Originally Posted By: KevinB
Originally Posted By: handyman
IMO an air rifle would be an EXTREMELY poor choice for hunting anything except maybe very small birds or mice . Wether it was a rabbit or squirrel , it would have to be a close range head shot . If you did hit a rabbit with an air rifle , it might kill it but it would probably be a slow death . The rabbit would more than likely get away and hide only to die a slow death . With the money it would cost to buy a air rifle that was powerful enough to do the job , you could buy a dozen 22 cal. rifles .


You're really not familiar at all with modern adult airguns, are you? I've killed scores of rabbits, squirrels and pigeons instantly with single shots out to 60 yards with a spring piston .177 Beeman R9. And that's considered a "medium power" airgun. I do try to take head shots, because these guns can do it easily and it's for sure. But body shots to the heart/lung area are equally effective. "Magnum" springers in .22 and .25 are often used to hunt wild turkey, coyote, raccoon, etc. Large bore pre-charged pneumatics (up to .75 caliber) are used to take elk and boar at 100+ yards. I don't care what propels it, a chunk of lead moving at close to or above the speed of sound will definitely bring home dinner. These aren't your grandpa's BB guns.

Kevin B.


I was going by my expriences as a kid [ a very long time ago ] . Me and my buddy would hunt squirrels with our bb /pellet guns . He had one of those Crossman pump guns that you could pump up to 10 times . It would often take 2 or 3 or sometimes more shots for us to knock the squirrels out of the tree . Not a very humane or effective way to bring down game . Even if there has been a big improvement in air rifles , I'd still rather have a 22 .