riverhawk

So my dream rifle is a .17HMR. I'm getting it soon. That said, I'd also like to control my English Sparrow / Starling problem without getting an airgun. Will the hummer completely obliterate them or will there be some meat left to use as snapping turtle bait or to feed to the neighborhood cats?

If it would blow them up, is it feasible to take headshots on them? Would even headshots destroy them?

Thanks,
Riverhawk

MudderChuck

I can see shooting at ground birds with a rifle, but shooting anything off the ground is pretty much a no no unless you are absolutely sure there is nobody 2-3 miles down range.

Starlings are like Locust, good luck reducing their numbers by shooting them. Also it isn't really cost effective at 20-25 cents a pop.

Oldtimr

Oh brother, here we go again.

riverhawk

I can always have a pile of birdseed on the ground and shoot from above. There's an old treestand in my woods.
Sure it may not be cost effective but it'd be hella fun
So would the birds be destroyed?

MudderChuck

I have no experience shooting small birds with a rifle. I imagine it would be like shooting a Goat with a 105mm artillery round. I never have been a fan of exploding animals for fun, it somehow just seems wrong to me.

I did pick off Lizards with a BB gun when I was young and stupid. I wouldn't kill them. I was pretty good at it, I'd just barely skin their skull with a BB and it would knock them unconscious, ten-fifteen minutes latter they would get up and scurry off.

riverhawk

I'm not looking to explode them either. I was hoping to use them as bait for snapping turtles. I just meant it would be fun to get some shots off at yard pests, as long as meat is not wasted.

grinder67

Only question I have is when did the 17hmr become "the hummer" and why?

riverhawk

It's just slang because "hmr" sounds like "hummer" if you say it like it's a real word and not an acronym, and also because it's a fast, small cartridge that brings to mine a hummingbird.

Oldtimr

grinder, I bet now you wish you wouldn't have asked.

grinder67

LOl. You got that right!