Being in the army i shoot an SA80 and all it's glorious variants (pretty boring if you ask me). I used to own a cheap .22 air rifle as a teenager but that was stolen when my dads house got robbed. I was distraught. Never mind eh?
I don't shoot anywhere near as much as i used to in training which is a shame, however half the time you spent on the ranges was normally spent running up and down them in some kind of awkward stress position for being such a rubbish shot. It's ironic really. Maybe we'd have all been dab handed if they wouldn't make us so exhausted before the shoot.
Shotgun is easyer to obtain than a rifle, no idea why to be honest they should both be the same, although i think for a shotgun "sport" is a valid reason to own one, where as a rifle, it has to be pest control, or target shooting there again there are many regulations in the uk that make no sense.
Mmm yeah your right I dont understand why you have to have a firearms certificate to own a rifle 
Not that I shoot rifles anyway so it doesn;t affect me
maybe its because a rifle has a larger range, and dose damage consistent in one point, where as a shotgun spreads its load, so the further away the less chance of major injury but thats a guess.
I think you're about right with that. I'd like to see someone TRY get within shotgun range of the queen armed with a shotgun. Whereas with a rifle you're far more likely to hand the thrown to Prince Harry a little earlier then expected from a reasonable distance. Unless of course you're going for the whole family in one sitting.
Oh by the way, If there's anyone on here with an old air rifle/pistol they're no longer interested in, give me a shout. I've been meaning to buy one for some time for a little target practice. All considered, as long as they're right handed and working. I'm also interested in anything decommissioned. I've got a fairly small budget though so I wont be looking at buying an antique or anything majorly expensive. Unless its the rifle JFK was shot with
