Відео

@madeintexas1213 Hiya, thanks for the compliment. I use a variety of rifles depending on the job in hand. In this video, I started out using my Daystate Pulsar .22 in 35ft/lb (which requires a full firearms certificate here in the UK). I later used my BSA .22 R10 MK 2, (sub 12 ft/lb), which has a Pard DS35-70 LRF mounted on top. The spotter is the Pulsar Merger.

Hi Kenneth, according to BASC, there has been a bit of a turnaround regarding lead air gun ammunition, so it's not currently an urgent issue.

Hi, no disrespect taken, it's a perfectly reasonable question. I guess it depends on your standpoint and what your main aim (no pun intended) is. If, as in my case, your intent is to control pests, you want to do it as effectively as you can, with a "one shot, one kill" philosophy in mind since no one wants to injure any animal. Bearing in mind that many of our UK pests are largely nocturnal, controlling them effectively, means using some kind of "see in the dark" technology, which is constantly evolving. All this technology is of no use, unless you put in good old fashioned range time to learn and understand the underlying principles. The available technology is not a substitute for that, it is just an aid to applying your craft in an effective manner. This is even more relevant if you are being paid for your services. Even with all this technology, you still need to apply field craft, positive target identification, safe shot evaluation, gun safety......all the things that would apply when using iron or telescopic sights. Another thing to consider is that scopes like the Pard Ds35 can be swapped between rifles. It could be on an air rifle one night and a rimfire or centerfire rifle the next. Whereas it might be considered OTT on a sub 12ft/lb air rifle, it does allow a cost effective way of swapping the same technology from one rifle to another as requirements dictate.

Very well put ,Sir. Also, for those not in the know, that was informative and well thought out. I shoot a sub 12ftlb hw100kt with the Alpex 4k lrf, I use the carbon deathgrip, also. I shoot rabbits on a large agricultural plot and a paddock with forested land attached. Yeah, there are rats, but I guess I overlook them. Maybe I've not prioritised them, so much as the rabbits. Horses, for course's eh. I learnt from this and appreciate your insight.

Thank's Steve, glad you enjoyed it.

Hi Jay, I'm pleased you enjoyed the video. I hope you found my comments about the DS35 useful in making up your mind what to go for. I have been a Pard fan since they first issued the N007 P. If you are not too bothered about having a ballistic calculator, I can thoroughly recommend the N007V or the N007SP with the very useful range finder. I find they work very well with Hawke scopes and I particularly favour the Hawke 2-7 x 32 AO for use with the N007 range...just the right amount of magnification at 2x. Another good option is the N008 LRF which I have on my 17HMR.

Cheers for rhat Doug, i think it will be the sp lrf i go for, i like it shorter build than the 007a and v and ill be adding it to an Hawke airmax and ive heard theyre a great add on for those. Hoping to get a permission soon enough to start some night time shooting.

Yes indeed, I use an Airmax and N007SP on my .22 Hornet, it works fine except for one thing ! The top turret cover gets in the way of the LRF, it's fine if you take the turret cap off and replace it when you have finished though.

Glad you enjoyed it....

Thanks Steve, enjoy your retirement, lucky bugger 😏 I'm sure you'll find plenty to keep you busy.

You should see t'wife's "To Do" list!@@dbppestcontrol5670

Hi Vince, thanks for appreciating my shows, I really must get back into the swing of doing them more regularly. To answer your question, I'll start off by saying that I'm probably not the best person to ask as I only use one piece of thermal kit, namely a Pulsar Axion 30 spotter. I assume that since you specified 40m in your question, you are talking about use with a sub 12ft/lb air rifle ? For my own part, I would have a hard time justifying the cost of a thermal scope for a sub 12ft/lb rifle, given the effectiveness of the current range of IR night vision out there (for a fraction of the price of thermal). For my own pest control, I use the Pard range of IR units on all my rifles, namely the N007SP LRF and an N008 LRF, which is permanently attached to my CZ .17HMR. If you are looking for a thermal scope for £1000, I think your choices are very limited if buying new. The only one I am aware of near that price is the Infiray SAIM. I don't know much about them myself, but they can be seen on the Scott Country website. To sum up, from my own perspective, I love my Axion 30 for spotting and although a thermal scope would be a "nice to have", I couldn't justify the additional cost, over the kit I already use, which is very effective out to around 200m with supplementary IR illuminator.

Hi Michael, it is indeed a Pig 👍 If you scroll back through my video's, you'll find one about the restoration of said Pig.

Hi, I'm pleased you enjoyed it, I'll no doubt be back there at some point soon.

Hi Stephen, my background is in mechanical engineering too, I've spent a lifetime in the oil & gas industry on the materials side. With regard to the target boxes, I fully expect to have to replace the retaining floor tile at intervals. I agree that a secondary "self sealing" foam or rubber layer would help to retain the fill for longer. (as in the self sealing fuel tanks used on WW2 aircraft). Only time will tell as this is a bit of a work in progress. There was another workable solution I found on line, using duct sealing putty but it works out quite expensive due to the cost of the putty. The principle is to line the target box back with the putty. The lead pellets build up a lead plug which can be removed at intervals and the non-drying putty re-shaped to fill the void. Regarding the pellets, this is very much my first step into the world of lead-free, so again, a work in progress with more testing to be done. I gather the pellets I tested were a tin alloy (possibly tin/zinc), I did note that they were somewhat harder than lead, although I could still deform the skirts with sufficient thumb nail pressure. I have noted in other tests I have found on line, that the incidence of ricochets is quite high with the harder alloys. The deformation against a solid object is nowhere near as great compared to lead, I suspect that deformation on striking prey is going to be negligible, but I haven't got to the point of testing to that degree just yet but I'll let you know what I find. I suspect that on air rifle prey, the pellet deformation is not of paramount importance for well placed shots (as they should always be of course). The shock and damage caused by a well placed head shot should do the job regardless of the degree of deformation. I have recovered .22 JSB Hades pellets from pigeon and rats which have shown little deformation.

@@dbppestcontrol5670 The machines I worked on were centrifuges for the continuous separation of solids from liquid, in your industry it was drilling mud, but my main designs were big machines for seperating coal slurry destined for USA powere stations. They were lined with ceramic tiles to prevent wear.

All about making shooting more prohibitive and even impeding people's ability to hunt in a couple of years as food prices go through the roof. They certainly won't want a substantial number of poaching-types among the population.

@Anthony Stewart Whilst I see the logic in wanting to stop the use of lead ammunition from an environmental perspective, I can't see why it needs to be banned across the board. The use of lead ammunition on target ranges does not pose an inherent risk to wildlife, nor is it likely to enter the food chain. In my opinion, the same argument can be applied to pest control, I don't see anyone queuing up to eat rats, feral pigeons, foxes or grey squirrels. As long as the shot quarry is disposed of responsibly (as it should already be), there should be negligible environmental risk. Whilst this change is certainly being heralded by the anti shooting brigade and makes things difficult for shooters in the short term, I think with the right investment of time and resources, suitable alternatives to lead will be found, enabling us to overcome this particular stumbling block. We can only hope that the powers that be, respond to the lobbying by the shooting fraternity and don't force the change before suitable alternatives are found and stocks made available.

Hi Jaroslaw, sorry I've only just noticed your question. My particular Scorpion already had a Huma - Air shroud type silencer fitted to it when I bought it. If I were looking for a moderator, I've found the Weihrauch screw-on types to be pretty good. I particularly like the Webley QGS 4 compact moderator. I have a couple of these and they offer reasonable sound moderation in a very small package for a very reasonable price (I think they are currently around £25 here in the UK). I use one of mine on my 35ft/lb Daystate Pulsar and it works very well.

Hi, yes indeed. I have a Pard NV008 RF on my .17HMR and I really like it. I've tried several setups, including the Pulsar N870 and N970 and have to say that the Pard wins for me. I like the great colour daytime image and on board recording (both the N870 and N970 lack in both these respects and cost considerably more.

Hi David, yes indeed, as well as the lost ducks etc. it's lambing time on that particular permission so it's important to keep on top of the foxes.

Hi Stephen, sorry to hear about your wife being laid up, I'm sure she will appreciate your ministrations. I always find a bit of enforced downtime is a good opportunity to clean, repair and refine my shooting kit.

Hi Shane, I tend to use JSB 15.89gr pellets in all my .22 PCP's, I find they always shoot well. I also get good results from Air Arms 16gr and more recently the H&N Barracuda 15. If asked, I always recommend the JSB as a good starting point to finding the pellet that works best in your particular gun.

@DBP Pest Control thats great news thanks im using the gamo coyote tactical 177 using air arms feilds pellets at the moment thanks

@@shaneprzyborowski7615 Hi Shane, I also have a BSA Scorpion PCP in .177 and find the JSB 10.34 or Air Arms equivalent work well.....Happy shooting. 👍

Hi Stephen, thanks for your comments and congratulations on securing a permission.. Just a "heads up" for you regarding the pigeons...make sure you are on the right side of the law and shooting in accordance with the General Licences. It's all too easy to get into trouble whilst shooting these days.

@@dbppestcontrol5670 These are town pigeons, not woodies. I actually don't mind the woodies coming in my garden, generally there's only about four to eight at any time, as they hoover up all the seed that is disgarded by the songbirds off my feeding stations.

@Stephen Embleton ...There is however little distinction between wood and feral in the General Licences....Worth a read...Check out this BASC link basc.org.uk/gl/england/

Hi Alex, its a nice looking rifle sure enough. To be honest, I don't think the shroud is any more effective than a decent mod but it does give the gun a more chunky look and feel.

Hi, nice of you to say so, glad you enjoyed it.

Yes it is...around 10.8ft/lb

@@dbppestcontrol5670 great, I like the way you use sub 12 like the most of us even though you have a Fac license.

@@MrNewtonian well its horses for courses, very often a sub 12 is all I need for close work around buildings. As the distances open up beyond 30 or 40 meters, the FAC will come out, for anything larger than pigeon or corvids (rabbits) at ranges over 60 or 70m, I prefer the rimfires.

In short, no. Because I have always had night vision, I have never had the need to use a lamp. Plenty of people do and to great effect.

Hi Stephen, yes those fences posed a bit of a challenge for sure 😏 As for the corvids, your best bet is to go onto the BASC website and check out their General Licence summary table. It is very clear as to which birds you can shoot and why. As a "heads-up", It's worth noting that to comply with the terms of the Gereral Licences, you may be required to prove that you had tried alternate methods before deciding that shooting was the only alternative. Better to be well informed than be the subject of a court case.

@@dbppestcontrol5670 True, I'll check those out. As for the RSPB site at Bempton, they just leave be, as it'd take a very couragious jackdaw to have a go at a seagull egg or chick.

Hi, welcome. The R10 has been pretty good since I bought it around 8 years ago. I think the only issues I've had were down to fair wear and tear, a pellet probe O-ring and a bottle O-ring. Do you have one ?

@@dbppestcontrol5670 yes , I bought it from my brother in law virtually unused, then I started to hear some bad reports , regulator issues etc, to be fair it's been OK up to now.

Any videos featuring the R10?

@@MrNewtonian ....not specifically but I'd be happy to do a feature on it for you. I think however, one of my squirrel control vids featured the R10 at some point. I have just moved my squirrel feeder in the woods to a new location and I'm just waiting for them to home in on it. I'll start off using the R10 so you can see it in action.

@@dbppestcontrol5670 cheers that's great.

Thank you Michael. As a novice, I fear the owner would have done more harm than good during the day and would not have been able to target the rats at all when they are most active at night. I'm more than happy to help in these situations as I'm a big advocate of the "one shot, one kill" principle. I'd hate to think of loads of injured rats hiding in corners due to an inexperienced shooter.

Thanks Daniel

🤣 same curtains....really ?

Thank you very much, glad you enjoyed it.

Hi David, well this particular permission just sort of landed in my lap. We had a couple of guys in on the range last week, having bought a new air rifle. They wanted me to set it up for them but it became apparent that they were novice shooters who had a rat problem. Rather than wait until they could gain the necessary experience, they asked me if I would make a few visits to thin down the rats.... the rest is history as they say :-)

Hi Michael, yes indeed...some of them were pretty large but that's what happens when they are left uncontrolled as we all know.

Hi Stephen, I'm glad the information was interesting to you, I too find the "science" of shooting fascinating. I actually enjoy watching foxes and have had a couple of close up encounters over the years. Take a look at my May 2021 video entitled "Random wildlife encounters" for a unique fox encounter. I don't hunt foxes as such but respond to specific issues reported on my permissions. On some of my rabbit control perms, the foxes actually help to keep the rabbits down and so are not a problem.

Thank you kindly David.

Thanks Michael, there is a ratting video in the pipeline...

Hi David, yes a major surprise for me too. I did actually see another one after I had put my rifle back in the car but it didn't offer a shot anyway....Next time 😏

Hi buddy, thanks. I have been out on the foxes this week and will get the video out shortly .

Hi Stephen, welcome back to air gunning, things have moved on a bit since we started out haven't they. I still have one springer I bought back in the 80's (a Weihrauch HW35 De Luxe in .22), the rest of my collection are all PCP's. It is getting harder to get permissions, I feel your pain. On the face of it, you seem to have a prime opportunity there but in the end it's down to the land owner, you can't win them all. It might pay you to point out that it is the responsibility of land owners / commercial premises owners to control rat infestations, if the poison isn't working, then you would have a good argument for shooting as a reasonable and humane alternative. I personally am not a great fan of poisons and think a well placed pellet is a much more humane form of dispatch. Might I suggest you look at other opportunities such as equestrian centres, they are often plagued by rats and rabbits, you could also try golf courses. You mentioned, shooting crows and pigeons in your garden. As a word of caution, you might want to get up to speed with the latest "General Licences" to ensure you are not breaking the law as things have changed since you last picked up an air rifle. Unfortunately, shooting a pigeon in your garden because it crapped on your car or wakes you up in the mornings is no longer a valid reason for shooting it :-)