Thread: How soon should I process a freshly killed rabbit?

Originally Posted by kruza

Thats sweet as. You got food,you learnt plenty . its a successful days hunting. Whats the rifle like to shoot? Whats the svord like to use?

To be honest the rifle leaves much to be desired. I'm not too sure if its me, the rifle or the pellets that are being used but I can't seem to get it to group consistently even when using a bench rest. I'd like to think I would have got more rabbits if I had a rimfire

The Svord is great. Made easy work of the meat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnFOP5kIr2w

I do very similar to MD but cut down the spine rip the skin out of the way and just take the back straps and back legs
everything I dont want stays in the carcass and I dont get guts on my hands

blood will strip the blueing off the slug gun you are using so becareful to keep it off it

pillow slips work good at keeping stuff clean once its seperated from the rabbit just hang them in the tree to keep the air cooling it rather than dropping it into a pack where it will sweat

That question is not something I can answer as every air rifle likes what it likes,the gun tells you what pellets it uses.
Ive just yesterday gone through a heap of differnt pellets to find out what the new barrel on my gamo likes. Its not the same as the old one liked yet rest of gun is the same.
My best advice is the one that shoots the most accurate and groups the best. Also the heaviest pellet that shoots as above, for the distance you are shooting. You can by sample packs of a few differnt weights and styles to get you in the ball park.
A rounded nose one is a good all starting point for accuracy and penitration.
If your not aware of the artillary hold look it up on the web. Unforrunatly if your under the impression your going to go out and shoot like a powder gun, your in for a rude shock. They are incredably fussy about hold and pellets both can make very acurrate air rifle shoot awfully.
Trial and error. ( this is for springer or gas piston. Gas cylinder, pump up or pcp are a differnt story )
Oh and skip what i said about .22 traveling a km or 2 , I didnt read it properly and thought it was a powder .22 For an air rifle Youd be lucky if it hasnt plowed into the ground at 200m if not before.

Its a prick of technique to get right. Takes a lot of pratice. And a lot of watching your hold and analising it.
Back to pellets, if your shooting from a rest (with your hand on the rest and the gun on your hand) taking your time, how tight are the groups? If all ya gun screws are evenly tightened and scope screws are tight,your holding the gun the same, groups are still bit wide may be the pellets. Sort out some pellets, checking them for damage try again. Still not great. Take the scope off try open sights ( air rifles are really hard on scopes)
If accuracy doesnt improve try a differnt brand of pellets. Also get on web watch videos or read reviews on your gun. Dont worry to much about brand of pellet, but take note of how many grains the pellet is. Find out what the most common grain/weight pellet that gets good resaults and start at that weight of pellet.
If you know anyone with a chronograph fire a few shots over that and make sure its not changing too much. There is the possiblity the seal on the piston or around the barrel/reciever may be deteriorated.
Welcome to the world of air guns. Its a art unto itself.

Originally Posted by kruza

Its a prick of technique to get right. Takes a lot of pratice. And a lot of watching your hold and analising it.
Back to pellets, if your shooting from a rest (with your hand on the rest and the gun on your hand) taking your time, how tight are the groups? If all ya gun screws are evenly tightened and scope screws are tight,your holding the gun the same, groups are still bit wide may be the pellets. Sort out some pellets, checking them for damage try again. Still not great. Take the scope off try open sights ( air rifles are really hard on scopes)
If accuracy doesnt improve try a differnt brand of pellets. Also get on web watch videos or read reviews on your gun. Dont worry to much about brand of pellet, but take note of how many grains the pellet is. Find out what the most common grain/weight pellet that gets good resaults and start at that weight of pellet.
If you know anyone with a chronograph fire a few shots over that and make sure its not changing too much. There is the possiblity the seal on the piston or around the barrel/reciever may be deteriorated.
Welcome to the world of air guns. Its a art unto itself.

It was about a 100mm spread. And this was from 25 yards also. All bolts were tightened before use. It is a pretty old rifle so who knows what condition things were

Originally Posted by Tall kiwi

It was about a 100mm spread. And this was from 25 yards also. All bolts were tightened before use. It is a pretty old rifle so who knows what condition things were

The scope could be stuffed.......

if you want i can send you a dozen or so of from the tins of pellets ive got and you can try them for grouping. If theres any it likes and its not the couple I use I'll send you the tin/s I have.
First probly pay to hit the air rifle owner up and see how accurarte what he uses is. Chances are hes already using a good pellet for the gun.

Originally Posted by kruza

if you want i can send you a dozen or so of from the tins of pellets ive got and you can try them for grouping. If theres any it likes and its not the couple I use I'll send you the tin/s I have.
First probly pay to hit the air rifle owner up and see how accurarte what he uses is. Chances are hes already using a good pellet for the gun.

Thanks for the offer. I am heading there tomorrow afternoon so they won't get to me in time

undoubtedly. Air rifles are the only guns that are considered not proper guns. Higher powered springers are probly the worst thing to learn shooting with, as they are such finicky guns. .22lr really is a much better choice for starting out with in my view.

We used to peel the skin off like a jersey using the cut across the back method described earlier. We did not bother gutting them, we simply took the back legs and back straps, and sometimes the front if there are no holes. That is almost all of the meat and you dont need to gut at all then. The back legs are a it like chicken drums and are 75% of the edible meat on the animal. The two back straps are nearly a sausage between them, and the rest is toothpicks with a bit of meat flavour attached - A bit like eating a sparrow. ........

Agree about the front legs and to be honest, I don't always take the backstraps if I have a lot of animals to process. I mentioned the front legs in my earlier post because the OP may only get one or two animals on his first outing.

An Idea, if you're shooting a slug gun, something we did when young was dip the slugs in a little diesel first, or pour a splash into the slug container lid with a bunch of slugs. Not so they're wet, but oiled up a bit.
Then put them in for a shoot...

Let's say... you'll get more velocity

I'm sure there are a few airgun fanatics who will swear against putting any foreign objects in blah blah blah.

Don't go overboard, but if it's a hack, have some fun.

Originally Posted by Jukes

An Idea, if you're shooting a slug gun, something we did when young was dip the slugs in a little diesel first, or pour a splash into the slug container lid with a bunch of slugs. Not so they're wet, but oiled up a bit.
Then put them in for a shoot...

Let's say... you'll get more velocity

I'm sure there are a few airgun fanatics who will swear against putting any foreign objects in blah blah blah.

Don't go overboard, but if it's a hack, have some fun.

Sounds like a fun time but I probably won't do this since I don't own the rifle

If I shoot a hare,more hare than rabbits here.I hang em on the clothes line overnight and leg em and back strap the next day.