Thread: Guns

lots of good advice posted, but you really have to decide what you want it for?

if your just going to ping a few fence posts and the odd rabbit, then maybe a light browning pump 22. the CZ 22 is good, there was a flood of cheep russian 22s a few years back, heavy things but nice action and quite good.

steeping up 223 or 222, 222 being my choice not so hard on the ears. the hornet is makes a racket and do not fly strait so its a bit hard for a beginner. they drop well though.

next up, personally just a 308 remmingtion is good or as posted above the old war weapon 303.

you can spend a lot of dollars on weapons that are very good, the old 80\20 rule, 80 percent of the price at best will only give you 20 percent better performance and that last 20% is usually out side the skill of the average shooter so why waste the money.

i worked as a culler in NZ and queensland for a few years in between tasking a 222 was all i used but never found a barrel that did not start to drop off after a couple of thousand rounds. infact the only weapon that did seem to stand up to a hard life and plenty of usage was an unmolested 303.

Thanks for your help fellows, it seems like we have been hanging out for a gun thread!

Thinking about it, I guess the real purpose for my gun will be shooting bunnies to eat. I am not interested in sport shooting, nor hunting for pleasure. I can't imagine a .22 would be able to get a roo down cleanly unless I hit it perfectly, but I .17HMR would do the job I guess. Would one of these decimate the rabbit meat though?


If I really needed to shoot something big then I could probably borrow a real gun off someone...

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

so why spot light??


just hoik up an illum round and while all the animals pop their heads up to gaze in wonderment at the new temporary sun hit em with something a little more lethal.

I like HEDP for animals that are being sneaky and hiding behind things like trees, bunkers or inside tanks but find that a canister round is an excellent way of ensuring a hit on smaller things like rabbits and foxes.

The back blast can also be useful as if you get it right you can skin, gut debone and BBQ your beast in one easy go.

Dave you would have gone down a treat at IMT's week, why use a nut cracker when you can call down the wrath of god its a good job your a bent spanner an not a trog (grunt in aussie speak)

Originally Posted by dullbird

I just want to say though I'm not in it for killing animals not really my thing I like to save em not kill them....

I will be going for targets and targets only...and then IF I get the job that i'm chasing I may then kill animals but it will be for the animal and welfare issues not sport

So you dont eat meat or fish Lue I'll have to take you out west so you can see the damage the roos an pigs do, its not sport when your culling an overpopulated species an we only shoot a goat if were gonna eat it.
punching holes in paper is good for geting the one shot one kill ratio

Originally Posted by yyeessno

Thanks for your help fellows, it seems like we have been hanging out for a gun thread!

Thinking about it, I guess the real purpose for my gun will be shooting bunnies to eat. I am not interested in sport shooting, nor hunting for pleasure. I would also be interested in shooting small roo. I can't imagine a .22 would be able to get my roo down cleanly unless I hit it perfectly, but I .17HMR would do the job I guess. Would one of these decimate the rabbit meat though?


If I really needed to shoot something big then I could probably borrow a real gun off someone...

Just be careful posting online that you are going to shoot roos without mentioning a permit and tags for the roos you want to shoot. Bit silly I know but that is the law and if you are going to bag a couple of roos for private use - we don't want to know about it (dogs love the meat too)

Saying that I have done roo shooting out west with tags, box license, cert. rig etc and would not use anything less than a .22Mag on them and still only limit that to less than 100m .223 & .22-250 are the more popular calibres for general varmint shooting, I don't think they make .222s new any more

If a centrefire is a bit big for your needs then I would suggest taking a look into a .22WMR as a possibility

Good luck with it

Originally Posted by dullbird

I just want to say though I'm not in it for killing animals not really my thing I like to save em not kill them....

That's cool - you save 'em and we'll kill 'em. We big mean 4 wheel drivers are like that.... apparently.

yyeessno. Shooting roos? On permit, of course?

The 17HMR is brilliant for rabbits - very flat trajectory and head shots are easily obtainable. Good fox / dog rifle out to about 100 yards too, with good shot placement but that is about its limitations.

I'm not saying it couldn't kill a roo just that it wouldn't be the right thing to do as so many things would have to go right for a humane kill... and that is what you need to strive for. No-one likes to see an animal suffer.

Originally Posted by tony

Dave you would have gone down a treat at IMT's week, why use a nut cracker when you can call down the wrath of god its a good job your a bent spanner an not a trog (grunt in aussie speak)

So you dont eat meat or fish Lue I'll have to take you out west so you can see the damage the roos an pigs do, its not sport when your culling an overpopulated species an we only shoot a goat if were gonna eat it.

punching holes in paper is good for geting the one shot one kill ratio

I never said I was against culling for population.....I also never said I was against anyone else killing animals for valid reasons (as long as its done humainly) I said I'm not in to killing animals.....unless its for a humane reason.

I eat meat tony and no I very rarely eat fish....but these animals are killed for a purpose (eating) not for sport. there is a difference.

I was waiting for someone to question me on this.....as I have met many gun people that are to quick to jump on the defensive when someone says something against the grain when it comes to guns

Ahh...permits! I did forget to mention that. (I didn't even know you needed one!) Post edited.

It seems to me that in terms of cost, ease of use, cost of ammo etc etc it would make sense for me to go for a .22. I still need to get the license and that so I have plenty of time to think and perhaps find something second hand and instead spend money on a good scope

Originally Posted by tony

Dave you would have gone down a treat at IMT's week, why use a nut cracker when you can call down the wrath of god its a good job your a bent spanner an not a trog (grunt in aussie speak)

Who says I wasnt?