I need to shoot/kill varmints, critters - seeking advice

[Glad_he_ate]

Soda bottle trick?? Anyone?? If sound is the concern then make a muffler not and illegal silencer but a basic noise reducer

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[mtudb24]

17 WSM.... (rimfire like a 22 but 10X+ more powerful)
Those are (2) 5 shot groups at 100 yds breaking in the rifle (so don't be worried that they are not in the bullseye). Well Under 1/2' MOA. Tack driver.

 

[Elff]

I'm surprised nobody has suggested it... but bows are excellent in this kinda situation.

I suggested this pages ago

Holy crap those Raccoons in that video are FAT!!!!

What about Archery? A Crossbow would be silent and with a broad head take them out

Personally, I am one of those Oneida freaks.
Top bow is a classic Oneida Aero Force Silver Eagle.
Bottom is a a Phoenix and my go to. I love that thing. Note the lack of dangly bits. I shoot traditional.

but for people more used to rifles, a crossbow is very similar with a scope/sight and has just about no learning curve

 

[aceisback]

17 WSM.... (rimfire like a 22 but 10X+ more powerful)
Those are (2) 5 shot groups at 100 yds breaking in the rifle (so don't be worried that they are not in the bullseye). Well Under 1/2' MOA. Tack driver.

What’s up with that flyer though??
I hope you have a Tuscadero Jeep to haul that around in!

 

[Elff]

Why not just get a dog? ?

I had a ground hog kick both of my dog's asses to the tune of 2 emergency surgeries and almost $5,000 worth of vet bills. I can see a Raccoon easily doing similar damage if cornered.

 

[mtudb24]

What’s up with that flyer though??
I hope you have a Tuscadero Jeep to haul that around in!

Shooter error. Damn Yip!!!!
Don't get me started on the Boyd's applejack At-One color stock that it was supposed to be. Went round and round with them. But they took care of me, so I let it go.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I had a ground hog kick both of my dog's asses to the tune of 2 emergency surgeries and almost $5,000 worth of vet bills. I can see a Raccoon easily doing similar damage if cornered.

And they will. A raccoon is not something to mess with if cornered. My former brother-in-law's dog found out the hard way. He tried to keep the dog back, tried holding him and commanding him to stay but the dog went after the coon. Did some nasty cutting with the claws and a few bite wounds. Thankfully the raccoon was healthy.

 

[Blade1668]

I just remembered an important detail, if you add a scope to a pellet gun, it MUST be rated for the recoil of an air rifle. Many high end scopes now are, but it wasn't unusual to destroy a decent scope on an air rifle back in the day.

Still can and do, it's due to a "reverse recoil" of shock wave forward stopping of "Hammer" hitting/ tripping knock off valve or the springers really heavy spring release.

They'll get huge when there's plenty of food. The boars can get really big anyway.

Bill
If you decide on upgrade on airgun "Springers" aka single cock or break barrels are louder than 22LR with subsonic ammo and can be finicky with pellet selection. If I was up in your neck of the woods I'd drop you a box of Aguilera 22LR SS 50gn I have in storage, heavy slow subsonic and quiet without a suppressor. With the caveat never shoot though a suppressor.
Third option is pick up a few "Dog Proof raccoon" traps. Baited with marshmallows then "step 2 w 22LR or heavy pellet gun.
I'd think about finding something like the 22 LR Cricket single shot. I just grab up one of my suppressed MK2's or 1911 w suppressor for larger varmints. my dang springer airgun is louder. ?
A little fun fact is a pellet gun can be suppressed without a tax stamp and isn't a "firearm" in USA. A suppressor for a airgun is easy way to quiet and can make more accurate.

Modern crossbows are basically rifles. I have a rifle, but it hardly ever leaves the safe. At 2.50 a bullet, it brings as much stress as joy.
My bow gets used daily though.

Dang you reminded me.... now I need to pull out my recurve or compound bow and crossbow for some practice too.

 

[Kindafearless]

I suggested this pages ago



Personally, I am one of those Oneida freaks.
Top bow is a classic Oneida Aero Force Silver Eagle.
Bottom is a a Phoenix and my go to. I love that thing. Note the lack of dangly bits. I shoot traditional.

but for people more used to rifles, a crossbow is very similar with a scope/sight and has just about no learning curve

Sorry, too many pages :/ Must have missed your post.

Does that mean you bow fish? I thought that is what those bows are for?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Still can and do, it's due to a "reverse recoil" of shock wave forward stopping of "Hammer" hitting/ tripping knock off valve or the springers really heavy spring release.


Bill
If you decide on upgrade on airgun "Springers" aka single cock or break barrels are louder than 22LR with subsonic ammo and can be finicky with pellet selection. If I was up in your neck of the woods I'd drop you a box of Aguilera 22LR SS 50gn I have in storage, heavy slow subsonic and quiet without a suppressor. With the caveat never shoot though a suppressor.
Third option is pick up a few "Dog Proof raccoon" traps. Baited with marshmallows then "step 2 w 22LR or heavy pellet gun.
I'd think about finding something like the 22 LR Cricket single shot. I just grab up one of my suppressed MK2's or 1911 w suppressor for larger varmints. my dang springer airgun is louder. ?
A little fun fact is a pellet gun can be suppressed without a tax stamp and isn't a "firearm" in USA. A suppressor for a airgun is easy way to quiet and can make more accurate.


Dang you reminded me.... now I need to pull out my recurve or compound bow and crossbow for some practice too.

Man, I feel so stupid reading how much some of you guys just know off the top of your head.
But then my only experiences are small and old - and it was up to my friends or family what we used for what, ammo, gun and all.
It was my neighbor who suggested looking into a 22...... and when I started using google and bing, I could start to see why. Cost - if you aren't talking cheap junk air rifles, can get up there, and the noise - I watched a couple of demos of the sound of some of the pellets - it was quite a pop. Granted, that would be "out the window" if I took a shot from the house, but still, it would be heard.
I walked around the house this AM - they've gotten clever and have decided that any daylight means that human is watching - danger, danger, so now they come up after dark. And the fresh coon poo is all over around the house, they've dug up fertilizer stakes I put around trees. They are eating things - our plants, berries, and crapping all over and it stinks like crazy. My wife can't open one of the windows without the stink coming in.

OK, you mentioned "dog proof raccoon trap" - what's the idea there? Normally, 364 days of the year, there are no dogs wandering here. It's rare, and one of the neighbors have trained their dogs quite well and I suspect recently put in an invisible fence. The dog not only doesn't bark as much when we got for a walk, but it never leaves the yard now (they care about their dogs, thankfully)
I have 2 "hav-a-hart" or whatever the brand is live traps. Just large enough for the typical raccoon here. But a boar coon can literally bend them up and rip parts off and some have escaped so when I find one is trapped, I have to deal with it quickly.

A suppressor for a 22 (or any other live ammo gun) requires a tax stamp, is that correct? About $200 bucks?

Lots of great input and thoughts/ideas and such so far.

 

[Blade1668]

Does that mean you bow fish? I thought that is what those bows are for?

That's how my compound bow is currently up for bowfishing.... it's a old POS bow I've been dragging all around the world from KY, IL, then Europe, GA, FL to AL. a few arrows left in about all them places.

Man, I feel so stupid reading how much some of you guys just know off the top of your head.
But then my only experiences are small and old - and it was up to my friends or family what we used for what, ammo, gun and all.
It was my neighbor who suggested looking into a 22...... and when I started using google and bing, I could start to see why. Cost - if you aren't talking cheap junk air rifles, can get up there, and the noise - I watched a couple of demos of the sound of some of the pellets - it was quite a pop. Granted, that would be "out the window" if I took a shot from the house, but still, it would be heard.
I walked around the house this AM - they've gotten clever and have decided that any daylight means that human is watching - danger, danger, so now they come up after dark. And the fresh coon poo is all over around the house, they've dug up fertilizer stakes I put around trees. They are eating things - our plants, berries, and crapping all over and it stinks like crazy. My wife can't open one of the windows without the stink coming in.

OK, you mentioned "dog proof raccoon trap" - what's the idea there? Normally, 364 days of the year, there are no dogs wandering here. It's rare, and one of the neighbors have trained their dogs quite well and I suspect recently put in an invisible fence. The dog not only doesn't bark as much when we got for a walk, but it never leaves the yard now (they care about their dogs, thankfully)
I have 2 "hav-a-hart" or whatever the brand is live traps. Just large enough for the typical raccoon here. But a boar coon can literally bend them up and rip parts off and some have escaped so when I find one is trapped, I have to deal with it quickly.

A suppressor for a 22 (or any other live ammo gun) requires a tax stamp, is that correct? About $200 bucks?

Lots of great input and thoughts/ideas and such so far.

Any silencer/ suppressor for firearm (USA) is a NFA taxed item of $200 on top of cost. Think of buying a new exhaust system for your car then have to pay gov. $200 wait as long as it takes them to decide if you really need it... It can be over a year. Then they approve it, you can now go pick up your exhaust system from your dealer. For something that helps protect your hearing and anyone near it. (Sorry small rant) I have a small stamp collection problem too.

It's so only targeted animals get caught.

As someone who has been a "gun packer" professionally 35 years. Infantry, M.P. Contract Armed Security, Civ. Cop.
I've been interested in anything that launches something since I was a kid, lived to hunt,fish and camping.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I've been interested in anything that launches something since I was a kid, lived to hunt,fish and camping.

Ironically, my mother didn't allow firearms in the house, and yet she married a hunter - and was fine with my and BB guns, or pellet guns or bows growing up.
It was my parents who drove to MO to buy us fireworks - bottle rockets, firecrackers and more.
I used to use a large nail to put a hole in the bottom of an old soup can, invert the can into a pan of water, put a firecracker in the hole in the can, in as far as possible. The firecracker would launch the can nearly out of sight.
And Mom helped furnish the stuff to build tennis ball cannons we would shoot up and down the block. I never did figure out why she wouldn't allow guns in the house and yet owning or shooting was ok. Something must have happened at some point. And my friends were like "your parents actually buy you the fireworks??!!?!"
Yeah, they did. And Mom would approve of me using spare change to go into town and buy more lighter fluid for our tennis ball cannons.

 

[Blade1668]

I

Ironically, my mother didn't allow firearms in the house, and yet she married a hunter - and was fine with my and BB guns, or pellet guns or bows growing up.
It was my parents who drove to MO to buy us fireworks - bottle rockets, firecrackers and more.
I used to use a large nail to put a hole in the bottom of an old soup can, invert the can into a pan of water, put a firecracker in the hole in the can, in as far as possible. The firecracker would launch the can nearly out of sight.
And Mom helped furnish the stuff to build tennis ball cannons we would shoot up and down the block. I never did figure out why she wouldn't allow guns in the house and yet owning or shooting was ok. Something must have happened at some point. And my friends were like "your parents actually buy you the fireworks??!!?!"
Yeah, they did. And Mom would approve of me using spare change to go into town and buy more lighter fluid for our tennis ball cannons.

Can relate I'm from divorced family, mother wasn't pro guns about the opposite due to influence from small part of her family. The start of summer break (school) I would be dropped off to mother's side of family at 7 years old. Luckily part of her family was pro guns, hunting, fishing ect ect. My mother's older sister husband "R.I.P. Uncle Bud" was a avid duck, deer hunter, shot trap n skeet shooter and reloader. He was a welder by trade too. So before I was a teen I was able to reload shotgun shells. He, my Great Grandfather and few others got me hooked on fishing, hunting, guns, camping self sufficiency.

Side note: Some on that side of my family views have shaped me too, they lived in CA. So if I piss off anyone here from CA. or of a certain view points, I've got deep set reasons many I will not pass on here. But there is a reason people of certain views don't want anyone but themselves to have means to protect themselves.
Bill sorry for sidetracked there.. My "Give a F### meter" is now less restricted.

 

[Elff]

Sorry, too many pages :/ Must have missed your post.

Does that mean you bow fish? I thought that is what those bows are for?

Lol no worries. I am just being silly.

I do not Bow fish, but you are correct, These bows, due to the fact that they shoot very smooth with fingers, are very popular for bow fishing.
They actually have a model called the Osprey for that, which has a lower poundage so you dont blow through the fish

 

[MPMB]

What I found amazing was the oil filter suppressor. Some company makes a "suppressor" that falls under the NFA tax stamp regulations. It's a 1/2"-28 to 3/4"-16 adapter. Once you get your tax stamp, you screw it onto the barrel, and then you put an oil filter on the other end.

Since oil filters have paper elements, they do need to be replaced more often. And the size of the filter probably will affect your sight lines.

What's hilarious is AMZN sells these adapters for $16, since they're generic, common thread adapters. We used to make all sorts of adapters for our in-line filters on the racecar. Or filters for our portable fuel pump when we would use fuel out of barrels.

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