Power of the fish hunter compared to air rifle/pistols?

Adam

Catapult power depends a lot on the ammunition you use - generally the lighter the ammunition the lower the power out, up to a point.

With Fish's cats and the right ammo there isn't a non-FAC power rifle that can compete. Examples:

1/3oz lead ball at 210fps = 17lbft
1/2oz lead ball at 200fps = 24lbft

Then there's the question of penetration - a .440 or .50 calibre lead ball at 200 fps will penetrate something like a rabbit, but it won't go right through it - so all of that 17-24lbft of energy ends up in the target - that's very bad news for the target.

With an airgun putting out the same energy, chances are very good that the pellet will go straight through and out the otherside - if it's doing 800fps when it hits and 300fps when it comes out then you've only delivered just over half the energy to the target - it's the most common reason stuff shot at close range with an airgun gets up and runs off.

For short range and an accurate catapult user - the cat wins every time.

Air pistols? I can piss harder than non-FAC UK air pistols shoot ;) You'd be better off throwing marbles with a blindfold on.

fish

Adam ,i like you!

as for the air pistols yep yer right ,i believe theyre limited to 6ftlb!

JoergS

Many of you have probably seen this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9lJ5FoXrek

You can clearly see that a powerful slingshot (like the Fish Hunter) can easily shoot steel balls as thick as 20mm through the block of ballistical gelatin.

I tested other weapons the same way, and found that

a) air guns do not shoot through the same block, but almost. The energy they deliver, though, is limited as the pellets weigh half a gramm, 60 times less than the 20mm steel ball.

b) Ball snappers (crossbows that shoot bullets) are very poor performers. The chinese made crap is the worst and I can not recommend them at all.

c) My 12 years old Devastator crossbow did an amazing job. It smashed through the gelatin as if it would be nothing, and perforated the back stop. It also whipped up and down, creating a massive canal through the gelatin. The modern crossbow is the most lethal "cold power" weapon I know off.

But a slingshot is much more compact, cheaper and uses cheaper ammo.

Adam

Nice crossbow Joerg - a far distant project of mine is going to be to have a go at making one out of an old leaf spring from a Land Rover - no idea what I'll be able to string it with, or even if I'll be able to cock it, should be fun trying though :D

Jermaine

Thanks for all the info, i thought the hunter was probably more powerfull than most airguns anyway so this just confirms that.

Im looking on purchasing a crossbow, any good ones you know of?

JoergS

Well, how much money would you like to invest?

The top notch stuff costs 1400 Euros. But these things can easily generate 200 Joules of energy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyLFGfrCMa0

Jörg

ratbuster

For an unrestricted weapon a cattie wins everytime, no argue, but as we have no ristrictions on the power of our airrifles, one can own a .50 pcp doing 300fpe + without any problem. When you compare that to a cattie or a crossbow, it's the airrifle that wins hands on.

Although we don't have any restrictions on the poweroutput, we're restricted in the use of the airrifle eg no hunting allowed, catties are forbidden, because during the riots in the '80's the riotters used them against the police, so end of story with the catties.... (even home mades ones are forbidden, huge fines and you can even get imprisonment

)

So, stick to your catties or get a sgc or fac if you're more power crazy.

Cheers,

RB

Jermaine

Looks nice Jorg.

Adam

Bowhunting in the UK is illegal - if you're seen skulking around witha crossbow/compound/longbow cammo'd up shooting at animals plod are going to be called in short order.

That's the real beauty of a catty - if your sensble it's small enough to fit in a pocket of a tweed jacket (easily the best dawn/dusk cammo in my book) quickly and easily and provided it's not got too many sticky out bits, it can be nearly as quick to pull out of the pocket load and give Mr. Bunny/Pheasant/Pigeon the good news in short order.

If you're lucky enough to have your own land to shoot over and you're never going to get spotted by the bobblies out exercising their right to walk on footpaths then do as you will - but a proper sized crossbow like Joergs in the UK is just asking for some attention from the local law.

Mebbe I'm missing a trick here somewhere - but I'll be taking a catty over anything else as a matter of preference from here on out.