# Air Rifle Question



## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

I have one of those "barrel pump"(one pump) 22 cal. air rifles. Never shot it much. I know it is faster w/ the .177 cal pellets but I prefer the approx 150-200 fps less speed, heavier, .22's(gun rated for ~1050 speed w/.22 pellets). Anyone ever shoot a larger varmint like a raccoon with a similar gun?(There's pics of them on the gun shipping container.) I much prefer not having a wounded animal run off and die(slowly) somewhere later. Also, a "head shot" is not a viable consideration since the target group varies somewhat at 15 yds for a variety of reasons.(I live in a rural area and these things have become a "major" nuisance on my property)! No real plans, just wondering if these could do the job!


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## stonen12 (May 13, 2019)

Put serval down with a similar sounding rifle. You can tighten your grouping if you play around with ammo type and scope adjustment. The ammo is pretty critical to a cheaper rifles accuracy.


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## STRONGPERSUADER (Nov 5, 2006)

I have an older Germany Diana .177 that will do a job on opossums and ****. I would say your better off to try to hit a major organ. I’ve seen where headshots with a .22 long rifle inches away wouldn’t kill a possum immediately.


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## mach1cj (Apr 11, 2004)

Placement is the issue with an air rifle. I have a German made Diana 34 in .22 cal. It's rated at 800 fps. but the best it ever crono'ed was 715 fps. I shoot a RWS 14.5 gr. Superdome pellet. Your shot placement is about the size of a quarter on a woodchuck. Not a lot of room for error.


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## snagless-1 (Oct 26, 2014)

I have a Benjamin model 342 .22 cal. 8 pump air rifle about 35-40 years old.I shoot old Beeman silver jet pointed pellets and minuteman pellets.I shot one of the biggest raccoons I have seen.It was about 50' away broadside.One shot in the heart lung area it walked about 12'-15' away laid down and died.Like mach1cj said shot placement is everything.With an air rifle pick a good pellet and practice until you can hit a quarter sized target at 100'.


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

Just get a live trap, trap it and drown it, much easier. I had a **** that kept coming around the house, shot it several times with my ruger pellet rifle over the course of several days, seemed like the damn thing just shrugged off the shots.


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## baitguy (Dec 17, 2013)

I have .22 Gamo, rated about 1000 fps, it's 1 pump, I shoot a 14 grain pellet ... as been mentioned, placement crucial and you don't have much range w/any kind of stopping power for a critter bigger than a chipmunk or maybe a squirrel ... any wind has effect on accuracy ... shot a couple feral cats at under 25', they did a few flip flops, bounced around for a couple seconds and scrambled off ... don't know if they bought it later, but sure didn't stop them immediately ... a gun like that Benjamin is a little different story, it's a little pricey compared to Gamo and such, you can get better velocity by pumping it up but placement still is key, a body shot to a **** is probly not going to do it IMHO ... it's not anywhere close to a .22 LR ...


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## burnsj5 (Jan 30, 2014)

If you can't do a point blank headshot, don't use it. If you're going to do something do it right, you're in a rural area, use a real gun; same goes for these guys openly discussing shooting cats and drowning racoons. When killing GAME, a sportsman should be trying to kill quickly and ethically. The above listed behavior seems as bad as guys taking pot shots at running deer or shooting through brush.


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## ya13ya03 (Sep 21, 2010)

I would trap them then head shot. I've shot a pile of ***** with a 22lr and they don't die to fast even with a head shot.


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