The 8 lb raccoon was walking across my backyard one day. I posted here or on GTA and got the suggestion it was probably a young male that got "kicked out of the nest". I thought it was likely rabid or wouldn't have been wandering around during the day. I weighed it on my fish scale so the weight is approximate, not sure how accurate it is.
For an adult raccoon my opinion is that a 25 caliber airgun shooting non-expanding projectiles are the least I would try for body shots. I shot the little 8 lb one with my 22 in the body first and it stopped him from running, he sat down and started hissing. So he got one between the eyes. He might have expired from the body shot but it would have taken awhile. Not a clean kill like I think any animal deserves. I am confident one of my 40+ fpe 25s would have worked fine on the little one for a body shot but on a medium to big one... I am confident enough to try it but I'd rather shoot it in the head. I'm sure that would work.
I used to get to go raccoon hunting with an uncle sometimes as a kid. I've seen them hit by a 22lr and come out of the tree with significant life left in them. The dogs liked those ones. I'm not sure how much the bigger diameter of a 25 caliber projectile makes up for having about half the energy of the 22lr. I am confident a 25 caliber pellet with 45fpe or so will penetrate to the vitals with reasonable placement. A 30 caliber ups the hole size again and it's hard to see why it wouldn't work well. Biggest unknown is how far they would travel after a body shot. They are going to die but DRT chances would seem likely to go up with bigger calibers. I think I see a difference on squirrels between 18 fpe and 32 fpe. Same thing is probably too for raccoons. 32 will kill at least small ones but >50 will probably do it quicker on body shots. 32 should be limited to head shots on raccoons and probably smaller ones too.
