driftrider
Veteran
Location: Cedar Rapids, IA. (In my own little world)
| I'm going with Steve on this one...Air rifles work fine if you get the right one, which can be just as expensive as a new .22 Rimfire rifle. Growing up, my family always maintained a large garden, and the problem we had was with the fricken' rabbits, which are a much tougher critter than a squirrel. Before our house was absorbed into the city my Dad used to just nail the bastards from the back porch with a 20 guage shotgun, but as the city grew around us it just wasn't feasable to utilize that level of firepower anymore.
Since my brother and I did most of the tending to the garden, we were given a pellet rifle and put on rabbit patrol. The problem was that the pellet gun wasn't powerful enough (.177cal at about 600-700fps) for the typical 25 yard shot to ensure a clean kill. 800 fps is better, but pellets are a very light projectile so they lack penetration. Accuracy was also an issue with the cheaper pellet gun.
Then I got my Ruger 10/22 (still got it too), and discovered CB Long cartridges. The CB Longs are bigger than the CB's that Steve mentioned (they are .22 Long rather than .22 Short), but the report from even my little carbine is softer than a typical pump-type pellet rifle. Another big plus is that it'll sling a much bigger chunk of lead (relatively speaking, of course  ) at about 800-900 fps, with outstanding accuracy, and will easily drop a rabbit in it's tracks out to 50 yards. The only down side is that they won't cycle the rifle so I have to cycle it by hand, but it's not a big deal since I usually only need one shot. A .22 rifle is also more practical in that you can always load it with full power rounds and take it out plinking or hunting.
As with any shooting endeavor, use extreme caution, particularly if you're in town. Make sure your backstop will stop the bullet (i.e. don't shoot the squirrels out of a tree, as you might miss and that bullet has to land somewhere) and be mindful of your neighbors.
Mike |
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