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Better Idea?

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bubblerboy64

Member
Jul 25, 2018
2,413
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Pa, United States
I've got a buddy with a pigeon problem. I've got some high end equipment but I have to be careful not to shoot holes in his metal roof. SO??? I ordered a Benjamin 22 cal multiple pump and plan to set it up with a scope and maybe a laser. The shots will be pretty close probably not more then 30 feet and I'm thinking a couple (maybe two or three pumps) should be enough to reliably kill a pigeon or starling without hurting the metal roof?



Anyone have experience or thoughts on the subject. I need something that's reasonable accurate at lower velocities. Pellets to use? Probably heavy one's to keep the velocity down? Interestingly enough my first air rifle was a Sheridan 20 cal which I was given as a gift by my Dad a LONG time ago. I let that rifle get away from me 30 years or so ago. I sold it for $20 what a mistake that was.

I have a daystate red wolf in 22 and even on low power it hits that roof with a real wack and I think it will punch thru easily.
 
In my experience:

It certainly doesn't take much to poke a hole through a pigeon. I'd recommend wadcutter pellets. They hit the bird with a smack and dump most of their energy in the bird. The pellets will still go all the way through the bird even at 9 FPE, but tend to not have enough energy left to do any real damage afterwards. They are also very accurate at low velocities. At the low energy levels you are looking for, hollowpoints do not expand and Diabolo pellets will have more penetration and energy left to cause damage.
 
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I would look at trying to get very light non lead pellets with a large (expanding or not) frontal area as mmahoney suggests. Light pellets lose energy very quickly on impact and will reduce collateral damage while still performing the task well. Getting them slow and accurate is the key. The breast meat is the toughest part of the bird so a study of the anatomy may serve well also.
 
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I have a crosman 2240 that has a .177 rifle barrel and butstock. It has the power at that range to kill pidgeons and not poke holes in roofs. The gun was specifically bought to use for just what you are asking about. 

It is c02 powered and can be built for just over 100 bucks, then add a utg bug buster scope and it is a pidgeon killer.

The Crosman custom shop can help you out
 
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In my experience:

It certainly doesn't take much to poke a hole through a pigeon. I'd recommend wadcutter pellets. They hit the bird with a smack and dump most of their energy in the bird. The pellets will still go all the way through the bird even at 9 FPE, but tend to not have enough energy left to do any real damage afterwards. They are also very accurate at low velocities. At the low energy levels you are looking for, hollowpoints do not expand and Diabolo pellets will have more penetration and energy left to cause damage.
Click to expand...


Wadcutters are a great idea. I have used them on squirrels. At closer ranges they are plenty accurate and very deadly. They smack more and penetrate less ?

Matt
 
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If these birds are roosting at night in the barn you can use a red light and probably have them eradicated in a few nights. I used a single shot low power break barrel to get them out of a collector car barn. Couldn't poke holes in anything there. Cheap daisy at the time and a flashlight. 3 nights no more flying rats. If you can block escape routes before going in you can get it done in one night. Good luck.
 
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I can't block the escape . Last time I shot at them I placed the owner near the escape with a 410 but he missed several. Not that I think I could do much better. A pigeon on take off is pretty fast and with a 410 you have to be pretty much dead on target. I should be set up with my equipment in a week and I'll see how it goes. Hunting is way different then target shooting. You don't get many do overs. Judging distance is critical. Not too good at that. I do have a range finder which I must remember to use.
 
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I took out a bunch of ferals in a barn last week. FX Streamline 22 on Low power using JSB 18gr pellets. About 500 fps probably. Dropped them easily at 20 yds.

Make sure to use proper holdover for close shots and consider hold under for shots at high incline angles. Just as with anything it takes practice when you do it for the first few times.

Here are a few screenshots before I stopped recording and got busy. :)

1533055723_11303350555b6092eb2786a1.92403325_Screenshot_20180731-124148.png
1533055723_4973422725b6092ebd6b951.42570691_Screenshot_20180731-124201.png
1533055724_18832170085b6092ec96e8e9.24229589_Screenshot_20180731-124225.png
1533055725_4244387955b6092ed483dc9.75259061_Screenshot_20180731-124342.png



 
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Those pictures look similar to my situation. I couldn't get to the area to retrieve the pigeons so I really couldn't determine what was happening but the pellet would really smack the metal roof or wood behind and I was either missing (which seemed nearly impossible) or shooting thru them. They fell but not with out some fluttering which I am guessing the domed pellet was passing thru the bird. I never count anything dead unless I can find the bodies. So I don't know how successful I was. After hearing the pellet whack that roof I stopped.

You can fall thru a hole and end up a victim of your own hunting expedition in these old barns . The owners know where the holes are but I'm not getting off the know it's solid floor.



Figure the cats will do the clean up. The Benjamin 22 with a couple pumps should be fine and especially if I can take head shots. I really tried to hit center of the bird thinking that it might slow the pellet down enough not to hurt the roof. Didn't seem to help. I have to figure out what type of scope I want to put on the thing.
 
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Polymags might be a good choice if they are accurate enough for you at low speeds. They weren't for me.

Shooting at low velocity is lots trickier than at high velocity. Here's an example:

My Streamline 22 is zeroed at 20/50 yds on High power. When switching to low power, I have to dial up 8 moa (32 clicks) for the pellets to hit zero at 20 yds. And I can see the arc of the pellet through the scope. At 30 yds it would be several inches low already.

I couldn't recover most of the pigeons I shot due to not being able to safely get to the loft area. I told the farmer that and he said not to worry about it. I don't go for the head in these situations unless the bird is perfectly still and I am confident in the shot. Otherwise I just go for the meat of the body.

Head shots will pass through, body shots on Low power don't 9/10 times and still kill the bird quickly. As you gain experience in these shooting experiences you'll learnlearn works best for you.
 
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I guess I'll get the old chronograph out and check velocities. I'd think 450 to 500 ft per would be about right. We used to shoot pigeons with BB guns but not very humanely. I guess I could also do some penetration studies. My wife has a bunch of paper backs and a pellet going into a paper back deep enough to be completely imbedded should be about right? My distance is about 25 ft I think. Barns not that big.
 
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That's pretty close. 500 fps is plenty.

My suggestion would be to zero at the furthest distance you'll be shooting for these close situations. I zeroed at 20 yards because that is the furthest distance in the biggest barn I shoot in locally.
Click to expand...

Agree and then figure out point of impact for closer shots if they come up. Some times on the close shots you need to hold high because of the path of the bullet flight under and then over the line of sight. I hunt groundhogs and I'll miss the close ones as easily as the ones out there a ways. Have to know the gun and how it shoots.
 
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For sure!! That's a drawback for a distant zero, like 50 yds.....that means I have a close zero of 20. So at 35 yds I actually have to hold under quite a bit due to the pellet being at it's highest point of the arc.

Everything under 20 and over 50 is some level of hold over, between 20 and 50 is some level of hold under. And that's just on high power. Throw in different power settings and it's a whole nuther set of data.
 
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I have a Crosman 1077 I use for what you are talking about. Its the C02 predecessor of the Benjamin Wildfire... I like to use it in barns and basements..I use Beaman coated hallowpoints or Crosman wadcutters. I shoot mice, rats, sparrows, starlings and pigeons as far out to about 20-25 yards, usually withing 5-10 yards. If the Wildfire was around when I bought the 1077 I'd have a Wildfire now. I set mine up with a Red/Green dot sight and a regular/red light flash light for indoor low light, and a 3-9x32 scope for outside/day light up close distance quick shooting......When I was younger, and had a crosman 760 it was enough to take pigeons so that Benjamin 392/7 should work even better... I would guess it would need 5 pumps............Anything mentioned would be good for what your trying to do....Good luck!!!
 
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Well I got the rifle and set it up and managed to kill a couple pigeons. About 4 pumps seems to be right. I'm fooling around a little with scopes. I think I'll end up with a EER pistol scope mounted as far forward on the gun as I can. The advantage to the pistol scope being forward should make pumping the rifle up much easier. Then I'm going to put a scope to pictanny mount on the optical scope and add a laser/light combination. Gun is reasonably accurate (shooting about an inch at 20 ft) good enough to shoot a pigeon out to about 30 which would be about the limit inside the barn) Terrible trigger. That's about all I can complain about as far as the gun goes. .
 
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