Help me find a suitable air rifle for squirrel defence

Go with a bigger caliber like a .25 cal, which has heavier pellets and therefore has more energy at 495 fps.
 
Big Bad said:
The main problem is that squirrels don't approach the bait bar from the same low angle that a rat would and when triggered I believe the trap's kill bar just passed under their chin. I tried in various ways to get them to sort of lower their heads as they took the bait but as I said they didn't fall for it. I could have live trapped them with a Havahart type device but relocating animals is illegal here and probably is in fact just a slow way to kill them. I therefore found a fast way to do that and they got wise and just mostly stayed away. That's all I wanted.
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Any trap is more effective if you place it in an appropriately sized rectangular box, that forces the animal to enter from one end and stand perfectly aligned with the killing bar. Google conibear trap boxes to get the idea. Personally, I wouldn't use a rat trap, I would use a conibear style trap. Kills them near instantly without fail if its in a box. I set one up on a path and they try to run through it, even if they don't care about the bait. Fence top is a good place.
 
Trap placement is key to improve success and another thing to consider is collateral damage, making sure other animals don't get trapped,such as birds, by making it harder for birds and easier for squirrels.
 
Grizzlypeg said:
I'm sure someone will say they had the opposite experience, but I've found that non-pal airguns lack sufficient power to kill squirrels.

On a budget, I would just use a 22 rimfire and make sure I only fired where there is a safe backstop, such as firing from an elevated position, shooting downwards.
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Yes with low velocity CB caps or equivalent popcorn .22's.
 
Grizzlypeg said:
Any trap is more effective if you place it in an appropriately sized rectangular box, that forces the animal to enter from one end and stand perfectly aligned with the killing bar. Google conibear trap boxes to get the idea. Personally, I wouldn't use a rat trap, I would use a conibear style trap. Kills them near instantly without fail if its in a box. I set one up on a path and they try to run through it, even if they don't care about the bait. Fence top is a good place.
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To buy a conibear trap here, you need a trapper's licence.
 
I have walnut trees in my backyard and for years the black/gray hordes were stripping down the property during work week when I was away to work.
Wife didn't allowed shooting them but the traps I bought were just waste of money and time. I catch only a couple, and gave those to wife to release them somewhere out of city, but she got lazy too.
So I ended up getting two stray cats, and I train them well how and what to do in emergency.
Luckily retired now and ... and wife is at work ... and the fun begins :)
 
Grizzlypeg said:
I'm sure someone will say they had the opposite experience, but I've found that non-pal airguns lack sufficient power to kill squirrels.
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Yup, had a big squirrel problem 19-20 years or so ago...I didn't have my PAL till months after this, but I did have several non-PAL air rifles and air pistols. Whether they were CO2 or break barrel, there was really nothing that would be able to dispatch squirrels ethically. I suppose someone can say with the right placement at a close distance one can, and that may be true but that wasn't my experience. Plus the 495FPS can be misleading...I had all my air rifles whether .22 or .177 chronied through my Shooting Chrony and the highest I got for my 22, was a Crosman Phantom break barrel and that was at 460fps or slightly under at the MAX. My 2240 using CO2 I chronied at 440 or 450 I think. Even with Crosman Premier domed or pointed pellets, squirrels got injured but not killed. The .177 ones break barrel ones just made them dance. It wasn't until I got a PAL-rated air rifle that the squirrels were dispatched ethically.

This is just my experience and others' may vary.
 
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