If ya don't want to shoot them, put a fake owl in the rafters or somewhere nearby. That should do it.
Here ya go: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dalen-Gre...d-Owl/16213264
If ya don't want to shoot them, put a fake owl in the rafters or somewhere nearby. That should do it.
Here ya go: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dalen-Gre...d-Owl/16213264
I have been shooting for 55 years (man, how times flies) but have never heard the term "ratshot". What do you consider "rat shot"? just .22 LR #12 birdshot cartridge?
Our place has been overrun with mice and other rodents. If the little suckers stay still for a couple of seconds they succumb to .177 springer air pistol quite nicely. Ratshot sounds even better.
Yep, .22 shot shells often referred to as "rat shot", mostly by older farmers...
22rf with #12 is Not Rat Shot for here in my part of the Rhubarbs..
The 357 shot loads are not enough to anchor them...the 44 cal shot loads work well...but, do Not shoot the siding nor anything you don't want slightly messed up [refrigerators included, ask me how I know].
Birds seem easy to Kill, easier yet to scare...Rubber snakes are cheap too...heck real ones are easy to come by...but difficult to Train...LOL
Rather than using shot have you considered using wax or hot-glue bullets? I've used the plastic ones in building-clearning training and they hurt like he** being shot with 'em (don't ask!) We used 'em with just primers but a small amount of powder may up the damage from stun to kill. If you have a mold for the 32 a hot glue gun with a few sticks will give you a few cylinders worth.
From the commercial side places sell both the plastic and the wax bullets used by many speed-draw competitors.
https://www.waxbullet.com/collections/wax-bullets - just one of a handful google found quickly
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/31...eter-box-of-50
Also:
https://www.americanrifleman.org/art...d-wax-bullets/
I welcome barn swallows. They eat a mess of skeeters.
Somehow I read swallows... not sparrows.
Unless you want to make a sport out of it traps are the best. The gassing them out will get some
but most will get out and come back. Shooting them if you have enough to be a problem is not
very practical. Some set out poison grain, but I never have fooled with that. I have never been
comfortable poisoning anything.
I do Not want to make a career out of it...sport tho...maybe?
Note these are Sparrows..not Swallows!!! PITA they are...
Been smokin them with the little 32S&W's with zero structural damage..but waiting on smaller shot to get a more dense "pattern".
Plastic [glue] projectiles is probably a great idea, but, I don't think this old "bicycle" gun is Up to the Kind of precision required...and my eyes definitely are Not!!
Yes, I could switch armament, but, Hey, this is the first real usefulness the old I.J. has Shown!!!!
You might check for an airsoft laser pointer to give you a cheap/removable way and gerryrig it with a few zip ties
With a side-by-side or a revolver, you can get good results in poor light with one of those cartridge-shaped laser boresighters in anot her chamber.
I rescued a swallow that was bluntening his beak on the inside of my workshop window today. It isn't the first time. I rescued a couple that had got trapped in a building stairwell, and were obviously close to pegging out. A bird that energetic can't go long between refuellings. The weaker just made it onto my telephone wire and sat there gasping till he felt able to fly off. If I believed in those mobile things he mightn't have made it.
It confirms my belief that like a lot of creatures that are well endowed with speed, teeth, spines or armour, swallows are a whole lot less bright than sparrows.
Back in the 70s I met an ancient Saudi falconer and dealer in falcons, who insisted that his peregrine could fly faster than any aeroplane. His father had told him that, probably in the late 1920s, and it stood to reason the old man wouldn't have made up a thing like that.
close to 200 mph fastest critter on earth
In the 32S&W?? Not much...not enough in fact. In the 32S&W long? I'll weigh it...Seems effective enough, but I believe smaller shot will be more so!!
Went and weighed just now, because I get busy this time of year... from 46 to 48 grains of Shot in the 32S&W long... That's about a tenth of an Ounce by my Calculations
In the .410 a full case of pearl barley should work well, and give a better pattern than rice. Watch out it doesn't get anywhere it will be a weed, though.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |