On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 20:51:24 +0100, Tim Auton
tim.auton@uton.[groupSexWithoutTheY] wrote:

"Stephen" wrote:

My wife likes to feed the birds but she is getting tired of feeding
squirrels and pigeons. I am thinking of getting a pellet gun and I am
wondering about how effective it is at shooting varmints like squirrels and
pigeons. I have looked at a "gamo shadow 1000" pellet gun. The pellet
velocity is about 1000 fps with about 15 ft lbs of energy. The range would
be less than 10 yards.

Would this pellet gun be an effective way to kill pigeons and squirrels?

With a decent headshot, yes. Hit a squirrel in the hindquarters with
that and it'll limp off and die slowly, which is bad. The unlicensed
limit for air guns in the UK is 12 ft lbs, and that's OK for taking
bunny rabbits (not jackrabbits or hares though) with a 20 yard shot to
the head. The gun laws in the UK mean air weapons are popular here for
hunting varmints. A search for "air rifle" with "game", "huting" etc.
should find you diagrams of target areas for a clean kill with that
kind of weapon. Practice on targets till you're sure you can get a
clean kill.


Tim
A good slingshot loaded with ball-bearings or Dollar Store Marbles
works very well on rabbits. The "tree rats" are a little harder to hit
than cotton-tails.