Suggestions for a Backyard Plinker and Pest Control Airgun

[Thomas Traddles]

I live in the suburbs and would like to take up some backyard plinking and pest control (House Sparrows, Starlings, and Squirrels). I am wondering if any of you airgun vets would be able to make some suggestions for an air rifle that could fulfill such a role. I'm not willing to spend more than $150 for the gun, but would like to have the option of getting a scope to aid my old eyes if need be. Thanks for the help.

[koehlerrk]

http://http://www.pyramydair.com/s/m/Crosman_Crusher_Nitro_Piston_Air_Rifle/3584 (http://www.pyramydair.com/s/m/Crosman_Crusher_Nitro_Piston_Air_Rifle/3584)

I have one of these, the included scope isn't real great, but the rifle is solid. The 22 cal hits with authority, and the integral suppressor keeps it quiet.

[aspangler]

http://http://www.pyramydair.com/s/m/Crosman_Crusher_Nitro_Piston_Air_Rifle/3584 (http://www.pyramydair.com/s/m/Crosman_Crusher_Nitro_Piston_Air_Rifle/3584)

I have one of these, the included scope isn't real great, but the rifle is solid. The 22 cal hits with authority, and the integral suppressor keeps it quiet.
I agree. Mine shoots very good. I changed the scope out to a Hammers 3x9x32 AO. It will shoot one hole groups at 25 yards.

[GhostHawk]

Personally I am partial to Hatsan Rifles, cost is reasonable, and they have some awesome turkish walnut. I did just buy a second, a 1000 model with wood stock on a special from Field Supply for 150$, the rifle comes with a cheap scope but I sprung for my second Hammers 3x9x32 AO scope from Amazon for 52$. The scope comes with a solid one piece mount designed for 11mm airgun dovetails milled into the receiver.

It is a etched mildot reticule and will adjust down to perfect clarity at 20 feet or less.
It is from the ground up designed for magnum springer airguns and their particular double recoil which kills lesser scopes.

So at 200$ ready to sight in I am pretty happy with that.

Crossman and Gamo I have heard too many horror story's from too many people.
While you might get a good one the odds seem against it.

But the Ruger Air Hawk and Air Hawk elite seem to have gotten a good rep.

Personally for birds .177 is fine, if it has fur I prefer .20 or .22, pellets have double the weight, so more energy and cleaner kills. The english kill all kinds of things with air rifles regulated to less than 12 FPE. Almost all brain shots, DRT.

If you had not said something about a scope I would have said go find a good used Sheridan or Crossman pumper. But they don't put out as much energy, have more of a looping trajectory. Take a bit more learning to really do well with them.

And the pumpers are not as conducive to scope mounting.

One to consider would be the Crossman 1322 pistol, look for the shooters kit with the carbine stock. Those are easier to setup to scope, and make nice light reasonably quiet backyard shooters. They should run around 75$ with stock, but you'll spend the balance putting a good scope rail on them. Couple of different ways to go. They are IMO the exception to the problems with buying Crossman. I think it is a very old very simple design with not much to go wrong. And easy to work on or modify it to suit your needs.

Nice part about that setup is that it is a pumper, so you can control power.
2 pumps for target shooting in the house in nasty weather with a pretty simple pellet catch. Or 4 or more for critters depending on size and range.

[Thomas Traddles]

Thanks for the replies. Will the Crosman 1322 pistol put down a squirrel?

[jh45gun]

Yes it will you can design your own at the custom shop Crosman has. Get the long breech that allows you to scope easily. You can put a longer barrel on too.

[DougGuy]

Thanks for the replies. Will the Crosman 1322 pistol put down a squirrel?

Only with a good solid head shot. Body shot with a short barrel limited energy pellet will wound, which it might die later but it won't cause a DRT like a head shot and even those are iffy at times. Squirrels are a little tough for a pellet pistol.

I use a 22 caliber PROD with a scope here, it exceeds your $150 budget but it is a sheer joy to shoot and is lethal on squirrels at any angle.

[Petrol & Powder]

I have an old RWS in .22 caliber and I will not let it go. With a Williams peep sight and my less than young eyes, it will shoot 1/2" groups at 20 yards all day long.

I would recommend .22 caliber for pest control. The .17 cal pellets are cheaper but they just don't have the mass needed.

I'll say that a bolt action or single shot .22 rifle with a CB Short is just as quiet as some air rifles. A rifle with a 20-22" barrel and firing 22CB short rounds is about as close as you can get to a suppressor without having to obtain a suppressor. If there's a legal prohibition against firearms, the air rifle may be the way to go. However, one well placed shot from a .22 rifle using a 22 CB short will handle most pest issues without anyone knowing what happened. A little common sense goes a long way and your neighbors will have no clue.

[jh45gun]

Pellets are readily available. 22 cb caps and shorts not so much.

[Multigunner]

If you have neighbors on the other side of the standard flimsy privacy fence you need to take over penetration into account. All my multi pump air rifles, both .22 and .177, will shoot right through a standard fence panel board at maximum pumps. I've tested these on scrap boards. Exit holes are much like those left by a .22 rimfire.
Retained energy could be dangerous to anyone close to the fence at the time.

You can use fewer pumps to allow lower velocities when using a multi pump gun, but springers and Nitro Piston guns don't have that option.

The .22 pellets are very substantial so a miss at a high angle will carry further and is more likely to cause damage to objects like windshields and siding if not injury to the unsuspecting neighbor in his own yard.
.177 pellets loose velocity fairly quickly compared to the .22 pellets.

A .177 pellet will leave the muzzle at a higher velocity than a .22 would if fired from the same general type of rifle, with much the same muzzle energy, but the .177 has a shorter lethal range and shorter danger space in event of a miss.
At back yard ranges lethality would be pretty much the same.

I'd suggest a Crosman Custom Shop carbine based on the 1377 with 18" to 24" barrel. The longer the barrel the quieter the gun. For for the steel breech of course and look for a decent scope that can be focused properly at ranges of 20 yards or less.
I use a 3-7 Variable on my Daisy 880 and never dial it higher than 3 power.
On my Crosman carbine (.22) with 24" barrel I use only the stock aperture sight. Optics aren't really necessary for such ranges.
Pump the gun up only as much as the particular target and range requires. Birds aren't hard to kill unless you go after crows, I've seen a medium size Owl killed instantly by a .177 pellet from a Daisy 880.

[Multigunner]

PS to the above

I would have recommended the Daisy 880 over the Crosman if the recent manufacture 880 still had a metal receiver and pump arm.
I put a metal receiver and pump arm on my late model 880, it made a world of difference.

If you could find an older 880 in good condition it would be perfect for your intended use, at back yard ranges at least.
At 15 pumps I've fired a steel BB from an 880 than walked right through the side of an old style heavy gauge steel trash can.

[rfd]

i use a benjamin 397 pump in .177 w/4x32 scope. super accurate at suburban backyard distances and reasonably quiet enuf. i tried the aquila colibri in a scoped crickett and that literally made no noise but was just not reliable for accuracy and had less energy punch than a much faster .177 pellet. that benny w/.177 match ammo and full pumps will nail skwerls and chippers, and put 'em down quick.

[54bore]

Crossman nitro venom dusk, in .177 or .22, Awesome air rifle! There are LOTS of good options now days for under 150 bucks

[Multigunner]

As a PS to my recommendation of the Daisy 880 for back yard ranges, never use steel BBs in this or any other airgun that can use either pellets or BBs unless you plan to use BBs only or the particular rifle has proven to be inaccurate when using pellets.
Even a few steel BBs can degrade the rifling enough to be detrimental to accuracy of lead pellets.

Also a steel BB can chip glass or damage siding or painted surfaces at very low velocities or bounce back at the shooter or bystanders causing injuries.

Lead pellets seldom bounce much at all and scrub off velocity quickly. In general lead pellets are less likely to cause unintended damage.

The Daisy 880 is in my opinion the best of the low cost multi-pump .177 air-guns, with the crosman 2100 coming in a close second.
To get better performance you'd have to pay around three times as much.

[Thomas Traddles]

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

I'm in the process of evaluating guns. I've been looking at the Crosman Crusher, Vantage, and the 1322KT. I am also looking at the Bam B-26-2 from Flying Dragon. I'm in no hurry, but enjoying the threads here as well as at GTA. I've been watching a lot of videos as well, especially the fellow at myairgunreviews.

[mulespurs]

Another viewpoint from the midwest.
I vote Ruger airhawk in 177.
Cottontails at 40 yds got 3 in a row
A blackbird at 45 steps
A squirrel at 20 off the bird feeder.
Crossman precision hp pellets or jsb exacts
I know it can't be but at 40 yds or less it seems as good as a 22
Just my experience, your mileage may vary.

[725]

Fewer regs controlling air rifles. Less busy-body neighbors to be concerned with. Powder / primer issues don't exist. What's not to like if it gets the job done.?

[GhostHawk]

A Enough power for a clean kill if kept to reasonable ranges.

B A miss that hits anything is not going to go a mile or more. More like 100 feet if that. They just don't have the mass nor the speed to carry far after hitting almost anything.

C Pellets are sold by the 500, no non existing primers, powders, or brass needed. Need no press, no dies.

Just air and a pellet.

D IMO the best options are those you can pump yourself. Sheridan Blue Streak, Crossman 1322 with the shoulder stock, etc.
As you will never run out of air.

E If you buy one, buy enough pellets to last a LONG time. Prices are creeping up steadily over the last 5 years.

F You do not need to buy expensive pellets to get decent performance and accuracy with most airguns.
I shoot Crossman Premier Hollow Points in all of mine. Shop around you can find them pretty reasonable.

By the same token if you want to spend 2 to 4 times as much for the expensive ones, go right ahead. They may even be a touch more accurate or hit a touch harder. Your money, your choice.

[W.R.Buchanan]

To the OP I know you stated that $150 was your limit. You aren't going to get very much for $150. Cheap Pump up guns are a PITB to shoot, as you have to pump them up between every shot.

How about you save up a little longer and get something you'll actually enjoy shooting maybe a Weihrauch HW30/Beeman R7? Quality guns that can be handed down or sold off and not lose any money on.

These guns are made like firearms and will outlast all of us, but they deliver a much higher quality shooting experience, so you get something more than a pellet launcher that sits in the corner behind the door.. You get something that is a joy to use, and a gun you'll treasure for the rest of your days.

I have found that sometimes paying a little more gets you alot more. And the Joy in use lasts way longer than the memory of the cost. Another way to go is to look for used guns. Some outfits have them and they are usually around Half new price. I found my HW35E at a local Gunshop I gave $60 for it. I refinished the stock and cleaned up the metal which just had a coating of grease and dirt on it from sitting in a closet for 25 years. This gun was made in 1978 and they are about $550 now, and I'd consider any offer over $400 for it. I shoot it most without the scope as my open sight practice rifle.

Think about it a little,,, maybe upping your price limit would get you something more than a glorified slingshot. Something with some actual pleasure in use to go along with it's utility.

Something to think about.

Randy

[Mrlucky353]

The Crossman 1322 is a fun plinker, used mainly as a reminder of what it was like to enjoy shooting without thinking of the cost of centerfire or even rimfire ammo.

Don't think it is powerful enough or accurate enough for humanely solving problems with birds and squirrels.

[Krag 1901]

I bought a cheap ($100 with 4x scope) break action from Big 2 and found it to be excellent for my purposes. I havea shooting gallery air rifle trap and can hit the 1/2" plates every time I can control the heavy trigger off hand at 15 yards. I don't know who in China made it but other than being a bit heavy and only 850 fps instead of the advertised 1,000fps works good and keeps the squirrels out of my apricot tree at ~85 feet.

[GBertolet]

Do what Mr. Buchanan suggests. Buy once, cry once. Get a HW 30, or if you want more power get the HW 95. Get the .177 caliber. The more powerful airguns are harder to cock, which makes them more fatiguing over long shooting sessions. Either one of these airguns are powerful enough for pest control, at reasonable distances. Both these airguns have the Rekord trigger, which is the best out there. Fully adjustable. There are plenty of aftermarket parts, to tune these airguns, if desired. These are adult quality airguns, not the Chicom stuff. Built to a standard, not down to a price. These airguns will outlast you. You will shoot these airguns 1000X more than a powder burner, that you wouldn't bat an eye over spending $500+ for. Either of these airguns will give you pride of ownership.

[elmacgyver0]

You can hire a wildlife removal company that will solve your problem on a short term.
The problem with that is a animal loves their home as much as you love yours.
When they get dumped off somewhere they will find their way back.
If the animal never returns you can bet they are not as humane as they claim to be.

[Mrlucky353]

Get the .177 caliber.

What do you personally like better about the 177 caliber?

Never tried it, not a lot of experience with airguns, and have only fooled with 22 pellet airguns because that was what we had as kids.

[35 shooter]

What are the advantages if the .177 caliber?

Never tried it, not a lot of experience with airguns, and have only fooled with 22 pellet airguns because that was what we had as kids.

Flatter trajectory, less hold over for longer shots. I use both 177 and 22 cal. for small game and have the same success rate with both cal.
Airgunning to me comes down to shot placement with either cal. ymmv!
Pellets are usually cheaper in 177 too.
Either cal. will work just fine for small game in my experience.

[GBertolet]

As previously stated, the .177 pellets are cheaper, velocity is higher, shoots flatter, penterates deeper, expands more, and some feel that the .177 is more accurate, which is debatable. The biggest plus of the .22, is the pellets being larger, are easier to handle.

If you are venturing into really high powered airguns, such as PCP and heavy springers, the .22 is better, as the diabolo pellet can be only driven, maybe 950 fps, before accuracy suffers. Going larger and heavier brings the velocity down, to more accurate speeds, while increasing energy. Sort of like cast bullets in rifles. Your limited in velocity, so, for more power, you go heavier, in bullet weight.

[Mrlucky353]

35 Shooter and GBertolet, thanks for the concise info.

[Mrlucky353]

Also, there are good videos about the Weihrauch HS30 on Youtube. Here's one:

https://youtu.be/5W9R30mpVXs

The video shows HW30S Deluxe .177 accuracy tests with different brand pellets.

[Doubles Shooter]

My .177 RWS 45 is more than adequate for pest control. I have a 4x12 Simmons Pro Air scope on it. The wife and I shoot 50-70 tree rats a winter off the feeders. 3 or 4 woodchuck from the garden and flower beds each year. Almost all are 1 shot kills. The 10.5gr. Crossman premier pellets are extremely accurate. Most shots are 17-20 yards.
282237

[Harper]

I have some birds that are hell bent on picking holes in our house. I practice with a Baikal 10 meter air pistol in my basement in the winter and it is oh so satisfying to nail these tiny birds with one shot per kill. You could spend way more but I this thing is a tack driver.
https://www.krale.shop/us/baikal-mp-46m/


I live in the suburbs and would like to take up some backyard plinking and pest control (House Sparrows, Starlings, and Squirrels). I am wondering if any of you airgun vets would be able to make some suggestions for an air rifle that could fulfill such a role. I'm not willing to spend more than $150 for the gun, but would like to have the option of getting a scope to aid my old eyes if need be. Thanks for the help.

[Mrlucky353]

Harper, any issues receiving shipments from Krale in the US?

They look like a foreign company.