Air rifle for pest control

[Sniper 79]

Most gun folk already have a .22lr. Instead of spending a bundle on another pea shooter use your .22lr and shoot Aquila Super Colibri. They are good out to 30yrds. I have killed all sorts of critters with them. Pretty quiet and they also offer a regular Colibri that is a little quieter and not as hot. They are basically a 22 cal pellet crimped in a 22lr shell and fire off the primer.

I know others use CB caps as well with good luck on those birds. My grandpa used to use a sling shot with aquarium gravel. Worked decent and kept them away for awhile.

 

[cobber]

Starlings or grackles? I have a flock of the latter that, having forgotten they are a migratory species, find my backyard bird feeder a fine place to violate social distancing.

Grackles are native species and might be protected, although I wouldn't call them songbirds.

 

[Mgderf]

Several years ago I bought a springer at an auction.
I hadn't planned on buying one. It just called to me when I saw it on the table prior to the auction.
It's a Mendoza brand .22cal. Yes, Mendoza, the same Mendoza family that ran the drug cartel in Mexico, just another "arm" of the family.

It's heavy, and loud, but deadly accurate.
It looked brand new. If it had been fired you couldn't tell.
It also doesn't seem picky about ammo brand at all. At least not that I can tell.
I think I gave $110 for it, and I'm glad I did.

I have no idea how hard it might be to find a Mendoza, but they are worth the coin if you do find one.

I also have a Crosman .177 springer. It's o.k., but if I pick up an airgun these days, it always seems to be the Mendoza.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Gamo whisper fusion elite behind the washing machine wearing a Nikon 2-7. I can keep all shots touching at 25y.

.22 or .177, and if .177 what ammo are you using?

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Most gun folk already have a .22lr. Instead of spending a bundle on another pea shooter use your .22lr and shoot Aquila Super Colibri. They are good out to 30yrds. I have killed all sorts of critters with them. Pretty quiet and they also offer a regular Colibri that is a little quieter and not as hot. They are basically a 22 cal pellet crimped in a 22lr shell and fire off the primer.

I know others use CB caps as well with good luck on those birds. My grandpa used to use a sling shot with aquarium gravel. Worked decent and kept them away for awhile.

Well, BBI may be facing legal restrictions. Some ordinances allow air guns but not firearms. Considering what BBI does for a living, I imagine he want to follow the code.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

.22 or .177, and if .177 what ammo are you using?

I use Silver Jets. Bought a bunch as a kid after reading Mel Tappan's book and bought a dozen tins at an Indy show several years ago.

If cannot find, my brother uses H&N copper domed pellets in .177. Great effect on chipmonks and pest birds.

 

[Twangbanger]

Gamo whisper fusion elite behind the washing machine wearing a Nikon 2-7. I can keep all shots touching at 25y.

Did you mean "all shots touching every other shot," or "all shots touching one large ragged group?" I don't want to sound skeptical, because you may just have a really good gun, or be a better shooter than me. But those two terms don't mean anywhere near the same thing, and the latter almost always becomes true if you shoot enough pellets. If I have a Beeman R9, which is a German-made springer that cost over $400 new, and even with premium pellets it won't do that. Most people I know who are serious about airguns (way more serious than me) find they can't get any kind of springer to perform like that, either.

Just curious, not trying to be confrontational. I have found spring guns to be loud, vibrate a lot, and nowhere near as accurate at 25yd. as hoped. If that gun delivers good performance for $265, it might get me to take a look.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

To everyone who actually addressed the questions asked, thanks for your input.

Churchmouse hooked me up with a bone collector in .177 but I need to find pellets it likes which is a challenge with the shutdown in effect. It does *not* like the little sabot crossman pellets. I think they are too light and I can see that they are tumbling. It's good enough for real close in work but I'm sure the gun is much more capable then this. I ordered 3 different types of pellets online to see which it prefers.

 

[Chase515]

.22 or .177, and if .177 what ammo are you using?

Rws power ball .177 diablo, weight says .61 g /9.4gr. I shoot it off a bag or tripod when going for accuracy. Its a awesome pellet gun. It's taken many squirrels and my daughter shoots it almost as well as I do. She can keep shots touching off the bag also.

To Twangbanger all shots touching not one ragged hole I printed up a couple targets with 1" dots I'll shoot and post up. I was planning on going to the range this week to work on dots with my handgun. 5 yards Cold start no warm up shots draw and fire 1 round on 25 1" dots with reload. Goal is no more than 3 shots out side the dot and add 2 seconds for missed shot. Ultimate goal is to get into 30 second time frame. I've got some work to do to get there. Also will be taking a new Ir light and getting it pointing in the right direction on a coyote rig.

 

[DadSmith]

My dad used a pellet gun for crow problems. He got to the point he couldn't pump the rifle without a lot of shoulder pain. So I introduced him to cci cb 22lr rounds segmented. I can't hear much of anything, but he tells me they are no louder than his old pellet gun. He lives in the country no city regulations but he didn't want to disturb mom while shooting on the back porch that might be an option for you. Not sure what the law says about it in your area. I bet you know though lol.

Off topic a little but I wonder why cities do not allow coyote control via shooting them while running around in the city? Do police officers get called to dispose of them or can you shoot them if they are attacking the family pet in your back yard?

 

[freekforge]

I'm building up a 1377 into a starling slayer it's already killed dozens but Im adding a stock and going to change out some internals. The base gun was like 50 dollars.

 

[freekforge]

Dadsmith I've had plenty of calls about coyotes in town unfortunately I missed out taking one with the Glock Everytime

 

[DadSmith]

Dadsmith I've had plenty of calls about coyotes in town unfortunately I missed out taking one with the Glock Everytime

I've often wondered about what is being done. I seen several in Columbus the other day When I was going through town headed to Bloomington. I was shocked to see them so boldly waking in town.

 

[patience0830]

To everyone who actually addressed the questions asked, thanks for your input.

Churchmouse hooked me up with a bone collector in .177 but I need to find pellets it likes which is a challenge with the shutdown in effect. It does *not* like the little sabot crossman pellets. I think they are too light and I can see that they are tumbling. It's good enough for real close in work but I'm sure the gun is much more capable then this. I ordered 3 different types of pellets online to see which it prefers.

Sorry BBI. I gave it my best effort. I figure starlings deserve our best effort and I've never had a springer OR a pump air rifle that was consistently minute of starling out past about 30 ft.

 

[Twangbanger]

Rws power ball .177 diablo, weight says .61 g /9.4gr. I shoot it off a bag or tripod when going for accuracy. Its a awesome pellet gun. It's taken many squirrels and my daughter shoots it almost as well as I do. She can keep shots touching off the bag also.

To Twangbanger all shots touching not one ragged hole I printed up a couple targets with 1" dots I'll shoot and post up. I was planning on going to the range this week to work on dots with my handgun. 5 yards Cold start no warm up shots draw and fire 1 round on 25 1" dots with reload. Goal is no more than 3 shots out side the dot and add 2 seconds for missed shot. Ultimate goal is to get into 30 second time frame. I've got some work to do to get there. Also will be taking a new Ir light and getting it pointing in the right direction on a coyote rig.

Here is a video review of the base rifle I think you're talking about. I'm not sure if this is the exact same as yours, and it's about $100 over BBI's price point, however it does come with a scope at that price.

The review looks impressive. (I would have been inclined to get the .22 model to stay subsonic, but the reviewer said with normal ~9 grain .177 pellets it's under 900. So that fits my needs and I already have tons of pellets in that caliber).

I was not up to speed on gas-ram guns, but for what this costs, I'm inclined to give it a shot. Thanks for the tip!​

[video=youtube;gm5g3MXAKT8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm5g3MXAKT8[/video]

 

[churchmouse]

Sorry BBI. I gave it my best effort. I figure starlings deserve our best effort and I've never had a springer OR a pump air rifle that was consistently minute of starling out past about 30 ft.

I have done head/neck shots at 20 yards with that rifle on any number of critters Including rats but never a starling. I gave BBI some of the pellets he mentioned to try as I have never ran them. After he said they were not on point I ran some I had in both mine and no, they suck. Who knew.....

 

[churchmouse]

Dadsmith I've had plenty of calls about coyotes in town unfortunately I missed out taking one with the Glock Everytime

WE have a local pack of them around here. They walk around like they live here.

Oh yeah....they do.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Sorry BBI. I gave it my best effort. I figure starlings deserve our best effort and I've never had a springer OR a pump air rifle that was consistently minute of starling out past about 30 ft.

CM stated he had good results with this one with other pellets, and he's never given me reason to doubt his word.

As for the ethics side bar, I left them alone when they were just eating my suet. That peace ended when they started trying to evict the native birds in my bird houses, tearing out nesting material and harassing the occupants. The speed at which I could procure a safe and legal way to eliminate them then became a strong consideration. I'm not waiting 3-4 weeks for something to be delivered before I address this issue.

 

[Thor]

I've had good luck with the Crossman Hunting .177 pointed pellets fired out of a Walther Force 1000 magnum springer. Took a good sized Marmot with it at 20yds.

 

[Skywired]

Most gun folk already have a .22lr. Instead of spending a bundle on another pea shooter use your .22lr and shoot Aquila Super Colibri. They are good out to 30yrds. I have killed all sorts of critters with them. Pretty quiet and they also offer a regular Colibri that is a little quieter and not as hot. They are basically a 22 cal pellet crimped in a 22lr shell and fire off the primer.

Agreed. I've used both. Very effective. Regular Colibri fired in a rifle is no louder than snapping your fingers. Silent but deadly