So, if you’re looking to acquire your first true foxing rifle what should you be looking for? For a start a little will depend upon the type of land you will be shooting over and equally your ability to shoot accurately. So as we move into the centrefire calibres, all will kill foxes and once you leave the ‘17’ calibres (more on them later) you can pick any of them and know for a fact they will all kill foxes humanely with decent shot placement, though even that becomes academic if you start bringing anything above. Equally, rimfires will all kill foxes and I use them myself where close range fox work is carried out around farm buildings and in noise sensitive areas – but again they are in no way what could be termed fox calibres. Of course you discount such items as air rifles as being fox suitable even though some, especially FAC rated models, will kill foxes.

So selecting the “best” comes down to a mixture of things such as range, prevailing weather conditions, the type of land and possibly above all, the shooter’s own ability. 243 Win will, under certain circumstances, kill a fox. I am sometimes asked what is the best calibre for shooting foxes, and to be perfectly honest this is an almost impossible question to answer.Īs I have said many times, virtually any rifle from a 12ft/lbs air rifle up to a. Over the many years I’ve been shooting foxes I’ve used a considerable number of rifles and calibres, and these numbers have been increased by my review work even further.

204 Ruger from Mike Norris has proved its worth

Is calibre academy closing in surprise