Pellet gun for rabbits?
 

I have more rabbits coming into my yard than I can count, and due to the close proximity of neighbors my .22 lr doesn't seem like a very good idea. I'm hoping to pick some off with my bow, but was thinking a pellet gun may be more efficient. I was leaning towards a crosman nitro venom dusk.

http://www.crosman.com/airguns/rifle...arrel/CD8M22NP

I'm not sure if that will be any safer than a .22 lr though. Has any body had any experience with this gun or a similarly powered gun? Is this a good option or should I stick to my bow?

1st check and see if your local laws say you can take animals in city limits. If you can then yes I pop them with my ruger airhawk all the time.

Thats how I got my first pellet gun when I was ten. Rabbits kept eating my Mom's flowers. All I used was a .17 cal Daisy and I could shoot them from my kitchen window at 40 yards.

That Crosman will be more than enough power and not as noisey as a .22lr

Aim for the head and they wont run off injured.

That's the same one my father in law has for popping rabbits in the backyard.

Even the mother in law has got a few... I always bring my recurve when I come over and help out a bit too.

Yes, that pellet rifle will kill rabbits, squirrels, pigeons. As others have mentioned, make sure that you can legally and safely shoot a pellet rifle/bb gun on that specific property.

Yes, a pellet rifle is slightly safer than a 22lr, but not by much.

Another option to consider would be a Crossman Pumpmaster 760 variable pump repeating rifle. Break barrel single shot pellet rifles are more powerful than most variable pump rifles, but that's not always a good thing, and I hate being forced to single load the pellets. The new model 760 pump rifles come with a multi-shot pellet clip so you can use it as a repeating pellet rifle, OR a repeating BB gun (cock it, pump it up, fire). I hate using break barrel rifles because even though it's faster to cock it once and load a pellet, I am a mess carrying and loading each pellet one at a time, so I prefer the repeaters. Another benefit is that you can pick how powerful you want a variable pump rifle to be. My wife and I shoot ours in our basement as practice, pump them only once and it won't penetrate its way through 2 layers of cardboard backstop. Pump it 10x and it will kill a rabbit at 30yrds with ease. Almost ALL of my hunting with a BB gun/pellet rifle has been with simple BB's, never needed that much more accuracy to use pellets.

legally speaking there's no issue, I live in an unincorporated "village". my only real concern is upsetting my neighbors and any accidental damage that might occur to others and their property. I've got an old 760 from when I was a kid but it doesn't seem to pressure up the way it should anymore. Thanks for the input guys I appreciate it. I've got til Oct. 1 before rabbit season opens so I'll keep researching it and make a decision then.

One suggestion to this point: The seals may be too far gone for this to help, but on the 760, it's really common for the piston seals to dry out. If you open the pump handle, and squirt some gun oil on the piston (under the pump handle, you'll see the sleeve and the piston body) you might be able to get that old rifle to hold pressure again. I have two 760's that are 25yrs old, both need a few drops of oil a couple times a year, otherwise you can pump until you're blue in the face and they won't build pressure.

I really like the old multi pump Crosmmans too but if you dont mind heavy and expensive, the RWS 48 side cock is really nice. The RWS 46 looks interesting too.

This one is worth looking at;

http://www.gamowhisper.com/


Remember; they taste good too !!!

just slightly safer , really....:confused2:

much safer actually