Posted on 09/05/2025 6:35:15 AM PDT by marktwain
As "gun control" ramped up in Europe "garden guns" became more and more regulated and they became collectors items.
‘Garden Gun’ Ping.
You’ll shoot your eye out.
My father in law has used 22LR shells that do not break the sound barrier to dispatch a woodchuck out of their garden a couple times.
They have been readily available for years.
They do not have the loud “crack” because they are sub sonic velocity.
He lives in a 250 year old village in southern NH. The houses are all very close together.
I live a couple miles away outside of town. When I had what I perceived as a rabid skunk in my yard a couple years back I took out the Winchester Model 12 16 gauge pump shotgun and blew the skunk back about six feet from where it was coming at me.
On the ranch we never called them “garden guns”. We had two and as kids we had a lot of fun with them killing rattle snakes and at dusk trying to hit bats which we never could do.
Today’s pellet rifles are more than capable of dispatching varmints with low noise in states that allow modulators. They are fairly “low noise” otherwise, but still kinda loud. And the varmints in our gardens only pop out very rarely, and you have to basically just “see them when you see them”, then run quietly for gun, making sure not to be spotted as the woodchuck are wicked wary animals. Been trying all sum,er to get one particular with no luck. Had one shot, but missed when it heard the click of the safety, and bolted for the underbrush. Can only manage to get about 70 yards from them or so, while concealing behind objects. No way I’d get 20 yards from them.
Ha to dispatch a few skunks, learned not to shoot for the head, as the nervous system would kick in and it’d spray every time. Use pellet rifle for it and worked well. 1 shot is all it would take with the expanding ammo. It’s .25 caliber. Pretty hefty ammo, and travels over sound barrier limit, though I dial it down a little, to lessen the crack and so pellet doesn’t just pass through the garden pests. With Grey aquirrels though, they are hard to take down as pellet passes through too quickly - need lower fps rifle for them
H&N “Hornet” pellets.
You are welcome.
[[They were generally unregulated as too low powered to worry about. ]]
NY just classified by guns and pellet guns the same as powder rifles now, so anyone with pellet pistol would need a carry permit to use them evidently.
They stun a woodchuck but can kill a squirrel if aimed accurately.
This is the kind of set up that I have thought would be good for Florida to allow people to kill pythons, locales should have a list of low collateral damage risk guns and loads for dealing with local out of control pests in city environments.
Too loud for where we live- too many nosy neighbors. I’m pushing it with the pellet rifle really. Thankfully our neighbor does a lot of flowers, and hates groundhogs, so they have asked me to elim8nate them. But other neighbors are city dwellers who moved up to sleepy town to “get away” from hustle and bustle of city, but brought their garbage liberal ideology with em.
I have been doing this for my 45-70 for a long time. Cut a cardboard seal wad using a sharpened casing and seating a .410 shot wad over it capped with another thin cardboard plug to hold the shot tight. Using light propellant loads you can reuse the brass quite a few times...
I have no problem dispatching woodchuck, large ones, and skunks with pellets. 1 shot. The expanding ammo really packs a whollop. They will even take down coyote and fox if need be. Lots of videos of hunters doing so- heck they take down large wild pigs and even deer. Today’s pellet rifles aren’t the pellet rifles of out grandfathers- they pack serious power now.
Actually, and I didn’t specify, they make this in a .122 for air rifles/pistols.
I’ve got a Daisy [911] ‘knock-off’ that has dispatched several squirrels from my bird feeder. (CO2 cartridge)
It is currently yearning for the local chipmunk.
20 yards in low wind is no problem.
One can buy currently 22 caliber “Rat Shot” to kill rats and rodents in a certain range. Shooting rats off power/phone lines over citrus groves and such. Small pellets— like a small shotgun. Anything larger than this would be equivalent to up to a 410 lethal at close range to .. humans, say.
A coworker in Alabama used to use them on cottonmouths. Then one time he had an armadillo that was living under his house and digging holes all about.
So he decided to use his .410 to dispatch the critter.
He shot it over and over but the pellets would just bounce off.
So his boss brought in an animal trap for him; in the end he caught it and took it to the nearby national forest.
thanks— sorry to duplicate your post.
But- am thinking that our “gardens” could be invaded by islamofascists in the near future and need higher caliber weaponry, for defense and such.... heh. Maybe small rockets!??
The “home garden RPG” for civilian use! Imagine the liability for the makers...though.
Ah, thought you meant .22 rifle ammo. (I expected got a marlin semi auto, but can’t use it in neighborhood, although one neighbor way back when did, and Noone minded then) I’ve got a .22 pellet rifle, but seal leaks- I think though I should got the .177 for squirrels. Never heard of the .122- will have to check that out. I might sell the .22 once I fix it.
Sorry and TY for correction.
It is a 0.177 pellet.
Fast and fat fingers.
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