Which air rifle for squirrels?

[Rat]

They also have hand pumps, like bicycle pumps on steroids. These are great if you have kids that can do the pumping, otherwise your back will hate you!

[DBLHKUP]

Benjamin nitro piston .177, scoped. Drops em! Really like mine, quiet, accurate, knocks the pi** out em! have fun

[JES]

We shoot Benjamin at our house The trail NP XL specifically.
While this is a springer air gun the accuracy is there if you practice and use the right hold (Artillery Hold). We have a .177 model and a .22 model. I Like the .22 model better, what's the point of having a magnum air rifle if it is in .177? But my son likes the speed and it is his gun so that's why we have the .177.

No doubt that the PCP airguns like the Discovery are more accurate with less of a learning curve.

50 yards is a great distance for these guns, and with a little practice easy to be able to take head shots on squirrels at that distance, and for sure body shots.

Just be careful, they are as addicting as archery, well, almost.

How is the stock scope in this? A little outside of what I was wanting to spend, but if the scope is good I may be able to justify it to myself.

[RTC]

Check out the Hatsan 95 Vortex before you buy anything.

[muzzlebrake]

This is so silly. So your saying a subsonic (1050fps) 22LR has no power after 10 feet???? You are very wrong sir. I have a suppressed 22lr that I shoot subs out of and I can kill any small game with ease under 75 yards.
You might want to do some more research before making blanket statements like that.
I have never seen an air rifle that is as quiet and as powerful as a suppressed 22lr

OK, in Hillary Clinton's best voice I misspoke and meant to say CB caps or what we call noiseless 22 shells. These shells were around before the modern sub sonic ammo so that's what we been calling them because you can't hear them from across the street. My neighbor uses them on grackles and they will barely get the job done even up close. We tried them on squirrels and they seldom get the job done unless you are real close and hit them in the head. They are quieter than my old Red Ryder.

[Deerguy]

Benjamin Trail nitro piston, under 1000 fps and nitro piston, so very quiet. Get the .22 as it has more energy with the heavier pellet (you can increase energy in the .177 by shooting faster, but will be much more noisy (similar to a .22 rimfire). Scope that comes with it is very good. Will take 100 or so shots to break it in, but after that, very accurate. Works for me on cats out to 20. Should work on squirrels quite a bit further with good shot placement. Crippling loss is very high with pellet rifles when the bullet doesn't quite go where you want it (as always of course, but more so than with other firearms). Not enough tissue damage for poor shots.

Another alternative is to shoot a regular .22 rimfire subsonic with a suppressor. Amazingly quiet and since you have a heavier bullet, more effective killing energy than with a pellet rifle, but approximately the same velocity (depends on which air rifle you look at).

[adam_p]

I have a Benjamin trail NP too and 50 yards consistently is pushing it to say the least. Head shots on squirrels at that range is out of the question and I've spent significant time shooting this thing from a bench rest. It takes some effort on the shooters part to shoot it that well at that range and even then I feel like if your hit % is over 40 you've done something special. Anything 30 yards or closer shouldn't be a problem.

[FireNguns]

OK, in Hillary Clinton's best voice I misspoke and meant to say CB caps or what we call noiseless 22 shells. These shells were around before the modern sub sonic ammo so that's what we been calling them because you can't hear them from across the street. My neighbor uses them on grackles and they will barely get the job done even up close. We tried them on squirrels and they seldom get the job done unless you are real close and hit them in the head. They are quieter than my old Red Ryder.

Okay that makes sense. Glad we are back on the same page.

[Ronnie41]

I have a gamo .177 and if you really practice a lot with the slow trigger squeeze it is very accurate. the silencer is also nice to have. I keep mine in the deer blind so if things are slow with deer I take home a mess of squirrels, head shot.

[Playa]

Five bills for a squirrel killer? I'd buy a real .22 if I'm spending that much. It would have to be assassin quiet. But it's a sweet looking set-up nonetheless.

Suit yourself. I spent $230 on. Benji Nitro, then 150 for a scope upgrade, 35 on a trigger upgrade and now I have a $445 piece of crap that I can't trust to put pellets in a group at 30 yds. I wish I had spent the $500 originally

[Rat]

How is the stock scope in this? A little outside of what I was wanting to spend, but if the scope is good I may be able to justify it to myself.

The scope is well above average, but you can definitely buy better. The adjustable parallax takes a little getting used to. The sight picture isn't perfectly clear for the marks in the scope, however, it is easy to note this and make your own reference marks; or just look through the scope when adjusting. Mine is a few years old so maybe they have made some corrections in this area.

The scope is really well matched to the gun and should last for many years of shooting.

[KevBow]

Better start sticking up on bb's and pellets. If Hillary wins she gonna ban everything

[gatorgrizz27]

We always used .22 LR on them as kids all the way through high school. In college I was living in an apartment complex and we would shoot them with a break barrel .177 pellet gun, it did around 1000 fps. It had pretty poor performance IMO, we had a lot of squirrels knocked down and do backflips that would jump back up and run away. I think the pellets were just too light to do much damage, you had to shoot them in the head for a clean kill.

I'd go with a .22 air rifle if you're set on one, and the heaviest pellets they make. I had really good success with the 60 gr subsonic .22 LR rounds on armadillos, possums, coons, and a dog. A heavy bullet just flattens stuff.

[gatorgrizz27]

OK, in Hillary Clinton's best voice I misspoke and meant to say CB caps or what we call noiseless 22 shells. These shells were around before the modern sub sonic ammo so that's what we been calling them because you can't hear them from across the street. My neighbor uses them on grackles and they will barely get the job done even up close. We tried them on squirrels and they seldom get the job done unless you are real close and hit them in the head. They are quieter than my old Red Ryder.

We used some of the Aguila "powderless" 22 rounds out of a rifle once. First shot was at a target about 35 yards away, we saw it hit the dirt in front of the target.

Second shot was a squib load that didn't make it out of the barrel, we threw them out after that. I wouldn't use those in anything but a .22 revolver, but they aren't the same as the CB shorts.

[Buff]

Subsonic or noiseless .22 rimfire doesn't have enough power unless you are about 10ft away. The one cock break over pellet guns are noisy. Some more than others. The nitrogen filled cylinder are quieter than the spring plunger type.
Some even come with a suppressor but I don't think they work very well.
This silent cat might be worth a look at. Would sure want to test it before buying.

http://www.gamousa.com/product.aspx?productID=321

https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...l_5y5cajlxog_b

I would humbley disagree.....
I have killed a 55 gallon barrel full with a suppressed rifle and Eley sub sonic 40 grain .22