Best gun for varmints

[Buster52]

Quote:
Huh. Well, he did show me a pistol, as well, so maybe I'm just confused which weapon he meant them for. Does that make more sense? Using them in a handgun?

I know one of those would be probably much more convenient to tote around the place, but while I also scored very high with the 45 in the service, I never felt as comfortable with them as I did with rifles.

 

[Rillion]

I'm going to echo the suggestion of the .22 Ruger. I don't have one (just have a .380), but my boyfriend does and it's a great gun. Reliable and nice-looking...he's had it (and used it) for years and years and it looks brand new.

We did riflery in Girl Scouts, I remember....was just talking to my brother about it the other day, and he said "Oh, that just figures. They wouldn't let us do that in Boy Scouts, or archery in high school even though the girls did." Confused, I asked "Why is that?" "Because they figured boys would fool around and shoot each other!"

I could see his point.

 

[WalkingWolf]

Buster personally the AR15 and it's clones are too expensive for my tastes. There are plenty of high quality .223 rifles in bolt, break, and auto for much less. The AK47 can be bought in .223, also .22lr, and the AR15 can be bought in .22lr version.

For varmint shooting due to the availability of ammo, flat trajectory, high degree of accuracy out to 500 yards, IMHO it is an fantastic round. I do not think much of it as a military round though.

A nice smooth bolt in any caliber is great for varmint shooting, quick repeat shots are favored when shooting a pack of varmints. For around the home to dispatch a single predator a single shot is fine.

I owned many years ago a 10/22. I did not care for the magazine. Bulky for A .22 mag, unreliable, and expensive. I loved the rifle but hated the mag. I have 5 mags for my Russian bolt, they were cheap and they work, and never wear out. But a bolt is slower than a auto, but I prefer it because it can double as a low powered rifle with squib loads. I also like the price of my bolt over the 10/22. I love the ruger 22 auto though wish I would have never let go of it. Sold it with the rifle many years ago. I love my levers and one day I will come across a bargain in one of the Henry 22 lever. I'm keep hoping that a gunsmith will do a navy conversion to .22lr to carry in place of my navy for plinking. A 1858 army converted to 22lr would even be better.

 

[joebryant]

Not knowing anything about guns, I asked the same question last week in a gun shop. The clerk could see that he was dealing with a village idiot and made simple for me. He said that I could buy any gun that ended with "700 and some number", e.g., 720, 740... i.e., any brand with those numbers would kill a coyote or raccoon. Now I'm looking for the least expensive one because I don't want to spend many hundreds of dollars to kill a coyote.

 

[azelgin]

Everyone has their own opinion, so here's mine. I like the Ruger 10/22. Solid little rifle that's been proven over time. Now, I have been known to dispatch gophers with my 7mm Remington Magnum. I don't recommend it. Took me 4 hours to wash the remains off the side of house.

 

[wombat]

Buster:

Since you are not looking for something with great range, I'd suggest:

Small bore rifle
- Either the Ruger 10-22 already discussed here, or a Marlin .22. Either can be found used at reasonable prices, but the Marlin is likely to cost you a bit less.
- You could drive off or kill a dog or coyote with a .22lr, but it is unlikely to be a quick or humane kill without extremely precise bullet placement. It's fine for everything else you've mentioned, and if you're former military high expert, you should have no problem dispatching small critters at 100 yards with either, and it does not sound like you intend to shoot at longer ranges.
- Only drawbacks are that it is light on knockdown for the larger predators mentioned, and it can go right through with minimal bullet expanion at very close range.

You can likely find a good used Marlin .22 rifle for $150-$200. Marlin also used to make a less expensive line called Marlin-Glenfield, though I'm not sure if they still do. I paid $45 for a Marlin-Glenfield .22 auto quite a few years back, but you might still be able to get those for around $100 used. The Ruger 10-.22 will probably cost about $250-$350 used, depending on options, condition, scopes, etc.

The Ruger has a bit of a cumbersome magazine, but it *has* a removable magazine, so you can keep a loaded magazine ready. The Marlins generally have a tube magazine attached to the underside of the barrel, not removable, and loaded one round at a time. Not as handy for heading out to check out that noise in the night.

Small bore shotgun:
- a .410 shotgun is a good all-purpose critter control for shorter ranges. It is a very small bore shotgun. Loaded with light shot, it would chase off a dog or coyote without being likely to kill. Loaded with slug, it will easily kill either of the above ... get a over-under or pump gun, and if the birdshot does not scare them off, follow up and kill them with the slug.

Any of the old-time big names in shotguns are fine; a good used Winchester or Mossberg would be a good find, and you can probably find a Mossberg for about $125-$275 or so (used) if you look around a bit. The older Mossberg 3-shot bolt action can be had at the lower end of that price range, a decent used over/under or an old pump action at the higher end. A Winchester or Remington will run a bit more. No reaon why a Mossberg would not be up to the job, so that's probably your best low-cost solution.

A .410 is a bit more versatile, but you won't have the range of the rifle, of course. Still, you should be able to take a coyote at 30 to 50 yds with a slug if you need to. FPS drops off drastically beyond about 50 yds.

If you do get a .410 and intend to use slugs, not all manufacturers make slugs of the same diameter. Remington's are larger, and made for an open choke, and Winchester and Federal are slightly smaller, intended for a modified choke. I don't buy .410 slugs anymore, so you might want to make sure that info is still current ... but at least back when I used these, better choice of slug for choke was needed for accuracy.

As a side note, Taurus makes a revolver called the Judge that will chamber both .45 long colt and .410 shotgun shells, but they tend to run in the $300-$500 range, and if you're not that keen on handguns, the plain ol' .410 is probably better for you. I'm not a big fan of Taurus, but that sort of handgun is a utility predator control option.

The .22-250 you mentioned is one of the premier varmit cartridges around, but if you're not looking to be whacking things at 600 meters, you probably don't need that ... and if you did, you could go with .223 (5.56mm) in a good AR-15 (civilian semi-auto equiv to the M16) and do nearly as well. Sounds like you don't need to shoot at that distance, though, so I'd get the .22lr or the .410 shotgun, or one of each

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

A friend on another forum (whose weapon expertise I have great respect for) echoed Bear Foot Farm's comment about "shotshells" as basically worthless gimmick rounds. He also highly recommended the Ruger 10/22LR for my needs.

I didnt mean to imply shotshells are "worthless" They are WONDERFUL for snakes and rats at 10-12 FEET. or pigeons inside a barn so you wont shoot through the roof LOL! That's why they are commonly called "RAT shot"

But I tried to kill a possum with one. The possum was in a trap and I had the barrel within an inch of his head.

It made him bleed, but other than that there was little damage.
I quickly reloaded with a hollowpoint and finished him off.

I've been around guns all my life. My father was an NRA Certified Rifle and Pistol Instructor.

I've hunted ever since I was big enough to carry a firearm, and I spent 6 years working in one of the largest gun shops in NC, which is owned by one of my best friends, so I guess you could say I know a "little" about these things.

Youve been given a lot of advice on guns and calibers, and some of it has been good. Some not so much.

But when you go back to the OP, and your STATED USES, a 22 rifle will do them all with the LEAST risk of harming the animals youre trying to protect

A 10/22 with a nice scope and a good aim will do the job out to 100 yds IF you learn to shoot it to it's potential. and wont cost an arm and a leg to shoot all you want​

 

[Joyryder]

My choice is a 22 with scope and hollow point.

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
Oh. Guess that does need some explaining, doesn't it?

She was swimming on the other end of the pond from the house and got her leg caught and tangled up in some old fishing line that had broken off when someone was fishing over there. The turtles (and we have some big ones here) just came up on this fairly immobile meat and just gnawed on her leg and thigh until they must have broken off all the fishing line and she struggled over to the shore.

By the time I found her, there were no feathers, little muscle on her leg or thigh, and the loss of blood was obvious. It was all over the place behind where she dragged herself out of the water with her good leg.

I would rather it had been a coon or a dog or something. At least that would have been quick, if violent. To have something slowly gnaw on you until you died of shock, bled to death, or it finally reached a vital organ...

Just makes me shudder to think about how she must have felt.

And got me mad enough to want to buy a gun and thin out the pond a little bit.

I left a string of fish in the pond too long once. Forgot about it. Same thing. The turtles were eating on them when I pulled the stringer out of the water. They didn't outright kill them. They ate them from the tail up, while they were still alive.

And one of them still was.

 

[yotetrapper]

.22-250 is a wonderful coyote gun. But I bet you'd be hard pressed to hit a snake or turtle with it LOL, unless you're a real good shot. I've hunted my entire life, everything from squirrels, doves, pheassants, deer, coon, coyote, and yes, even turtles, owning only 2 guns. A .22 rimfire, and a 20 guage shotgun. I dont know if it's been mentioned yet, but an over under .22/ 12 gauge would be just what you're looking for, unless you plan on shooting coyotes out over 50 yards.