pellet or BB pistol for squirels

gabriel999 said:
I used a Beeman P17 in .177 and it is hard to shoot them far to 20 yards. Managed to get one at under 10 yards right in the body and she ran away, did not see blood or anything.... so if she died....who knows. I never saw it again but I am not 100% it was effective.
Since I decided to trap and release in a park far away from me because trying to catch it eating the bulbs in my garden requires stalking....hurry get the gun ... and kids freaked when they seen me pointing the gun at it. Released 2 so far and none came back in the garden so far. Now I am looking for a 22 pellet rifle to dispatch some crows because they make a lot of noise in the morning. I believe a 22 rifle would work better on the squirrel too
The P17 is a nice pistol for the money, light trigger, no recoil but a pain to load the pellet and not great too far away. I felt uneasy at 20 yards or so and with a animal that does sudden moves like that furry rat.
Open sights .22 Dianna or Weihrauch would be nice to buy one and have it for my son to learn shooting soon as well. A little pricey but I hate buying a gun twice :)
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Crows are the reason I got into guns many years ago, hard to kill they are, I went from pellets all the way to the 12gauge before I got rid of them, they were pecking at the windows and destroying the screens. As far as squirrels go I went the live trap and release. Man are they crazy little Bastards when you pick up the cage you can see there little claws and ####. I release them at a cemetery a couple of kms away, and now I have rabbits lol.
 
BTWQ if you are around the GTA and you are interested I have a a couple of break action Benjamin's I could part with, I am keeping the Crossman 1000fps the Benjamin is a .22 PM me if interested

I give you good deal ;)
 
I use my Crosman RM777 (.177 cal) rated at up to 1100 fps. I chase them off the deck, they run to the nearest tree which makes it a 40' +/- shot. With a 4X32 scope, it's a one shot kill every time. I'm in a competition this year with my Border Collie. We both have 3 kills so far.
 
A squirrel's hide is pretty tough for a little critter . Much tougher than a bird or rabbit skins .
It's stretchy and harder to penetrate to reach the vitals.
A non-restricted pellet / BB pistol is most likely hurt them bad.
Any critter who is in a situation like that is going to run....It's instinctive
I've seen tree rats take off , after getting nailed by a .22 and minus a leg...so, using a pellet pistol ??
Without getting into ethics , the tango will run and hide , likely to suffer lingering pain or death
IMPO...I'd want to dispatch them right then and there and get 'em ready for the BBQ.
It's up to the shooter
Live trapping / relocating the little tramps is rather fun too.
 
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Unless you're buying for the Olympics, pellet pistols are toys and a general waste of money except for very casual target shooting. I'd invest instead in a pellet rifle in .22 calibre. Preferably one that requires a PAL to buy, as that ensures a decent muzzle velocity.
 
I've been very impressed with my Crosman 1322 pumper and the power it delivers with a .22 pellet. It will penetrate two vegetable cans at 10 pumps. (I purchased mine at airgunsource.com.)
 
A few years ago I had 9 confirmed kills and one unconfirmed from 20-30 feet away with my chinese B3-1 with a millet red dot in a 2 day period. I was using the pointed hunting pellets. They make the difference I think. With my pellet gun at 30 feet I was going right through the pest. In and out. I am NOT a good shot, but I did hit this squirrel in the head through the eye and it came out the other side of his head.
 
a >500fps rifle will kill squirrels, but it wont be efficient or humane unless its a perfect shot inside 30 yards, Id really suggest a Pal Required pellet rifle, as others have said they are tough critters, and their pelt can stop a lot of lower energy projectiles
 
I just picked up a browning buckmark air pistol not bad for 90$. I love it, and great thing about it, Its accurate and not C02. I'm shooting it at 21ft and I was getting 1.5" 10 shot groups. If your eyes suck, it got a built in optic rail.

Ive killed crows with 495 FPS .177 cal so squirrels are no brainers.
 
I bought a Crosman Phantom in .22 at Wally mart for the same purpose. It was so-so until I bought a piston for one with 1000 fps. I polished the internals and replaced the spring and the piston and used Crow Magnums and it became the squirrel worst nightmare. Well over 100 tails hanging in the garage, and they still keep coming back...... They chewed a hole though my gazebo and they're living in my garage, I use the Phantom if they're on the deck or in the Gazebo, if they're in the yard or the trees, I use my FVSR.
 
I had a squirrel problem and bought a Crosman Phantom in 22 cal at walmart. Its a non pal rifle 495 fps break barrel. I put a cheapy scope on it and the thing was dead dog accurate at 25 yards. I did manage to get one squirrel with it. Good rifle.
 
When I was a teen, I shot hundreds of gophers, squirrels, rats, rabbits and the odd skunk on the farm with a 1322. At the distances you are talking, this thing at 10 pumps will get the job done without issue. Leave the BB's and low velocity .177 for tin cans....you want as much hit as you can get in the sub 500 FPS range and that means .22 cal.
 
They're a nuisance here in the GTA... we're infested and people still insist on feeding them! The City doesn't have the balls to organize a BADLY needed cull.
They're nothing more than fuzzy tailed tree rats, and far more destructive than normal rats. They can chew their way into anything, dig up gardens, lawns, drop untold quantities of crap off of trees (bark, branches, chewed pine cones, leaves, walnuts, mullberrys, etc.), and they're generally really irritating when they start squaking (sounds like a shreeking witch getting banged by a broom stick). What's worse, is that I often find their feces on my driveway and lawn, a place where my kids and their friends play -- disease spreaders. Trap them and give them a good swim in a large plastic garbage can. Safe, effective, and legal.
 
Rasp76 said:
Squirrel pelts are surprisingly resilient, they are tough little critters, with lower power guns if you hit them wrong it just pisses them off a bunch and wont likely kill them humanely, and they run off and die in agony or much later.

There's no need to be cruel, that's all I am saying.

BB's are definitely not going to dispatch a squirrel well at all :p

8)
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Huh? I killed dozens with an old Crosman 760 shooting BB's between 10-25 yards. The BB's would often end up resting under the hide on the opposite side of the animal. Head shots were instant deaths and boiler room shots resulted in the animal running a bit before expiring, much like a deer that's been hit in the boiler room.


These days I use an old Crosman 150 .22 CO2 pistol. Very compact, 499 fps, and very accurate. ;)
 
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