I have been using a Benjamin Titan NP nitro .22 air-rifle to give the groundhogs that moved in under my woodpile (and eating the neighbors soybeans!) their own personal case of lead poisoning...its quite effective as long as you aren't too far away, say 10-30 yards...but get much farther than that you better have your shot placement just right, or they will disappear down the hole to die (and stink!) I have been using the standard Crosman round head .22 pellets...was wondering if anybody has a particular pellet that that really like for dusting off hawgs at longer ranges? Was thinking about trying one of the hollow point pellets...or maybe one of the "combo" pellets (spendy)
Crossman .22 Destroyer in my Stoeger are pretty effective, though I've never shot a groundhog with it.
That was one that I was looking at. What do you pay for them? Best I've seen was $15 shipped for 250 count. What are you hunting with them?
I've got about half a tin left, 175 ct. Don't recall the price, it's been awhile since I bought them. Chipmunks, occasionally a grey chatterbox (squirrel), a few other things that pizz me off @ 5:30 when they quote- "nevermore". Mostly half-dead mice my hunter/killer cat has left outside the door to show off.
My son likes these the best for killing rodents of all sizes. They are spendy, but he says they are the best he's tried for longer range ventilation.
Pellets like 22 rimfire you have play with different kinds to see what you launch device likes. On chucks hollowpoints are not the best choice. Most of the time I use the rimfire CCI quiet zone in a long barrel rifle- it makes less noise that my high powered pcp air rifles. Those are 40 grain apx pills at 7xx fps . I can spit cal. .22 pellets of apx 25 gr at 900 fps from the air unit but that 3000 psi behind the pellet makes a pretty good crack when the pellet exits the barrel. Depending on your locality air units are not considered firearms. We have a couple anal localities around here that anything launched is considered verboten regardless of the mechanism used to energize said projectile. Technically that includes a hand thrown baseball and various other items such as a badmitton set. I am not making this up.
The one in the bottom left corner works great in my gun. Only shot one hawg and it was close range like you mentioned.
The hollow points are VERY effective on groundhogs, the only catch I've noticed is that they have a tendency to drift at longer ranges. They're not consistent either so it's not like you can get a shot off, correct your aim and try again. Chances are the next round will go somewhere different entirely. The one that The Wood Wolverine pointed out would be where I would start out, personally. Aerodynamically it just makes sense.
I did a 40 yard test today with some new pellets I got recently. My cheap go to Crosman 7.9 grain hollow points versus these imported H&N 11.57 grain silver point. The difference was like night and day with repeatability. You could actually hear the difference with that significantly heavier round, both in the sound of the rifle and when it hit the target. Granted these German imports were a lot more expensive, but I think from now on I’ll spend the extra money. We’ll see how they do with pest control. I imagine they’ll do just fine considering I was using 3/4 OSB as a backstop and the pellets were penetrating just about all the way through it.
Maybe I am using the wrong pellet type. I have used the flat faced (top row, second from the left) and they bounce off of everything. I feel like I am lucky to get through a cardboard box. I tried to dispatch a coon in a trap and had to get my .30 air gun because I thought the .177 was inhumane. They were bouncing off the coon! Granted, I was using a pretty weak firearm. In my .30 I have used the ones next to the blue pellet - I guess they would be hollow points but with a plastic tip. They are great. I have found most .30 pellets to be reliable enough for dispatching coons.
I’ve only used the flat points for plinking, and never really tried them at over 30 yards out. Yeah I would definitely not recommend a 0.177 for raccoons (I did it once and it was anything but humane) All I have for a pellet gun is my 0.177 Crosman which supposedly shoots up to 1200 FPS. It punches right through thin sheet metal, steel cans, etc. I think for chipmunks, squirrels, small birds, mice and rats it’s got what it takes. Beyond that you need a 0.22 or better. I’d love to buy a big bore air rifle but for the money I’d almost rather buy a regular rifle. I’ve got to really look into it more. I have no experience with larger air rifles but I imagine if what you’re shooting is subsonic, it might be quiet yet have enough energy to take down raccoons.
Yes, that is one of the reasons I like my .30. It is pretty darn quiet and hits hard. The pump is 50 lbs so it took a while before I could pump in a fluid motion. It seems like there was a break in period and now it has loosened up a bit as far as pumping. The shooting is still very reliable.
They aren't on these but the one I use on rats is much like the one with the spire on it(next to the blue base pellet). Hits them HARD. I think it's a Gamo. However the disposal of them becomes the fire pit and the ravens snack on them so trying to find more steel and non toxic shot. Something heavy but still cost effective. I notice a lot more .177 has more options than the .22. Lots more shot in one container.
That's exactly what I wanna do especially on varmints. Plink, go cheap. You'll find that even though your shot may miss but the spendy stuff is so much more accurate. I bought a Crosman Shockwave. With a .22 it's scary accurate using the right ammo. The alloy Shot is a hard hitter but even at what looks like 20 feet floats a little. On the other side of this, in the right shot, it'll ricochet a bit and a rats head is a bit larger in the error that way. Tiny but I do well with this stuff when I hit them. Head shots with a 3 inch window about 10 feet.
What fancy pellets are those? I tried some flat point Winchester today and was highly disappointed. Also picked up some cheap Daisy pellets from Walmart the other day just because they finally had something in stock... probably the worst, most inconsistent pellets I've ever shot before. They drifted 6" or more at 32 yards out
Those red ones are Gamo Red Fire. They have those in both .22 and .177. I've found some different varieties in the latter caliber with ballpoint, this was part of a variety pack that holds 150-250 pellets per container and ranged from wadcutters to pest control. I have one pack that may be considered Match grade but not sure. There's quite a bit of variation in these, I'm eager to find the H&N stuff but haven't seen any at stores. If you find this Gamo stuff, get it and more than you need. You'd be surprised how much you can either get carried away and just connect with that round so well. I know I do. So I bought a bit.
Yes! I actually shared the link to Eric Schamell,there's quite a bit to order on there and saw those there too. I'll just skim through there sometime but I found a great bit of hunting and plinking stuff so might just hold off in case there's a sale. The JSB stuff is apparently top notch.
