Is this enough to kill a squirrel?

Most tell me that 1000fps from a pellet gun/rifle is "humane" territory, and less than that, I shouldn't be doing it.

It's tough. My Ruger 10/22 was DESIGNED for this guy, but living in an urban area, and being a responsible gun owner, .22LR's aren't an option.. (Sucks)

The little guy has been MIA for 2 days now. Maybe he got the message, but I doubt it. I have a feeling I'll be getting a visit from him today..

I've ran through about 200 soft pellets thus far on this guy. So he's got a seriously bruised butt, but the soft pellets don't break skin by any stretch of the imagination, and yep, squirrels make rabbits look like sissys.

I think I'm going to head down to Beeman's right now. Maybe there will be a pistol AND a rifle in my future today... No DROSing, no waiting period, pay and go. I love pellet guns...

Albert
 
Gee, I hate to sound like a wuss, but ever since we found two hewpwess baby squiwwews in ouw fwont yawd (enough Elmer already) and raised them to adulthood, then let them go, I can't help but love 'em.... SO, Try getting a squirrel feeder, and keep some squirrel food or corn or some such other junk in it. Even dogfood will work. Keep it on the other side of the yard from the flowers. Heck, even better, get a DOG! A little dog like a fox terrier or a boston terrier... they LOVE chasing squirrels.

I've also been told that a lazer pointer will run 'em off, but I don't know about that.

But hey, if you guyz wanna kill 'em, you have that right! ;)
 
I read in a old gun digest, I think it was '83 that it was desired to have 500 fps when the pellet hit the "target" to stay humane. I used to double team the little rodents in my parents income providing nut tree's with a freind we would swap duties up but always one with paint ball gun for "flushing" and another with scoped pellet gun for "accelerating" their departure with a swift shot to back side. Have some great memories of pink tree rat moving about 30 mph away from us.:D
 
gyp_c2, why is it so hard to believe?

Squirrel, guns, ballistics, humanity questions, property protection vs. taking of a life debate, it's got all the makings of a good gun debate, no? :D

Plus, like other people say, it seems like a very stupid topic until you have to deal with squirrels eating everything under the sun, then it's not so funny anymore.

Add to it the fact that all local squirrels here have Bubonic, and it really stops being funny really fast...

I had over 50+ carnations... now I have 0. Is that funny? I don't think so..

Albert
 
That certainly is a quality air pistol. I own the Beeman P1 which I believe shoots at slightly higher velocity than the one you mention. I shot a chipmunk with it at about 10 yards using one of the Beeman HP pellets. It penetrated both sides with nice expansion. I also made an honest 50 yard shot on a chipmunk which blew the chipmunk off the railroad tie but it ran away after it got it's wits together. I have shot numerous pigions from an apartment window to the adjacent roof. I always got one shot kills on them. That spring/air pistol is head and shoulders above the pneumatic rifles mentioned. The quality comparison is like comparing a Raven to a Colt Python. I have a bullet trap that I use to shoot my P1 in the house. The P1 has a 1911 grip frame which makes the practice time all the more valuable.
In reading these threads, I may need some help with terminology. I thought that pneumatic was when you compressed the air by pumping the gun, and the gun stores the air prior to the shot. I then thought that spring/air guns cock a piston and the air is compressed at the time of firing ????? One thing you definitely want to do in California is to open the window and stand well inside the house so that no one outside can see you. Hey, why not eat them. Shades of Ragnar Benson.
Something else that is effective, but wouldn't work in Pasadena is shooting wax bullets. You size and deprime a case, reprime, then use the mouth of the case like a cookie cutter in a block of wax.
One other positive aspect of the whole thing is that you are saving Borris and Natasha the effort of killing him themselves.
 
I'd try a slingshot. No noise to alert the too-near, kindhearted neighbors. And a fun challenge even at close range. Aim for their posteriors.

pax
 
OK, he was back today. 2 day vacation, and he came back today. See, no matter how many soft pellets, he remembers only for a day or two, and then he gets hungry and comes back..

Went to the no-so-local pellet gun store, and the guy was closed!! Jury Duty. Of all days. So I didn't get the gun. Maybe next week when I have time then. Ug. Sorry, a little bitter...

I've tried my friend's Feinwerkbau, and it was amazing. Same hole, 10 yards, every time. One hole. So if the Beeman is even close, it shouldn't be that big of a challenge. I might aim at it's butt, that won't kill it by any stretch of the imagination, but might make hopping the 6 feet or so from tree to my fence a bit more difficult.

Sorry, can't eat it if I kill it, Bubonic...

Albert
 
I wonder if solid plastic balls fired from a paintball gun would work.

My next door neighbor is a paint ball fiend and we've had lots of fun sitting in the back yard "painting squirrels" and drinking beer :D

(nothing spruces up a neighborhood like pink and green squirrels)
 
P-1 vs. Ben/Sher.........not...

444,

As to pneumatic....air pumped into a storage container(part of the gun)....or introduced by scuba into similar tube.........

CO2 is a different animal altogether...

When a pcp gun is shot...the gun literally has no recoil.

While springers have an infamous double recoil that makes them no where near as acurate as pcp's!

Your 50 yard chipmunk story's most believable part was when he ran off. :)

And Blue or silver streak, at $120., can shoot circles around any $300.+ P-1....177, .20 or .22.

And while you may break 500fps with your P-1, the streaks can shoot from 300 up to over 800 fps depending on the number of pumps.

And to suggest anyone use a sub 400fps P-3 on a squirrel is horrible advice.
You will not kill it!
You "may: main it.
You will make it suffer.

I'm in love with Springers of all kinds...and have one that shoots over 900fps...BTW, so I'm not attacking springers.
My field target rig shoots just over 760 fps...and I can hit dimes at 25 yards all day long. So they can be real accurate.

But the Ben/Sher suggestion is the absolute best for the buck buy this guy could get.
And if he wants to soup it up later, he can spend $150 for an upgrade that would make most air power lovers drool.

Regards,

Stocky
 
Stocky: Please allow me to retort. First of all I found your post very abrasive. I notice that you are new to the board. We get along a lot better and have a lot more fun on here without the foul disposition.
Chipmunk story: This occured over 15 years ago, ironically, the guy that was with me when it happened got married last weekend. I flew back for the wedding and we stood in the same spot last week and we both mentioned it. At the time, I had just bought the gun. I took it to his house to show it to him. He spotted the chipmunk and began shooting at it. I watched him take a few shots and told him; this isn't like the BB guns we used to have as kids, you don't have to aim 10 feet over it. I took the gun and connected on the first shot. Do I think this shot was 90% luck; yes. Do I think I could do it again with 100 tries; no. It happened never the less.
As for the Benjaman shooting rings around the P1, you will have to elaborate. If you are speaking in terms of accuracy, I doubt it. First of all accuracy depends on who is behind the trigger. I believe that the P1 has better sights, and a better trigger. Since we are talking airguns, range isn't much of an issue. I got a test target with my P1 that shows some pretty damn good potential accuracy. If you are talking about velocity, I don't know. I never chronoed either one. I have shot a Benjamn air rifle perhaps more than any other gun. My best friend had one when we were growing up and we shot it almost every day. I didn't have a gun myself so we took turns with his. He dug it out the last time we were at his parents house and it no longer had any finish on the wood or metal; we shot it a lot so I am quite familiar with them. They are pretty decent rifles. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one to someone looking for an inexpensive air gun. My experience with airguns is limited to those I shot as a kid and the two I own now, I am by no means an expert. As a kid my friends had pretty much all the "pump up" guns out at the time. Crossman 760 and 1400s. The Benjamin...... They all shared one common flaw; They leaked air. Some worse than others, most got alot worse with age and use. This is why I would not own one. My P1 or my R1 do not suffer from this problem.
I have no idea what a pcp airgun is.
Allow me one more war story in closing. About two years ago I was working out in the yard when a car came down the road. A jackrabbit decided to run across at that time and was hit. One of it's back legs was broken and the rabbit was having trouble getting away. I decided to put it out of it's misery, so I got my P1 from the house. As I approached it tried to hop but could only just keep away from me. I took a shot from about 10 yards hitting it in the back of the head killing it instantly. Now a jackrabbit is a much bigger animal than a squirrel by several times. Jackrabbits are well known as being extremly tough animals. Whatever velocity my P1 shoots, it was more than adequate for jackrabbits.
 
Woooaaahhhhhhhh !

444,

Please re-read my post.
I have to argue that Disagreeing with you is not abrasive...
It's just disagreeing.
You see a lot of that in forum's...people not liking a response so they coming away thinking they've been dissed.

Range is "Everything" in airguns BTW. And a P-3 to the back of the head of a Jackrabbit will stop it colder then cold. So a P-1 would do just fine.
But at a 15 yards will just piss it off.
Again...range is everything.

I posted the FPS differences between the two guns you're trying to compare....(what cal. is your P1 anyway?)
I own a chrony...and use it frequently with several airguns.
My shin-sung 707.....same as seen in Cabela's, is a lever action
PCP (scuba loaded) that pushes pellets in size from 14 to 33 gr. out at anywhere from 300 to over 1100 fps.
Up to 80 ft lbs with the bign's.
As to range, 10 meters...same hole.
Jackrabbits at 100 meters....no problem.

You're right that the trigger on your P-1 is superior to the Ben/Sher...but at 20 yards you're not even in the contest...
and at 10 yards using 3 pumps and 8 gr pellets, you still don't stand a chance.

Seals aren't a problem anymore.... BTW
And there's a tuner in So.Cal., Tim McMurray, who can customize those things beyond anything you felt possible in an airgun.

But the heck with your P-1.....
You're R-1 is "the bomb". Specially in .20 or .22 !
Which do you have?

Stocky
 
After hearing that you have apartments all around you, I'd be hesitant to use anything that has enough power to kill a squirrel (I don't think the beeman will reliably do that - you'll need a sheridan or soemthing.)

I say go buy some De-Con rat pellets and drop some in the flower pots. Hopefully he'll eat them. Not as fun as popping him, but I don't think I'd chance it.
 
Ever consider a Bow with Steel Tiped Blunt arrows and Flu Flu Fletching?

Run out of steam in about 50 Yards but deadly on Small Animals up to 20-30 yards.
 
Stocky: Misunderstanding I guess, I apologize. I don't have any problem with disagreement, or even with disbelief. The way it is conveyed though, sometimes ruffles some feathers.
When I was talking about range not being an issue, I was talking about shooting for accuracy. You don't have a lot of range with an airgun to begin with so it isn't like comparing a rifle vs. pistol at 100 yards. What we are comparing is two guns shooting the same projectile at very close velocities, so I still believe that range (as far as accuracy) is not an issue. Certainly the gun is an issue. Certainly range is an issue with retained energy, but I don't see why it would matter with rifle vs. pistol when they both are shooting the same bullet at the same velocity. As far as not being in the contest for accuracy, again, it depends on who is doing the shooting. At those ranges I think I would be in the contest against the average guy.
My P1 and R1 are both .177. I used to shoot every night in the basement of my parents house. I bought them for that purpose. However, almost as soon as I got them, I moved out. I bought the R1 in 1983 and was working during the day and going to school at night so I was too busy to mess with it. To this day, I have never fired it. I had my P1 Super Tuned by Beeman at one point and do shoot the P1 to some extent, almost exclusively in the house. I live in a rural area and don't need to be quiet when shooting. I go after jackrabbits with either max loaded .357 110 grain HPs or centerfire rifles.
 
Well guys, for those "tree rats" it has always been a scoped 10/22 for me. The main thing is, if you are going to be taking shots at these animals just make sure you use the right tool for the job.

Maybe a pellet at 400fps might do it but there is a chance that it will not. They are pests but they shouldnt get wounded and suffer. In this case I think that overkill would be better than barely doing the job.

Also, a nice pump pellet rifle is more than enough to do in a squirrel. You just need to buy a good one that will let you pump it up good and tight. Also remember that you can always use that subsonic .22 ammo, equal in sound to a pellet rifle.

Jason
 
Ed2,

Negative on eating squirrel, my dad did back in the 40's said it tasted like chicken, but I don't know if I believe him ;) .

In all seriousness though, treerats are TOUGH to get rid of if that's what you want. I've seen a neighbor use pepper spray with good success and even drove the squirrels into the neighbors tree. Took A LOT of pepper spray for such little critters though.

Be careful with the poisoned pellets cause you never know what will be eating them(i.e., pet dog/cat).

Sling shot may be an alternative, challenging I would suspect too.

Hope this helps, Mike
 
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