Air Rifle Shooting

[jaybird_123]

This may be the wrong place to put this, so if it is, then please move it. Anyone know the laws on air rifle shooting? Like in the county, are we allowed to shoot rats with an air rifle?

 

[Kirk Freeman]

THREE RANGE QUESTIONS:

1. Threshold question: how is your property zoned?

2. Is there an ordinance (city or county) against discharge of air rifles?

3. If no ordinance, are you following Four Rules and can shoot safely without not endangering the property of others?

 

[BogWalker]

No state laws against it, no federal. There are several local ordinances so check into that. If it's legal to shoot it nothing says you can't shoot rats.

 

[Ruffnek]

Being from Solsberry and having never lived with 'ordinances' before,this question made me laugh.Many of us see air guns as toys and pest control.

 

[Redtbird]

In Bloomington, one may shoot air guns, safely of course. But in Ellettsville, it is not allowed. A lot of people live in E'ville, but have a B'ton address. However, they are considered under E'ville laws and regulations and ordinances.

 

[Ruffnek]

Elletsville in general has always been...lackluster,for lack of a nicer term...so this doesn't surprise me.

 

[Sm0keydaBear]

Here in Fort Wayne from what I've heard, the laws are you are able to fire them within your property, but to kill rodents and other animals, you must have some way to clean them up.

 

[ljk]

little bit of off topic. are air gun silencers allowed in the state of IN? by air gun silencer I mean they are made of plastic and carbon fiber, no metal parts and have different threads to attach to the barrel, 1/2"-20 compare to 1/2"-28 in most firearms.

 

[jaybird_123]

Most of the replys indicate "ordinances" rulings. I will check, I just thought someone might already know. Thanks all.

 

[Mgderf]

It depends on what you consider an air rifle.
If it's a Daisy or Crosman, that's one thing, and you can likely get away with it.

These on the other hand...
I want a Quackenbush. Someday...

Quackenbush Air Guns

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

First. I am not a lawyer.

Second. Since air rifles are NOT firearms it's just considered a muffler.

 

[engineerpower]

little bit of off topic. are air gun silencers allowed in the state of IN? by air gun silencer I mean they are made of plastic and carbon fiber, no metal parts and have different threads to attach to the barrel, 1/2"-20 compare to 1/2"-28 in most firearms.

You can suppress air guns and paintball guns without running into NFA as they are not firearms. The catch is that you have to do it in such a way so that to mount it onto a firearm you would have to destroy the airgun. See ATF Ruling 2005-4: http://web.archive.org/web/20090625...cohol/info/revrule/rules/atf_ruling2005-4.pdf

An example of this would be to permanently affix it to the airgun barrel by pin-and-weld. Build the can itself first before you do a core or baffles, permanently affix it to the barrel, then do whatever you like for a core/baffles. Construction material doesn't matter, just that it's not a detachable and transferable to a firearm. Just don't make it a separate assembly from your airgun.

 

[Merrixs]

little bit of off topic. are air gunsilencers allowed in the state of IN? by air gun silencer I mean they are madeof plastic and carbon fiber, no metal parts and have different threads toattach to the barrel, 1/2"-20 compare to 1/2"-28 in mostfirearms.

Air gun suppressors (moderators or breaks as the air gun community calls them) normally do not have threads. All of the aftermarket ones I have seen are designed to slip fit onto the barrel they are made for. Air gun suppressors are not regulated and neither are air guns because neither are firearms.

The gray area when dealing with the NFA is the terminology they use is so open to interpretation and vague that it "catches" everything imaginable. If you meet one of them having a bad day and he/she saw your rifle in the same vicinity as a suppressor body (oil filter-empty plastic bottle) and enough miscellaneous hardware to be able to mount the object on to your rifle they “gotcha”.

However, the catch everything wording and the definitions of the key words the court uses have proven to be a hindrance to then in prosecuting along this path.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. MICHAEL CROOKER - FindLaw

Tread at your own risk, but under the current rulings you would appear to be safe.

P.S. Your thread comparison makes me a bit squeamish to use as your safety margin. Better to be something like your air gun suppressor is made for .177 and you do not have a firearm smaller then .22.

 

[engineerpower]

Completely ridiculous that a muffler is legally considered a "firearm", even when the term "firearm" is defined elsewhere and clearly does not include suppressors.

I guess whenever you mow your lawn, you're OC'ing...

 

[ljk]

depends on what type of air rifle.

there isn't much of noise reduction on spring piston guns such as the common break barrel and under leveler guns. reason is (VERY roughly) 70% of the noise is mechanical and 30% is muzzle report. a muffler can only reduce portion of the muzzle report but absolutely zero on the mechanical noise from the action.

on the other hand, fine tuned compressed gas guns can be "mouse fart" quiet. such as PCP(not the drug, it stands for Pre-Charged Pneumatic), multi-pump (such as the Benjamin Sheridan Silver Streak) and CO2 canister powered rifles.