We don't have rats in my part of Arkansas...too many snakes!
Looks like loads of fun. Back in the early '60's my friend David and I would drill out .22 short hollow points with a dental drill bit, and turn them into buck-mouthed rat busters!
In those days open land fills/garbage dumps were common, and at night the mayor would let me and my friend go in and shoot at the thousands of rats residing there. Using a single shot .22 and a flashlight, we taped our jeans to our boots and walked the mountains of trash and garbage, some of which was burning through the night. It was a lot like what I imagined hell would look like.
Our best night was 299 rats out of 300 rounds available to us. We also filled Mason jars with gasoline, shut them tight and wrapped a kerosene soaked rag on the top. We'd set it near a pile of open garbage, light the kerosene rag and run back about 20 yards into the darkness. Very quickly we could hear the pitter-patter of little rat feet heading back to that heap of fine rat dining. We'd give them about 5 minutes of dining pleasure, then shoot the Mason jar. BINGO...a dozen or more flaming rats would race off into the darkness, sincerely wishing they had dined elsewhere!
The only air guns back them were some underpowered pump up's...nothing worthy of taking out a rat with any certainty. My my...would I ever love to have that environment available today, and re-visit my teen years with night vision,
Kindly 'Ol Uncle Hoot
