Which Air Rifles or Pistols do you use for pest control, culling, stunning?

[Howard E]

I have two air rifles......a Beeman R7 and Beeman R77. I think the latter might put a .177 caliber pellet through a 3/4" pine board, and am convinced that if a person were to place a shot correctly to the head, at close range you could drop a small deer with one. With the R77, I can cover 10 shots at 50 yards with a quarter. With the R7, at 10 yards it will almost put 10 shots through the same hole. They are accurate, precision weapons. They are also expensive. The main advantage of an air rifle, and especially so if you enjoy plinking, is the cost of the ammo. A tin of 500 pellets is far cheaper than what a brick of 500 .22 rounds would cost.

For far less money, and about the same price as a cheapo springer big bang from WalMart (which I would have no use for whatsoever), a person could get a single shot, bolt action .22 rifle that would shoot shorts or even CB caps which are about equal to what a mid range air rifle will do. If you wanted new, look at a Cricket. If you don't mind used, look around in gun shops or even some pawn shops for used .22 rifles. Again, bolt action single shots. Accurate, need not be loud and lethal.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

 Is it safe to use them all by ourselves!!

Is it safe for you to use a pellet gun, unsupervised? I think that is what you are asking....correct me if I am wrong.

That would depend on several points.

1. What is your experience with firearms? If you are competent using firearms and you know how to use a firearm safely, site it in, load it and unload it safely, take it apart, clean it and put it back together...go to the next point.

2. Are you age appropriate? Many states and local municipalities require that minors under a certain age be supervised by an adult anytime that they are in direct possession of a firearm. The air rifles that I reccomended above can not only dispatch pests but are perfectly capable of taking human life as well.

3. Do you possess a Hunter's Safety Card? For informal plinking, on your own property....this is not a big issue (Check local & state regulations for your area). Many states do require that a shooter using a firearm, or airifle, have on their person a Hunter Safety Card when on public property. So if you are out stump shooting with your airifle, you would need to have on your person a Hunter Safety Card....even if you are not hunting.

I hope that I addressed your concerns...

 

[0wen]

Culling caged predators (raccoon, possum, etc), I'll use a .22 caliber air rifle. Fir dispatching non-caged predators and/or larger threats (coyote, fox, black bear) I'll use my Air Force Texan if it's charged at night (neighbor courtesy), if it's during the day - I usually just use a traditional pistol or rifle.

 

[Howard E]

OK, I can't resist. Get one of these:

http://quackenbushairguns.com/

Now that's a BB gun!

For those who don't know, Lewis and Clark carried a pump up air rifle with them on their journey of exploration up the MO River. Air rifles have been around a long time.

 

[pauleberly]

Any paticular reason you needed an air rifle over a real rifle? You could have gotten a .17hmr for around 250$ that will dispose of anything coyote and smaller

 

[Mini Meat]

You want to look at the PSI rating of the pellet gun.
Mine is 750 PSI and I can easily cull rabbits and chickens when place against the skull.
My neighbor has a 1100 psi and it is much more powerful

 

[ThomasKirby]

Yeah! Thanx..

 

[Howard E]

OK, this is more about shooting accuracy than guns per se. But in light of the recent Olympic gold medal win by a 19 year old girl at the 10 meter air rifle event.........

First are my air rifles......top one is a Beeman R7. Bottom one was a Weihrauch 50 which has since been replaced by a Beeman (Weihrauch) R77.

FYI, these are relatively expensive German made air rifles, with relatively inexpensive Chinese made scopes (Hawke) on relatively expensive UK made mounts.

They are capable of this type of accuracy........actually better than this........those are my targets.......a lot of shooters can do better:





Those are my targets at 10 yards......a bit shorter than 10 meters. I suspect an Olympic shooter would need to put all their shots through the same hole and it would have to be the bullseye in the middle. But that requires years of practice and a rifle costing thousands of dollars. By comparison, what I did and what I did it with ain't too bad.

So the question I'd have for those of you who would shoot a varmint with a .22 or some such rifle, how accurate are you? Do you even know? Do you ever practice? If you chose to shoot at a varmint outside of a trap, what are you going to aim at and could you hit it? Can you hit an area the size of a quarter at 10, 15 or 20 yards? If not, you need to be thinking shotgun.

 

[Ole and Lena]

For basic predator control and marksmanship practice, you don't need a terribly expensive air rifle. I have a Gamo 1000 fps model that was about $80 at Wal Mart. It is reasonably accurate, good enough for brain shots to 25 yards. Power is sufficient for rabbits, squirrels, starlings and opossum. I use it for inside the barn where use of a shotgun or .22 is unsafe. Even the low velocity .22 ammo has significantly more penetrating power and range than an airgun pellet.

When looking for an airgun for predator control, break action models are what you will be looking for. You will need one rated for 1000+feet per second velocity in .177 caliber or 800+fps in .22 cal. The .22 pellets are more expensive and will drop more at range. They also carry farther and penetrate more than .177. I have taken animals as large as feral cats humanely with my .177. I am a very good marksman however, and stalk carefully and wait for a proper shot angle behind the shoulder on larger game.

The other consideration is what pellets you feed it. There are several basic designs. Wadcutter: flat pointed, usually the least expensive. appropriate for target practice and small pests such as mice, starlings, rats and chipmunks. Dome or round nose: Usually very heavy relative to other pellets. These are my choice for larger game. They penetrate well and work well at distance. Because of the weight and lower velocity, you will have to learn hold-over for distance shooting. Pointed: These are a good all-around hunting pellet. Usually mid-weight, good for game up to rabbit size in .177. Composite: Made from different alloys or featuring a plastic or steel tip. I think these are expensive gimmicks. Haven't played with them at all. Intended to improve performance, not sure if it's a real gain or hype. When I need to improve performance over my airgun pellets, we're in scoped .22 territory. Hope this helps.

For stunning, I wouldn't use anything heavier than a "Red Ryder" type BB gun or airsoft pistol. On my farm, the only pests I wish to stun weigh in excess of 50 pounds, so a light charge of shotgun powder pushing airsoft BBs does that job. I also have some round soft rubber balls from the plumbing section of Menards that fit neatly into a 12ga shotcup. 7 grains of Titegroup launches them at about 300 FPS and puts the afterburners on garden eating deer and bears.

 

[Poticus]

...

Any paticular reason you needed an air rifle over a real rifle?  You could have gotten a .17hmr for around 250$ that will dispose of anything coyote and smaller
[/quote

I agree. A 17hmr is superior to the 22lr especially over 100 yards. Isn't loud and less likely to ricochet.