# Hey anyone used a pellet rifle/pistol to hunt?



## gysgtdchsr7292

Has anyone used a pellet rifle/pistol to hunt small game? I think it would be useful as it's low noise and cheap. What cal would be best .22 or .177. And last but not least...Rifle or pistol?


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## mosquitomountainman

I've used a rifle to hunt rabbits and ground squirrels. I prefer the 22 over 177but I've killed critters with both. Good shot placement is the key!


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## JustCliff

If you have high speed internet and can watch videos, check this guy out. He is from England where they hunt a great deal with them. He has a lot of very informative videos and he is not irritating like a lot of people on YouTube. He is easy to understand and learn from.

gunner17722's Channel - YouTube

Here is a good site for air rifles:

Airguns of Arizona - Precision Air Rifles, Airgun, Pistols, Pellets


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## sailaway

I don't have one anymore but I like the idea of a pellet gun for small game. I would got another rifle.


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## PopPop

Pellet guns can be very effective on small game, but getting what you pay for applies to airguns more than firearms. The cheap WallyWorld air rifles are junk. The benjamin? sheridan pnuematic rifles are fair and then you have to spend several hundred$ to get much improvement. For some great videos check out www.socalairgunner.com, 50 + yard head shots on ground squirels.


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## The_Blob

availability of .177 over .22 makes me lean toward the .177

as far as spending xxx hundreds of dollars on a very small caliber air rifle :dunno:

IMO, if you're going to do that, just buy one of the .50 cal airguns like the Dragon that will take down a moose... or a firearm

my assumption is that you need those $$$ for other preps

also, IMO air pistols are almost universally crap until you get into the high dollar ones and then my previous caveats apply

but that's just me, you (or others) may feel differently

I'm also a fan of the lowly(?) slingshot, which I have also used to hunt small game


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## mosquitomountainman

My air rifle is was purchased at Walmart. It will probably never win a medal at the Olympics but it works fine for small game and pest control. Accuracy is good. I've found that different varieties of pellets make a big difference on accuracy so try several types/manufacturers before stocking up in large quantities. I bought an air rifle with two barrels, one in 177 and one in 22. They require re-sighting in each time you swap them so I seldom swap them. If I had it to do over again I'd go with a permanently attached barrel. I still like the 22 better as it seems to drop game faster despite the slower velocity. The 177 still does a good job too. It's more personal preference than anything else.

A side note here: most air rifles will not reach their full accuracy potential until you've fired thousands of rounds through them.


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## gysgtdchsr7292

*air rifle*

Girandoni air rifle as used by Lewis and Clark was a 20 shot .46 cal air rifle. I figured it worked for them it could work for me. Low noise so using it in a hostle enviroment will be benificial, cheap, no bullets to buy, and easy to operate. I just didn't know if it was reliable enough in .177/.22 to consistantly put food in the pot.


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## Magus

gysgtdchsr7292 said:


> Has anyone used a pellet rifle/pistol to hunt small game? I think it would be useful as it's low noise and cheap. What cal would be best .22 or .177. And last but not least...Rifle or pistol?


Yes.
Rifle.
.177.

My Chinese side cocker is murder on rats!


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## The_Blob

you can recover 99% of your practice ammo from the styrofoam target & reuse it also! :2thumb:


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## gysgtdchsr7292

*FPS*

What FPS would the minimum be if you are using .117 Pistol/Rifle?


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## The_Blob

gysgtdchsr7292 said:


> What FPS would the minimum be if you are using .117 Pistol/Rifle?


900-1200 seems to be the norm...

the literature on mine says '1200' but :dunno:


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## gysgtdchsr7292

*FPS*

The local Wally World has a Ruger @ 1000 FPS for about $108.00


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## lickit

*no, pistol, it's more like 500 fps, at best.*

and it's good onlly for small birds, to maybe 30 ft, tops, or mice. You might be able to brain a rat with it, at 10 ft, but that's about it. The rifles, now, some of them are capable of braining a rabbit to 30 yds or a bit further, with pointed pellets, that are run thru a hand sizer die to eliminate all the little dings and burrs that ruin their accuracy.


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## The_Blob

lickit said:


> and it's good onlly for small birds, to maybe 30 ft, tops, or mice. You might be able to brain a rat with it, at 10 ft, but that's about it. The rifles, now, some of them are capable of braining a rabbit to 30 yds or a bit further, with pointed pellets, that are run thru a hand sizer die to eliminate all the little dings and burrs that ruin their accuracy.


my Daisy880 is older than me and I routinely kill rabbits, squirrels, and quail with it


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## eldarbeast

First off, not all states allow hunting (Texas doesn't) with an air rifle/pistol. Second, according to many in the field of air rifle/pistol hunting, your weapon needs to develope at least 20-21 foot pounds of energy to successfully hunt small game. 

What this works out to in .177 cal is a muzzle velocity of at least 800 fps and in .22 cal at least 670 fps. The difference between weapons is the weight of each pellet for each caliber.

There are a number of different types of pellets available for use in air rifles/pellets: pointed, wadcutter, semi-wadcutter, domed and mixed metal {non lead} for higher velocity. Each imparts specific values in their respective uses. Wadcutter is the most commonly found pellets on the market with pointed the next most common. Wadcutters, domed, and semi-wadcutter are generally the most accurate. Pointed give better penetration. Lead pellets usually provide better performance while hunting. There are {many} reports of inaccuracy while using the mixed metal pellets, even while using the higher quality weapons {RWS and others}.

All that said, just like with normal firearms, purchase as many types of pellets as you can find and practice with them all until you find the best one or two that function with your chosen weapon.

I have a $25 Chinese air rifle that is rated at 1000 fps (and has only achieved a velocity of 780 fps when tested) that does very well with the pellets sold by RWS (domes and wadcutters).

eldarbeast

edited 8 Oct 2011


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## lickit

*pellet rifle works fine, pellet pistol is pretty lame.*

for taking game, even for training purposes, airsoft pistols work better, due to being able to use "force on force" without hurting each other, or the house's interior, and being able to see the plastic pellets in flight.


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## oldvet

lickit said:


> for taking game, even for training purposes, airsoft pistols work better, due to being able to use "force on force" without hurting each other, or the house's interior, and being able to see the plastic pellets in flight.


Folks I am really glad he is gone, but you gotta admit that post is so datgum stupid it had me LMAO.


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## Maxbeard

I have a Crossman XT .177. I don't actually use mine to hunt (I use it for pest control at night with a light mostly) however I have successfully dispatched squirrels, small rabbits, and one small possum. Didn't do too good a job on him, had to finish him off with a piece of wood. Mine supposedly does 1200fps with the PBA pellets.


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## BillM

*I have*

I have a .22 Remington Sport Master rifle.
It will shoot .22 short H P.
It dosen't make any more noise than a pellet gun.


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## godisnum1

I've been using this Crosman 760 since way back in high school and 10-12 pumps always gives me enough power to hit and kill whatever small game I've shot it at. It's even put quarter size dents into solid steel doors...

http://www.amazon.com/Crosman-maste...=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1319051557&sr=1-3

It's been a great gun and is pretty cheap at $31.99... plus, the resevoir can hold 200 BB rounds in it 

Bran <><


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## AzDesertRatMarine

*Air Rifles*

IMHO, there are pro's and con's to this argument.

That said - my old pump air rifle has driven stray/wild cats from my henhouse, kept squirles/chipmunks/rabbits out of my garden, and birds out of my fruit trees.

Further, that air rifke sits on the 3-gun rack in my cabbin with a winchester 44mag, and SbS shotgun because I know that differnt jobs require differnt tools.

So, i'm going to have to throw my hat in with the "Good To Have" folks on this aargument.


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## TechAdmin

I use them to hunt rodentia, mainly of the pest variety so I'm not eating them but I would in a heart beat if it ever came up.

I use a pump from Cross-man with .177 and it works great. I've had some practice with the springs and after to long it starts to get stressed and is no longer effective.


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## Jezcruzen

My father has a cheap Chinese .177 pellet rifle that he uses to get deer out of his garden. He lives in the city, so an air rifle works fine, and the garden is far enough away from the house that the pellet only stings the deer. The rifle is rather crude and I'm not convinced it is accurate enough for small game.

I live in the country where popping raiding squirrels from going into my chicken house is done from my deck using a .22lr. Conibear traps work, too, and they stay on the job 24/7 once set.

I'm just not going to pay the $300/$400 for a quality German-made air rifle. Maybe I would if I couldn't own a firearm, but I can. I have been tempted to buy a pellet rifle just to have around. Like some others, I couldn't decide on caliber - .177 or .22.


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## Jergro

I've seen my cousin kill rabbits with a .17 break action (495 fps) at 50 yards. I'm looking at getting the same, but one that gives over 800 fps, which requires a licence here


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