Some years ago I chose to go down the route of applying for a Firearm Certificate with my local police force so that I could for the very first time exceed the 12 ft-lb limit. Like many airgun hunters, I was keen to know just what all that extra power could deliver.
I assumed the difference would be like night and day, but that was far from the truth. As a journalist, I also applied to become a registered firearms dealer (RFD), which meant that manufacturers and importers could send me airguns at any power level, and I wasted no time in testing any and all of the high-power guns that were offered to me.
Some were .22, some .25 calibre, then .30 arrived, then .35 solid slugs came along and I hit the brakes. Some of these exceeded 300 ft-lb and made no sense at all for hunting rabbits and squirrels. Worse still, a firearms liaison officer
