Posted on 01/12/2010 9:13:29 AM PST by Jewbacca
I have got squirrels all over my damn house, ruining flower beds, getting in the attic, etc. Some idiot introduced them (they are not native) to our town and they are going crazy with no natural predators.
I live in a city (suburb) where the discharge of firearms is rather disfavored.
My friends and neighbors have opted for the pellet gun approach --- some with the C02 pistol spray-and-pray approach --- some with the scoped rifled (nailed one myself at a friend's house at 30 yards).
I know squat about pellet guns, other than they come in .177 and .22.
Recomendations?
Yep, Benjamin is the brand, Sheridan is the model. The stock is all wood, and everything else is brass. Thing is though, if you pump the gun ten times, it sounds just about like a .22 cal rifle firing. It's a loud pop. My neighbors called the cops on me for firing this weapon when I was a kid in Louisiana many years ago. This is an excellent pellet gun.
A .177 works well, get as close to 1000 fps as you can. I bought a 1 cock, as opposed to a pump up, at a bulk tools sale for $20. It murders the fuzzy tailed rats. Kill them all before they move into your attic
Yeah, check your city and state codes (county?) to make sure pellet guns aren’t classified as firearms for purposes of discharge within city limits and to make sure doing so doesn’t violate any other laws.
Another approach I’ve used, once the ground squirrels out here got very wary was to get a live trap. Once trapped, they can be taken into the garage and dispatched.
You can’t miss with a Havahart. Not sporting, but what the heck.
I have an RWS side-lever air rifle in .177 cal. I believe it is accurate and powerful enough to do away with squirrels.
Chinese air rifles that I have seen are crap. IMO.
Are squirrels Kosher?
Which ever you choose, I’d stick with a single pump “break barrel”. When it comes time to rid the yard of male cats, the quiet aspect of a single pump is much appreciated.
I tried this method and failed. I used peanut butter as a glue to affix birdseed to the trap. I nailed them to a tree trunk, 6 feet up, so my cats would not get to them. Every day I came home to an empty trap: No squirel, and no more peanut butter/birdsseed either. I used plain old rat traps, which look like big moustraps.
The whisper looks like a good solution.
Do you have to sight in the scope or does it come as a package more-or-less sighted in?
Sheridan Blue Streak, with wood stocks. I’ve had the cheaper Crossman gun— they don’t last. In any event, stay away from the plastic stocks guns, if you can. A .177 pellet is sufficient for varmint control.
-—Gamo has several quiet models, including one called the “Whisper”—they have a muzzle brake that acts as a sound suppressor—
They are not kosher. Going in the dumpster.
Nice gun, I have one that’s about 40 years old. My real favorite though is my QB78 in .22 Cost 100 bucks and with a little modification shoots 750 fps. Amazingly accurate too.
I don’t know. They likely have it close. Of course, sighting in isn’t difficult given your access to the FR firearms experts.
Be sure to sight it in with the ammo you’ll be using.
“Are squirrels Kosher?”
No. Nor are my neighbors cajun. But they do have dogs.
The one's out here are plague carriers. I live at boubonic ground zero.
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