Do you think an air gun like this will kill small animals?

Question

Hi i'm getting an airgun for my 18th tomorrow. It is costing me 260 pounds so I suppose it must be decent.

I'm not sure what the specs are but I think the shop owner said it was 0.22 calibre, 11.5 or 12 lbs energy or something.

Do you think this is powerful enough to kill small animals(birds, rabbits etc)?

Answer 1

It's got the power, but it's a spring-gun which means it's not all

that easy to shoot accurately.

You 'hold' has to be uniform, because the gun 'jumps' before the pellet leaves the barrel.

Practice carefully before you start hunting.

Those 'kill zones' on birds & rabbits are small targets.

Answer 2

Kind of slow 570 fps, for a comparable price you can get a .177 that sends a pellet 1000 fps, enough to kill squirrels, rabbits etc.

Or check this: http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templa...

Answer 3

Uh, good enough for small pidgeon sized birds and rodents. Not strong enough for 4 larger legged critters unless you can put a pellet in it's brain. It's not enough for Rabbit. .22LR works on rabit so maybe it can. Velocity is what causes the round to kill in smaller calibers.

260 pounds... Holy c**p! Thats over $500 American dollars isn't it? That better be one very high quality air rifle. I can get either an ak47, a Glock handgun or two ruger 10/22's plus ammo here for that much.

Answer 4

Small birds, yes, squirrels, yes, rabbits, depends on where where you hit them, most likely will just wound them.

Answer 5

You would have to go a little more than your planned 260 pounds, but I highly recommend either the Weihrauch HW80 or the Air Arms TX200

Here are a few UK airgun sites for you to research

http://www.pellpax.co.uk

http://www.airgunbuyer.com

http://www.airrifleshop.co.uk

http://www.airsportdirect.com

http://www.airguntrader.co.uk

BSA Lightning XL .22 - Yes, you would be able to take small game. To get their 11.5lbs you would have to using a very heavy pellet, nearly 16gr

570fps - 16gr = 11.54fpe

The problem with 570fps would be the trajectory of the pellet. It would be extremely difficult to shoot such a rifle/pellet combination accurately. It would be fine at 10 meters, it's at the longer ranges that you would have problems.

Both the Air Arms TX200(.177) and the HW80(.177) would give you a MV of around 800fps with 8gr pellets - This gives you a nice flat trajectory - You could take small game out to around 40 yards fairly easily with either of these rifles.

My favorite air rifle the Feinwerkbau(FWB) 124D would be in the same power range as the above, and I take rabbit all the time out to 35 yards, and on rare occasion beyond 40.

Answer 6

you can't just go out and start shooting things. For a start, every bird is protected by law at all times, and you can only kill a few species if you have a good reason and can prove that you've tried non-lethal methods first. You can also only shoot on land that you own or have permission to shoot on. In general, there are no real circumstances where it is legal to kill ANY bird in your garden (even magpies and pigeons), especially if you are attracting them with food. You cannot shoot any game species such as pheasant and ducks. You cannot shoot any songbird at any time. Make sure you know what species are legal, when you may shoot them, and how to recognise them.

For mammals, you can shoot rats, rabbits and squirrels, but make sure you know where the kill zone is (on the head - NEVER shoot them on the body, you will only wound). You still need permission from a landowner and cannot shoot in any public space or council-owned land.

Read the General Licence from Defra, and make sure you follow it to the letter - you are an ambassador for all shooters so never cut corners and give everyone else a bad name.

Answer 7

Yes if it is 22 caliber it is more than likely going to be plenty to kill small animals. Shoot safely

Answer 8

I used to use a Daisy Powerline 93 .177 BB pistol to hunt small game such as what you listed. It was only about 450 FPS and 1 shot to the chest or the back of the neck and it was down in 1 shot.

So yes, that rifle you linked would probably leave you with some mighty clean kills.