I have little time for those who claim to shoot live quarry at anything more than 40 metres with a UK legal limit rifle. Before you start screaming, I know it can be done. I just question whether it should be done. For every pigeon, rabbit or squirrel killed at 60 metres I wonder how many have been missed…or worse. We don’t get to hear about those shots.
A major part of hunting with air rifles is the need to get close. To make as certain as we can of placing a killing shot. Fieldcraft in other words. However, there’s no denying that sometimes, try as we might, closing to within 30 yards just isn’t possible.
It’s only natural then to consider a step up to an FAC firearm, be that a rimfire or air rifle. However, contrary to what some people think, an FAC air rifle doesn’t automatically serve up the ability to shoot pigeons on the horizon. I have a couple of 30ft/lb .22 rifles and, if I’m honest, they only give another 10 or 15 metres of range. The real benefit is flatter trajectory and resistance to any crosswind.
But today’s FAC ticket holder has access to .30 calibre and 100ft/lb or more – surely enough to deal with distant wary rabbits?
I got my hands on an FX Impact .30 and a few boxes of slugs to find out. And while I was at it, I paired it with a HikMicro Alpex 4K LRF digital day/night scope that not only has an in-built laser rangefinder but a ballistic calculator too.
Many will scoff at the idea of using the best part of £2,500 worth of gear to shoot a few rabbits when a £300 .22 LR or .17 HMR rimfire would do the trick. I guess some of us simply prefer to shoot airguns.
So, having assembled the ultimate airgun hunting rig, I spent time on the range to see if the reality would live up to the hype. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it turned out that 44.5 grain FX Hybrid Slugs work really well in the Impact, punching one-hole groups at my chosen 50 metre zero.
With slug selection and zero sorted, my next step was to get to grips with the Alpex 4K’s ballistic calculator. As a technological clown, I prepared myself for a lot of shouting and frustration.
As it turned out, the set up was easy. With the right menu selected, the scope leads you through a process to enter all the necessary information. You’ll need a chronograph to measure muzzle velocity – the Impact hammered out the FX slugs at a 950 FPS – as well as the distance between the middle of the scope lens and the middle of the barrel. The slug weight was easy, so too was my zero distance. I didn’t bother with altitude or ambient temperature, and the slug’s ballistic coefficient is printed on the box.
With all that taken care of, I’ll admit to a feeling of ‘this’ll never work’ as I pushed the button on the Alpex 4K’s laser range finder to confirm the distance to my next target as 75 metres. Pressing the button again activated the ballistic calculator and a revised aim point appeared on the reticle.
Squeezing the trigger resulted in a green dot appearing on the Shoot ‘N See target which got bigger with each shot and ended in a group that was only marginally bigger than it had been at 50 metres. However, it was a little high and, if I’d been aiming at a rabbit, would have missed.
In the end I increased the velocity entry to 1,000 fps which tricked the Alpex 4K into thinking the slug had a flatter trajectory and therefore needed less holdover. As a result, the group dropped right onto the bullseye.
So I put the target out to 90 metres, then 100.
Now, it was a perfectly still day, but in any case, the ballistic calculator proved to be spot on, helping the Impact to serve up acceptably tight groups. Then I got cocky and went for 120 metres. It turns out the Alpex 4K can compensate for a lot of things but shooting ability isn’t one of them. So, 100 metres it would be.
A few days later, the weather obliged with the promise of a wind-free night, so I planned a rabbit shooting session targeting a colony that inhabit a large paddock next to the farmer’s house. When they’re not digging leg-breaking traps for the horses, they love nothing more than raiding the garden to chomp on vegetables and flowers.
The trouble is the only cover that would enable me to get close enough with a legal limit gun would mean shooting towards rows of solar panels. However, the FX Impact / Hybrid Slug setup meant I could target the rabbits safely from a different angle and much further away.
I arrived while it was still light and set up; the rifle in a tripod and me sat with my back against some long grass. The farmer had moved the horses to another paddock, and I could see several rabbits nibbling at the grass.
I spent time with my rangefinder checking angles to be sure of safe shots, especially when it got dark. I was supremely confident in my new set up but as I lined up my first shot at 81 metres it still felt wrong to be shooting at a rabbit that far away with an air rifle.
The Alpex 4K has a superb twilight function and even though the light was starting to fade, the colour picture was still crisp and clear. I lined up the rabbit, pushed the laser rangefinder button once to reconfirm the distance and again for an adjusted aim point. When everything felt right, I slipped the catch, took a breath and took the shot.
A fraction of a second later, the meaty impact reached my ears, and the rabbit lay on the ground, legs reaching to the sky. I swept the rest of the field. Two more rabbits to the left of the one I’d just shot were sitting upright but were clearly not spooked enough to run away. Lasering them with the Alpex 4K revealed a distance of 103 metres to the nearest one. I cycled the Impact’s sidelever. The Alpex 4K indicated a little more holdover than before and once again the result was another clean-as-you-like kill shot.
By the end of the night, I’d accounted for eight rabbits, taken cleanly at distances ranging between 34 and just over 100 metres. The Alpex 4K’s ballistic calculator performed its black magic each time, calculating hold under as well as holdover perfectly.
Without doubt the night was a great success. I was in awe of the equipment I’d been using. But I was also a little sad.
The night had proved beyond doubt that with the right equipment, what is now possible has redefined airgun hunting forever. But somehow it seemed like I’d cheated.
Whenever I’ve shot a rabbit with my 12ft/lb or even 30ft/lb air rifles, it was because of me. Yes, the rifle played a major part of course, but I had to get close enough to be able to use it.
Now though, and I’m exaggerating a little, it felt that all I needed to do was be in the general vicinity and push a few buttons. Somehow the staggering performance of the FX Impact and Hikmicro Alpex 4K made me a less significant part of the hunting process. I’ll get over it.
GUN: FX Impact MKII https://fxairguns.com/
OPTIC: Hikmicro Alpex 4K LRF https://www.scottcountry.co.uk/
SCOPE MOUNTS: Sportsmatch https://www.sportsmatch-uk.com/
AMMO: FX Hybrid Slugs https://www.sportsmanguncentre.co.uk/
GUN SUPPORT: Roetex Ranger Tripod https://www.roetex.com/
