Good quality pellet for rabbits?

[SumTingWong]

I've tried EVERYTHING (lights, trapping, repellents, etc) but have rabbits every night and morning destroying my lawn.

I'm ready for the next step...

Is there an affordable ~$1k or less air rifle that is very accurate to about 40(ish) yds?

 

[OhYtD]

i use a .22 rifle or 410 or 12ga shotgun. my pardner 410 and 12 are matching set. love em.

 

[therifleman556]

Is there an affordable ~$1k or less air rifle that is very accurate to about 40(ish) yds?

Benjamin Marauder, Hatsan (Bullboss, BT65, Gladious), a couple of the Airforce guns run under 1k but that leaves little room for optics.

My Bullboss 22 is money out to 50 with JSBs.

 

[SumTingWong]

i use a .22 rifle or 410 or 12ga shotgun. my pardner 410 and 12 are matching set. love em.

I probably should have been a little more clear in the fact that I live in a city neighborhood, not rural. So it can't be any kind of firearm.

I should have also asked:
What's the most quiet one, as I don't want to alert my neighbors?

 

[cohunt]

I probably should have been a little more clear in the fact that I live in a city neighborhood, not rural. So it can't be any kind of firearm.

I should have also asked:
What's the most quiet one, as I don't want to alert my neighbors?

careful, within some city limits both air guns, and archery bows are considered to shoot "projectiles" and can be illegal

air guns are just like rilfes, each likes its own choice of ammo, so pick one and buy several types of pellets and try them out for accuracy--I have had luck with JSB exact jumbo diabolo in my .22 springer, but I live in county not city limits

 

[therifleman556]

Got a couple pigeons off of the silo today. 15.89 JSB exacts @ 930 fps still have enough smack to do the job at 56 yards. Rabbits IME are much easier to kill.

 

[SumTingWong]

That's what I'm talking about!

 

[therifleman556]

Scratch that, they'll still do the job at 68 yards

 

[SumTingWong]

Which rifle was that?

 

[therifleman556]

Hatsan Bullboss 22 cal. Shot 1040 fps out of the box but I turned it down to ~925 for a higher shot count.

If you're going to buy an air rifle for pest control and one of your needs is accuracy and discretion, please do NOT get a break barrel. A precharged pneumatic (even an entry level one) simply buries the spring/gas piston guns. Once you've tried one you'll be hooked. I grew up a gun nut in a very rural area. I've owned a pile of rifles and shotguns. I have NEVER had so much fun shooting as I do with this air rifle. I used to dick around with multi pump bb/pellet guns and either miss or run out of killing power. Or be sol because birds would be sitting on silos or in barns and I had a rimfire. This was a gamechanger; it's super quiet, unbelievably accurate, and can kill good sized critters with ease.

It kinda feels like cheating.

 

[SumTingWong]

That Bullboss looks very affordable, like only $430? It's a PCP rifle?
BTW, how do you charge them at home. I've read about converting scuba tanks.

 

[therifleman556]

When I bought mine it came with a free hand pump. That was shortly after Christmas; Pyramyd Air ran them with a free pump and 20% off. Otherwise a pump runs about $150 give or take. Unless you're shooting competitively, a hand pump is all you need. The useable fill pressure is from 3000 psi down to around 2000. In that span you've got about 35 shots that are going to run from about 900 up to 925 and then back down to the high 800s. Inside of 40 yards you won't likely notice any change in trajectory. To fill the reservoir takes about 300 pumps the first time (from zero). Refilling from 2k takes about 100. You can leave it pressurized for weeks on end so it's always ready.

 

[SumTingWong]

300 pumps? That'll leave me nothing for the missus. Have you heard if the scuba tank angle works? I've got access to some, and it seems to hold many charges.

 

[therifleman556]

300 is just for the first fill. After that, 100 will do for a recharge. A tank is an option but make sure you're looking at a 4500 psi model. A 3000, depending on size, will fill the gun maybe a dozen times. Maybe that's good enough for you, but when a good tank costs more than what my rifle did it'd better do way more than that. There's a calculator somewhere you can find on Google that will tell you how many fills you can get with x tank at x pressure. The 3000 psi tank fills mine something around a dozen times or so, the 4500 psi version was in the neighborhood of 50-60 times.