99)…

LETTER OF THE MONTH BENCHREST FOR ALL I have been following Andy McLachlan's articles about benchrest with interest. I run a forum benchrest competition on the Air Gun Forum which is growing in numbers. I “inherited” it from another member when his work commitments took their toll on his free time. The idea was to encourage members to get into benchrest in an informal environment, which included me as I purchased my first air rifle four years ago at 55, not really knowing what the options for shooting were! I have since tried FT, HFT and even had a go at Bell Target. Hunting doesn't interest me, though I do enjoy reading others' efforts. But benchrest has “stuck”, as I had an operation on my leg last year which limited…

THE COUNTRYMAN GREY SQUIRRELS WHY WE SHOOT • Songbirds, red squirrels and dormice are more likely to thrive when competition from grey squirrels is eliminated • Grey squirrels are extremely damaging to trees, so controlling their numbers is beneficial to woodland habitat • Squirrel control helps the forestry industry, which loses out on millions of pounds every year as a result of their damage • Spending time in the woods keeping grey squirrels in check is a great way to relax and watch wildlife THE QUARRY GREY SQUIRREL Sciurus carolinensis PEST STATUS: This invasive rodent damages trees, contributes to the decline of red squirrels, and preys on the eggs and chicks of songbirds. HABITAT: Squirrels spend much of their time in the trees, although they will also forage on the ground.…

I don't know about you, but I have always been taken by the appearance of a nice gun. This incorporates all the toys I used to play with as a child, right up to the guns I have enjoyed using as an adult, including firearms, but more appropriately for us, airguns. I well understand that a gun's appearance rarely has any bearing on its ability to deliver an accurate shot. In fact, some of the more accurate guns of all sorts I have fired have looked rough. Manufacturers tend to target customers with guns they will want to buy; high level finishing will not always be a priority if the gun works and is dependable. Looking at lower-priced guns from many manufacturers will allow the potential purchaser the opportunity of…

GEAR ADVICE FEATURE RECOILLESS RIFLE I have to admit to being primarily a spring airgun enthusiast. I recognise the appeal in the clinical accuracy potential of PCPs, but like the “alive” feeling and the “soul” of springers. They are harder to shoot accurately, but are very rewarding when mastered and useful in teaching proper follow-through, so particularly helpful if you subsequently take up centrefire rifle shooting. PCPs are relatively expensive. However, for those of us on a limited budget there are low-cost ways of sampling the advantages of recoilless shooting via the CO2 route. No pump or diver's cylinder necessary, just a 12 or 88 gram CO2 capsule or canister. One downside is the fact that muzzle velocity varies a little with ambient temperature and drops off noticeably below 5°C, but…

TESTING STATION RIFLE TEST NORICA HAWK GRS RIFLE TEST KEY SPECS MAKER: Norica (noricaairguns.com) MODEL: Hawk GRS SUPPLIED BY: Edgar Brothers (edgarbrothers.com) PRICE: £299 TYPE: Gas-ram break-barrel CALIBRE: .177 and .22 (tested) OVERALL LENGTH: 1180mm LENGTH OF PULL: 385mm BARREL LENGTH: 480mm WEIGHT: 3.2kg (without scope) TRIGGER: Two-stage adjustable POWER: 11.2 ft-lb Break-barrel airguns are enjoying a huge revival in popularity, and I can see why. Apart from tending to be more affordable than PCPs, these air rifles offer fuss-free shooting without the hassle and expense of having to depend on a constant air supply for refilling - just break the barrel to cock the action, and they're ready for the next shot. On top of all that, break-barrel airguns are also great fun to shoot. Spanish gunmaker Norica has been…

Pump-up pneumatics are uncommon now, but this type of rifle was once very popular, especially here in the UK. Many of these rifles originally came from America, such as the Benjamin Model E, which was a very early design. More recent pump-up pneumatics have an underlever for charging air into the valve, but long before this, the charging method was far simpler. A long pump rod, unhinged, without any mechanical linkages and with only a leather seal to the end was the norm, just as on this Great War-era Model E. Think bicycle pump and you would not be far off. To charge the valve, the rod was extended and then the rifle was pushed back onto it, usually against the ground, but a tree or fence could also prove…

FIRST IMPRESSIONS We've always liked the Walther Reign, finding this admittedly unusual looking rifle to be superbly balanced, light and compact. This regulated PCP will not only withstand the rigours of hunting, but will deliver blistering performance as well. And now there's a new version. Walther has made a few changes to the M2 model, notably ditching the shrouded barrel and replacing it with a slightly longer barrel that's capped by a muzzle brake, making the overall length a little shorter. The air cylinder has been upgraded, making the rifle very slightly heavier at around 2.99kg, but there's a positive trade-off as the rifle now offers even better balance. Like the original, the M2 is ambidextrous. The sidelever can be swapped from the right-hand side to the left, and the…

FREE TO ENTER WIN! WORTH £234 Smith & Wesson's Model 29 is a handgun that has a cult following among both firearm aficionados and film fans alike, and airgun enthusiasts can now be added to the list thanks to the release of a CO2-powered, licensed version of this iconic revolver from Umarex. This handgun, or more specifically the .44 Magnum cartridge that it was designed to take, saw a massive spike in sales in 1971 with the release of Dirty Harry, the first of five films in which Clint Eastwood played tough, no-nonsense San Francisco Police Department Inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan. Umarex's version of the S&W M29 is available in BB or pellet format, with the £219.95 revolver seen here being a pellet-firer with a rifled 6.5” barrel, which is…

Well, of course there was a time before IR and thermal. Lamping is as effective today as it ever was. However, regardless of your kit, the challenge with night shooting is judging distance accurately to adjust your aim and compensate for a pellet's trajectory. Shot from a legal-limit rifle, a .22 pellet, for example, can drop as much as four or five inches over 40 metres. Most of us usually overcome the problem by aiming above the target to allow for pellet drop, or under to allow for pellet rise at targets which are much closer. It's a very effective technique. However, using apps or hours spent on the range working out aim points for different distances is all well and good assuming we know exactly how far that rabbit…

TARGET SHOOTER NSS HFT CHAMPIONSHIP After a three-year break, the Northern Shooting Show at Harrogate returned to the airgunners' calendar this year. The muchrespected event is a showcase for all classes of shooting. From bullet guns, shotguns, air rifles, airsoft, archery, clothing, scopes, equipment and the well-attended gun dog trials, there was something for everyone within the shooting community. As always, airgunning was well represented, with manufacturers showing off the latest products. But the highlight for airgun target shooters was the Northern Shooting Show HFT Championship. In previous years this was part of the now defunct HFT Masters series, but with the show organisers keen to carry on this successful and well-attended event, the shoot is now a standalone competition and even had the support of scope giant Vortex Optics.…

FEATURE BEAT THE PELLET PINCH Pellets are arguably the most essential component in airgun shooting. After all, regardless of the airgun being used, it's the pellet that strikes the target. Until fairly recently they never cost that much, but, like most things, prices are going up. The talk of lead possibly being phased out does not help either, but right now, thankfully, it's game on as usual and there are a few ways to pick up pellets for less than you might think. One method of beating the pellet pinch is to grab any opportunities whenever they appear. On one of my trips to a gun shop to buy an air rifle, some of my favourite pellets were spied on the counter, so a cash deal was struck there and…

TESTING STATION RIFLE TEST AIRMAKS KATRAN B RIFLE TEST KEY SPECS RIFLE SUPPLIED BY: CDR Guns (facebook.com/CDRGuns) MANUFACTURER: AirMaks Arms MODEL TESTED: Katran B PRICE: £1,400 (extra £55 for laminate) TYPE: Multi-shot PCP CALIBRE: .177 (tested), .22 and .25 ACTION: Sidelever OVERALL LENGTH: 910mm FOLDED LENGTH: 684mm BARREL: Made by CZ, twist rate of 1:17.7 BARREL LENGTH: 400mm WEIGHT: 2.66kg STOCK: Skeletonised with laminate cheekpiece SCOPE RAIL: Picatinny LENGTH OF PULL: 330mm to 380mm TRIGGER: Two-stage, adjustable TRIGGER-PULL: 9.7oz MUZZLE ENERGY: 10.1 ft-lb SUPPLIED WITH RIFLE: Hard case, fill probe, one magazine, O-rings, manual, KeyMod to Picatinny adaptor OPTIONAL EXTRAS: Single-shot loader, monopod/bag rider, modular L, M or S moderators, extended Arca Rail No matter how accurate an air rifle may be, a shooter will only be able to unlock its…

Light pellets fly faster. But heavier pellets have a better ballistic coefficient and retain more energy. Lighter pellets are less affected by wind because there's less flight time for them to be affected. Heavy pellets hit harder. Whatever argument you listen to, and whichever camp you fall into, one thing's for sure: airgun shooters have plenty of choice. And that choice has just got wider thanks to the introduction of the new Magnum from Qiang Yuan Sports. Like QYS's other pellets, the Magnum is available in .177 calibre only, although I understand this manufacturer is seeking to move into .22 as well. Back to the .177 Magnum, and this pellet is so new that the samples I was sent did not arrive in dedicated tins! UK distributor The Shooting Party…