Interesting story about human ethics: There was an insane mouse problem at a remote place I once worked and people were killing them however/whenever they could. I knew a girl that said you guys are cruel and disgusting etc etc bla bla bla.... She didn't understand what it's like to have them everywhere and into everything 24/7, including in bed while you sleep, in your shoes etc. After she was there a week I saw her use a can of hair spray and bic lighter on one. I thought it interesting how drastically peoples ethics change when they have to endure the problem. Obviously she gets it now... So while most of us try not to be cruel, the more of a problem they cause the less we care about ethics. Like when a rat(s) was chewing 120V wires in my house and could've easily burned the place down, do you think I waited for an ethical shot or took the first available? When a squirrel or rat is chewing a cars wiring harness do you think the owner will do what I did, or wait for that clean shot? Even my own mother, who is a hard core animal lover, took out a squirrel that chewed on her cars wiring. She trapped it in the house and let the cat take care of it, which was a very old cat w/ only one tooth left so it was a slow death. She just watched with revenge in her eyes as it took some time to die.
The last rat I killed maybe a month or two ago was under my hood and chewing stuff. It was a clean brain shot but only bc his head was exposed, if it had been his ass I wooda taken the shot w/o question bc it would be days or weeks, if ever that I'd get another chance. I don't like unethical kills either, and do what I can when I can, but I have limits. If I were the OP I'd no doubt take any shot I could. Which is better, a suffering rat or a burned house?
Aguila Colibri: They are very weak but I've never had a head shot fail me. The only time I've seen one stick in the bore like 1KPerDay said is a friend who shot one thru a choked Anchutz barrel, which stuck in the choke of course. This is why the mfg says never to shoot them in a rifle, pistol only. You're supposed to use the "Super" Colibri in rifles but those are too loud, defeats the purpose imo. I've shot >1k plain Colibri w/o fail so I'm pretty happy with them. Most all of mine are launched thru a Marlin 925, which I actually bought for the sole purpose of shooting this ammo thanks to that micro-groove bore, its 22" and bolt feed. It's almost perfect for this ammo. I think the only better thing would be a 24" barrel, or maybe even 26 but at some point it'll be too long and slow the bullet.
If sticking in the bore is an issue, or your bore is slowing them, you can also sand the bore a bit and dry lube it to minimize friction. Also useful if you simply want some xtra fps. Or just dry lube if you don't want to sand it. I use Tungsten Disulfide but Moly works too. And/or you can dry lube the bullets. Sanding the bore sounds crazy but I have excellent luck doing it.
Since my last post a coupla months ago I made an even better suppressor for my Mrod. It is literally silent now, not counting the hammer noise. So fire an Mrod w/ zero air in it and that's what mine sounds like. I mention that for those wanting a super ultra quiet gun, and I can explain how to make said suppressor using oem Crosman parts. It looks factory, just longer. The gun itself is not modded at all so once removed, which only takes a few seconds, it's 100% oem again.
Now I'm working on how to quiet the hammer, which I also want to do to the Marlin. Not that they really need it, I just want to see how quiet I can get the guns overall.
An Mrod is $pendy but they're super cool and versatile. Extremely accurate and power is very adjustable. Excellent gun to practice with when you can't use a firearm, like in the backyard. Mine is in .22 which I prefer, but they make 25 and 177 as well. The 25 is super popular bc like w/ firearms caliber buys you free power, but I just don't have a need. Plus .25 pellets are expensive and not a lot to choose from. If anyone has a misc 177 gun they should try H&N Baracuda pellets (hollow points) which are imo more deadly than an equal powered 22, but ideally they need to be fired at ~900fps. The slower they go the less they open up so at some point the advantage is lost. I mention those specifically bc most all hollow point pellets don't actually work. My favorite fishing adage applies: There are two kinds of fishing lures; the kind that catch fish and the kind that catch fishermen. Most HP or pointed pellets are the latter.
Lastly, there's cats. I don't have squirrels but my cats get more rats than I do.
OP: I was wondering if you've tried anything so far? We like to hear successes and failures. Plus the next guy w/ the same prob wants to know...