biscuit jake

Maybe I misunderstood other posts. Anyone hunt small game with them succesfully?

Ignatz

I have taken a few squirrels with my air rifle. I take them with head shots. I have a RWS Model 36 .177 at about 1000fps. If I was planing to hunt alot of squirrels I would use a 22 cal air rifle.

biscuit jake

Local RWS users seem to swear by the 177 for penetration.... why do you suggest the 22 for squirrels?

Thanks

JoeRE

A .22 cal would probably stop them faster with chest shots. I used a .17 pelletgun (not talking bb gun) a lot before I graduated to a 22 rifle growing up. If you settle for head shots with squirrels a fast .17 with pointed tip pellets is great but they might run a little way with a chest hit. Interestingly the .17 put rabbits down no problem even though they are bigger...just not near as tough.

kevin1

I aspire to own a Beeman , or any of Fienwerkbau's other quality air rifles , but yes you can take down squirrels with them . I've taken rabbits at 25-30 yards with an ordinary Daisy 880 pumper with head shots , they never even twitched . I currently have a Daisy 1000 spring piston which can drive a lead pellet of any configuration straight through a steel can at the same range . I generally use either hollowpoint or pointed field pellets for hunting , although regular flat faced match pellets will do .

NY Harvester

I have a scopedBeeman, It is the finest airgun I have owned. I will not hesitate to take anygame smaller than a woodchuck with it. Shot placement is everything and this thing is a tackdriver.

biscuit jake

Thanks for the scoop NY Harvester. Which model are you using? Or is this an oldie or out of production? Actually, this is a project for a co-worker's husband. Barb doesn't want hubby to continue sniping tree rats and starlings with the .22 firearm 'cause they live in town. Scheels has serveral Beamans in stock and they are moderately priced. Also, for our airgun experts, do you really need an airgun scope as opposed to a regular .22 scope? I was told there was something about vibrations that calls for a different built for air rifles.

Thanks

JoeRE

I have always used a good quality .22 rifle scope. Never any problems with even spring piston guns (uses a stong spring to cram air up the bore and they have much more vibration than pneumatic, or pump up, air rifles). Cheep glass does not do so well on them though. It is purely personal but I think a variable or maybe a 6x fixed is perfect for airgun hunting.

RiverOtter

We'll see how mine works out. I just received my Beeman R9 in .20cal, and I'm putting a Bushnell Trophy 4-12x40 AO on it (but that's on backorder[:@]). If you're into airguns, there's a couple good sites out there that have some good forums. www.rimfirecentral.com and www.yellowforum.comare the two that I look at the most.