Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Air Guns Pigeon Rifle

I'm officially declaring war on these damn pigeons that are crapping all over my house and yard. I called a pigeon control guy and he basically wanted $500 to shoot them with an air gun and lay out some spike strips.

So I'm going to buy my own rifle. I'm air gun dumb and haven't even owned anything close to a pellet gun for 20 years. What would be a good pellet rifle to take out pigeons? Not looking for anything too wazoo or crazy, but want to make sure I hit them solid and kill them.

Neighbors? Local ordinances? DRT?

Shooting distance?

20 yards maybe. Not too far. Want them DRT. Some neighbors, not too worried about sound.

Marauder is the best.

Silent and powerful. .25 cal is my preference.

Loudest thing will be the pellet hitting the pigeon.

It doesn't take much of a pellet gun to kill pigeons DRT at 20 yards. I killed a bunch of them with a Crosman 760 when I was a kid. I have a bunch of air rifles now. An old 70's vintage, metal receiver Crosman 760, A 70's vintage daisy 881, a .22 caliber BSA Meteor, a Mac-1 steroid Benjamin 392, a .22 caliber Sheridan 2260 Co2 rifle. All of them will kill pigeons stone dead at 20 yards with well placed shots. A .22 rimfire will leave them alive and flopping with marginal hits. As always it's shot placement that counts, not power. All of the air rifles mentioned above are accurate enough to place shots well at 20 yards so long as the shooter does his part.

I agree with rockinbar about the .25 caliber marauder but getting one set up with sights (scope) and a way to fill it, might be more than he's willing to spend for pigeon eradication. It is however a sound choice.
Airguns of Arizona has a special going on right now for the HW95 at about $305....a good choice for a springer with a good trigger.

Got a .22 rimfire with a scope? Buy yourself a couple of boxes of Colibri's, sight it in at 20 yards, and go kill pigeons. Less noise than a pellet gun, just as deadly and usually just as accurate. My K77/22 has accounted for several hundred pigeons, starlings, crows, grackles, etc., while my RWS M 54 sits in the vault collecting dust.

At 20yd, you probably won't even need a scope if the gun has decent iron sights.
I agree that a multi-pump cheapo may be all you need at those distances and about 600fps should be enough, and quiet. Flat/dome pellets will do more damage than pointed ones as they hit and drop more energy than pointed ones, and if distances are not much then the drop/dope is not a big deal.
The HW95 is nice, I have the HW30s, but may be more than you want/need to spend.

Never shot the Colibris, but they are quiet from what I have seen in comparison videos, and by numbers about the same energy as a higher velocity airgun. Laws about firearm discharges may be the limiting factor.

I bought a Crosman break barrel .177 pellet rifle for killing pigeons in a friend's barn. The gun cost about $90.00 as I recall. It came with fiber optic sights and kills pigeons stone cold dead. You don't need anything fancy or expensive, just a gun that gives about 800-1100 fps muzzle velocity.

I tried using CB caps out of a .22 rimfire, but they shot holes in the tin roof of the barn. They, and the Colibri load, are much more powerful than a .177 air rifle. I would never use a .22 Rimfire with any kind of ammo if I was shooting in a populated area.

Be wary of manufacturer velocity ratings. Just about any inexpensive gun quoting 800-1100 will be shooting those super light non lead pellets to make those claims.

I've killed a boat load of pigeons with guns shooting lead pellets in the 600 to 700 fps range.

I agree with others, you don't need a 22 rimfire weapon. A 177 with velocity in the area of 600 fps with an 8 gr pellet is plenty good enough. An HW30 or Stoeger X5 are just the ticket.

Six pumps in my old Benjamin with Benjamin .177 lead pellets worked just fine on pigeons, generally with pass throughs. A couple more pumps if they were further out.

My brother's .22 Benjamin worked about the same.

Those old benjamin and sheridan rifles were the ticket in the 60's and early 70's. I killed thousands of small animals and birds with my sheridan

RWS M34 in .22 with decent scope and mounts (not what comes with it typically). Will run you about $250 and last you a lifetime. Shoot them right where there neck and breast come together - good night pigeon. A good old Benjamin is also hard to beat, the run about $120.

Totally agree with the above!
I have a Benjamin pump 397 (.177 cal) and have it sighted in at 25 yards. Open sights.
I did a test on a target that was taped to a 1/2" 5-ply hardwood plywood blank to see how the 8.4 grain 177's would penetrate.
4 out of 5 pellets totally passed through with 6 pumps on the 397.
Obviously, pigeons are much easier to penetrate than 1/2" plywood...
By the way, 6 pumps on the 397 is a muzzle velocity of approx 635fps. (across my chrony)

Stick with a .177 pellet gun. .22 or .25 is WAY overkill. The .177 will shoot flatter, be quieter, and have less chance of over penetration. Simple rule in the airgun world for as long as I remember- ".177 for feathers, .22 (or more), for fur."

I don't know the laws in other states, but in Ca. the taking of resident small game, which includes birds, requires an air rifle be at least .22 caliber.

I had a similar pigeon problem a few years back. Bought a cheap Daisy spring piston rifle in 177 cal. It worked great - sat in the yard and sniped them off the roof. After 3 shots and 3 dead pigeons, the rest disappeared and never returned. They were all dead right there as I recall - agree with others that it doesn't take much.

I've killed thousands with one of these and BB's.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Daisy-880...con_version=1.0.1&findingMethod=p13n

Literally, thousands.




Dave