BB gun for pest control

[Renze]

Off course you guys in North America have .25 rimfire rifles to kill anything sized between a rat and a cat. In Europe we need to be member of a shooting range, the other guys must vouch for you that youre sane and want a gun for the right reasons, before you get a weapons permit. Then the annual visit to the local police for inspection and registration, and the need to keep it in a safe. Not something i want to go through in order to shoot rats off the chicken feed. I dont like PCP for that reason either, i just want to be able to leave it in the closet for a few years and have it ready to go when i have pests (rat poison is banned too, only certified pest controllers may buy and use poison since January this year)
Also, for PCP pressurised gas i need to visit the gun shop 15 miles away, while BB pellets are for sale in the local hardware store.

Now i see on Youtube, guys that pop hogs with an air gun, not a PCP gun with a Co2 pressure charge, but a pump gun.

I see the Gamo Replay gas piston accumulator (instead of spring action, yet you still charge it by breaking the barrel) air gun puts out 45 Joule, about twice as much energy as a spring action BB gun. does anyone here use these high power air guns for small game and pest control, instead of PCP or rimfire ? What are your experiences ?

 

[bmaverick]

Off course you guys in North America have .25 rimfire rifles to kill anything sized between a rat and a cat. In Europe we need to be member of a shooting range, the other guys must vouch for you that youre sane and want a gun for the right reasons, before you get a weapons permit. Then the annual visit to the local police for inspection and registration, and the need to keep it in a safe. Not something i want to go through in order to shoot rats off the chicken feed. I dont like PCP for that reason either, i just want to be able to leave it in the closet for a few years and have it ready to go when i have pests (rat poison is banned too, only certified pest controllers may buy and use poison since January this year)
Also, for PCP pressurised gas i need to visit the gun shop 15 miles away, while BB pellets are for sale in the local hardware store.

Now i see on Youtube, guys that pop hogs with an air gun, not a PCP gun with a Co2 pressure charge, but a pump gun.

I see the Gamo Replay gas piston accumulator (instead of spring action, yet you still charge it by breaking the barrel) air gun puts out 45 Joule, about twice as much energy as a spring action BB gun. does anyone here use these high power air guns for small game and pest control, instead of PCP or rimfire ? What are your experiences ?

My son has a BB-pellet .22 Daisy 225G air pump rifle. 10 to 12 pumps can smash a small sized watermelon to pieces with 4 to 5 .177 pellets down the barrel. Yes, the smaller pellets in the bigger chamber. This way, it sort of works like buckshot. The barrel is 18-inches (457mm) long.


I know is some countries, there are mods to make this rifle into a .22 rimfire short shot too. Not legal like that in all jurisdictions.

 

[CalG]

The "high power" springers (metal or gas spring, no different) are heavy, long, and difficult to shoot well.
You don't need one for rats in the feed bin.

I like CO2 power for pesting. It's all about shot placement.

 

[Renze]

The "high power" springers (metal or gas spring, no different) are heavy, long, and difficult to shoot well.
You don't need one for rats in the feed bin.

My neighbour has a Weihrauch HW97 which is an under spanner (you dont pull the barrel but a handlebar below it) which weighs 4kg and shoots remarkably stable and true. Its 24 Joule i believe.

Older springers often get sloppy in the barrel lock and therefor shoot all over the place, which is why i like that HW97, though its rather pricey for just a springer...

Oh and i tried a crossbow i bought from a colleague... couldnt hit an escaped rooster from 5 yards... its useless.

 

[MossRoad]

Of course you guys in North America have .25 rimfire rifles to kill anything sized between a rat and a cat. ...

It's .22 rimfire here.

.25 is centerfire. (a long time ago there was a .25 rim fire, but not anymore).

.177 cal BBs and pellets are pretty effective on rats. I'd use pellets, as BBs ricochet pretty easily.

I have a cheap, Daisy model 880 pump air rifle. It holds 50 BBs or single shot pellets. $55 today's price on line.

I put a cheap air rifle scope on it. It is surprisingly accurate.

Daisy Powerline 880 Multi-Pump Pneumatic - Daisy

The Daisy Powerline 880 is the standard for all multi-pump pneumatic air rifles. Shoots BBs or .177 caliber pellets at 800 feet per second.

www.daisy.com

I use it to scare squirrels and groundhogs out of our garden. Just a couple pumps and pop them in the rump. They jump and run and come back later. I'm sure at 10 pumps and a head shot it would kill a squirrel or rat at 25 yards.

Of course, there are much better air rifles. Spend as much as your budget or desires dictate.

When I was a kid, my friend and a really accurate .22 pump pellet rifle that was quite expensive at the time. It has the heft and feel of a "real" rifle, and we could hit 1" targets at 75 feet all day long.

 

[CalG]

My neighbour has a Weihrauch HW97 which is an under spanner (you dont pull the barrel but a handlebar below it) which weighs 4kg and shoots remarkably stable and true. Its 24 Joule i believe.

Older springers often get sloppy in the barrel lock and therefor shoot all over the place, which is why i like that HW97, though its rather pricey for just a springer...

Oh and i tried a crossbow i bought from a colleague... couldnt hit an escaped rooster from 5 yards... its useless.

Yes, I have a side lever springer in my collection.
Though the GAMO 40 + joule claim is all advertising, even 24 J is a bouncy shooter. And that HW is a heavy rifle compared to some others.
The extra mass may add to stability, but I do not find that so.

Some people get very good with shooting marbles with a sling shot. Takes practice though ;-)

 

[Roadworthy]

You need to determine the amount of power you are allowed to have then get a gun within that range. I believe the UK has a 12 fpe or 16 joule limit while Germany only allows 6 fpe. From there you need to figure your budget. Generally fifty yards (or about 45 meters) is about the maximum practical limit. Pellets are more accurate at any distance than BBs. I have taken a ground squirrel with a head shot at forty yards with a Diana 34 but it does take practice. I prefer .177 or 4.5 mm pellets due to their lower amount of drop with distance. The Diana 34 is a break barrel rifle. For the best overall value in a fixed barrel rifle I like the Diana 48 but it is rather heavy. A multi pump rifle would do the job nicely but you do need to factor in the time it takes to pump it three to five times. For closer distances CO2 would work well but left sitting in the safe the cartridge would bleed down over time. For some in depth information become a member of Gateway to Airguns: Airgun Forum | GTA International Airgun Forum | 17,332+ Members

 

[CalG]

The Crosman 362 multi-pump is a great little "put it away until you need it" airgun. I like it anyway. Compact size. I use peep sights on mine. It's loud however. Not the "Pfffft" of the CO2 powered airguns.
For quick action, I keep a Crosman 2300 CO2 pistol mounted with a red dot sight. Pretty straight shooter out to 30 meters. fiddly to load though with the optic a bit in the way.

 

[scootr]

I have an inexpensive Gamo 1250 fps single pump .177 cal for varmits.
Lots of wad cutter rounds etc available. It does the job. $104 on Amazon

 

[rocco611]

I recently got a .22 gamo PCP air rifle with a nice scope from a friend. This gun is amazing, I rarely miss with it. I also have a break barrel spring loaded air rifle. The spring loaded rifle has an odd recoil, if I would forget to use an artillery hold I would usually miss what I was shooting at. The Gamo is deadly on pests at 100ft, but the pellet doesn't travel beyond my property line. When I was a kid in the 70's I had a Crosman 760 multi pump air rifle , Crosman still makes this air rifle . it was fine for pest control and small game, very durable. I was able to kill ground squirrels with it at close range . A neighbor that had an almond orchard paid us kids a $1 per squirrel. Years later, I would shoot squirrels on the same property at 300 yards with a 22-250 . Think the cost to shoot a 22-250 is about $2 a round.