.177 airgun on pests

[greybeard]

Does anyone use a .177 airgun on pest birds like starling ?

If so have you found that at times the pellet, even a wadcutter will go thru the bird and it flyies away and dies later..

This may be a stupid question , but would a slower velocity airgun be better

I realize head shots would eliminate that, but sometimes you hit the body.

Years back I used .22 airguns and never remember having this problem

[shawnhu]

Grey, I used to use .177 exclusively for small game, and have taken sparrows, starlings, pigeons, red squirrels, grey squirrels, as well as raccoon.

The thing about bird hunting is that their kill zone is quite small. Aim for the base of their wings and you'll hit the lungs. Profile double lung is the best, but a frontal shot from the ground up is also great. Don't bother for the head, as birds move their heads way too fast.

I can't recall ever having to follow up a starling with my .177.

Speed of my pellets is 900 fps shooting domes, exits every time.

[greybeard]

Shawn..

.I was using a Crosman 1377 pistol which usually kills instantly, but three times I hit and off they went... I used wadcutters because I thought that they would kill instantly, and they always did.

I found one bird that I hit because I saw where he flew and went to look. It had flown to thick brush about 50 yards away. Another only went 10 yards. .I never found the third.

I just thought that maybe it went thru too fast. I normally would pump 6 times, and get an instant kill, but on the 3 non instant kills I had pumped 8 and 10 times. So velocity was the only reason that I could come up with.

I have much more experience with .22 cal. pellets and was considering getting a .22 air pistol for the VERY CLOSE range pest removal ( I am not really hunting with the airguns, I'm just getting rid of an abundance of pests).

Thanx for the info, especially about the head shots, I just couldn't stay on the head of such a small target.

If it's not the speed of the pellet, then it's my doing in that I aimed wrong.

Thanx again for the info.

[IDRBS]

in NYS to hunt with an airgun it must be 600fps.

[Elmo]

To compensate for having eyes separated on both sides of their head, birds bob their head back and forth to obtain depth perception.

[shawnhu]

Grey, I'm not going to go into the legality of the implement used here, just trying to help by answering questions.

The 2 birds that you recovered, you need to examine them to find the point of impact. If these birds are perched high, and you shot the neck, they will fly then die. I can think of many scenarios where 8 pumps will not kill when 6 would.

Matter of fact, give me a ring, I'll PM you my number if you lost it.

[greybeard]

The gun is rated up to 600 fps..

It penetrates backups to my targets really well, but even with that I would NOT use it on game larger then these pests....whether furred, or winged.. , except a mouse, or rat..

Elmo... I never knew that.. Wonder if it'd work for me as I get older....I am bird brained already

[Five Seasons]

love my scoped gammo single pump .177 thing is deadly