What's the Effective Range for an Airgun?

[The Expert]

In the last two years just about every town in my area has experienced some strange explosion in the rabbit population. They just seem to be everywhere. Esp in my wife's garden.

I was thinking about putting an antifreeze treat out for them but I have dogs and I don't want anything to happen to them.

They are pretty sneaky buggers, so I don't think I'd be able to sneak up and get the drop on them in the morning. Also, I think a shotgun and beagle is the traditional rabbit hunting setup, but I can't shoot a shotgun in my subdivision of course.

I can see all these little beasts from the kitchen so I thought I could just open the window in the morning, take aim with an airgun, and take care of the problem. I'm just wondering what the minimum type of setup I'd need in order to be effective.

 

[Fixit]

depending on your towns bylaws, a few small leghold traps or snares may be most effective...
a .177 at 500fps should do the job within 15 yards

 

[skeetgunner]

I'm just wondering what the minimum type of setup I'd need in order to be effective.

Probably a fast .22 or ultra-fast .117 (both would need to be registered) would do. But the bigger issue is, your subdivision probably has a no-discharge bylaw that includes airguns of all types.

 

[Raes]

Basically any airgun that shoots over 500 fps is considered a firearm and you need a PAL to own one. That being said, you need at least 515 fps with 5 ft/lbs to humanely kill a rabbit with a .177 calibre pellet gun. For a .22 pellet gun it's 380 fps with the same 5 ft/lbs or energy. For a jack rabbit you'd need 8 ft/lbs or more with a velocity of 670 fps for a .177 and 490 fps for a .22

But, as we all know muzzle velocity is not the velocity that your pellet will actually strike your target with, so here is a table demonstrating the loss of speed/energy at known distances

Basically a good airgun for taking rabbits at ~30m will have a muzzle velocity of 830 fps or greater with a .177 calibre pellet. There are many airguns that are capible of doing that, but you can't get them at Canadian Tire or something, all theirs shoot below 500 fps because you need a PAL.

 

[Northman999]

I've hunted rabbits with both .177 and .22 and I can tell you the .22 is more effective hands down. I would reccomend a .22 cal rifle that has a MV of 650 fps or so. They're not real cheap, but not super high end either. Top it with an inexpensive 3-9 scope, use a quality hunting pellet, and you'll be doing head shots out to 25 yards no problem and Mr Bunny won't take a single step when you hit him.

 

[gallen270]

best option is a gun, but depending on your local area, it might be a bad idea and get you a police visit.

next best is a box trap. if its legal, wring their neck, if its not legal to dispatch them, catch and release somewhere far from home. canadian tire can get the havaheart models for less than 100 bucks.

poisons, snares connibears, and leg holds all work, but if you get a neighbors puppy or cat by accident, were all gonna laugh at your picture on the front page of the paper dont use this stuff in a subdivision.

 

[Dax420]

Cross-bow gets around PAL and discharge laws. Plus you can just place the skewer directly on the BBQ.

 

[Wolfe1]

.22 super colibri's

air gun is to noisy if you have an american friend ask them to get you a brick of Aguila 22 Super Colibri's long rifle their made in mexico quieter than an air rifle,they have no gun powder in them except for the rimfire and a 20 grain bullet that will clear up the long ear problem they get rid of squirrels in my town with no noise complaints from the neighbours

 

[Jay]

I've shot rabbits out to roughly 30 to 40 yards with my 1000fps Gamo 440. Bang, flop flop flop, RABBIT PIE TIME!!! he he he

Cheers
Jay

 

[Papaclaude]

Traps or snares

depending on your towns bylaws, a few small leghold traps or snares may be most effective...
a .177 at 500fps should do the job within 15 yards

Be careful with snares. Rabbits can make a heck of a racket with their wailing when snared. Depending on where you live, it may be illegal. FI in Ontario, it's only legal north of the French and Mattawa rivers. Also, snared rabbit is about as tasty as boot leather, because it hasn't bled out (I've caught thousands in my youth). The best recipe for snared rabbit is to find a fist-sized rock. Put it in the pot with the rabbit, 1 carrot, 1 onion, and some salt and pepper. Boil until the rock is tender. Throw out the rabbit and eat the rock.

Seriously, a good air rifle will do. I've always preferred .22, but if you don't have an air rifle, a .22 with shorts or CB caps is about as quiet. If you're in town, make sure it's a head shot, because they can wail like the devil until they die, and it would probably get on a granola cruncher's nerves.

If you have a 2nd story, I used to shoot from there, down into the ground, so there was no chance of ricochet or the bullet ending up somewhere undesired.