Using air rifle in backyard?

Questions about South Australian gun and ammunition laws. S.A. Firearms Act 2015.

Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by chilliman » 01 Apr 2014, 4:28 pm

Was it an air rifle? The media report is deliberately ambiguous to suggest it could have been any firearm but if he was in suburbia, shooting out of his car then most likely it was an AR.

Then again, at his age he might not be playing with a full deck...
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by ebr love » 01 Apr 2014, 5:03 pm

You know what I know. I haven't read any more on it than what's in the short article there.

It does say the 3rd bird was "wounded" though.

Anyone see a bird surviving a rimfire/centrefire shot? :lol:

My money would be on an air rifle too.
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by gazza » 01 Apr 2014, 5:29 pm

I would.
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by ebr love » 02 Apr 2014, 9:42 am

You would what?

Survive getting shot off a powerline with an air rifle?

:lol:
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by kurl » 02 Apr 2014, 9:42 am

Don't try this at home kids...
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by WildHunter » 13 Sep 2016, 6:01 pm

Subject I've often wondered. It really is interpretation. Now I reckon in Victoria you can get away it. You have to simply lay down the facts and show how you interpreted the law.

- It is legal to dry fire your firearm as you are not discharging it.
- It would be legal to dry fire an air rifle for the exact same reason.
- On the advice of the above it would essentially be legal to clean your air rifle using those patches you cover in oil and shoot through the barrel, as you are not discharging an ammunition.
- Air rifle pellets are not considered ammunition under Victorian law, and you do not require a licence to purchase them. To reiterate. Pellets are not ammunition.
- Thus if you were to get caught firing an air rifle in your back yard, it is my interpretation of the law that there was no discharging of any ammunition (under Victorian law) through the air rifle.

I reckon you could get away with it.

If anyone wants to try this, and get back to me with the outcome that would be great ;)
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by bladeracer » 13 Sep 2016, 6:16 pm

WildHunter wrote:Subject I've often wondered. It really is interpretation. Now I reckon in Victoria you can get away it. You have to simply lay down the facts and show how you interpreted the law.

- It is legal to dry fire your firearm as you are not discharging it.
- It would be legal to dry fire an air rifle for the exact same reason.
- On the advice of the above it would essentially be legal to clean your air rifle using those patches you cover in oil and shoot through the barrel, as you are not discharging an ammunition.
- Air rifle pellets are not considered ammunition under Victorian law, and you do not require a licence to purchase them. To reiterate. Pellets are not ammunition.
- Thus if you were to get caught firing an air rifle in your back yard, it is my interpretation of the law that there was no discharging of any ammunition (under Victorian law) through the air rifle.

I reckon you could get away with it.

If anyone wants to try this, and get back to me with the outcome that would be great ;)


Personally, I don't think it's worth even the remote risk to my licence just to be able to shoot an air rifle :-)
What about big-bore air rifles like .30, .45 or .50 caliber - the bullets are still not classed as ammunition and firing them wouldn't be considered discharging a firearm?
Sounds unlikely to me.
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by Gwion » 13 Sep 2016, 7:12 pm

In the Tas Act, the law about "shooting in your back yard" is worded as discharging a firearm within 200m of any dwelling unless you have permission from the occupant of the dwelling/s.

Well, a air rifle is a firearm and cocking/charging it, putting any pellet in it and pulling the trigger is discharging it. So, you can go for your life in the back yard with your slug gun, as long as your backyard is not within 200m of the nearest dwelling or you have permission to do so from the inhabitant every dwelling within that distance and as long as the projectile does not leave the boundaries of your property.
Last edited by Gwion on 13 Sep 2016, 7:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by Heckler303 » 13 Sep 2016, 7:30 pm

Gwion wrote:So, you can go for your life in the back yard with your slug gun



I'll get right on that :lol:
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by Gwion » 13 Sep 2016, 7:31 pm

Hey, why not? I use a 7-08 in my back yard! ;)
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by bladeracer » 13 Sep 2016, 7:35 pm

Gwion wrote:Hey, why not? I use a 7-08 in my back yard! ;)



Me too :-)
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by Heckler303 » 13 Sep 2016, 9:54 pm

bladeracer wrote:
Gwion wrote:Hey, why not? I use a 7-08 in my back yard! ;)



Me too :-)




Try a full .303 and test the will of your good neighbours :D
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by bladeracer » 13 Sep 2016, 10:42 pm

Heckler303 wrote:
bladeracer wrote:
Gwion wrote:Hey, why not? I use a 7-08 in my back yard! ;)



Me too :-)




Try a full .303 and test the will of your good neighbours :D



I'm shooting .303 and 8x57mm as well :-)
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by Bruiser64 » 22 Apr 2018, 11:56 pm

It’s funny how the world has changed. My first rifle was a air rifle my dad got me for my 14th birthday back in the late 70’s in Canberra. I shot thousands of rounds in my suburban back yard and pecisely no one cared less. In fact I bought mst of my air rifle pellets at the local newsagents. I even remember buying a more powerful air rifle from a friend at school and bringing it home on the bus. Try any of these things today and you will be front page news in short order. Mind you, back then Kmart in the Belconnen mall sold firearms and ammo and no gave a toss.
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by dpskipper » 23 Apr 2018, 8:24 pm

I myself have shot my air rifle in the backyard just sighting it in or plinking tin cans. I don't want to expressly state it as it is against the law and site rules, but if you live in a good area with nice laid back neighbours, if they are happy with you shooting an air rifle in the backyard, you'll be right.

My neighbours am aware of my firearms and my occasional plinking in the backyard with the .177 and I have had zero complaints at all, yet alone police knocking.
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by Growler » 24 Apr 2018, 4:29 am

All the dirty filthy starlings and feral flying rats around my front yard I wish i could use a sluggy to put a little dent in the numbers.
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by pedro4977 » 27 Apr 2018, 12:58 am

Although not legal in a semi rural area of se qld where I used to live on a couple of acres with neighbors that couldn't care less, I was still not prepared to lose my licence. Now, in the People's Republic of Canberra, I'm scared to even touch the keys to my gun safe!
f***ed up ain't it!
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by Angel » 27 Apr 2018, 5:21 pm

pedro4977 wrote:Although not legal in a semi rural area of se qld where I used to live on a couple of acres with neighbors that couldn't care less, I was still not prepared to lose my licence. Now, in the People's Republic of Canberra, I'm scared to even touch the keys to my gun safe!
f***ed up ain't it!

It 'aint getting any better in QLD. Comrade Palachuck wants to limit the amount of ammo you can buy as well as limiting it to calibers you actually own...
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by pedro4977 » 28 Apr 2018, 1:27 pm

That’s a damn shame Angel, but surely that would not get through in QLD?
Not quite enough “watermelons” in the population up the as there is down this way. Seriously they just wasted a s**t load of money, 800k, on sterilisation of Kangaroos down here in the ACT, and it wasn’t even successful!
I hope your premier, wheelbarrow or whatever her name is gets the Arse soon and all this madness goes away!
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by Member-Deleted » 28 Apr 2018, 1:59 pm

I think Palachuck is on her last leg up here they trained a monkey to go to the moon but I don't think she would pass the IQ test
8OOK are they that desperate not to cull roos down there
I think they should have paid $500 and sterilised the ones who came up with that fetcken idea so they didn't breed and waste
more money
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Re: Using air rifle in backyard?

Post by Bruiser64 » 29 Apr 2018, 9:16 am

pedro4977 wrote:That’s a damn shame Angel, but surely that would not get through in QLD?
Not quite enough “watermelons” in the population up the as there is down this way. Seriously they just wasted a s**t load of money, 800k, on sterilisation of Kangaroos down here in the ACT, and it wasn’t even successful!
I hope your premier, wheelbarrow or whatever her name is gets the Arse soon and all this madness goes away!

,
I read about that. Apparently the supporters of kangaroo sterilisation dont value science or rational analysis. Nor, in my personal opinion, do they care about the lives of any other animals. They seem unmoved that the over breeding roos are out competing other native species for food causing their populations to decline through starvation. Apparently that is perfectly ok. I note that sort of person never wants to use their own money for these things. They want the taxpayer to stump up the bucks.

There is a horse lover up in Broome that gets trotted out regularly by the media whenever there is an a cull of feral horses. She too proposes everyone else paying for an expensive sterilisation programme instead. I note she never offers to pay for any of this herself though.
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