Hunting with Air Guns

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I used to drop squirrels, rabbits, and starlings in my parents suburban backyard with a pellet rifle in high school with no problem. Brace against the wall of the house and pop them in the head. To my knowledge I never wounded one.

The rifle, which my dad still uses when the squirrels get too uppity, is a Benjamin Silver Streak. Accurate as can be over open sights. This was 15+ years ago but I don't think they have changed at all.

Note: this was at 50' max
 
If hunting was my main use, there are lots of good .22 cal. springers out there. I think I'd take the .22 over the .177 for hunting. It does have a bit more punch.

The .22 cal. Walther for around $200 is a pretty good deal. I think you could take game up to and including turkeys.
 
I dunno. I've taken everything up to and including groundhogs with my RWS .177.

Lately I've been using a Gamo. It produces just over 1,000 fps with lead ammo. I get almost 1,300 fps. with PBA alloy ammo.

I've never used it much past 50 yds., but the .177 has done the trick for me.

I regularly take rabbits out of my garden (and to the table) with an RWS Diana .177 pistol using PBA alloy ammo. (I really need to clock the speed on that some day.)

I do have a .22 Gamo that I've used a bit, but I guess I'm just hooked on the .177.

With either caliber, you can do a yeoman's work on small game at almost no cost while having a ton-o-fun.

BTW. Squirt a little moly in the back end of the barrel and store your air rifle muzzle down. You'll get a nice improvement in speed. I learned that little trick from an RWS rep.
 
+1 for the Gammo Hunter 440

I use mine for rabbits and tree rats. The thing is much more powerful than I thought at first. A couple years ago my neighbors two Rots were getting into my chicken coup again. They had already killed 4-5 of them so I was pissed. I had my choice between a red ryder or the Gammo. I shot one of the Rots from around 35-40 yards thinking it would sting the hell out of them and they would run. Nope dropped that dog in his tracks dead as all get out. Oh crap I thought there is no way I just killed that dog. The pellet went in just behind his ear and that was it. Completly not my intention but I took the shot and I paid $200 bucks for that damn dog.
 
When I was a kid I took countless squirrels & cottontails with a daisy powerline. A few years back, we got a serious tree rat infestation in our attic. I bought a trap, and over the next two weeks I took a squirrel a day out of that trap. NO WAY am I going to catch & release, so I took my Beeman w/ a 4 x14 OA scope & put one through the eye--trap & repeat until no more tree rats. With proper shot placement you can take nearly anything.
 
I have more fun hunting with an airgun than anything else. Buy a good one...I currently own a RWS 34 .177. It seems to be a good basic air rifle. I have killed squirrels and rabbits at about 30 yards with proper hits. It may take a few seconds but the squirrels will drop out of the tree and the rabbits run a ways but a solid body hit will kill them. Crows fly off unless I can hit them head/neck but it is cool to watch them vapor lock and die mid-air after I smack them in the body. Since it is an air rifle and the neighbors cannot hear the report it's fun to watch a crow crash land in their yard. The reaction of my neighbors is funny to see! At times there are so many birds littering my sub-division I expect conservation officers to come out and collect the birds for west nile virus testing. I have also killed raccoons and possums but penetrating the skull is tough and often takes several shots. Shooting a possum or coon in the body results in the animal running off. I would recommend a powerful .22 or .25 caliber air rifle for the larger animals like possum or raccoon. I wore out my .22 caliber air rifle and seriously considering the RWS 350 or RWS 460 to supplement my .177.
 
I have more fun hunting with an airgun than anything else. Buy a good one...I currently own a RWS 34 .177. It seems to be a good basic air rifle. I have killed squirrels and rabbits at about 30 yards with proper hits. It may take a few seconds but the squirrels will drop out of the tree and the rabbits run a ways but a solid body hit will kill them. Crows fly off unless I can hit them head/neck but it is cool to watch them vapor lock and die mid-air after I smack them in the body. Since it is an air rifle and the neighbors cannot hear the report. It's funny as hell to watch a crow crash land in their yard. The reaction of my neighbors is funny to see! At times there are so many littering my sub-division I expect conservation officers to come out and collect the birds for west nile virus testing. I have also killed racoons and possums but penetrating the skull is tough and often takes several shots. Shooting a possum or coon in the body results in the animal running off. I would recommend a powerful .22 or .25 caliber air rifle for the larger animals like possum or racoon. I wore out my .22 caliber air rifle and seriously considering the RWS 350 or RWS 460 to supplement my .177.
 
When I was a wee lad, I decided to shoot a rabbit in the rear with my BB gun. When I shot the thing it jumped straight in the air and did a back flip. It then thrashed in place quite violently. It scared the crap out of me and I ran home and cried.

I think I was 7, maybe 8 and am still not sure what the hell I was thinkin'.

I wonder whatever happened to it. Probably led a miserable existence until it was picked off.
 
Well thanks for the replies folks. I have a $20 no name pellet rifle we bought my son at the flea market a few years back.

It shoots the .177 pellets. I havent hunted with it because it seems a toy so I was interested in grabbing something in the $200 range. I didnt look at the Gamo stuff because I figured they were just toys but I will give them a look now.

Id be using this for squirrels and rabbit.
 
Before you run off and buy a air rifle... check your local hunting regs.

For example here it must be .20 or larger to use for hunting. ( legally)
 
I killed literally 100's of rats, blackbirds, mice, and other vermin on a pig farm I worked on as a kid with a Crossman pump pellet gun. A couple of years ago I used an adult Daisy to take care of a bunch of opossums, racoons, and feral cats.

Shoot them in the head and you'll not have any trouble with small game. Make sure it is legal where you are.
 
I have shot squirrel and rabbit with my Benjamin .22 air gun, when I was young. I use a Crossman .177 spring gun on grackles for grins around the house now days. :D I live on the edge of town inside the city limits, so no .22s allowed and I wouldn't shoot up in the air with one around here, anyway. The air gun isn't any worse than a shotgun pellet when falling and I've been pelted with 7.5s before. LOL I know, Dick Cheney, but that lawyer was too close and a straight shot. I was about 100 yards from the shooter when the shot came raining down from altitude. One hit me square on the lip and didn't penetrate. Stung a bit. I don't think there are any houses in most directions I can shoot that are inside .177 range, anyway. I usually pop 'em off the high line toward the bay, but sometimes they land on the ground. I've been thinking about setting up a feed spot with some bird seed. I've hated grackles ever since they pooped all over my 1967 Chevelle in college. They are legal to shoot as pests, here, too. There's no song bird ordinance in this town, but don't know if grackles, cow birds (a black bird, not cattle egrets), and starlings would qualify, anyway.
 
One other thing I did in my youth.. a Crossman 760 (think that's what it is) with about 15 BB's dropped down the barrel and pumped 15 times made a sort of functional shotgun. I dropped a starling on the wing with it once out of about 20 tries. However the seals are all blown on that gun now. Wonder why? :)

That gun is now my cow chaser at my cabin. The area around my land is free range and the buggers knock down my fence and come on in. 2 pumps and a BB in the rump tends to run them off nicely!
 
I dont have to worry bout neighbors and the noise of a gun. We shoot out here all the time. Shotties, Handguns, the SKS. No one cares. We have a little range set up at the back of the 25 acres were on.

I guess Im a little cheap in that I dont wanna waste a .22 on a rabbit when a pellet will do. Plus, I dont wanna tear the rabbit up. Squirrels too.
 
When I was a wee lad, I decided to shoot a rabbit in the rear with my BB gun. When I shot the thing it jumped straight in the air and did a back flip. It then thrashed in place quite violently. It scared the crap out of me and I ran home and cried.

I think I was 7, maybe 8 and am still not sure what the hell I was thinkin'.

I wonder whatever happened to it. Probably led a miserable existence until it was picked off.
Click to expand...

My coworker had a mutt, half blind & lot's of difficulty getting around. They coudn't bring themselves to put it down, and they didn't have the money for a vet. They convinced the neighbor to do it in. The neighbor shot an arrow into the dog, which it kept for two weeks. Wouldn't let anyone get close. Finally ran in front of a car, broke its back. Crawled back to the house on it's front paws, arrow & all. They cashed in some savings to pay for a vet--anything with that much will to live deserves a shot! Kept the dog for a year or two before it finally went down to its old age. Your bunny may still be going and going....
 
I have a few airguns from spring powered to pre-charged, varying from 1000 to 1800fps. I regularly hunt everything from squirrels to small hogs with them. Pre-charged guns are the way to go. From my experience the .177 is just as effective as the .22, and the .177 shoots flatter. If you want a good entry level gun, CTD recently had Ruger Air Hawks for about $80. The triggers are god awful though. If you want a high dollar gun, the Air Force Condor Extreme is nice. I have never been disapointed in mine. Be warned though, high end guns can quickly exceed $2000. A good source for anything air gun related in Pyramid Air.

Have Fun,

T2E
 
RWS 350 Magnum

I finally supplemented my RWS 34 .177 with a new RWS 350 magnum .22. The RWS 350 is in a whole different class of airgun. I shot a Gamo .177 Extreme Hunter and was not impressed. If it had been in .22 caliber that may have changed things. It was much harder to cock and twangy/vibrated like heck. Perhaps it was just a faulty gun...the salesperson preferred the Gamo so opinions vary. The Gamo Hunter Extreme and RWS 350 Magnum are very close in actual velocity after the marketing velocities are set aside. Only the Theoben Eliminator/Beeman Crow magnum offer more power in the springer/gas piston arena...at least from what I have read and seen. Very impressed with this airgun. Both my RWS 34 and RWS 350 magnum are pictured below.
 

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My RWS 94 is an excellent little game taker for up to medium sized rabbits and squirrels. I have not used it on birds or vermin but imagine it would drop them fair enough. I have an RWS scope mounted on it and it is sub 1" MOA at 50 meters. When home I will sit on the front porch and take rabbits in the garden or when feeling the need for some practice "ping" the tops of the metal fence posts.

I wonder if AllAmerican had any luck?
 
They work great up to rabbit/grouse/pheasant. I wouldn't take anything larger though.
 
Another vote for a Gammo Hunter +1. Mine drops rabbits and tree rats without any problem. I shot the neighbors rotwheiler that kept getting into my chickens and dropped him on the spot. I could not beleive that it killed a 90+ pound dog. I wanted to scare the hell out of him but it went a little furthur than that. I felt bad as hell and bought him another dog. I guess I really did not have to. I had warned him several times to keep his dog away. It still was not what I wanted. Goes to show how powerful some of these pellet rifles can be.:banghead:
 
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