# Pellet Gun for Squirrels and Rabbits



## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

I would like to get an inexpensive pellet gun that is capable of killing small game. If it ever comes to the point I need to kill something for dinner I would like to have something I am skilled with.

I see some older threads, but nothing in the last couple of years. Any recommendations? I had a pellet gun (pump) as a kid and we used to shoot rats at the dump and along the railroad tracks. Someone stole both my BB gun and my pellet gun from my luggage while I was on a bus trip.


----------



## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

Any of the name brand pump up pellet rifles, will do the job, if you do yours.


----------



## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

honestly a good pellet rifle capable of taking game well now costs more than a budget 22lr 

this is the current version of Blue streak that has been around since the 1950s a 5.5mm pellet and 10 pumps will take a rabbit or similar sized game with good shot placement to about 20 yards 









Benjamin variable-pump air rifle, black synthetic stock | Pyramyd Air


Check out the new, synthetic-stocked Benjamin 392S/397S series multipump air rifles. Learn more at PyramydAir.com.




www.pyramydair.com





a good budget 22lr Buy Savage MKIIF 22 LR AT Online

per round cost on the 22lr is higher but you can take larger game with it also and at greater distance , the mechanicals are simpler

you also have 10 rounds in a magazine and can make follow up shots in under a second and not 30 seconds with a lot of movement and fiddling with tiny pellets 

you just run the bolt get back on target and give it another 

with the right ammo they can be nearly the same noise level


----------



## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

We have used our Crossman American for years, and it has never let us down.


----------



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I have a Crossman but I wouldn't recommend it. The pellets just bounce off the squirrel's hides at 50+ feet. Maybe they were wearing body armor but I never killed a squirrel with that Crossman rifle.

I was thinking of getting a Daisy when Walmart had their special Christman edition. Maybe I will this year.


----------



## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

I have an old Remington bolt action single shot .22, it shoots shorts, longs, and long rifles. You open the bolt and put in one round at a time. With .22 shorts it makes less noise than a pellet gun. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, it was used at summer camps to teach boys and girls how to shoot. I have used it to teach grown men, trigger control, and how to adjust iron sights.


----------



## kinderfeld (Jan 29, 2006)

MoonRiver said:


> I would like to get an inexpensive pellet gun that is capable of killing small game. If it ever comes to the point I need to kill something for dinner I would like to have something I am skilled with.
> 
> I see some older threads, but nothing in the last couple of years. Any recommendations? I had a pellet gun (pump) as a kid and we used to shoot rats at the dump and along the railroad tracks. Someone stole both my BB gun and my pellet gun from my luggage while I was on a bus trip.


I think this is the one my son has. Comes with a scope. Once zeroed in, it's very accurate. Could hunt about anything you'd use a .22 for.


ruger airhawk elite ii .177 pellet, - Google Search


----------



## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

I'm pretty sure Moon lives near neighbors and town. I'd also go with a .177. They are quiet, and they'll kill a pig lights out and from distance if need be, so with anything smaller, you just need to hit it.


----------



## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

GTX63 said:


> I'm pretty sure Moon lives near neighbors and town. I'd also go with a .177. They are quiet, and they'll kill a pig lights out and from distance if need be, so with anything smaller, you just need to hit it.


how big of a pig are we talking and "from distance " how far 25 yards

since I have shot one of the ruger's you linked I am skeptical , they are fast and the will take squirrel and rabbit but with a 7.5gr pellet at 1200fps you still need good shot placement or a squirrel is going to run up that tree and die in a hole you can't get to.

the biggest issue is such a light projectile looses energy so fast


----------



## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

GREENCOUNTYPETE said:


> how big of a pig are we talking and "from distance " how far 25 yards
> 
> since I have shot one of the ruger's you linked I am skeptical , they are fast and the will take squirrel and rabbit but with a 7.5gr pellet at 1200fps you still need good shot placement or a squirrel is going to run up that tree and die in a hole you can't get to.
> 
> the biggest issue is such a light projectile looses energy so fast


Less than 25 yards. I am assuming from Moon's past posts that he lives on a triple lot and that his property is not expansive. When one needs to avoid disturbing neighbors or there are ordinances, I prefer .177 to a bb.


----------



## Robotron (Mar 25, 2012)

Get a pump up gun, no co2 cartridges. Those die when you need it most. I have the blue streak and silver streak models. One 5.5 mm and the other is 22 cal. Finding the right pellet for your gun will be the biggest struggle. Lots a pellets on the market and they all fly different. Take your time sighting in and try different pellets, one of them will be much better, stick with that one. Silver streak was my first hunting gun when I was about 6 years old.


----------



## Big_Al (Dec 21, 2011)

Pony said:


> We have used our Crossman American for years, and it has never let us down.


For the big Norway rats in the stables and feed room, my wife wanted a pellet rifle.
We went to Walmart and bought a budget Crosman .22 caliber. It was about $140 ten or twelve years ago. A spring rifle, not a pump, and it turned out to be too powerful for my wife to cock. It will drive a pellet clean through the 1/2” CDX plywood I used for walls when I built the shed/stable.
I have no doubt this would cleanly kill a squirrel. A rabbit would probably need a head shot.
It’s a nice rifle, made in China of course.
Anyway, because she could not cock it, it is now my back yard pine cone plinker.


----------



## oldasrocks (Oct 27, 2006)

Buy a Hatsan Blitz from Pyramy Air. Full auto pellet gun. Only $999.


----------



## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

be careful many places have ordinances against pellet guns same as powder burning guns know what you can and can't do


----------



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Posted 6/30/22 6:26 A.M. CDST

My multi pump .22 caliber Benjamin and multi pump .177 Crosman 760 have both done me well for 50 years with my gunsmith resealing the pump chambers for me once as he has resealed chambers on other pump air rifles that began losing pressure holding capability.

He said that while both could take small game with a pellet, when he reworked the air cylinder on my .22 Bengi , he reminded me that it was better for small game being a .22 and having a rifled barrel where the Crosman is smooth bore and better for short range..

My youth size air rifles look a bit odd now that I modified adult stocks for them for my comfort now but I keep them stored with my other long guns.

Few folks now realize that one of the first air rifles carried for small game taking was a 20 shot air rifle on the Lewis and Clark expedition.


----------



## nj709 (4 mo ago)

A little late to the conversation but, if you are still looking, I submit the following: I have a Gamo. It is a .177 Springer and came with a scope. Good accurate rifle and IIRC cost about $200. Works very well on small game. It likes the 10.5 gr pellets - not accurate with the lighter ones. Good as my 22 LRs out to 20 yards or so. Powerful enough for raccoons.


----------



## 012345 (6 mo ago)

I bought my wife a Henry Golden Boy .22 and with silent rounds it is actually quieter than our pellet gun and can hold close to 18 rounds. When I say it is quiet ... I would not even equate the sound it makes as a gun at all. More of a "tink" vs. "bang".


----------



## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

HillFun said:


> I bought my wife a Henry Golden Boy .22 and with silent rounds it is actually quieter than our pellet gun and can hold close to 18 rounds. When I say it is quiet ... I would not even equate the sound it makes as a gun at all. More of a "tink" vs. "bang".


they have a new 45gr 835fps cci quiet out now they call them Quiet-22 Semi Auto 
only a tiny bit louder than the 710fps 40gr but cycles the action on many 10/22 , they are louder with the action cycling than with a bolt or lever and it is the difference between 45fpe and 70 fpe


----------

