I really need help selecting an Air Rifle for Squirrels.

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If you're worried about noise, I'd advise sticking with one of the break barrel .22 air rifles over a .177 air rifle that has to fire pellets at super sonic speeds to achieve similar killing power. I went with the Benjamin Titan GP Nitro in .22 for pest elimination around the house. It's about $150, but really needs a new scope to shine, still even with the old scope I've gotten several squirrels with no problem.
 
As a kid (all those years ago, mid sixties) I did considerable damage to the local squirrel and rabbit population with either a Crossman or Benjamin 22 cal air rifle (the pump up single shot variety with standard hour glass shaped lead pellets). Either of those would penetrate both sides of the steel soft drink cans of that period and knock down squirrel or rabbit as far as I could hit them with open sights.... My favorite was the Benjamin. I always thought that they were fairly quiet (much quieter than an ordinary 22 rifle) but that may not be quiet enough for your purposes. I must admit that I never ever heard one of those pellets while it went downrange, and I did hunt with other hooligans my same age. Boy, that was a long time ago. I need to get that old Benjamin back into shape to give to my son (to start my oldest grandson with -he's six years old now..).
 
Air rifles are just fantastic to practice with....and with ammo costs and availability what it is these days.

Over on the air gun forums there is quite the debate on the .177 vs. .22 it can get real frothy at times...but the bottom line both will work with good shot placement, both will fail with the same poor shot placement. Pellet choice makes a large difference here as well.

Personally I really don't think you need to pony up the cash for a magnum rifle or something along the lines of a RWS.

But after you get one you may find yourself in the basement with a box full of duct seal just shooting away for hours on end.
 
"I really need help selecting an Air Rifle for Squirrels."

I'll bet!

It can't be easy to find an air rifle with a tiny little trigger and a stock small enough for them to wrap their little forelegs around...
 
Ruger makes a pretty decent looking air gun like 1400 FPS, think it's around $149 at wallyworld.
 
If you have an AR or other .22cal centerfire, you could make one of these:

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I drilled out the primer pocket so a 209 shotgun primer could fit in comfortably.
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I used an ice pick to put a small dimple in the neck of the case to better hold the .22 pellet in place.
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It all holds together well, and you just drop it in to your regular .223/5.56 rifle.
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It's accurate and powerful, going completely through a tin can. I estimate it goes around 900fps, but would need to chronograph the pellet to be sure.

It's not too loud either, no louder than a high velocity .22 pellet gun. No hearing protection is required.
 
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I'll recommend Benjamin as well. As a kid I killed countless po little squirrels with a 177 cal benjamin. My step brother used the 22 cal. (the old school pump up ones) never got it to cooperate with a scope though.
 
A 209 shotgun primer is not required.

I shot a ton of barn pigeons years ago with a 22-250 using LR primers and .22 air rifle pellets.

It knocks their socks off!!

rc
 
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Get yourself a real air rifle. There are many varieties of precision target rifles like my Beeman 400 or its sister the Dianawerk 75 or (hiss!) the Feinwerkbau 300s. These are are totally recoilless, essentially silent (my 400 just make a "thunk" like snapping your fingers) and absolutely flawlessly accurate. They are side cockers and essentially no longer competitive in the ISU shooting so they can be picked up cheap used.

The target above is 10 shots at 10m.

By the way, my trigger is about 1.1 ounces. Yes, ounces. They are 2 stage target triggers so you pull it back the first stage once you are on target and then just think about it and the rifle fires.

Once you thin the pest population down, you can work on your rifle skills. If you miss, you know it was you and not the rifle.
 
AR 180 Shooter,

What size drill bit did you used to make the new primer pocket with?

How many shots have you gotten from a case so modified?

Does the 209 primer swell up and make removal difficult?

Do different pellets work better than others?

Is there any lead build up in your 180 or other rifles when using this?

in case you can not tell you have my attention......

-kBob
 
I've been into airguns for years. You're getting some good advice here. Unless you have a lot of time to dedicate to the spring piston type airguns, I'd steer clear of those. They can be frustrating to learn to shoot.

Crosman used to make a wood stocked co2 gun in both .177 and .22 cal (the model 1760 and 2260). They recently discontinued them, I don't know why. I bet you can find one used in good shape on one of the airgun forums classifieds section. Like here.

And then, to eek out more power and accuracy, send it to Mac1 in California. He'll "tune" it to increase accuracy (muzzle job, trigger job, etc) and put better seals and parts to increase power. I bought mine new about 5 years ago for about $110 and sent it to Mac1. For another $125 I have a .177 caliber co2 rifle that's plenty powerful for squirrels and shoots as accurate as a .22 rimfire. It shoots a typical 7.9 grain pellet at about 730 fps. And it really is quiet. I'll take a pic of it this evening if you're interested.
 
I've had problems with squirrels tearing up my bird feeders for years. I bought a cheap Daisy 880 Powerline at WalMart for ~$30, and it kills the hell out of squirrels. It's a little noisy, but I found that if I shot from inside the house through an open door or window, that deadens the noise quite well.

BUT, after I'd offed a substantial number of them, I found out that not only is it illegal as hell to fire a pellet rifle in town, but here in CO squirrels are small game animals, requiring a small game hunting license, there's an established hunting season for them, and a daily bag limit as well. So I was essentially poaching the little rats out of season and doing it inside the city limits, not to mention inside a residential neighborhood, and the stress of hoping to God some citizen walking their dog didn't see one flopping around in my front yard. Made me nervous.

So, you may want to consider any possible legal ramifications to killing squirrels in your yard, it may not be cool to do so. Once the light came on it my head, I haven't done it since, just ain't worth the risk and stress to me. I started harassing them with a Super Soaker, which got their attention, and finally just moved the feeders where they can't get to them from the tree, and that seems to have solved the problem.

I've also considered checking out a high-quality airsoft rifle, something that would sting the living snot out of them and leave a nasty bruise or welt, but not actually kill them. They're not stupid, and are highly danger-sensitive. Make their visits painful, dangerous and unpleasant, and they'll go elsewhere. I've wondered too about finding or making something non-lethal in .177 caliber to put in my Daisy, like rubber pellets. Haven't found anything.

But if you're in an area where you can pop them without fear, a cheap Daisy 880 Powerline works fine! Don't bother with the crappy scope though, either get a decent one or just use the irons.
 
Below is the custom/ modified Crosman co2 rifle I was talking about. A cheap Bushnell scope on it makes it extremely lethal on squirrels (notice there are no irons). My bird feeder is 50 feet from the kitchen window and its no contest. A little more challenging is when the squirrels get into my apple orchard about 200 feet from the patio. Then I have about a 6" holdover with the Beeman Kodiak extra heavy pellets. But when they hit, they hit pretty darn hard, even at that range.

The air rifle is pictured with a Marlin Model 60 .22 rimfire for scale:

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RWS 34 or 48 Diana from Airguns of Arizona. Check them out online. Fast, easy to deal with, superb service.
I cleaned up all the squirrels who were eating expensive chicken & turkey feed. I then moved on to the other squirrels who were raiding our fruit trees.
Gamo is in my experience cheap trash from chain store discount retailers. Bought one, it never shot well, trigger was lousy. Ended up cutting it in half with chop saw before it went in the garbage can. I should have bought the RWS the first time.
 
What Rondog says!!!
Also, I believe silencers on airguns follow same laws as conventional firearms. If it's part of the firearm as manufactured ok, but add-ons illegal. Might check it out first.
 
Also, I believe silencers on airguns follow same laws as conventional firearms. If it's part of the firearm as manufactured ok, but add-ons illegal. Might check it out first.
Conventional firearms that are integrally silenced still have to be registered as NFA Title II firearms. Airguns with silencers do not.

Silencers intended to be bolt-on accessories for firearms have to be registered themselves as NFA Title II "firearms".

I don't know of anyone making add-on silencers for air rifles, but they would almost certainly be illegal if unregistered, as they would be functionally the same as a silencer (or close enough) for any .17 or .22 cal. rifle.
 
AR 180 Shooter,

What size drill bit did you used to make the new primer pocket with?

How many shots have you gotten from a case so modified?

Does the 209 primer swell up and make removal difficult?

Do different pellets work better than others?

Is there any lead build up in your 180 or other rifles when using this?

in case you can not tell you have my attention......

-kBob

Unfortunately I forget what size drill bit I used. I modified the case itself about a year ago, never got around to testing it and forgot about it until I found it again a few days ago and decided to try it. When I made it, it was really a trial and error process.

I've shot 50 pellets from the case so far.

Removal is not difficult. The primer sits in it quite loosely, and will fall out if turned primer side down.

I've only tried the cheap Crossman pellets, and haven't done any accuracy testing other than shooting cans at 30 yards (I have to dial the scope to 600 yards to get POA/POI, the video is me shooting at 15 yards).

I've only tried it in the one rifle.

After shooting the 50 rounds, I have not noticed significant leading. The shotgun primers do dirty up the bore though. The one concern I do have is lead possibly plugging the gas tap to the piston, but given that the pellet is not going very fast and is not heating things up at all (I'm not sure how fast it's going, but it is definitely sub-sonic), this is a very minor concern.
 
I found out that not only is it illegal as hell to fire a pellet rifle in town, but here in CO squirrels are small game animals, requiring a small game hunting license, there's an established hunting season for them, and a daily bag limit as well. So I was essentially poaching the little rats out of season and doing it inside the city limits, not to mention inside a residential neighborhood, and the stress of hoping to God some citizen walking their dog didn't see one flopping around in my front yard. Made me nervous.

Might want to take a closer look at your laws.... In most states it is legal to eradicate pests on your property that are causing damage on your property. No permits or licenses required. If you are legal to shoot a pellet gun on your property and your state allows you to get rid of pests on your property; then you can generally use a pellet gun to eradicate the pests on your property. Now, if it is illegal to shoot a pellet gun on your property then you would need to find a different way to eradicate the pests than using a pellet gun.
 
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I found out that not only is it illegal as hell to fire a pellet rifle in town, but here in CO squirrels are small game animals, requiring a small game hunting license, there's an established hunting season for them, and a daily bag limit as well. So I was essentially poaching the little rats out of season and doing it inside the city limits, not to mention inside a residential neighborhood, and the stress of hoping to God some citizen walking their dog didn't see one flopping around in my front yard. Made me nervous.


Might want to take a closer look at your laws.... In most states it is legal to eradicate pests on your property that are causing damage on your property. No permits or licenses required. If you are legal to shoot a pellet gun on your property and your state allows you to get rid of pests on your property; then you can generally use a pellet gun to eradicate the pests on your property. Now, if it is illegal to shoot a pellet gun on your property then you would need to find a different way to eradicate the pests than using a pellet gun.

I live in a densely populated whitebread residential neighborhood. Pellet guns and killing squirrels be frowned upon, and it's not worth the risk of drawing attention to myself to go around asking questions about it. I'd rather stay out of the spotlight. As long as the little jerks stay off my bird feeders I have no problem with them. They're welcome to eat whatever hits the ground. It's when they actually get on the feeders and chew them apart that conflict arises.
 
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