Is this enough to kill a squirrel?

T

twoblink

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p3.jpg

http://www.beeman.com/p3.htm

A beeman P3. .177 caliber, 410 fps, 2.4 fp of energy.

Is this enough to kill a squirrel? I don't want to kill it, just want it to stop eating all my flowers and everything else. All my plants in my patio are dead. I pelt it with the soft pellets all day long, but it sits there and laughs at me. So I'm thinking, maybe something a bit more sting, but won't kill it? I don't want it to break the flesh or anything, just you know, "discourage" it from eating my flowers...

Plus, I need an excuse to buy this gun. I've wanted one for so long. Now I can answer the question, "are the inaccuracies due to the gun, bullet, or me?" I have a feeling it's due to me, but we'll see with an airgun...

Albert
 
Last spring our local tree rat population chewed through about $30 worth of the wife's bird feeders, and most of her flowers in the back yard. An old-fashioned Daisy BB gun didn't faze them, so, back to Wally World for a Crosman 760 pellet rifle.

I had no intention of killing them, but thought a "swift kick" in the rump area might make them think other yards were greener. I've settled on four strokes of the pump lever, with .177 pellets, which is a little less than the 410 you've quoted. It gets their attention, and most don't need a second experience. The max on this gun is 10 strokes, which the pamphlet says will deliver 490-570 fps, and it has turned one toes up, as though he was hit with a high speed .22 HP.

Another feature of friendly wittle squirrels - if they become too familiar with your dwelling, and don't feel threatened, they may decide to become upstairs tenants in your attic. THAT can get expensive. Unlike regular rats, they don't seem to know enough not to chew on wiring.:eek:
 
go find your old mace and spray your flowers, they'll stop munching for sure. did this to my mulch beds the area cats liked to stick their butts in. They stopped coming around. or just spray the squirrel directly. Another thought what about a 22lr shotshell?
 
Well, talk about getting overly serious about a non-serious issue. As with other firearms, there are several factors, one of which is definite shot placement. In another thread, the NAA mini revolvers are being debated as "better than nothing" firearms to carry. The point here is that with proper shot placement, the pistol you have pictured or a Daisy single pump old fashioned BB gun could take out a squirrel, but unless shot placement is right on, probably not.

Your best bet is to go with a BB rifle, whether you shoot BBs or .177 pellets. As with other firearms, penetration is the key. Plus with the rifle, you can do a lot better with shot accuracy. Growing up, I had a Daisy Powerline 880 and my brother had the 881 with a rifled barrel. He always shot better than me, but he put a scope on his and could hit just about anything he wanted, where he wanted, out to 30 yards when firing fully pumped rounds. I just had iron sights and no rifling. I could, however, hit a squirrel at that disance. My brother could pick what part of the squirrel he wanted to hit.

With the pistol, you won't get the long axis aiming precision as you would with a rifle, even if the pistol is suitably accurate for the task. The best shots are going to be head shots, followed by shots to the upper chest cavity, much like you would shoot a deer. You need to have sufficient power to penetrate fur, hide, and some bone structure including the shoulderblade and ribs on the torso. A head shot will not encounter as much bone as the shoulder/torso shot. Squirrels don't have very massive skull structures.

Look at it this way, the squirrels will continue to do damage. That initial $30 cost you were out for damage will be matched again. Spend a little money on a good BB/.177 pellet rifle that can be pumped to high pressure and it will pay for itself in short order as long as you don't end up shooting the neighbor's windows or pets. Plus, they are a lot of fun to shoot.
 
I use the 760 Crossman with 9 to 10 pumps to kill the tree rats. Had a couple get in my attic and chew up some wiring, almost set the house on fire. I was more fortunate than a couple of my neighbors. One had a tree rat eat through a PVC water line in an upstairs bathroom. Cost him a couple of thousand to renovate both the upstairs bathroom, ceiling, bathroom below and floor. Another neighbor had one of the varmints chew through some wiring, similar to my experience, but it set his house on fire.

Interesting enough, both the neighbors had given me a hard time about shooting the squirrels (I can at least spell 'tree rat') until they sustained damage by the little boogers. Now, they are out with their Crossman's too.
 
Squirells are MUCH tougher than cottontail rabbits!

No a BB at 400 FPS is not going to do much more than wound.

I suggest a scoped Crossman 2200 Magnum air rifle, with the Daisy .22 pellets.

Even with the more powerful airgun SHOOT FOR THE HEAD!

A rabbit can be dropped with a pellet gun chest shot but a squirell will run off and die somewhere else.

To see the toughness difference think about how hard a squirell is the clean for dinner. You can just tear the guts out of a rabbit with your bare hands, a squirell requires a knife!
 
Just kill the blasted things. Leave them out for the hawks, crows and buzzards, they will not go to waste.

Use any pellet gun and aim for the head or ribs. Use CB's in a 22 rimfire rifle and it may be even quiter than the pellet gun. Aim for the ribs with CB's. After a while you will only have true wild squirrels around that only eat nuts, not birdseed. Every spring you will have the eliminate the new dumb young ones that don't learn.

This can be fun.
 
Shoot 'em in the head with it.

Sure, that's plenty if you shoot 'em right in the earhole. That's how to properly hunt for squirrels anyway. Of course, I'm using a Ruger 10/22. With a pellet pistol, that might be a lot harder. But it you hit them in the earhole, you will make a clean, humane kill, and you won't spoil any of the meat. Hit 'em anywhere else and it will just hurt really bad. Squirrels are very tough. The first time I ever when squirrel hunting I used a 12 ga. shotgun with No.6 shot. I shot the little booger three times and he still didn't die. I had to squish his head with my foot to finish him off. :barf: From that day on, I used .22LR for squirrels.
 
If you're looking for an excuse to get the pistol, then the answer is yes. It might kill 'em, but probably not. Especially if you can't hit 'em with it. If you buy it, and it doesn't work well, then you'll have an excue to buy that neat pellet rifle.
 
If I read your post correctly, you want to chase the squirrel away without hurting it.

Almost any pellet or BB gun (including the Beeman P3) has the potential to wound or kill a small animal.

Even pumped only once, a pump up gun can draw blood if it hits a spot where the skin is drawn tight over a bone. Saw this happen once to a small dog--the man who did it was horrified. He was sure that his BB gun was harmless at one pump--the BB hit the puppy on the 'knuckle' of one paw right over the bone and split the skin.

If you want to chase the squirrel away without harming it, you might try a paintball gun. They sting, but aren't likely to injure the squirrel as long as you don't hit it in the eyes.

Pepper spray, or ground up pepper will probably keep them away from your garden.

One other option. Since you need an excuse to buy the P3. Beeman sells felt cleaning pellets. At close range they will probably sting, but are harmless from a gun like the P3. I think you should get the gun and the cleaning pellets just to see if it will work. :D
 
I would get the pellet pistol for plinking and visit your local Farm and Feed store for a live trap. The trap ol Mr Squirrel and relocate him. Simple enough eh?...I know..yeah right!

I really don't think that plinking at him is going to really discourage him just short of killing him. It takes a lot to drive an animal away from a reliable food source.

Another suggestion is to set up a squirrel feeder to lure Mr Squirel away from your treasured flowers. A liberal dusting of cayenne pepper can further discourage you furry freind.

A wrist rocket is also pretty good if you can shoot one. A good sized marble can set Mr Squirrel on his backside and have him reconsidering his grocery list.

Good Luck with the Squirrel
RED
 
when I was younger, I used to hunt squirrels with a break action(spring) .177 cal pellet gun. It did 495fps... it would kill squirrels deader than fried chicken with one shot(head or body). That 410fps you have listed will probably do him in... and they don't ussually drop dead, but do the funky chicken for about 10 seconds... you neighbors might take notice to that. Get a "live trap" and ship him off to buffalo. :)
 
Bro,
I say don't screw around with this one. Breakout the Rem 870, load it with #6 birdshot, afix the sure-fire foreguard/light, and fire up grill 'cause we're havin a "Q!"

:p

Mike
 
I don't particuarly like hunting, or killing animals in general.
Having said that, I think nothing short of a L.A.W. rocket launcher will solve your problem.
Wait till he gets by your house, get across the street, and just aim for your house.
Actually, do the squirrel a favor, and don't get across the street when you fire.
 
With a squirrel you have 2 choices. Catch it in a have-a-heart type trap and dispose of it where/however you will, or kill it. They are persistent and won't be detered for long even by catching a BB in the butt -- and by the way I agree with some others -- that can result in a mortal wound that will cause a lot of suffering.

BigMike has the best solution. If a shotgun's too loud in your neighborhood, get more powerful pellet gun (Sheridan in .20 cal) or use ..22 CB Shorts. You will need it because as soon as you get rid of this one another will take it's place, then another, etc.

As a rule .177 will do in a red squirrel but you need somethong bigger for a grey (even with e.g., a Diana-like gun at 1000fps).

Hey BigMike. I never ate squirrel - any good?
 
Wow.. that thing looks like a hybrid Glock/Vektor, kinda cool.

Most air pistols don't have the cajones for pest control, unlike say a .177 cal beeman air rifle. However a REAL GOOD cheap backyard varminter are the numerous Norinco air rifles for sale at your local gun show. For around $40 you are looking at a BB gun with some REAL zing. (translation DON'T shoot your self with it) You can easily bust a squirrel with it.

Now if your intent is to drive away, rather than be lethal to these pesky rodenti, I'd suggest pepper spray or other 'ground treatment' of your garden rather than splitting the lethal/non lethal hairs on air weaponry. Then again, a full auto air soft AK-47 hopped up to 400 fps MIGHT get a squirrel's attention, and it looks cool.
 
Twoblink, I saw the gun you have pictured in the Cabela's catalog. It says it is a CO2 cartridge gun. I don't think that is a good way to go since the velocities of the rounds start to trail off after a few shots. Your 410 fps won't last for many shots.
 
Perhaps you could enlist on of the foxes that live just out of my back yard (I live in the central part of Colorado Springs). Using only the weapons God gave him (stealth, quickness, and accuracy), last week he killed the squirrel so quickly it was over before we knew it was going on and he left with his dead prize. I'm sure it was painless.
Back to the question, though. You can get .177 pellets in pointed, hollow point, and wadcutter versions. My P1 Magnum will kill with pointed pellets at 650 fps but will just discourage with wadcutters at 450 fps, at least in my experience. :rolleyes: :D
 
I've had tree rat problem for years, until I got a two year old german shepherd bitch. She sits under the oak tree like a statue and waits on the TRs to get low enough. Then bam, its usually over quick. She has had 6 confirmed kills in the past year. Hey, does that make her an ace??
 
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