Pellet Pistol Gun for wife

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JohnKSa

Administrator
I don't have any way of testing BBs against deer. That said, BBs can penetrate surprisingly well at 400-500fps because they are small, very hard and have a round nose profile.

There are too many variables to know what it's going to do to a deer at 100ft, but what it does to a steel can up close gives some idea of the potential. At 100ft it will have slowed down a good bit.

The ballistic tables I have aren't really set up to deal with steel BBs, but the best I can tell is that the BB might be going around 300fps at 100ft if they start out around 500fps. Maybe slower, but not much faster than that.

Of course, even if it does turn out to be harmless at that distance if it hits the haunches where the hide is probably pretty thick, a 33 yard shot with a smoothbore BB pistol is kind of a long poke. Normal competition distance for smoothbore BB guns is 5 yards, for comparison. Which means that where it hits is going to be pretty random and that introduces some potential for hitting a "soft" spot and causing injury.

Maybe set up some paper at 33 yards and see what kind of accuracy you are getting. If it looks like you can hold "minute of deer haunch" and you only take shots from the side (so you don't hit soft parts visible from behind) then maybe it's not a big deal.
 
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JohnKSa

Administrator
No, not taking one down, about scaring them off by shooting them with a CO2 BB pistol at 100ft.

It was not at all about hunting/killing deer with one.
The deer get in my garden and I would like to sting them with a shot to their rear end, but do not want to penetrate their skin and risk infection and slow death.
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Reloadron

New member
Deer? Friend had a piece of bottom land in West Virginia. Nice garden covering a good area. Simple electric fence, battery charged by solar. Worked fine for years. Several poles and a single wire. Around here people just put up a chicken wire fence for small garden plots.

Squirrels and bird feeders? You either want to kill the squirrels (sorry Rocky) or you don't. That said if you simply do not want squirrels eating all your bird seed it is a matter of ingenuity. Those are about the best suggestions I have seen. You come up with a squirrel proof design birdfeeder. You are not going to be minding the feeder 24/7.

Ron
 
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Pahoo

New member
Block them; don't shoot them !!!

My apologies; I just can't let go of this thread but do promise that this will be my last reply. Of all the game I have hunted and interacted with, the squirrel is one smartest of them all. A Whitetail thinks that every man is just another tree and a Turkey think thinks that every tree is a man. A squirrel takes his time and studies you and situation. He is aware of all current camo patterns. I enjoy playing mind games with them and can get them barking all the time. :rolleyes:

When I hunt them, I know their weak points. This holds true for Yard-Squirrels. I don't shoot them, just block their access to my bird-feeders. I came up with a blocker and it didn't cost me a cent. You need to minimize the traction surface and maximize the effect of gravity. My feeder is mounted on a pole and I take a "clear" empty gallon jug of drinking water jug and thread onto the pole below the feeders. So far, they haven't figured out, how to climb around the jug. ....... ;) .

Be Safe !!!
 
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dgludwig

New member
I get that one can kill or severely injure small animals with a BB gun, but what about deer? I have a CO2 BB pistol that claims a muzzle velocity of 495 fps with a fresh CO2 cartridge, and at close range it will go through a steel food can. Does anyone have any idea if it could penetrate a deer at about 100 ft?
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I doubt it. Lots of people claim that lowly .30-30 bullets will bounce off deer hides. ;)
 
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dgludwig

New member
Of all the game I have hunted and interacted with, the squirrel is one smartest of them all.
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I have to agree. The alpha squirrel in my backyard not only steals the birds' meals but, more often than not, beats me at chess.
 
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seanc

New member
I had no luck with so-called "squirrel proof" feeders, but I did have success making my own pole cone from an old DISH parts. Or you could buy something like the following:

thumbnail.asp



Any birdseed that hit the ground was fair game for the ground and tree squirrels. But every year, there would be that 1 squirrel that would figure out how to get past the cone. Each year I'd have to limit their genetic potential via my pellet rifle.

If you don't want to kill them with a pellet gun, you could give them severe PTSD with a Nerf Soakzooka:
https://www.amazon.com/SUPERSOAKER-...d=1615822367&sprefix=soakzooka,aps,176&sr=8-1
 
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JohnKSa

Administrator
The general approach has always been to post in what would otherwise be the applicable section. So the Handguns section for air pistols, Hunting for hunting with airguns, Tactics and Training for training with airguns, etc.

One problem with a dedicated section is that there just doesn't seem to be much discussion about airguns even though it has always been allowed. For example, there have been only 30 threads in the past year where the word "airgun" has even been mentioned.
 
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Carl the Floor Walker

Moderator
This has always been the case for many years on firearm forums. Then you go to a Air Gun forum and you see some total dictated fanatics. It is interesting that about 10 years ago the notorious "Yellow Forum" did a survey and the average age of the Airgunner was 50 years old.
I use to believe more powder burner enthusiast would pick up how much Air Guns contribute to the shooting sport. But, it never takes a hold on gun forums. I do not think it ever will. I do believe that Air Gun enthusiast as a whole shoot more than the average Powder Burner enthusiast. You do not see very many Powder Burner shooting or talking about or reviewing upper end Air rifles. And as I mentioned, it usually consist of which gun to kill a Squirrel.
But then again, most Air Rifle enthusiast really do not want to hear much about powder Burners.
 
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shurshot

New member
That may be because much air rife enthusiasm stems from areas where they cannot own firearms (England for example), or at least not without great difficulty and regulation. If they can't or don't own real firearms, I can understand why they wouldn't be interested in guns nearly as much as PCP's, or vintage British Webley, BSA's, Metors, German Diana 27's, FB 124's, etc.
 
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JohnKSa

Administrator
It's not that there isn't a lot of interest in airguns, it's that people who go to firearms forums don't seem to talk about them much there. Even on firearms forums that have a dedicated airgun section, the airgun-related traffic seems to be quite low.

For example, TheHighRoad has an airgun section but only about 120 threads a year get posted on it. Compare that to about 540 threads a year on the THR subforum for knives and other non-firearm weapons--which isn't a very active subforum either.

To be fair, you see the same kind of thing on airgun forums--you know that there has to be overlapping interest, but you just don't see a lot of firearm-related traffic on the airgun forums.
 
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Carl the Floor Walker

Moderator
shurshot said:
That may be because much air rife enthusiasm stems from areas where they cannot own firearms (England for example), or at least not without great difficulty and regulation. If they can't or don't own real firearms, I can understand why they wouldn't be interested in guns nearly as much as PCP's, or vintage British Webley, BSA's, Metors, German Diana 27's, FB 124's, etc.
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Lol, like America is fast becoming. Not much shooting going on now for Powder Burners and more anti laws coming out every month. I thought the interest might pick up now, but still the same lack of any enthusiasm. For myself the money I previously sunk into Powder burner ammo each month has been going into saving for a complete PCP setup. (The good one's are not cheap). The new Umarex air compressor has been a, and I hate to use the term. Game Changer. I have always been a Spring air gun fan, and never thought I would move to the "Dark Side" but I have learned to never say never.
Also you really do not see a lot of post with 22.cal rimfire rifles. At least not like you do Pistols and Revolvers on gun forums. It would seem the enthusiasm would come from that group. Co2 pistols are not any good in cold weather and so I can see how that can affect the lack of interest.

Umarex AIR READY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQDINEGFFq0
 
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Shadow9mm

New member
For what its worth. a pellet or bb pistol will wound or maim but generally not kill. I tried using a 10pump crossman pistol with heavy pellets on some starling from 10ft away. It was not pretty. first shot stunned it but it was laying there panting. put 2 more into it before it died. After that I got a .22 Hatsan spring gun. More than adequate for varmints.

Fighting critters it a losing battle. I understand you don't want to kill them. but they will just keep coming back, and eventually start getting used to your scare tactics.
 
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shurshot

New member
Shot placement is the key, be it a BB, .177, or .22 pellet, given sufficient velocity of course. I have seen squirrels quickly dispatched with .177 and .22 pellets fired from Crossman and Benjamin air pistols, some vintage, others modern. You are correct though, most air rifles are FAR better tools for the job.
 
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seanc

New member
^Agree. Shot placement is everything. 2 other things: A) Birds are tough, their wings/feathers are good armor against pellets & BBs, B) Your 1st shot was probably sufficient to kill, it just didn't kill instantly. Always unsettling to see and not like in the movies. Only CNS shots kill instantly.

Also, you can not kill them fast enough or long enough. Mother nature is constantly making more. If you can deter the critters, that's the better strategy and it sounds like that's what the OP is really looking for.
 
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