Air rifle for vermin control - advice please.

[slackjawedyokel]

Rant - sorry! It’s a miserable day outside so I’m in the office polishing paperwork for a forthcoming FA inspection. The paperwork required for vermin control seems to have become quite daft and onerous- with site surveys,environmental risk assessments (including justification of your use of bait over traps or ‘improved hygiene’ (?! *sniffs*), justification of bait choice, list of environmental risks and steps taken to reduce those risks, how you intend to dispose of rodent carcasses and how you intend to dispose of spent bait etc),written consideration of non-target animals, justification of coshh assessments. This is in addition to the site maps and recording of baiting and bait inspections I’ve been used to in the past.

It just all seems like a right mess to me - I’ve got two degrees and I’m not sure how exactly what records I should be keeping - even the red tractor templates seem to miss out some of the info they tell you is required elsewhere (eg surveying and risk assessing populations of non-target species ???).
As far as I understood, in the past even if you had no vermin about the place you were supposed to keep a bait point or two around the place to kill anything drifting in and to monitor for problems but now you’re not supposed to keep permanent bait points. I’m finding this a bit like Orwellian Doublethink.
Above all I’m thinking this just seems like a waste of my time - I doubt my cattle or grain are going to be worth any more for having spent hours properly filling in forms and god knows how long assessing populations of non-target species and writing a bit of an essay about it. I mean I doubt that the people that scatter poison in hedges are going to write in the record that they do that are they?

I’m considering getting some kind of air rifle with night vision and not bothering anymore with baiting. We never have much of a rat problem in the buildings - mainly outside yards, straw stacks, silage bales etc. I haven’t done any research so far and I was wondering what advice you have - what kind of kit you’d recommend, what to avoid and so on. I have an FAC so I suppose I could get a more powerful air rifle (wouldn’t want to go round the buildings with a .22 though!)
I don’t have a budget in mind, but I suppose I could afford to spend a bit taking into account how expensive rat poison is, the fact that even with FA we may have to do a course in bait use in future, and the big plus of sidestepping the majority of the FA vermin control paperwork, which just seems to mention baits and traps.

 

[HDAV]

FAC air is more a pita but set ups tend to be cheaper as smalller market weirauch HW are good and most pesties still use he spring type as simpler to keep in the van, pcp are nicer to use but cost more and need filling with a pump or dive bottle and regulator. Loads to choose from under £100 to well over £500 exc the night vision rig.... time consuming at best.

Have a look at guntrader for some ideas on costs and range

https://www.guntrader.uk/guns/air-r...rged-pneumatic/177/logun-solo-170815171745002

Probably find some local volunteers with all the gear and insurance to come and do it for you for free if your happy having around the place....

 

[slackjawedyokel]

FAC air is more a pita but set ups tend to be cheaper as smalller market weirauch HW are good and most pesties still use he spring type as simpler to keep in the van, pcp are nicer to use but cost more and need filling with a pump or dive bottle and regulator. Loads to choose from under £100 to well over £500 exc the night vision rig.... time consuming at best.

Have a look at guntrader for some ideas on costs and range

Probably find some local volunteers with all the gear and insurance to come and do it for you for free if your happy having around the place....

Thanks, I’ve already got a few people coming shooting various things daytime but as the house is next to the buildings I kind of wouldn’t want anyone creeping about at night next to the house with a gun. I’d rather do it myself - it is literally on my doorstep.

 

[Anonymous...]

I had a wierauch springer, good simple gun but heck off a twaaannngggh
I’ve just got a gammo pcp inc sights ( not night vision) and pump for £500
It’s all but the same as it’s BSA cousin inc the 10 shot mag
Nice light simple vermin gun

 

[steveR]

PCP are very nice, BUT are a faff with getting a bottle and keeping it filled. In theory, the bottle is supposed to be tested and stamped on a regular basis too... More paperwork! ;-) Better I found (and still regret selling it for a PCP) was a BSA Lightning with a Theoben Gas ram conversion and moderator. Short carbine barrel so ace around the yard, and the gas ram gave less kick bounce than a spring, which improved accuracy. No messing with charging it, so for me, the best of both worlds

The C02 rifles are quite sweet and VERY light, but costly to run if you have them at a power to kill a rat...

I use a .22 rimfire as well and have tried the sub-sub sonic rounds as a safe round for around buildings etc. Very pricey and a hassle re zeroing the scope though!

On the matter of poisoning, I have stopped as we have breeding Barn, Little and Brown Owls on the farm and poisoned rodents are not good for the Owls... tell your Inspector that?

 

[Pasty]

Non FAC, for ratting I would recommend .22. You can go .25 but it's still loopy at short range unless you go way into FAC (imho). For point and shoot out to say 20 yards, .22 is going to be flat enough and give you a little more whack than .177.

I would also go for the medium pellets (AA Field and so on) rather than the heavy ones such as Bisley Magnum. I do like the Bis Mag but not sure it's soft enough to deliver an impact at 'legal limit' levels. The mid weight pellet will fly slightly flatter.

I can only go on my own kit. For NV I have a Yukon Photon sight. Cost me about £400 I think. It's the 4.6x one and I think there are better now but to be honest, it's lethal for rats. I believe there are other options which may be cheaper and which may require some DIY but from watching airgun shows on youtube, it looks like you need to mount a whole load of kit. The Yukon does it all and just needs a good supply of rechargeable AA batteries.

Guns. I have an Air Arms S200 with multi shot conversion in .22 which is my night vision ratter at the moment. I also have a BSA Ultra SE in .177 which is my 'day gun'. To be honest I would rather they were the other way around but I prefer .22 for rats and .177 for day shooting at 'legal limit'

If I was going to buy a perfect ratting kit I would go for the scope I have if it's still available (Yukon Photon 4.6x) and a BSA Ultra SE in .22 with composite stock. Plus a hand pump which means you can refill to 40 odd shots in a couple minutes if you are fit. This is for 'home' ratting. If you want to go out on missions where you are going to be shooting hundreds a night it all gets more complicated with air bottles etc.

As for springers. Yes, you can get really good results but I find for rats in the dark you sometimes need that quick reload time that multi shot airgun offers. Plus, spring airguns are far harder to shoot accurately and for 'control' purposes, you want to be efficient.

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

Or go for a hushpower .410?

You can get an 8 shot with your FAC

 

[slackjawedyokel]

That’s true enough - we have plenty of owls around here that I wouldn’t like to be poisoning.
Also I’ve just noticed that, in your environmental risk assessment you have to write a bit about whether you intend to use 2nd generation anticoagulant bait rather than 1st gen bait and explain why. Doing a bit of research BOTH of the common poisons (bromadiolone and difenacoum) are 2nd gen anticoagulants - what a waste of a bit of my life answering that question will be!

 

[michael N123]

If your putting a NV on it get a PCP and if you cant be bothered with the hassle of divers bottles the handpumps are good exercise

 

[Danllan]

I have a Hushpower .410, it's a good piece of kit but definitely overkill for shooting rats in / around buildings. Also have a Theoben .22 air rifle, bang on the legal limit every time - it uses a sealed gas ram, not a spring - and it does the job perfectly.

This situation is a little different now, but thirty years ago there was no more effective type of rat control than teenage boy with an air rifle.

 

[slackjawedyokel]

Given that I mainly want an air rifle to shoot rats, it would probably be sensible to go non-FAC because then I can keep it handy (albeit in a safe place) rather than in the house locked in the cabinet.

 

[happycows]

I’ve had a bsa ultra .177 10 shot and pump for 6 odd years and last year I put a photon Yukon night scope on. Decent tripod, and red scorpion pellets and it’s a awesome killing machine. At 20/30 yards you can place 10 shots on a thumb nail.
I store all my feed in one place and entry is not easy for them. A small bait point for 3 nights can yield 5/6 rats in 10 minutes and then it’s hard to find any for a few weeks.

 

[Danllan]

Given that I mainly want an air rifle to shoot rats, it would probably be sensible to go non-FAC because then I can keep it handy (albeit in a safe place) rather than in the house locked in the cabinet.

Yes, but... be sure your air rifle is in your gun safe for inspections, it's a good policy anyway and just good drills.

 

[hendrebc]

Not what you want to hear maybe but get a terrier. Mine is loose most of the time and always after rats like the bloody terminator she never stops. rarely see any rats now. I farted about with poison and traps and shooting with air rifle and hushpower 410 (410 is great btw) for a long time before and found it really hard to get properly on top of them. Still shoot the odd one though

 

[slackjawedyokel]

Not what you want to hear maybe but get a terrier. Mine is loose most of the time and always after rats like the bloody terminator she never stops. rarely see any rats now. I farted about with poison and traps and shooting with air rifle and hushpower 410 (410 is great btw) for a long time before and found it really hard to get properly on top of them. Still shoot the odd one though

Yeah, I’m not mentioning getting a dog to my wife - we’d end up with a black lab or something...

 

[manhill]

Crossman 2250B.
Compact, lightweight, CO2. Could fire it one handed really. .22 and packs a punch.
Perfect for indoors

 

[hendrebc]

Yeah, I’m not mentioning getting a dog to my wife - we’d end up with a black lab or something...

I know what you mean. I already arranged everything without telling my mrs and just took her to see a litter tiny of puppies one evening and said pick one! Sure fire way of getting her on side

 

[TechWise]

+1 for the Yukon nightvision. It's a really good piece of kit for the money and crystal clear at sensible airgun distances anyway. Also perfectly adequate if you feel the need to put it onto the rifle for that odd lamp shy fox. A friend of mine just bought the IR LED for his LED torch to give him better range with the night vision. Says the difference is night and day, pardon the pun.

As for airguns, I have a Weirauch HW95K. I think it was designed and built in the same factory that built the Panzer tanks. Really good quality, solid bit of kit. As with any springer, the twang tends to send the rats scarpering after the first shot.

 

[slackjawedyokel]

Another thing is, if you shoot any rats (and it probably would just be rats - we haven’t had an issue with mice for years), just how much paperwork will the FA inspector be expecting?
I’m thinking they might still want a Site Survey (fair enough - just stick on a map when you see rat droppings then have-at-them with the air rifle). I’d be hoping they wouldn’t want further paperwork.
Our inspector has a nasty habit of requiring bits of paperwork that I don’t think are strictly necessary but which I go along with for an easy life. For example he always wants to see my wheat mycotoxin risk assessment when I only grow oats and barley. I go along with it as it takes only minutes to fill out but I’m stuffed if I’m filling all these daft forms out if I’m shooting the rats.

 

[Danllan]

Another thing is, if you shoot any rats (and it probably would just be rats - we haven’t had an issue with mice for years...

Mouse shooting... . Man, the mighty hunter, battling against the forces of nature .