I would like to help a farmer friend out by shooting pigeons inside his barn, and need an air rifle that will work on them without putting holes through his tin roof. I am looking at an RWS Model 34 in .177 caliber. I'm not much of an expert on air rifles...does that sound like what I want or would something like a Sheridan .20 caliber be better?

I have hit a few birds with a .177 Crosman pump pistol and it is decidedly underwhelming. Then I managed to shoot a hole in his roof with a .22 CB cap. We're still friends, and I'd like to keep it that way.

Thanks for any advice.

The 34 will put holes in your buddies roof, either through misses, or pass throughs, especially with a .177. My suggestion would be a Benjamin 392 for a couple of reasons.

1. Being a pump gun, you can adjust the power for the different range you'll be shooting at.
2. A .22 pellet will have more stopping power. A larger mass = more kinetic energy hitting the target, and it can still pass through, but that's why you adjust you pumps so it doesn't.

Springers have one power setting, full on. Unless you can shoot a flying rat and not have the roof behind it, you'll make holes.
Pumpers are usually the best bet for eradication under metal roofs.

Good luck, and don't miss.

+1 on the Benjamin I killed a great many birds with my .177 as a kid. Some further than I would or most would believe possible.

Go over there at night, and shine the pigeons with a three cell flash light. Hold it on them for a few minutes, and they will fly down to you. No holes involved.

Interesting thread - for several reasons (discussion about pellet rifles, what will or won't perforate a tin roof, even hunting pigeons. )

But have you considered trapping the pigeons? From time to time I've read about doing that from survivalists, or exterminators. Use a recangular shaped (metal most likely) trap with hang-down "doors" or rods the birds can walk through, but not out. A baited trap would seem more efective, altho the walk in trap could be used in a roost the flock likes and is determiened to use. But could bait help the pigeons ignore things and make them more intent on getting trapped?

Also, once upon a time I heard that exterminators sometimes can use treated or "poisoned" feed that's not really "poisoned" that will kill the pigeons, but by eating that "treated" feed changes the sound of the pigeons and their calls ..... to those sounds similar to crows. Supposedly "drives away" the rest of the pigeon flock as they're social creatures, while shunning/abandoning/ "austrsizing" to affected bird that ate the bait. Never actually experienced this myself, but maybe a "rumor" worth looking into if extreme solutions are called for?

Try the trap method, esp for total removal.

Trapping would likely be more effective but not near as much fun. OP mentioned CB caps what about rat shot might be an option.

A few years ago me and one of my friends would hang out
on his patio and shoot pigeons with his pellet rifle.
Could hardly make a dent in the population though.

I killed many barn pigeons in my youth with my Benjamin .177 pump rifle. Five or six pumps would easily take care of business without holing roofs. New models may vary just as pellet type does. Tailor your "load" with a variable pumper and you'll be good.

Flat wadcutter pellets will help limit penetration as well.

...a Sheridan pump with three pumps runs in the 350 fps range and will shoot right trough a mouse but only dent the at the time steel cased microwave oven on the other side...don't ask me how I know this....

A pneumatic is probably your best bet, Crossman, Daisy, Sheridan or Benjamin using wadcutter pellets or maybe even the Silver Bear or Crow Magnum HPs...will probably slow down even more when going through the bird... 2-3 pumps should do it.

Bob

When my friends and I wanted to splat something at close range where fine accuracy wasn't paramount, we used to load the pellets backwards into our Benjamins.

Get a Crossman 760 rifle with pellets. It can kill pigeons way better than your air pistol.

I believe it was the RWS 36 I had, in 22 cal, would bury domes in a pallet at 60 yds, yet Wildhobby, I'd shoot the 'none other than - HOBBY' pellet, a flat nose, soft, it will give TREMENDOUS Shock effect. Lessen penetration.

That said, I have dropped a few w/a R9 in .20 cal, using 14.3 Premier's - pigeons are known to fly sometimes after hit......later dropping. If one were real close w/a REAL accurate gun.....thinking R7 or FWB124 = head shots w/177 and flat heads would kill very well, but margin of error is nil.

I have a RWS 34 in 22 cal, it is pretty impressive. My bird feeder is 41 yards from my back door and it thumps tree rats at that distance. I filled a Coke can with water and put it on the fence next to the feeder, and got complete penetration. I am shooting the RWS pointed pellets, I dont know if they would still penetrate a tin roof at closer ranges. They would surely make a impressive dent if they didnt. Match pellets would probably work a little better in that case.

As far as killing pigeons, it would do a number on them. I have 5 one-shot kills on feral cats with that gun, all head shots except for one that I had to slip under the chin.

I have been using a Thompson Contender pistol with a 10" .22 lr barrel that i feed 20 grain Aguila Super Colibri's thru. No noise, no wounded birds and no explosions of feathers for the neighbors to see. Besides i can hide the pistol alot faster than a 40" inch air rifle...

I have some experience in this regard. Trapping pigeons is easy but time consuming. It is best done with a quail trap.

The procedure is:

Place the trap in an area where pigeons are presently feeding, or on a flat surface near their roost. Tie the door open and place several pounds of corn near the back of the trap.

Pigeons are extremely neophobic. They will not go near the trap or touch the feed for several days. But by the end of the first week you will see some of the corn gone. Within a few more days, you will need to replenish the corn supply daily.

Once the birds have become comfortable feeding inside of the trap, ten days to two weeks, it is time to drop the gate on the baited trap.

When dealing with a flock of 150 birds or more, I would find the trap filled to bursting after 12 hrs set, 30 to 40 birds. I would usually catch about half that many the second day and perhaps 10 more on the third day.

Then it is time to tie the trap open and start the entire process over again.

I suspect that I may have caught a few pigeons multiple times. As I drove home from work with them about twenty miles, and then released them one at a time for practice with the 12 gauge. But I am not the best shot gunner in the world.

Avitrol is the "poison" spoken of. It is registered with the EPA as an alarm agent. But it is definitely a poison and will kill pigeons deader the heck. I have not used Avitrol in about fifteen years, but I once used it regularly.

The really interesting thing about Avitrol is that it is bird specific. I was worried about killing some person's pet if the pet consumed poisoned pigeons. I contacted the manufacturer before using Avitrol for the first time, and they assured me there was no risk of secondary poisoning.

I can attest to the veracity of their statement as I watched a stray momma cat raise a litter of four kittens on Avitrol killed pigeons. That was the fattest, happiest litter of feral cats you ever laid eyes on. They looked like they had free access to the "Little Friskies" warehouse.

Use whatever you want and come back later with a caulk gun...