Anyone use CB shorts/longs for silent shooting of pests?

[NWPilgrim]

I am debating getting an air rifle in .22 or to use CB Longs in a .22 rifle or pistol to quietly take out opossum and/or raccoons raiding our place. Any experience with .22 CBs?

I have beaten raccoons out of our fruit tress and grapevines with a broom stick. I don't mind them as long as they are not a problem with grandkids around and stay outside.

Recently we found an opossum in our garage eating the cat food. OK, I get the broomstick and poke it. Not budging, but snarls. Finally get it to move but it goes deeper into the garage behind shelves. After more whacking and poking it remains surly and I am getting impatient not wantintg to spend all night chasing a pest.

OK, I was getting POed and decided to get the Mk III and a box of .22 Shorts. The mag won't feed them so I drop that and just hand feed a single Short into the chamber. But when I have the varmint dead to rights I pull the trigger and the dang mag safety prevents the shot! By the time I went back for the empty mag he had scampered out the door.

So now I want to be better prepared. I live in the suburbs and want something pretty quiet. I don't plan to shoot it out in the yard, but if a pest gets in the garage and won't leave by getting poked, I want something to quietly shoot it.

I was thinking an air rifle, like a 800 fps .22 caliber with 20 gr pellets. But then I see there are .22 CB Long (CCI) and .22 CB Long Rifle (Remington) cartridges that shoot a 30 gr or 40 gr bullet at about 750 fps and are claimed to be quieter than most spring air rifles. I know the CBs won;t cycle a semi but even hand cycling is OK. A CB Long Rifle should solve the magazine feed problem.

Any experience with a .22 CB versus an air rifle for racoon and opossum sized varmints?

 

[hoytinak]

I use CB shorts all the time around the house for skunks and what not. I mainly use them in the Remington pump but I've also used them in the lever action without problems. I'll use them for shots under 30 yards, I've used them a little futher but have found that I have to hit a skunk with 2-3 of them to kill it as they just don't have the power out at the further ranges. The CB shorts in the Remington 121 are actually quieter than my cheap air rifle.

 

[Slopemeno]

.22 CB longs in 24" barrel are ridiculously quiet. "Click-thunk" Unfortunately, the prices for CB Long ammo seem to have really crept up over the last 10 years.

Most air riles aren't in the same power class as CB longs, and if they are they're louder. That being said a Beeman R-9 is a really nice way to hunt. Quality pellets are about 75% cheaper than .22 lr ammo, and hey, any excuse to buy a new toy...

I know what you mean about the cat food. I turned on the light on my deck once and my cat, a skunk and a possum were all eating together.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

CBs are very quiet out of a rifle, not so with handguns, though.

 

[Tom2]

Some CBs are just for plinking, they have very little power to penetrate. Might as well use a cheap pellet rifle. Target grade shorts from a rifle have more power and are not very loud. CCI shorts are apparently the "HV" version of shorts and are noisy and you might as well use a standard velocity LR as them, unless you got a gun that only takes shorts. The Aquila target shorts are alot quieter but still are fast enough out of a rifle to penetrate. But a big fat coon is not an easy kill for even LR rounds, so do not expect them to drop like flies on the first hit unless placed perfectly in a vital. Then again they might run off and die elsewhere so you don't have to dispose of them.

 

[DT Guy]

The big advantage to an airgun, depending on where you live, is the avoidance of any 'discharging a firearm' ordinances you might encounter.

A firearm, whether used with CB caps or regular ammo, is often regulated much more strictly (and with stricter penalties) than airguns.

Just MHO, of course.

Larry

 

[Hunley]

I've used the CB Longs for pests and the all too frequent feral cat. I use them out of my Colt Target Model Pistol. They are far from quiet. Very audible, but not loud enough to justify someone calling the po-pos

 

[griz]

I've never shot anything bigger than a squirell with a CB long, but whatever you use be careful shooting in a garage. Even low powered bullets can penetrate further than planned, and I have heard it's even possible to miss. Wouldn't want to shoot through a wall, or something that doesn't work well with holes in it.

I have a friend that had a raccon try to get into his cooler one night on a hunting trip. He used his shotgun, all he had with him, and a flashlight to dispatch the critter. We kidded him about the nice 5 gallon water jug that was behind the bandit. Nice pattern.

 

[NWPilgrim]

Thanks for all the replies, guys! I ordered some CB Long Rifles to try them out. It sounds like they will work OK from my Remington 12 pump as far as low noise and effectiveness at 3 ft - 10 ft are concerned.

Good warning about penetration on garage objects. At one time the opossum hid behind some gas cans. Smart crtitter! When the CB LR come I will go to the gravel pit and try them on phone books, sheet rock, sheet metal, and a plastic bucket. I don;t think penetration will be too much of a problem as I can get within a couple of feet of the stubborn varmint. As long as it doesn't exit the head or body.

I will probably get an air rifle at some point, but right now I would rather feed a gun I already own than purchase an entire new weapon, ammo, etc. Just not good timing, but a handy excuse for later.

 

[Mello2u]

Beware of seller's claims of velocity. I bought a Techforce .22 pellet gun which claimed a muzzle velocity of over 900 fps. I chronographed some 14.5 grain lead pellets. I only got a little over 600 fps average. So I'm getting about half the energy I though I would get.

Perhaps their claims are based upon non-lead pellets which only weigh 7 or 8 grains?

 

[jmorris]

I have a suppressed 77/22 that makes more noise dry firing than when using CB longs. I've used them up to rabbit sized animals I would step up to a standard velocity 22 for a raccoon though unless your going in the eye.

 

[minniedog2]

I keep CB's just for that. The new Remington CB long rifle work good in my 77/22

 

[Pathfinder45]

Just to let you know.....

....... to beware of riccochets. In my experience, the CB longs feed well in my 77-22 but they really tend to riccochet badly.

 

[troy_mclure]

i used aguila colbris to get rid of a cat, and a coupla rats. used my ruger single 6. real quiet.

 

[Slopemeno]

Mello2u- Airguns sell on hyped up claims of velocity. Smooth firing behavior and one-pellet-on-top-of-the-other accuracy are what sell your *second* air rifle.

I hunted extensively with a 12 ft/lb air rifle, and it shot through everything I shot at. It was sold at the time as 830 fps, but I preferred the heavier Kodiak pellets, as they seemed to be more accurate. I haven't chronoed it, but I'm probably in the low 600's. Still shoots great.

 

[cerberus65]

I tried CCI's .22 Shorts and CB Longs and got pretty bad accuracy out of a Marlin bolt-action rifle, a S&W revolver, and a Beretta NEOS. Has anyone else seen poor accuracy?

 

[zombieslayer]

I've toyed with the idea of trying colibri's in a revolver, but currently a .22 bolt with "ratshot" and a Daisy BB rifle serve pest control duties.

 

[hardluk1]

My wife is just plan diedly with cb shorts in a remington scoremaster on ratcoons off our old porch, She could open the slider and shoot one and while the ratcoons buddy is figureing whats up shoot the other one. All at or under ten feet. Some times i would not ever no she was shooting till she closed the door. with a grin on her lips. Gut shot them and they run away to die so only thing to clean is some blood ,,maybe.

 

[jlbpa]

This attached image was from about 10 - 12 feet.


Agulia .22 LR Super Colibri my friends pistol............. wish it was mine

cci cb longs have the best accuracy from my .22 rifles. But my choice for a quiet kill is a mac1 benjamin steriod .20 My beeman r1 in .22 comes in handy too.

 

[culleniii3]

I use the Super Colibri all the time in my Taurus 94 .22 to pop out rodents all the time right on my porch. I can even shoot indoors.