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Hunting Florida with Air Rifles

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  • gtkillerv

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    Anyone else see that Florida is allowing the use of air rifles for deer hunting this coming up season? Must be 30 caliber and up. I'm not a hunter, although I would love to get some squirrel/rabbit hunting done, but I would be interested to see how many make the move from powder to air.

    Some may read this, and think that the air rifles don't have the power to take down larger game, but they do, as long as the hunter understands the limitations of the air rifle. Most say it equates to bow hunting, but they are making some air rifles that will reach out past those distances that bow hunters try to stay within.
     

    SAWMAN

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    I have not read up on all the ballistics and accuracy potentials of air driven projectiles so I will save "most" comments until later. Now . . . besides the above two,I am wondering about bullet design and makeup. Are they still all soft lead or . . . . . ??
    AND - - -> at what distance would be considered an ethical shot. A delivery of enough energy and penetration to put down the animal and not have a guaranteed tracking session. Where would the ideal shot placement be ??
    We have air gun shooters here but seems no real air gun EXPIERANCED hunters except for small game. Could be wrong. ---- SAWMAN
    AND - - -> Seems that I have read somewhere that the energy levels produced by some air guns is equivalent to that of a 22LR or a bit more.
     
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    John B.

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    I'm out to kill... if I wanted a challenge I would use a spear or an atladle (sp?) Until then, I will use the best tool for the job allowed during each season.

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    fv22

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    For $800 it's not doing anything a $100 muzzleloader can't do. Lol. Air guns are novelty... a simply "because I can"... not knocking it, just saying they will never be popular with 99% of hunters.

    a04a63ed68d727ad82d3351fb59068d1.jpg


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    Agreed! I haven't hunted in many years but if I did could not imagine walking through the woods with an airgun hoping not to get a flat! But for the person who wants to the option is there.
     

    kendive

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    not knocking it, just saying they will never be popular with 99% of hunters.
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    Tell that to the 100% of guys overseas that hunt with air rifles...

    Yes in the US air guns for hunting is a novelty thing because we can own anything , but overseas the rules are different so they use what they can.

    Someday that will probably be the case for us in the USA sad to say...

    A buddy of mine using my 9mm recluse airgun to hunt with.

    vJsFwS3.jpg
     
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    wildrider666

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    Accuracy + Terminal Ballistics/impact energy @ X Distance = performance. Air, powder, bow string or other methods all create a performance result.

    Reliability: Are seals/O rings an issue? We have them (metal and synthetic) in powder firearms too. No combustion eliminates that barrel errosion factor. Follow up shot time is always a result of design, operator proficiency and either acceptable or not. At the larger projectile and higher pressure end, I don't know if there is an accoustic advantage.

    Effective distance is combination of weapon and user limits. If predominantly a weapon issue, wouldn't the ethical hunters hone their stalking skills, shorten ranges from blinds and hunt within the weapon and hunters limitations? Seems the same for bow and handgun hunters to me.

    Reality check. A lot of folks have firearms that are inherently more accurate then their skills can squeeze out of them. Accuracy proficiency is a perishable skill while our physical abilities degrade to varying degrees as we age.

    I'm not a fan of airgun hunting nor the bow but I don't have any issues with their ethical use by proficient hunters.

    I don't know where airguns fit within individual State weapon and season guidelines. Both the weapon's configuration and projectile resemble
    powder arms and I think it should be restricted to equivalent firearms seasons/controlled hunts.
     

    Overtime

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    I compare it to bow hunting and would be all about it if there was a special season for it like bow/muzzleloader. Who knows, maybe there will be one in the future.
     

    FrommerStop

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    Currently what are the rules in FL for hunting with air rifles and specifically are airguns legal for deer and other game animals?
     

    USMCShooter

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    Gents,
    I've been hunting with airguns for small game nearly exclusively for the last 10 years. That being said....I do a LOT of small game hunting, mostly squirrels. I've won a 50 yard bench rest match against Anshutz rifles that cost $5000 with my primary hunting rifle. There are a world of what's called Big-Bore air rifles out there..... .30 and up are in this class.
    As far as lethality goes, I've done some pretty significant testing in numerous media from deer to hog's heads and even a 300lb Black Bear skull. I will tell you that out to 50yds, I will comfortably brain shoot anything up to a hog with my .25 cal. I killed 4 deer in Mexico, where there are no restrictions, with both .22 and .25 calibers. I placed an 18-Grain .22 pellet moving at 920fps over the heart of a 6-point and he went 58 yards, lasered and piled up. I double lunged a large doe with the .25 at 32 yards...80 yards....the pellet was laying under the skin on the off side...major lung damage. The other two were both head shots at 24 yard with the .22 and 41 yards with the .25.

    Big bores in both 9mm and .45 are making enough power nowadays for shoot-through's on deer at 100 yds. Most of these big bores actually shoot pistol bullets and not pellets. There are up to 9mm pellets out there, but I've yet to see a .45 pellet. I'm planning to buy my first big bore, a .45 in the near future for testing purposes....but launching a 300Gr bullet at 900fps has enough energy to penetrate any Florida game species and ethically dispatch them.

    v/r

    Jamie
     

    kendive

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    Gents,
    I've been hunting with airguns for small game nearly exclusively for the last 10 years. That being said....I do a LOT of small game hunting, mostly squirrels. I've won a 50 yard bench rest match against Anshutz rifles that cost $5000 with my primary hunting rifle. There are a world of what's called Big-Bore air rifles out there..... .30 and up are in this class.
    As far as lethality goes, I've done some pretty significant testing in numerous media from deer to hog's heads and even a 300lb Black Bear skull. I will tell you that out to 50yds, I will comfortably brain shoot anything up to a hog with my .25 cal. I killed 4 deer in Mexico, where there are no restrictions, with both .22 and .25 calibers. I placed an 18-Grain .22 pellet moving at 920fps over the heart of a 6-point and he went 58 yards, lasered and piled up. I double lunged a large doe with the .25 at 32 yards...80 yards....the pellet was laying under the skin on the off side...major lung damage. The other two were both head shots at 24 yard with the .22 and 41 yards with the .25.

    Big bores in both 9mm and .45 are making enough power nowadays for shoot-through's on deer at 100 yds. Most of these big bores actually shoot pistol bullets and not pellets. There are up to 9mm pellets out there, but I've yet to see a .45 pellet. I'm planning to buy my first big bore, a .45 in the near future for testing purposes....but launching a 300Gr bullet at 900fps has enough energy to penetrate any Florida game species and ethically dispatch them.

    v/r

    Jamie

    Hey Jamie...

    Glad to see you got on our forum. You will enjoy it in here. Lots of good people and info.

    See ya when I get back in to town!!!
     

    SAWMAN

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    My calculations show a 18gr @ 920fps is producing 34fpe.
    A 22LR puts out 135fpe.
    Sorry sir,you will NEVER convince me that putting 34 foot pounds of energy on a whitetail deer is ethical.
    If I did some calculations on the weight,and velocity,then throw in some of the ballistic coefficients of the pellets at what speed,are used,I would most likely be even more against the use of something to kill something . . . just to show the world you can. ---- SAWMAN
     

    kendive

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    My calculations show a 18gr @ 920fps is producing 34fpe.
    A 22LR puts out 135fpe.
    Sorry sir,you will NEVER convince me that putting 34 foot pounds of energy on a whitetail deer is ethical.
    If I did some calculations on the weight,and velocity,then throw in some of the ballistic coefficients of the pellets at what speed,are used,I would most likely be even more against the use of something to kill something . . . just to show the world you can. ---- SAWMAN

    18gr is pretty much just .22. Don't think we are talking about .22 airguns to hunt with maybe birds and such. But .25 and up can get quite powerful...

    Here's a .25 Cricket Airgun Hunt.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llih04O8pWg&has_verified=1

    I sold my Crickets .22 and the .25

    MxckPAd.jpg


    Now I have the .25 Vulcan... Love it. Like I said I don't hunt anymore but have alot of friends that do and with airguns and I find them mostly more successful with the airguns... Air-Gunners are probably more in tune like bow hunters. Shot Placement Is Everything... We all know that :)

    Airguns have proved themselves over and over.

    The best part is they are not controlled by the govt at least not yet... LOL




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    SAWMAN

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    For the Florida legislators to make laws that pertain to hunting with an air rifle,what info would they need to go by,that would influence their decission ??
    Distance to target animal would not be one of them. There is no way that you could tell a hunter that the deer MUST BE at least ??yds before you could shoot him.
    Proficiency with weapon would not be used. They do not do that with bow and arrow or firearm.
    Maybe caliber and/or weight of projectile. OR . . . perhaps by muzzle energy derived by velocity.
    You cannot shoot a deer with any centerfire including 22mag so would the energy level cutoff be somewhere above that ??
    Could you use a air gun on turkey ??
    Unfortunately,the legislators will not use all info available to them. They most likely will come up with the laws,and vote on those laws,as dictated by public pressure and NOT common sense. --- SAWMAN
     

    John B.

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    Unless there was an exclusive airgun season, 99.9% of hunters will not use one, myself included.

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