Air Rifles for Squirrel

Any of you folks hunt squirrels with air rifles? If so, what caliber pellets and FPS are typically considered ethical or practical?

Not an expert but I like to use a .22 caliber pellet. This is for around the house plinking on varmits. You can get by with less fps in a .22. In .177 I believe they recommend at least 1000 fps. I think my .22 is around d 700 or so. Does good at 20 or 30 yards.

Thanks sounds good.

So in general, as opposed to using a .22LR rifle, would you say it shortens your effective shooting range around 20-30 yards?

I would say yes. I use a .177 at 1200fps and keep in the 30 yardish range.

I used 177 or 22, theyll both waylayy squirrels if i was gonna buy a new rifle id buy a hatsan 125 sniper 25cal. Cant beat the price or the quality. An they will exceed their fps rating and will actually be accurate and stay accurate. For a break barrel gun they are nice. The most accurate guns are gonna be your pcp's an they are pricey. OR 22 short would be my personal preference.

I bought a Benjamin Titan in the .22 cal last year to shoot squirrels in my yard. I kill them out to about 40 yards pretty regularly, and it's only shooting 950 fps

I have a Gamo silent cat that I shoot them with. It's a 177 and not loud for neighbors.

I've got a Benjamin 392 in 22 cal. It will put a squirrel down in a hurry. The exit wound is impressive.

Pellet weight is important with a .177, what're you guys using?

Killed tons of em as a kid with a Benjamin 22. I imagine any of the new ones will do a good job on a tree rat.

I shot 2 around the house using 7.8gr Red Fires. Both less than 50', both good shots, and both got back up and ran off. Bought some 10.9gr pellets, and they started staying down.

If you don't want to buy a pellet rifle and own a .22, buy some CCI Quiet 22lr. They are running 710 fps. No difference from a pellet rifle.

The 22 quiets are a 40gr bullet, what does a quality 22 pellet weigh 10-20gr? If noise isn't a big problem they're great for 50yd squirrel size targets. They're a little louder than any pellet gun I've shot, much quieter than regular 22 subs though.

The ones I'm shooting are 14.3 grn

My neighbor's dog was getting in my garbage, his owner's garbage and owner's father's garbage, they wanted him gone. He was a 75-80 lb mutt. Well one day my neighbor comes over and his dog shows up, gets in my garbage and he says shoot him. I didn't want to kill his dog so I got my .22 with the 710 fps .22 quiets, yelled at the dog and when he ran off I lobbed one in him at 70 yards (later confirmed with range finder) it made a thump and he ran home yelping. When my neighbor got home ole Rover was on the porch DEAD! The bullet hit him in the paunch and penetrated up toward his liver, no blood at all.

Lonster

Holy hell batman

Holy crap.

That dog was meant to be killed.

Those .22 quiet are deadly haven't seen that big of an animal killed personally but I believe it. Knock a squirrel down like a brick

The 22 Quiet have much more kill power than a typical 22 pellet due to 4x bullet weight and a solid projectile (more penetration) but accuracy has been sketchy in my rifles... lots of flyers. That said, the segmented HP quiets that are rare as hens teeth make excellent back yard armadillo nullifiers. Accuracy is not as important with close range footballs as your target.

I shot a squirrel with a .22 short in my front yard, one day, maybe 15-18 yds or so away, not far anyway. He was in a big white oak and froze when he saw me. I shot for the head, and he never flinched, so I shot again, for between the shoulder blades...he still never flinched. I sat there and watched him for about 20 seconds, then walked over to the tree with the intention of getting closer and shooting him again. Finally, as I got to the base of the tree, he fell at my feet...hole in the noggin and a hole between the shoulder blades...just took him awhile to let go of the tree, I guess!

Don't see a weight but they are destroyer EX

The Destroyer EX is a 7.9 gr pellet, too.

177 OR 22 WILL KNOCK EM DOWN!

Anyone ever try CB caps in a 22?

Yes and they wont kill a cat... so I have heard from a friend

Shooting the cat in the wrong place.

they'll kill a deer...

Maybe im thinking of the aquilla rounds. come to think of it that's what im thinking of

I use a walmart special crossman F4 that ran about 80 bucks with a no name crappy scope. It works really well out to about 40 yards. I was surprised, I just bought it because it's one of those you can leave cocked. It's not quite as accurate as it was new but I've put two or three hundred pellets through it and never cleaned it or oiled it or anything.

It still shoots about a half dollar at 40 yards with crossman hunting pellets. 7.4 gr and .177

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Crosman-Exclu...aliber/53968155