RE shooting blackbirds off a wire, in retrospect, it does look like a bad idea. I was like 50 feet away, so I was not likely to mangle the wire, but if I had, I think the tar and feathers would have come out.
That Benjamin looks neat, but that's a lot of money for an air rifle.
Honestly the way i look at it (and this is from a saftey perspective also as ive seen more dumb stuff done with airguns, and bows for that mater, than any firearms) is that for 400 bucks your buying a very accurate, insanely quiet .22 short.
Its just as lethal as its powder driven counterpart, and deserves the same respect. Its also way quieter, and easier to get ammo for.
Another neat feature of most pcps is that they have velocity adjustments. To some degree or other you can reduce or increase velocity to suite your needs.
Ammo types can also be varied to improve performance in specific areas. You want decent wack but less travel and penetration, go to a light wadcutter. Better down range perfromance? a heavier domed. The faster rifles can even make the hollow points expand.
Something larger than a rat, squirrel, or pigeon? Try a pcp specific heavy. Some of those from the most powerful .22pcps will come surprisingly close to a .22lr.
The major downside is fills, or pumping. I got out of pcps a while ago because getting 3k+ fills here is difficult. So much so that i almost bought a high pressure compressor and booster unit.
Pumping them works but i found it better to top every 10-20shots than shoot the gun dry and start again.
I honestly hadnt even considered the shotgun as an option, guess that shows my locational perspective lol. Shotguns are for birds!
That actually sounds like the best on hand option to me now. If the neighbors are ok with it.