I live in an unincorporated town in Iowa, and as I have nothing better to do at this time, I'm thinking of getting a "quiet" gun to shoot rabbits, rats, crows and the occasional cat, and any other varmint that runs athwart my broadside.

This piece must be "quiet", to replace my Marlin 39A, which had seen its last legs before I even got it. Basically, I have to hold the gun together between shots, as every mating piece is completely out of limits. Despite this, it is extremely accurate and quiet.

Should I go .22 lr subsonic or with an airgun? I have an RWS Diana model 24, which just doesn't have the ooomph, but does have the accuracy. Any and all opinions are welcome.

Check out this site for airguns. Not your run of the mill Walmart stuff.

airguns of arizona

Paul

Cool!

WHY GO TO ARIZONA WITH YOUR BUSINESS?? THERE'S A GREAT PLACE RIGHT HERE TO BUY BIG TIME AIRGUNS IS CALLED AIRGUN EXPESS AND IT'S IN MONTEZUMA IA.CHECK EM OUT. I GOT MY BEEMAN THERE. SUPPORT OUR VENDORS HERE!

THE 2ND AMENDMENT PROTECTS US ALL...........

airgun express

Pretty nice selection, Tasco 74. What air rifle combines the best accuracy and terminal performance on creatures up to say, pigeon? My last "nice" air rifle was a Sheridan Blue Streak. It would kill pigeons with a head shot but a body shot would just wound (probably terminally) them. This was about 25 years ago. There is a much better selection now. For tougher things like cats and squirrels, I would prefer to burn some gunpowder. What do you think of the 25 and 35 caliber pellets in terms of lethality? I wouldn't think they would have much sectional density and still be able to be launched from an air gun.

Paul

Don't know about air guns but I always use RWS 22HP in a 26" barrel. It's very quiet. Very accurate, it rarely exits the target.If someone is shooting it outside ,someone inside won't hear it.

I'D LOVE TO BE ABLE SHOOT MY .22 LR IN TOWN TOO BUT I'M AFRAID MY NEIGHBORS WOULD THROW A FIT.BUT I WAS SITTING OUTSIDE IN MY BACKYARD SHOOTING MY BEEMAN LAST NITE BEFORE I READ THE STUFF ON HERE AND SUBMITTED MY REPLY. I THINK YOU MIGHT BE RIGHT ABOUT A .20 OR .22 CAL. AIR RIFLE. I'VE SHOT SQUIRRELS AS MANY AS 5 TIMES TO PUT EM DOWN WITH A .17CAL. ON 2 OF THOSE SHOTS I SAW THE PELLET EXIT THE ANIMAL. SQUIRRELS ARE TOUGH. I HOPE 120MM CHECKS AT AIRGUN EXPRESS FOT BEEMAN BLEMS AND SUCH. I THINK THEY ARE A GOOD VALUE.

Did you ever .22CB caps. The case looks like a .22 long rifle, but the bullet won't go through 3/4 inch plywood, and can't be heard outside of a garage when it is shot. The lead bullet looks like a spire point and does work on all you mentioned. I don't know about the range when shooting in the air though, never tried it. Too many people and buildings around here to even think of trying it. Cannot afford any misses at all. Could not look at myself in the mirror if something bad happened.

I WONDER HOW THOSE CB CAPS WOULD SHOOT IN MY 1022.

I'm assuming you are where you can legally and safely shoot, but the meighbors will howl if they know you are doing it.

I'd hunt around for the longest barrelled .22 LR I could find and feed it .22 LR target ammo. I never got CB caps to shoot worth a whoop and you don't need wounded animals bleeding to death on someones lawn.

I'd be real careful about them cats too. I understand shooting feral cats, but if someone's Fluffie goes home with a bullet wound, they'll have you in jail.

tasco 74,

quote:

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I WONDER HOW THOSE CB CAPS WOULD SHOOT IN MY 1022.

---

Not very well. I tried them in my 10/22's. You must load them one at a time as they won't feed through the magazine. Most times the action won't cycle correctly and gets jammed up. Not worth the effort as far as I'm concerned. Killing birds with a pellet rifle with body shots can be futile UNLESS you use the right pellet. To many try to use round nose or pointed pellets and they just fly thru without imparting any shock. Sure they penetrate but how much penetration do you need with birds, even crows. I have found that if you use target type pellets(flat nose) the shock they impart kills birds quickly. The last thing one needs is to hit a bird and have it fly off one or more houses and then die and end up in someone's pool or patio. I personally use flat nose pellets on birds and hollow point pellets on everything else. I’ve killed Jack Rabbits and Ground Squirrels out to 60 yards with body shots using Crow Magnum pellets out of my .20 Beeman Crow Magnum IV. Lawdog

Air rifles are a bunch of hooey for that purpose. IF you have a relatively long barreled .22 rifle, the CB Shorts or Longs sold by CCI are quieter and much more deadly. Much more accurate as well. I've a T/C carbine that goes 1/2" with shorts all day. If you shoot the wrong thing with an air rifle the crap's still in the fan so why bother? Aside from that, high quality air rifles are expensive.

Sorry I forgot to say RWS 22HP SUBSONIC.

I bought an RWS Model 48 a few yeras ago for the same purpose that you are looking for a gun for. BIG MISTAKE! It was just as loud as a std velocity 22 LR, and not nearly as easy to load and shoot. I since have pawned it off and have a bolt action 22 sighted in with 22 CB longs. Much quieter and they do the trick on anything that I feel the need to plink in my back yard.

I SHOULD MENTION THAT I HAVE SHOT 5 POSSUMS IN TOWN AT NIGHT WITH A .357 MAG AND THE COP ONLY SHOWED UP ONCE. I WAS HOSING THE BLOOD OFF MY PATIO AN HE SAID "DID YOU SHOOT SOMETHING DOWN HERE?". I REPLIED "YEA I SHOT A POSSUM DO YOU WANT TO SEE IT"? HE SAID "NOPE I HATE POSSUMS" AND DROVE OFF. I GUESS I'M TRUSTED TO SHOOT STUFF LIKE THAT HERE. I'M WODERING HOW LONG I COULD GET BY WITH SHOOTING A .22 LR IN TOWN. IT'S OK ONCE IN A WHILE BUT I'M THINKIN THE NEIGHBORS MIGHT GET NERVOUS IF YOU DO TO MUCH OF IT.

Good news - I cc'd this thread to my gunsmith at home, and he quickly e-mailed me back with the "news" that I've had a Mossberg 151MB on consignment with him for the last 5 years. It's a "quick" bolt action with a loooooong, heavy barrel. I got it for free, cleaned it up, put it on consignment and forgot about it. I guess it has never sold, and provided you scope it or otherwise replace the "move about"(tm) ultra-crappy iron sights those came with, it should really do the trick.

I'll probably build a sound trap in my garage and shoot from behind it. Shouldn't be able to be heard at all. There are some crows that need to die. Thanks for all the help.

As far as cats are concerned, the difference between the ones that will and won't be missed is pretty obvious around here. I mainly go for the mean and diseased ones.

120mm
CCI cb long, real quiet, real accurate, fed well in every gun we tried.

120mm

Look for Aguila Supers, no powder, just hot primers. I solved my crow problem this spring with a marlin bolt and 50 rds a Agulia, something like 500 fps, 20 grain bullets. Absolutly quiet, more quiet than a pellet gun shooting similar velocities ( and a hell of alot cheaper).
Killed maybe a dozen(crows) at 30 yards or less, open sights seemed to be accurate enough. One lucky shot at 60 yards(lofted a round and the bullet and the bird just happened to collide). I have noticed leading in the chamber, but it comes out, they also are nearly silent in a semi like a 10/22 but you have load them single and hold the bolt closed with your finger. I loved sniping those crows this spring and got several at a time because they didn't know any shooting was going on.
Sounds like you already have a 22lr bolt gun, so get your gunshop buddy to order some Agulia's and you are in bidness.
low_tech

Just get you a ..22 rifle with a silencer and no more noise!!!
Jeff

Long barreled 22 and RWS subsonics. Works great on all the above. Far quieter and more deadly than a high performance air rifle. I have tried both. By the way, great poem about the flying cats!

Shoot Safe, Shoot Safe.......RiverRat

[ 08-05-2003, 05:33: Message edited by: RiverRat ]

Thanks, though the credit should go to my college room-mate. I wish I could remember the other 5 or so verses... Actually I wish I could drink the same amount of beer it took for him to think them up!

I honestly don't know much about air guns, but from what I've seen you best bet may well be
the Remington .22 sub sonics. They aren't overly loud, and they're powerful enough to bag nearly all small game. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

I tried the airgun thing. The RWS was more than accurate enough BUT if ya didnt place that lil pellet in its mellon, it was gonna run! I finally gave up and sold it. I have an air pistol for those pesky lil chipmunks and everything else gets a CCI CB Long from a Marlin bolt gun! I have not tried the RWS Supsonics (have never seen them locally) but will check into them. I choro'd the CCI's (in the back yard, LOL! ) and the velocity spread was purty large! They are not the most accurate but they have done the job for short range stuff......