Tougher than I thought and what they tell you.

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They're only tougher because you are using underpowered guns to do the deed. I personally hate having an animal I shoot suffer, sometimes a second shot is necessary. Whether pesting or hunting shot placement should be the same, humane kills, having to shoot an animal more than twice, thrice, four times!? It would have been more humane to use a club after your first shots. Most living things are tenacious of life, I applaud your honesty, but your method of inflicting maximum agony using underpowered Airguns is seriously uncool.
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I hear you. That Beeman was a bit on the weak side but easy to handle when shooting something a few feet away especially with metal in the background. Remember the possums were nested under the hood of a car. So taking the most powerful air rifle I own (Benjamin maximus) was not an option. Close range, metal backstop and in a garage is why I chose the pistol. With all that it WAS underpowered which is why I was amazed. I shot the things from two feet away between the eyes and in the ear.

I have recently chronographed my air rifles just to make sure that they're up to par I do that about once every 6 months. As I recall the beaman was shooting maybe 400 FPS. I honestly don't remember. 

Now I can confirm that the other one I shot with the Benjamin Maximus was a groundhog it looked different. I thought these might be young groundhogs. the nose is way too pointy. 
 
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I've never shot one of those with less than a 25-06 at around 150 yards. Shot placement wasn't critical.

Not trying to be an ass, but how was that shot placement? I don't know where the heart and lungs are.

Will
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No worries. Honestly shot placement was secondary however I did have enough time to place a shot in each ear on the young ones. Then one between the eyes when the second wind came out of him. See the pic... The ear shot is not shown. Follow up shots were gut and body because at this point it was thrashing away from me.

You can imagine the dog was out there going crazy I opened up the hood and they're sitting right on top of the plenium. I thought about shot placement for about 2 seconds. Lol

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Your shot placement is too far forward. Possum have small brains that are located further back than normal (see blue dot). On most other animals, if you draw an X from eye to opposite ear, that is your aim point.
 
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I've never shot one of those with less than a 25-06 at around 150 yards. Shot placement wasn't critical.

Not trying to be an ass, but how was that shot placement? I don't know where the heart and lungs are.

Will
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No worries. Honestly shot placement was secondary however I did have enough time to place a shot in each ear on the young ones. Then one between the eyes when the second wind came out of him. See the pic... The ear shot is not shown. Follow up shots were gut and body because at this point it was thrashing away from me.

You can imagine the dog was out there going crazy I opened up the hood and they're sitting right on top of the plenium. I thought about shot placement for about 2 seconds. Lol

IMG_20210814_193550106.1628989271.jpg
Inkedpossum_LI.1629001554.jpg
Click to expand...

Your shot placement is too far forward. Possum have small brains that are located further back than normal (see blue dot). On most other animals, if you draw an X from eye to opposite ear, that is your aim point.
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Ah I see. Next time I will be aiming different. I see what you mean though I shot them like they were humans lol. you always here shooting between the eyes when you see the whites of the eyes 
 
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These are possums, not groundhogs...
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AAh thank you for clearing that up I was trying to figure out what they were with pictures on the internet closest I came to the first one was groundhog so I assumed these were the babies. However these possums may be completely unrelated to the first thing I shot.
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They aren't a rodent either. Ugly as home made soap, but a good neighbor, despite the dogs objection. Chances of a Opossum tangling with a dog are slim. They will if attacked, but that is about it. The thing is there because you have a problem you may not realize. They follow food just like everything else. They will eat their weight in bugs, slugs, reptiles, and small rodents. Pretty impervious to snake venom, so they are on the menu too.

Interesting critters overall, and thin skinned with light bone mass. They are far from tough to kill. If you find others, leave them alone, they will move on when they finish your extermination job for you.
 
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Big difference between head shots and body shots in my experience, which does not extend to groundhogs. The first squirrel I shot in my yard was with a little pump up Crosman pistol with about 5 fpe. I hit the shoulder and it did not make it through to the vitals. The squirrel died but it took days. I do not use that gun on squirrels.

Next was my Prod. Original tune was about 13 fpe. Worked great on head shots but a couple ran with body shots. So I increased fpe to 16-17. Last 9 have dropped with one shot. A couple took a step or two but all expired before I could load another pellet.

I've only shot one with my 25 Avenger which is tuned to about 50 fpe. I hit it in the shoulder and it angled back through the animal and exited in front of the opposite rear leg. I assume I got one lung. I reloaded and hit it with another because it was still moving. Hit the same shoulder and angled forward and out the neck. It was over.

I bring up these examples because you need enough power AND you need shot placement. In my opinion, 12 fpe is not enough unless you can routinely and reliably hit the brain. I think more like 20 fpe is the minimum for small animals. Groundhogs are bigger. I would have thought my Avenger at 50 fpe was enough. Maybe it is with good shot placement.

Another factor I didn't see mentioned is the ammo. I like simple domed pellets because I've tested them in wet newsprint and they penetrate the best. A 25 caliber JSB knockout - a slug - penetrated as far as the domed pellets from my 17 fpe Prod in wet newsprint. About half as far as domed pellets from the same gun. The knockout would work fine on a squirrel but not on anything larger in my opinion. I know from experience that a 22 caliber hole brings down squirrels just fine and I am pretty sure a 25 caliber hole will work fine for things a little larger. But you have to hit the vitals. Even hitting one but not both lungs can result in a bunch of movement. Hitting it with enough fpe but with a projectile that expands and fails to penetrate is not a recipe for success either.


 
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These are possums, not groundhogs...
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AAh thank you for clearing that up I was trying to figure out what they were with pictures on the internet closest I came to the first one was groundhog so I assumed these were the babies. However these possums may be completely unrelated to the first thing I shot.
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They aren't a rodent either. Ugly as home made soap, but a good neighbor, despite the dogs objection. Chances of a Opossum tangling with a dog are slim. They will if attacked, but that is about it. The thing is there because you have a problem you may not realize. They follow food just like everything else. They will eat their weight in bugs, slugs, reptiles, and small rodents. Pretty impervious to snake venom, so they are on the menu too.

Interesting critters overall, and thin skinned with light bone mass. They are far from tough to kill. If you find others, leave them alone, they will move on when they finish your extermination job for you.
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Out of the dozens of possum I've seen on my property, I only had to dispatch one because it took up residence in the burrow of a groundhog I killed. Other than that, they are the cleanup crew, and they get a pass from me.
 
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Never knew that about possums. These two had dragged up leaves and bedding material under the hood. I assumed they were building a place to have babies. Not sure what they would be eating out in the garage. I will make my best attempt to give them a pass however that is kind of tough when every time you let the dogs out to do thier business all they are interested in is the car critters. Then the whole pita of getting them back in side.

Good points about shot placement and fpe. I never planned on using an air rifle for pest control just had to. I had the Benjamin maximus but I feared ricochet.

I will know this September if the Benjamin maximus is worth it's mustard on squirrel. I have plenty of toys to try on them savage mark 2 sport Barrel, savage mark 2 heavy barrel, a heritage .22 magnum six shot, break barrel air guns and the Benjamin maximus. 


 
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Never knew that about possums. These two had dragged up leaves and bedding material under the hood. I assumed they were building a place to have babies. Not sure what they would be eating out in the garage. I will make my best attempt to give them a pass however that is kind of tough when every time you let the dogs out to do thier business all they are interested in is the car critters. Then the whole pita of getting them back in side.

Good points about shot placement and fpe. I never planned on using an air rifle for pest control just had to. I had the Benjamin maximus but I feared ricochet.

I will know this September if the Benjamin maximus is worth it's mustard on squirrel. I have plenty of toys to try on them savage mark 2 sport Barrel, savage mark 2 heavy barrel, a heritage .22 magnum six shot, break barrel air guns and the Benjamin maximus. 

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Oh my, if that were the case, then babies were already most likely in play. They are marsupials. 

One more good thing about the ugly little neighbors, they are about as rabies proof as any animal out there. No worries there either. I understand the dog problem, though.

A 22 with 850 fps and a 14.3 grain pellet will do on just about any critter you may have for yard work. Raccoons are tough and kinda thick headed, along with probably groundhogs, but we don't have the groundhogs here. Friggin coons are a problem at times though. If you mentioned a chicken coop on the property, I missed it. The will harass chickens for the eggs. Some have been known to take chickens, or said to, so if that were the case, they needed to go.
 
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Never knew that about possums. These two had dragged up leaves and bedding material under the hood. I assumed they were building a place to have babies. Not sure what they would be eating out in the garage. I will make my best attempt to give them a pass however that is kind of tough when every time you let the dogs out to do thier business all they are interested in is the car critters. Then the whole pita of getting them back in side.

Good points about shot placement and fpe. I never planned on using an air rifle for pest control just had to. I had the Benjamin maximus but I feared ricochet.

I will know this September if the Benjamin maximus is worth it's mustard on squirrel. I have plenty of toys to try on them savage mark 2 sport Barrel, savage mark 2 heavy barrel, a heritage .22 magnum six shot, break barrel air guns and the Benjamin maximus. 

Click to expand...

Oh my, if that were the case, then babies were already most likely in play. They are marsupials. 

One more good thing about the ugly little neighbors, they are about as rabies proof as any animal out there. No worries there either. I understand the dog problem, though.

A 22 with 850 fps and a 14.3 grain pellet will do on just about any critter you may have for yard work. Raccoons are tough and kinda thick headed, along with probably groundhogs, but we don't have the groundhogs here. Friggin coons are a problem at times though. If you mentioned a chicken coop on the property, I missed it. The will harass chickens for the eggs. Some have been known to take chickens, or said to, so if that were the case, they needed to go.
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I loathe raccoons with every fiber of my being! There was a group of raccoons that ate up some stray kittens in the area. Those kittens and cats keep the mice population in check, so I am certainly obliged to kill each and every raccoon that I can. There is no reason for a raccoon to roam in an urban or semi rural environment. I send slugs and Polymags from my Benjamin Bulldog .357 and go for bodyshots on each and every one of them.
 
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I'm new to the airgun world. I've already bought several and had been looking forward to Fall & my desert hunts for jackrabbits.

After reading this thread, I have now have doubts that I can count on them to do the job swiftly. Since most shots on jacks in the open desert are past 25yrds, with the majority of those past 30+ ... I may have to rely on my rimfires. I'm in Commyfornia, so with the exception of airguns, using lead ammo is against the law. At last check, only one .22lr and one .22wmr round was lead-free. If your rifles shoot either inaccurately, then you are out of luck. Here are results of a study done: https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/wsb.1127
 
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I'm new to the airgun world. I've already bought several and had been looking forward to Fall & my desert hunts for jackrabbits.

After reading this thread, I have now have doubts that I can count on them to do the job swiftly. Since most shots on jacks in the open desert are past 25yrds, with the majority of those past 30+ ... I may have to rely on my rimfires. I'm in Commyfornia, so with the exception of airguns, using lead ammo is against the law. At last check, only one .22lr and one .22wmr round was lead-free. If your rifles shoot either inaccurately, then you are out of luck. Here are results of a study done: https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/wsb.1127
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What airgun do you have that makes you feel you can't get a clean kill past 30 yards?
 
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