This morning the neighbor knocked on the door and said his dog rustled up a mink around the house and he'd put out a trap - wanted me to know about it. While visiting, his dog sniffed the bastard out under our garbage can. He took it out with his pellet gun, but its an ancient break action and it took 4 shots to kill the bugger. I felt bad, wishing it was one and done. We live in a rural part of town but shooting anything .22 and above would certainly garner the wrong type of attention from the neighborhood. So, I'm looking for advice on a quality, accurate pellet gun, preferably semi-auto if one exists that gets the job done. We seem to be infested this year between mink, fox, skunk, and raccoons. The farmers in the area are killing the coyotes at an insane rate so the little critters are going unchecked.

A single shot break barrel will be the most economical. They have rated velocities at about 1,200 FPS. You can pay $100 for a cheap one, $250 for a nicer one.

Gamo and Benjamin make several good air rifles in the $200-300 range that are made for varmint hunting and have advertised velocity of 1,400FPS or more for .177, 1,100FPS for .22. I'd look there. Most come with a suppressor integral to the barrel to help keep noise to a minimum since the projectiles are supersonic.

If your neighbor's rifle wasn't making a decent crack, it's probably not a very powerful rifle.

Whatever option you go for it's still not as good as a .22LR. I've had groundhogs take a hit and run off. I've had a few drop, but shot placement is very critical with a small, light projectile.

Good luck. Once it took me 4 rounds of .22 to dispatch a raccoon. I will say it was a BIG coon, and the final point blank to the head finally sent him on his way.

From this point on I'll always use the biggest thing I can find and stick a can on it.

Gammo, Benjamin, Beeman...
.22 or .177 both have a variety of pellets (pointed, hollow point...)
Im assuming you're not going to be working out to 100 yards or more. Do a little research, FPS matters! I got my Dad a Beeman multi pump years ago for shooting iguanas in fla. It seemed to work perfectly for him, and not so much for the 300+ lizards
You can also get scopes, lazers and red-dots for them.


-JohnDaddy, cans are a no can do in Illinois. Verboten by Das State.

I have a Gamo Whisper Fusion .22. It should certainly get the job done.

Another, perhaps more tedious route would be to get a .22 rifle with a threaded barrel. Also, purchase a suppressor. I can vouch for the Tactical Solutions X-Ring .22 rifle and Dead Air Mask suppressor...this combo is QUIETER than my air rifle (with subsonic ammo).

CB Long ammo out of a cheap pawn shop bolt action .22 does a good job and is very quiet.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
CB Long ammo out of a cheap pawn shop bolt action .22 does a good job and is very quiet.

Even regular target ammunition (which is subsonic) out of a .22 bolt gun is surprisingly quiet and doesn't sound much like a gun going off. To me, it sounds like someone quickly saying "bloop" at a quiet conversation volume level.

Of course, it might be illegal to fire real guns in your area, and I wouldn't recommend breaking the law.

I don't have a ton of experience with air guns, but the one I've shot that I'd be comfortable using on small game (an RWS Diana) is quite loud. It does sound more like a staple gun than a firearm, though.

Gamo, bone collector top break is rated for 1,300 fps. It will punch holes thru a toaster and drive .177 into treated hardwood below the surface....We love to shoot it!!

Just saying- A friend had a small 22 cal pistol and shot shorts or something that barely made a noise. These below might be worth a try if you already had a .22?

quote:

CCI CB Long Subsonic 22LR "Yard Ammo" - 100 Rnds
"CB Long" is low power and low noise 22LR ammunition. We call it "Yard Ammo" because it is no louder nor powerful than many air rifles that you can shoot in your back yard. The CB Long bullet is only 29 grs in weight and the "Long" case positions it close to the rifling for best accuracy.

Depending on where you live/how close the neighbors are, be aware that a 1200 fps gun is going to make a loud "crack" as the pellet breaks the sound barrier leaving the barrel.

Benjamin .177 Nitro Piston has successfully taken rabbits, squirrels and a woodchuck.
Shot placement is key.
It breaks the sound barrier and is louder than a Ruger 10/22.

quote:

Originally posted by maladat:

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
CB Long ammo out of a cheap pawn shop bolt action .22 does a good job and is very quiet.

Even regular target ammunition (which is subsonic) out of a .22 bolt gun is surprisingly quiet and doesn't sound much like a gun going off. To me, it sounds like someone quickly saying "bloop" at a quiet conversation volume level.

Of course, it might be illegal to fire real guns in your area, and I wouldn't recommend breaking the law.

I don't have a ton of experience with air guns, but the one I've shot that I'd be comfortable using on small game (an RWS Diana) is quite loud. It does sound more like a staple gun than a firearm, though.

I would challenge the volume and characteristics of the sound of a .22 quiet from a bolt action is akin to two 12-inch 2x4 pieces of wood being slapped together.

(Keep the wood handy in the event questions are asked and you want to demonstrate what you were doing to scare the critter away. )

http://www.airgunsofarizona.co...ge-hunter-air-rifle/

The .22 caliber would be my choice.

 
A break action spring piston air rifle is very similar in the noise it makes to a .22 rifle shooting CB caps.
 

I know there are many who say its fine to use one of the newer high powered air rifles, but I shoot a lot of pests on the farm. I've seen raccoons absorb several rounds of HV .22LR and still not stop moving. I've actually moved up to .22wmr to reduce that. I'm not totally convinced they are the way to go.

Air guns can get expensive,talking pcp ones .
I be a poor boy and had to settle for the benjimim Maurader.With two dive tanks two fill contraptions and a Burris $300 scope i'm out over a grand.
Suits my needs very well,very accurate and has the built in can.

As has been noted 22CB or 22 Short doesn't produce much noise at all, in part because they are Subsonic. With some of the air rifles suggested they may actually be louder than 22 Shorts because 1400 fps IS Supersonic and will produce that familiar whip crack.

Personally because I have a box of 22 Shorts AND a S&W 617 with a reflex sight that is what I would use for smaller critters. Due to the likely lack of ejection issues of using 22 Shorts in a semi I would recommend shopping for a 22 Bolt action. Do some looking around at a gun show and you just might get lucky and score a nice bolt action for well under 200 bucks.

Aquila makes a 22lr round with no powder,

Mars uses them on his rat busting vids he was posting,

I've shot them out of a couple of my heavy barrel target rifles, (remington and Anschutz)with good accuracy at about 30 ft,

hmm, i didn't think of .22 shorts, but i'm sure that's still illegal here. Plus we had to take the thing out 2 feet away from my foundation, hate to miss and hit something important...

Gamo Whisper BigCat 1300fps (no longer sold under that name), and NOT really quiet! Came with a scope, and I zeroed at 15 yards. Works really good on rabbits eating dinner in the vegetable garden.