Small and medium game airgun

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Hunter129

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May 12, 2020
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New Hampshire
I am in need of an airgun to take out medium game such as large foxes, woodchucks, and bobcats. Also I would need to be able to shoot smaller animals such as squirrels without blowing them up. 

Right now I have a ruger black hawk in .177 but it accuracy and power isn’t there. I have shot a chipmunk in the vitals from 15 yards and he was bleeding out and he still got down into his hole

I do not live in a neighborhood at all, but I am doing peering jobs for farmers and maple syrup companies. And I would need to shoot up into the air safely at those targets. I would prefer the rifle to be in .30 caliber, but if there is something else that meets the requirements that’s fine too. My maximum budget would be a thousand dollars US. Thanks
 
Well there are a number of options you can go with. It seems you need something a little safer around the farm etc. A 25 caliber would be a good option as the 30 maybe a little too much. I have taken coyote with my 25 pushing 60 ft lbs shooting the 33 gr jsb. Headshot anchored him instantly and there was no pass through. Woukd recommend a gun that can be adjusted on the power as well. Fx is a good choice lots of peeps here selling in the classifieds. Taipan is another good one. Others will chime in with some good advice. 
 
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I would say it chiefly depends on whether you will be able to take your shots from a proper rested position so you can deliver a precise brain shot or if it will be under less favorable conditions where you will benefit from the larger kill zone of a vitals shot.

For example regarding the red foxes, I’ve taken multiples at 45-50 yards with a .22 cal at 30fpe or so. Brain shots only however. They all dropped like turning off a switch, no thrashing around like a squirrel or raccoon. No tracking them down, and no doubt the job was done. That’s what I like about brain shots.

 
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Well there are a number of options you can go with. It seems you need something a little safer around the farm etc. A 25 caliber would be a good option as the 30 maybe a little too much. I have taken coyote with my 25 pushing 60 ft lbs shooting the 33 gr jsb. Headshot anchored him instantly and there was no pass through. Woukd recommend a gun that can be adjusted on the power as well. Fx is a good choice lots of peeps here selling in the classifieds. Taipan is another good one. Others will chime in with some good advice.
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With the right shot absolutely. As is the case with anything in this world it will come down to you as a shooter and how comfortable you are taking a precision shot. Like neroustrig replied you can take that size game with a 22 caliber but you just have to be accurate. Peeps in the classifieds sell some stellar guns for less than 1k to meet your budget. Brocock is another solid platform you can adjust the power on. I have a kral puncher in 22 I have modified that shoots slugs well. It is pushing 32 ft lbs with the nsa 17.5 slugs and about half inch at 50 yards. easily. Painfully I sold both my prior 25 caliber guns in anticipation of a new one then this virus hit and put it's deliver behind. 
 
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Airguns kill with shot placement as the primary need. There is very little permanent wound channel, even with slugs, compared to larger than rim-fire powder burner guns.

Get good at hitting where you want, and a .22 PCP will take down everything you listed, even wild hogs are falling to powerful .22 guns (with good placement!) 

A .25 will give you some wiggle room by virtue of a larger impact area at a higher cost of ammo and air consumption. A .30 airgun is throwing a significant piece of projectile and should not be underestimated for impact and carry over potential.

You did well to ask for information. This PCP is not your BB gun from the 1980's....
 
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I am a rabid fan of Kral, particular to the second gen bottle guns. The Knight has a quick adjust stock and easy swap barrels for . 177, .22 or . 25. I just got one and am smitten with it. I do have a Flash QE . 22 (carbine). Decent little gun, but not my favorite and not particularly high powered.

I favor the Bull Pup form for shooting from truck and ATV and for packing through the brush.

I want you to compare price per round of . 30, .25 and . 22. It takes practice to shoot well, and it takes air to shoot. A . 30 will be tough to fill with air by hand pump, and it gobbles up scba tanks like a kid drinking sodas. I freely admit my biases, and welcome you to explore a lot of different ideas. This is no hobby for most, it is an obsession. 
 
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I agree with Jim, foot pounds of energy (fpe) is the primary aspect you need to look at for the purpose of comparing shot counts and such across different calibers. It's also going to be the figure that predicts how much pumping effort you will expend per shot. It's been a while since I ran the numbers but assuming it's tuned reasonably well (not wasting air), you can plan on getting about 10-12fpe per pump stroke so you're looking at roughly 4 strokes per shot in .25 cal versus 7 or 8 per shot in .30 cal.

To give some perspective, I've pumped my PCPs for years and I scoff when someone in good health rants and complains about using a pump to fill their .22 cal. But even I have my limits. I don't mind too much up to .25 but if I'm being honest, I don't pick them up nearly as much as the smaller calibers because there just aren't that many things that need it. Therefore I am not as practiced with it and that represents a legit handicap in a pest control situation. Contrast that with the .22 cal I referred to earlier used on red fox. I practiced with it extensively and when the time came to use it on a living thing, I had absolute confidence in both the gun and myself. I realize these needs and the perception of effort vs reward will vary from person to person so I simply recommend that you consider the tradeoffs for your particular situation.

And this next part I intend in the most sincere and well-meaning way. You will have raised more than a few eyebrows with the assertion you can make a good brain shot at up to 100 yards for sure, in the same breath as acknowledging you're new to airguns. That is no small feat to do on paper under favorable conditions, and very much more difficult to do on a fidgety critter like a red fox whose head almost never comes to rest. At 100 yards, even something as seemingly mundane as the transit time of the pellet becomes a complicating factor. I humbly submit that 50 yards is a much more realistic goal, and one that will not be so easy to master as to be uninteresting.
 
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With the 100 yard shot I was talking about with a center fire load, such as my ar-15 in 300 blackout sorry for the misunderstanding with that, I should have worded it better while saying that. Thanks for telling me about your experience with airguns and shooting foxes with them. Do you have any like 400-600 dollars air rifles that you recommend. Thanks for the help and honesty nervoustrig
 
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