Quiet airgun recommendations

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matai

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Hey, I need to get a quiet airgun for taking care of some voles eating our bird food. I'm in a dense neighborhood.

I'm interested in either handguns or rifles, pretty sure I could hit them with either. I just want it to be as quiet as possible.

Any ideas?

Thanks!
 
Depending on legality traps or such maybe a better option (each state and local seems to have different views of airguns and there use in neighborhoods)

Pump up air rifles are a cheap option. Only pump as many times as you need to kill, if voles are the size of rats 3-5pumps should do with most of them.
Ive shot some of the "shrouded" springers and none seemed particularly quiet to me.

Id avoid air pistols as they will be louder than the rifles but deliver less power, barrel length maters.

The quietest option would be a shrouded barrel co2, pump, or pcp air rifle. There are some factory offerings in these option but they are expensive, and mostly over powered for what you want.
 
Tom Gaylord has some articles about this. Basically the more air that leaves the barrel, the louder the gun. Spring piston and gas piston rifles have the least amount of air leaving the barrel. They may seem loud because your face is next to the power plant, but it's relatively quieter when standing some distance away. Also if the pellet is light weight, it can travel faster than speed of sound and it will be very loud. New guns will also have oil in the chamber that will "diesel" and combust causing the gun to be very loud. You'll see smoke coming out of the barrel after the shot. You may have to shoot over 100 pellets before the diesel effect stops. I would recommend one of the gas piston (nitro piston) rifles. These can be hold sensitive because there are essentially two recoil impulses, but once you learn how to shoot them they are very accurate. Also I would get one in the upper $200 to $300 range. The cheaper ones can be an exercise in frustration.

Or you can re-think your bird feeder. They are bad for attracting nuisance animals, but there are modifications you can make to the feeder and the type of bird seed.
 
We live in a subdivision which is technically outside the city limits, yet there are quite a few houses within the range of a rifle, so I am selective about which shots I take. I have been using a .22 break barrel with the nitro piston for about 6 years now; it wasn’t cheap but was well worth the money. It came with a scope- there are no open sights.

The one I bought was branded as Remington, but appears to be made by either Crosman or one of the other big names. I have a closet full of various low cost .177 pneumatics which I have retired due to inconsistent performance. This rifle I use now is a real firearm. I am able to make shots with this gun at 3 times the distance of any others I have used.

Regarding noise: mine is inconsistent about noise, with some shots seeming louder than others. I can tell you that when I shoot from an open window, if I can just stick the end of the barrel out, most of the sound tends to go backwards toward the shooter; many times I can get a second shot because the varmints are not startled. For sure, this rifle is a lot quieter than my old Benjamin Pump, which tended to spew all of the noise forward toward the intended target, but none of the modern spring-operated or piston guns I have tried are “whisper” quiet.

This rifle does require some holding technique; most all of my missed shots are the result of not keeping on target long enough after squeezing the trigger. I use lead Predator pellets with the pointed plastic tips. I think the whole “max velocity” thing is overblown; I get the best results with regular, (slow) lead ammo, and the .22 gives more wallop at well below the sound barrier.

I should also mention it is a heavy gun, and not so easy to operate the break-barrel.
 
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Check pyramid air, they have many to choose from and I like the fact that they let you search by the noise level of the gun. Stay subsonic, I prefer .22 for most things. If you can keep the entire rifle inside it will reduce the noise further.
 
I wonder if the 25 caliber guns would be better??
.25s would be good if trying to get more punch for the same velocity range, but noise levels usually stay the same or increase as you go up in bore dia.
I hadnt thought about the direction sound is projected by a springer, that does make sense. Ive never been nearby when some one was shooting the nitro piston guns, only shot them myself so i dont have a frame of reference. The older spring drive guns ive been around, even the nice ones, where still pretty loud when fired from 10-20yds away. they dont sound like a "gun" tho so that may effect how things react to them, including people.
 
They are voles gentlemen, they don't look at you like you owe them money. The Daisy 880 pumper is accurate enough and powerful enough to do the deed with flat point 177 caliber pellets, and it can be pumped quietly.
 
I agree with MartinS. I have popped a few cottontails in the garden with my 880. It worked just fine.
 
I would say the 880 as well, if it was many years ago. I got one a few years back and they are not the same as they used to be. It is made of very cheap plastic that flexes and cracks when you pump it. Mine lasted maybe 6 months of light shooting before the outer barrel metal separated and the inner liner started flopping around. I was going to remove the plastic crown and weld the seam, but I just tossed it. I decided solid barrels only after that.
 
Agreed; it doesn't take much to kill a vole. My response was based on the noise issue, and being able to consistently hit what you aim at from a more or less hidden position. Although I have to admit I would like to see what a vole looks like after taking one from a .25 caliber break-barrel. I use my 880 to chase possums out of the yard.
 
I had the same problem as you, but with squirrels. I have a silenced .22, but wanted something with less energy in order to keep shots on my property.

I had a squirrel explosion around my feeders - got a Benjamin Jim Shockey Steel Eagle - .22, Nitro Piston 2, comes with scope that works just fine. Took care of my squirrel problem in short order.

I was so impressed with it that when a sale e-mail with an Eva Shockey Golden Eagle at a darn good price (around $150) arrived, I got it also. It's a .177 - zeroed at the range, but haven't tried it on squirrels yet.
I did try out .177 alloy pellets at the range to see if they went supersonic - they did not.

Also been having good luck with the .22 H&N Crow Magnum pellets - very few exit the squirrel.
 
I have a few ideas: One is get a cheapie generic coil spring Crosman and make it quieter. I did this to one and it works pretty good, it involved tuning it, reducing the spring preload and adding a shroud. Tuning and the spring are free, the shroud is cheap but you need the matching barrel so it's closer to $20. You can optionally mod a an NP2 suppressor/shroud to fit which is ~$10 add and some tinkering.
Another is use whatever pneumatic or CO2 gun and again use the NP2 setup to suppress it, including pistols like a Beeman P17 and Crosman 13xx. The P17 is not very powerful but it takes rats no problem and is easily suppressed since there is very little muzzle blast. The 13xx has the option of more power. Either can accept the NP2 suppressor but it'll need to be a custom fit.
A pcp like a Marauder is very quiet and dialing the power down and extending the suppressor will greatly reduce noise, or get the much cheaper Maximus and add the NP2 setup to quiet it.
If you have a a 22LR you can try to find some Aguila Colibri ammo, which apparently are not so easy to find these days. They are much quieter than any other 22LR and quieter than most any airgun. A longer 22" barrel is needed imo, the more common 18" is significantly louder. I bought a Marlin 925 just to shoot this ammo, both for it's 22" micro groove barrel and mag fed bolt action since they don't cycle an auto or feed well in them. Fyi.
If you want more info on any of the above I can go into that.
 
A couple of thoughts:
1) Pyramid Air is the easy button, you can sort guns by loudness and price. They will also test fire YOUR gun for $10 extra, called Ten for Ten, so you get a good one.
2) A rifle will normally be quieter than a pistol and you'll (arguably) be more accurate with a long gun on critters. It's best for the vole or whatever to kill it w/the 1st shot.
3) Quiet costs more than loud. Don't blink or complain, that's the deal.
4) Larger caliber is louder than smaller caliber so .177 may be for you. Stay with pellets not bb's though. BB's shoot through a smooth (not rifled) bore - not accurate.
5) A springer makes a noise upon trigger pull but it's kind of mechanical, not as "gun sounding" to neighbors; it's not as alarming as a pump, pcp, etc.
6) Personally I'd not fit a quieting device to any kind of gun, even a non-firearm. Pay a little extra for a factory made quiet air gun. Stay clear of expensive legal bills later, if the local law enforcers take issue with you modifying a non-quiet "gun" yourself without the (in their view) correct legal paperwork. Better safe than sorry.
 
Have you tried punching them in the face? It is a well known scientific fact that voles will leave bird seed alone if you establish dominance by punching them in the face and/or jimmy.
 
S
Quiet.......................very subjective.
Sure is. I've had a couple of guys say their new silencers made their air rifles "mouse fart quiet" - then they shoot and I'm pretty thoroughly unimpressed. Usually has a direct relation to the number of years a guy has been shooting powder burners. Earpro is only so effective, and macho attitudes about that often lead guys to use inadequate plugs instead of stacking foamy inserts and proper muffs overtop. Or custom Etymotics or the like. Shotgun and bigbore enthusiasts seem especially prone to this sort of exaggerated assessment of their airguns' quiet reports generally, all the more so when suppressed. I've never been a firearms guy, at least not unsuppressed, and have protected my hearing very carefully (except a brief flirtation with punk rock gigs in the 80's), so it seems fairly easy to distinguish between actual mouse farts and something that's just sort of halfway backyard friendly. Honestly, never heard a mouse fart yet, either in nature or from an airgun. But shooting a 20fpe PCP through an oil filter was the quietest mid-power airgun I've heard so far, closely followed by about an 8" long K baffle suppressor on a different 20fpe PCP. Both would be noticed in the same yard or even right next door, but from 50' or further it is doubtful either would be interpreted SSG gunfire of any sort. Even next door if there's a bit of background street noise or people conversing loudly they'd blend in fairly well. But most home made silencers don't give such nice results, pushing that boundary out to maybe 100' before the noise went unnoticed. On a weaker pea shooter, say 8fpe, it's a lot easier to render a very quiet result with relatively primitive washer and spacer type devices.
 
Benjamin Nitro Piston comes with a built-in supressor. It's pretty quiet. The shooter will hear the action, but the down range noise is not bad. But, it is not the most accurate. Mine will go high left 1 1/2" out of a cold barrel and will then put all follow-on shots in a group about 2" at 40 yds. Come with cheap scope and picatinny rail. Easy to "up scope". Use air rifle scope. Reverse recoil will break regular scopes...

But, it got set aside for a QD-78 CO2 rifle - actually two. A bit louder, but tight pattern shooter for say 40 pellets. Then falls off, so you dry fire to exhaust and put in new CO2 carts (2). Single shot bolt. Zero recoil and any scope will work. Nice trigger. Comfortable. Capable. Archer Airguns will test one and ship it running well. http://www.archerairguns.com/QB78-Deluxe-Chinese-Air-Rifle-p/ibqb78d.htm You can buy a suppressor for it from Eastern Europe. I did. It takes a bit off, but it's not mouse fart quiet.

For that I'd use a Blue-Streak pump on 5 pumps. Quite, accurate, capable single shot bolt.
 
How much do you want to spend?

I've shot a lot of critters in my back yard. I've spoken to both neighboring adults and kids to get their thoughts on the noise I make as I perform this task. I shoot from inside my laundry room with roughly 10 inches of barrel out the window.

The break barrel guns are loud (Benjamin NP1, NP2, Crossman TR77). Everyone can hear them. When I shoot out of the back 1st floor window, kids on the front porch of my 2 story house say that when I shoot it sounds like someone dropping a metal rake. If I shoot at one squirrel, every other squirrel in the area runs away.

My Benjamin Marauders are super quiet. They can't hear it on the front porch when it goes off. It sounds to me like the noise you get when you crack open a Coke. PFFffft. My next door neighbor told she could hear the Marauder if she was out back working, but it was really quiet and she didn't know what she was hearing when it went off (she only knew because I told her). The squirrels never alarm on the sound of the Marauder. I once passed a pellet between two dove walking on the ground 12 inches apart, and head shot a squirrel. The two dove, and remaining two squirrels never missed a beat. They just kept on doing what they were doing.

Quiet is subjective, but I did my testing by asking kids and neighbors what they heard and that's what they told me.

I don't know where you live, but in the summer time if you let an animal runoff around here you will have an epic fly problem in short order. Instant kills are a requirement for me, which means head shots, which means accuracy.

Shooting at vols means you want accurate, shooting in your location means you need quiet. To me that means I grab my .177 Marauder PCP rifle. It's not cheap, but it is awesome.
 
You can Get a TKO shroud for a variety of Air rifles. I have crossman 2250 that I bought for $10.00 added a steel breech and a TKO shroud. It is virtually silent. The only thing you hear is the trigger spring. It shoots 22. cal pellet at around 450-500fps.It is equipped with a Bug Buster scope which is fantastic. You can focus down to about 5-10 yards.

 
A couple of thoughts:
1) Pyramid Air is the easy button, you can sort guns by loudness and price. They will also test fire YOUR gun for $10 extra, called Ten for Ten, so you get a good one.
2) A rifle will normally be quieter than a pistol and you'll (arguably) be more accurate with a long gun on critters. It's best for the vole or whatever to kill it w/the 1st shot.
3) Quiet costs more than loud. Don't blink or complain, that's the deal.
4) Larger caliber is louder than smaller caliber so .177 may be for you. Stay with pellets not bb's though. BB's shoot through a smooth (not rifled) bore - not accurate.
5) A springer makes a noise upon trigger pull but it's kind of mechanical, not as "gun sounding" to neighbors; it's not as alarming as a pump, pcp, etc.
6) Personally I'd not fit a quieting device to any kind of gun, even a non-firearm. Pay a little extra for a factory made quiet air gun. Stay clear of expensive legal bills later, if the local law enforcers take issue with you modifying a non-quiet "gun" yourself without the (in their view) correct legal paperwork. Better safe than sorry.

I have been shooting air guns for years, and NO, a quieting device is not illegal. You do not have to pay extra for a factory quiet gun. Most of the factory quiet guns are normally PCP and then of course you are getting up there in money. However there are some great quiet Springer's out there. The Famous Beeman R7/HW30 which most airgun enthusiast own. Extremely quiet, around 78 82 db. Most co2 are about 102 to 116. The Beeman and the HW are basically the same gun. Might run around $350 but can be passed down to future generations. Install a Vortek, Kit will quiet the rifle down even more and THE 22.cal with the Kit is even more Quite. I am personally a "Springer guy" and own a lot of very nice Custom tuned German and English Springers. A good tuner is worth is weight in gold. That said, the Walther LGV I purchased is the most quiet spring I have shot. And it is 22.cal. And the quality is unbelievable. Yes, they will run you around 6 to 8 hundred dollars but worth every Penny. Supreme accuracy.

 
Jeb, some municipalities consider a pellet gun a firearm; depends where you live. In those cases it's risky to suppress an air gun... a personal choice but not mine.

Yes, $350 is worth it for good hardware, you're right. But with respect, $350 is big bucks for many readers. So, it's "expensive". If not for yourself, that's awesome and keep up the good work.
 
Jeb, some municipalities consider a pellet gun a firearm; depends where you live. In those cases it's risky to suppress an air gun... a personal choice but not mine.

Yes, $350 is worth it for good hardware, you're right. But with respect, $350 is big bucks for many readers. So, it's "expensive". If not for yourself, that's awesome and keep up the good work.

I understand what you are saying about different laws with shooting in certain municipalities. As far as cost of Air Rifles, sometimes the low cost of a Bigbox store Crosman can actually cost more in the long run. My first air gun as a adult was a Standard Chines gun that Crosman sells. I forget the Model number, but that gun has dozens of different numbers and Names. I had fun with the rifle, until the cheap parts started to effect the gun. Twangy etc.
However if budget is a concern, then I would go to "Flying Dragon" air guns, buy one from Mike and let him tuned it. A major great entry into nice guns is the German Model 34, It was my first move up into the world of nice guns. I still have that gun and later had it tuned by a notorious great tuner Called MZ.(fortunately he lived close by and we became good friends)
Man that 34 is smooth as silk.It will always be one of my favorites. Nothing fancy, but top notch quality. I think I paid around $220. for it at the time.
Regardless thank you for your reply and always love hearing from a fellow airgunner.
 
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