is a .22 caliber pellet rifle too powerful for my backyard?

[vash]

i havent bought one yet. i question the power. i need one to dispatch grey squirrels destroying my garden. having it on camping/hunting trips would be cool too. i can shoot wild turkeys legally with one here in california. spring is in the air, and i saw the first ground squirrel sunning in the neighborhood.

but i hesitate because slinging a .22 projectile seems really unresponsible. my wooden fence couldnt possibly stop it.

maybe a .177 is better suited? i guess i can buy one cheapo Crosman .177, and buy a second .22 for the wild yonder..

[scottmandue]

I have .22 pump pistol... I wasn't able to find a way to stop the pellets in my backyard.

YMMV

[porsche4life]

I have a cheap daisy .177 and normal fence planks won't catch the pellets....

[Jeff Higgins]

A .22 caliber pellet rifle is no more "powerful" than the same model in .177 caliber. Pellet rifle power is entirely dependent upon the "engine", be it a big spring in a spring-air gun, the reservoir in a pneumatic gun and its "exhaust valve's" ability to open against pressure and fully evacuate that reservoir, etc. Caliber has nothing to do with it, other than bigger bores using the available "engine" a bit more efficiently, but not enough so to really notice.

The .22 will be far better for backyard pest control. The bigger pellet will smack 'em noticeably harder. And, believe it or not, it will probably have less penetration than a .177 in harder targets, like your wood fence, due to its greater frontal area.

[911mnypt]

Use mine all the time, anything from rats to cats...this one was barley legal. Neighbors sometimes ask what that popping sound was though...

[scottmandue]

To add... I thought of getting a hay bale but not easy to find in my urban area.

Vash, your in the city right? A miss on one of your target s could wind up with some very unhappy neighbors (broken windows etc)

and

You'll put your eye out!!!

[vash]

thanks jeff..makes sense.

911mnypt, is that a sheridan? what caliber?

i think i am gonna order one soon, while my wife is laid out with the flu.

[vash]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

To add... I thought of getting a hay bale but not easy to find in my urban area.

Vash, your in the city right? A miss on one of your target s could wind up with some very unhappy neighbors (broken windows etc)

and

You'll put your eye out!!!

this would be my nightmare.

it would be cool if the rodents stood still in front of my compost pile..(like my chickens do)..but that would be dreaming.

in texas, we had rock walls..they could stop a .357.

[911mnypt]

Originally Posted by vash

thanks jeff..makes sense.

911mnypt, is that a sheridan? what caliber?

i think i am gonna order one soon, while my wife is laid out with the flu.

Yes its a Sheridan .20 cal, I have had it for about 20 years and had it gone through once along with re-finishing the stock.

[Tim Hancock]

Vash, if you are simply looking to cheaply shoot some tiny varmints, why not just about anywhere and pick up a good old Crossman 760 pump gun. It will shoot bb's and .177 pellets and with only few pumps (instead of the max of ten), you have the ability to limit the power vs a more expensive air rifle that only gets one cocking motion for full power. Hell... I still have my old crossman 760 from when I was a kid and I have used it on several somewhat recent occasions to dispatch small "sick kitten" or chipmunk sized varmints on our wood deck with head shots. I even shot a mouse in my shop with it.

By using pellets vs bb's, you will reduce the chance for ricochets causing damage, but always wear some glasses when doing this close in kind of work.

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by 911mnypt

Use mine all the time, anything from rats to cats...this one was barley legal. Neighbors sometimes ask what that popping sound was though...

100 years from now your future kin are going to get a kick out of that photo.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by 911mnypt

Use mine all the time, anything from rats to cats...this one was barley legal. Neighbors sometimes ask what that popping sound was though...

A man after my own heart. Here is my '62 Blue Streak (rebuilt by MAC1 Airguns) and my late '70's pistol. Sheridans, and their .20 caliber pellets, make for a great backyard pest control combination.

[911mnypt]

Living next door to a 10 acre pasture is varmint central...

[porsche4life]

Get you a JRT.... No more varmint problems...

[911mnypt]

Jeff, are you sure those are not opossums? Thats a big rat...

[A930Rocket]

That dog is looking at the big rat like it's a chicken dinner....

Originally Posted by 911mnypt

Living next door to a 10 acre pasture is varmint central...

[A930Rocket]

I have a pump pellet gun I bought at Wal-Mart to get rid of the squirrels in the back yard. Sounds like a .22, but did the job on about 25 of them. Mamma and the kids weren't happy seeing me dump them in the empty lot next door. Didn't take long for their friends to find empty spot.

[ODDJOB UNO]

what NO ONE MENTIONED...................is if YOU live anywhere in the city limits, county limits with laws forbidding the shooting of a firearm.........................YOU could be in DEEP DOO DOO! ask me how i know?????



yeah i have a real nonstop 24/7/365 rain snow heat fog VARMINT PROBLEM!




one sunday morning i get up at about 530am, have my cup o joe. mr snuggles still inside farting. i see this damn rat. i grab rws 52 and start slinging lead. maybe 3 rds and got em on the 4th.


think nothing of it. still buzzing around in my shorts hair going sideways looking and feeling my best.



all of a sudden here come (2) sharriffs. WTF? yep so i go outside. they ask me if i have been shooting firearm, i state "NO" why? then i stated(waived rights) i did just shoot a rat. grabbed rat(evidence), and proceeded to explain the 8x10 glossy photos w/ a paragraph on the back of each one in 4 part harmony.


after this B.S. with this rookie and his sidekick rookie hard assing me about shooting a firearm in county limits. i finally grabbed my ID and showed him my AZ CCW license and things kind of mellowed out. apparently lil ol lady was outside with her foo foo kick dawg and heard the pellet rifle go off and called the cops.



what a JOKE! what a PITA explaining to these (2) rookies i wasnt on a psycho shooting spree!



sooooooooooo.......................with that in mind, and since this episode of boofoonary, and the "clown i am NOT an attorney" moving in, and the old lady moving out.



well when we have to do the dirty deed on a freeking hanta-virus carrying/plague infected freeking vermint, that make mr snuggles and my life miseerable..................................



we turn the stereo up.................and proceed to start blasting with either the rws 52 or the rws pistol depending on range and how much effort i want to put forward.


we also have cut lil "combat-sniper" holes in the screens to facilitate accurate shots with the windows slightly open and the blinds closed.



a pellet/bb rifle- pistol IS A FIREARM!

[aigel]

I have a .22 Benjamin pump pellet gun and it used to put a lot of tree squirrels in my gumbo back when I used to live in the countryside! Tree squirrels are pretty hearty but the pellets would knock them dead even if the projectile didn't always penetrate into any vitals, i.e. a shot to the shoulder would kill them.

The pellet of this gun does definitely not penetrate a wood fence. Like Jeff mentions, the penetration of the pellet is hampered by the larger diameter.

So, off you go - get the .22!

G

[krystar]

airguns's are not federally classified as a firearm. they do not follow same rules as true firearms. airgun violations are nothing more than a misdemeanor slap on the wrist for MOST areas. of course some areas are gonna be nazi about it (chicago, nyc, etc)

however if u commit a crime by posing an airgun as a true firearm (ala holding up a gas station with a bb gun), it's still counts as a firearm crime.