Help! I need an air rifle

[ComedyPilot]

The way that Patrick wrote that gives the imprsseion that he is a closet Edward Fox/Day of the Jackal character.

 

[Smokin Joe]

No, how they work is by providing chambers for the air from behind the bullet to escape into so that by the time the bullet leaves the end of the silencer the air pressure, which is what makes the bang, has mostly been dissipated.

It's best to remember that the penalties for braking the air gun laws are pretty stuff. Technically, you need a permit for shooting vermin, even in your own garden. I'd risk it myself but it's better to be sure about the risks. The only people who like air rifles are the people 'with' air rifles and many air gun infringements attract jail time!

I had an air rifle up until a few months ago, I shot a few mice in the back garden with it, but I gave it away. I'd quite like a good air pistol as hitting targets with them is more challenging, which is what I find fun. Killing stuff isn't very nice, even stuff you don't like much.

Oh, I don't know

 

[Saddle bum]

I would not know with an air gun.
But I believe a silencer works by decreasing the speed of the bullet to less than the speed of sound.
That is in a normal gun though.

It is the pulse of air that is reduced to below the speed of sound, pellets don't get anywhere near that velocity.

 

[wafflycat]

We have cats either side of us. They're rubbish.

I'm off out to buy the Bargain Pages.

That's probably because you don't have The Mighty Huntress, Queen Of All She Surveys, Dark Avenger, Destroyer Of Rodents, All Round Superior Life Form, Holder Of The Chalice Of Bast, Keeper Of The Rings Of Felis, Mummy's Furry Lady. I do

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

Technically, you need a permit for shooting vermin, even in your own garden.

I don't think so. This is from the Defra website:

"Licences for pest control
For the control of some species such as rats, mice, rabbits and foxes, there is no requirement for a licence. A licence, or special authority, is required to take action against protected species or to use particular methods of control."

 

[PrettyboyTim]

I did actually look in to this kind of thing for a little bit because we had some squirrels who had started to raid our kitchen* **. One thing to be aware of is that you cannot discharge a firearm (and an air rifle does count as a firearm) within 50 feet of a public highway.

* It was pure fantasy, really. I live in North London in a terraced house and the back of our garden adjoins onto the gardens of another set of terraced houses on the next street over. I live on the same street as a primary school and quite apart from the panic that appearing at the window with a firearm would have caused, I found that to get 50 feet from the centre of the highway I'd have to go upstairs to increase the distance (having applied my Pythogoras' thoerem)...

** The little bastards actually managed to open the bread bin and steal the Pain au Chocolat that I had been planning to eat for my lunchtime dessert. It was War.

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

I did actually look in to this kind of thing for a little bit because we had some squirrels who had started to raid our kitchen* **. One thing to be aware of is that you cannot discharge a firearm (and an air rifle does count as a firearm) within 50 feet of a public highway.

Again, not quite correct. This only applies if you are causing distress to those on the highway. If you are shooting with your back to the highway, then this is not likely to happen.

Incidentally, for those who think The Day of the Jackal is accurate - how come no one hears his first shot. He may have a moderator but the bullet that just misses De Gaulle is supersonic and the crack would nearly burst his eardrum.

 

[Mr Pig]

Incidentally, for those who think The Day of the Jackal is accurate - how come no one hears his first shot.

Very true. And here's another one for you. How come in Star Wars you can hear all the explosions and lazer blasts when sound doesn't travel in a vacuum? Eh, eh?

And how come Shaggy always thinks it's a real monster when it turns out to be the janitor in a costume every time?

 

[Mr Pig]

That's in Scooby Doo by the way.

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

Very true. And here's another one for you. How come in Star Wars you can hear all the explosions and lazer blasts when sound doesn't travel in a vacuum? Eh, eh?

And how come Shaggy always thinks it's a real monster when it turns out to be the janitor in a costume every time?

And every time someone in a film is hit by a bullet he flies backwards, but the shooter barely notices the recoil when he fired the gun. Action and reaction are not equal and opposite in Hollywood.

 

[Smokin Joe]

How come the A-Team could loose off five minutes worth of automatic fire and never hit anyone, yet Clint Eastwood could sever a hangman's rope with a pistol shot from 500 yards?

 

[Milo]

And why do the guns never run out of ammo.
I may have to get stoned and watch a chuck norrris film now.

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

How come the A-Team could loose off five minutes worth of automatic fire and never hit anyone, yet Clint Eastwood could sever a hangman's rope with a pistol shot from 500 yards?

I think the A-Team was on at about 6 pm on a Saturday and it was felt that a Total Recall type bodycount was a tad unsuitable for 6 year olds having beans on toast before going to bed.

 

[Maz]

We have cats either side of us. They're rubbish.

I'm off out to buy the Bargain Pages.

Whacking them with the Bargain Pages will only concuss them. Not very effective.

 

[Mr Pig]

it was felt that a Total Recall type bodycount was a tad unsuitable for 6 year olds...

How things change eh? ;0)