I bought a Crosman Quest 1000X a few months ago. I live in an urban area, but have seen a few squirrels and the occasional possum near my garbage cans. I have tuned and sighted the Crosman and it really gets the job done. Only problem is it makes more noise than I would like. I was leaning towards the Gamo Whisper Stalker IGT, but I recently read that Gamo isn't too good of a company. I would like any suggestions for a quiet air rifle.

Thanks...

Me too but something I can afford, I don't have $3000.00 to spend for a pellet gun.

The Gamo Whisper is NOT a quiet air rifle. Check with Beeman, they may have something.

Crossman/Benjamin Marauder. $469.00 + $200.00 for a hand pump. not sure if that's in the price range

Very Quiet, the pellet hitting a starling sounds louder than the shot. Very easy to shoot accurately.

I like mine in .22 cal.

How about the Benjamin Nitro ?
There are some scoped packages for $320 +/-
Also looking for a scrat shooter in a suburban 'hood.
And considering .22 caliber
The largest I've owned was a .20 Sheridan
and it's so far from quiet.

The benjamin also comes in .25.
Anyone have experience with one?

The Nitro piston is supposed to be quieter and some can be had for around $200. SW has some in 22 synthetic stock for $220 with a 3-9 scope and Big 5 ran a sale for one with a 4X scope for $170 with a wooden stock. The Discovery and Maurader PCP double to triple the price level (in 22).

What do you want to spend?

Some of what you are hearing is the pellet breaking the sound barrier and creating a "crack". The rifles you are talking about will do that. That said, they tend to throw a pellet down range quickly some times and wildly others... they can have acuaracy issues... The big box stores have many of these, and they are fun to shoot (I learned with a Corsman American Classic many years ago).

Pay attention to ft/lb of energy not fps and you'll find the right airgun for you.

I'd go with a 22 cal benjamin pump. The 22's have a big edge in killing power at lower velocity compared to the 17's, and when you speed up a 17 to make it a killer, it gets loud.

I have a .22 caliber Benjamin pump and it's LOUD as airguns go. The OP's .177 Crosman Quest isn't going to break the sound barrier unless possibly with the super lightweight tin alloy pellets.

BH - probably right. Interesting article on sonic, susonic, transonic here : http://airgun-academy.pyramydair.com/blog/2011/08/why-you-dont-want-to-break-the-sound-barrier/

Good luck finding a gun that maintains it power for you.

OK, crosman 2250 with B&A Boss valve, AOA hammer debounce [HDD], and TKO stage V LDC "lead dust collector".

http://www.bryanandac.com/

http://www.airgunsofarizona.com/

http://www.tko22.com/

Might kinda look something like this, the shroud is made by Mike,(TKO)valve by Roy @ Mountain Air, http://www.mountainaircustomairguns.com/ no HDD, although Steve Woodard makes great after market parts.

A fun little plinker, very accurate out to 40 yards, and quiet.

Yeah, you could go that route or you could go to gunbroker and look for an old Daisy 880, 881, 822 or 922. The old ones with the metal receiver and pump handles are what you want. My old 881 is very accurate, whisper quiet and I've killed a bunch of squirrels and one good sized coon that the dogs had treed in the back yard with it.

Winchester model 67 or CZ 452 with CB Long ammunition. Neighbors don't even look my way when I knock a tree rat off the feeder.

I've got some CCI CB longs here right now. They are considerably louder than my 881 with 10 pumps and not nearly as accurate as the air rifle out of any of my .22's. The Aguila Super Colibri's are much quieter than the CB's and more comparable to my 881 in noise volume, though still not as accurate.

Welcome to the Fire,

I use a Gamo 440Hunter .25cal till 2000 and only had to replace the barrel gasket once. Normal wear after thousands and thousands pellets in. Low noise air gun (if you don't use suppressor) need to have low velocity, so low power. Using the .25 caliber i got 23,5ft-lbs and 610fps because of the heavy weight pellet (20grs).
I live in France, a country far more crowded than most of your suburbs and where shooting air gun in cities not very well appreciated or allowed but...

We are invaded by pest be them flying (magpies, crows, town pigeons called flying rats) or walking (feral cats, rats).

The .25 Hunter always gave me very good results even on some big pest(sorry was not in France it's forbidden..)like big musk rat or coypus.
Distances where from 8 to 45m (without scope).
The Benjamin Nitro Piston suppressed in .22 is really impressive too but a bit noiser.
The two are fantastic on starling, magpie, crows, town rats, pigeons. The Benjamin is scoped with Center point scope.

I'm waiting for a suppressed BSA .25 cal for our "country house" to be used on varmint. Safer than 22, even CB caps, and more accurate. It's a 25ft-lbs air rifle. Will be scoped.

I don't know about Gamo todays but the one i use (my brother and two good friends have one too)is flawless for 12 years.

Hope it's help you. Good choice.

Dom

I have tried a variety of airguns for pest control since the early 80's. My targets are mostly birds though, and .22 was the preferred caliber until recently, then switched to .177 for better accuracy and flatter trajectory. The springers (RWS 52 and RWS 34) that I have owned are fast to bring into action, but they are very powerful and tend to be loud. The accuracy is not as good as other types due to the spring vibration action.

My best luck have been with the multi-pumps, Crosman 2200, Daisy 901 and the Benjamin 392. The Benjamins have not lasted long with me due to poor quality control, and they have a different point of aim windage wise at distance, too many misses. The pumpers allow custom shooting, if a house sparrow 2-3 pumps, larger birds, 3-5 pumps, I don't go to the full 10 power as it gets loud. On a mammal I would use full power.

The Super colibris in .22 have taken some sparrows, but the effect is different out of each type of rifle. They shoot ok with my Henry, but at close range only. Not so good in my CZ or Ruger. Regular Colibris have been tried in a handgun, but they lacked accuracy and were loud.

I have used only one CO2, and it was a Crosman handgun (revolver) very weak, you could hit a pest bird and not do a thing. Have not used a PCP or a CO2 rifle. I have had other types of handguns, Daisy single pump, Crossman multi-pump, and a Beeman P-1 springer. The handguns lack accuracy and hitting power. These days I keep 2 pellet rifles, kinda like cloths, each has its purpose. The Daisy multi-pump 901, and the new RWS 34 for big stuff, although I have not shot anything with it yet. It is loud though. Having more than one pellet rifle might be the way to go to custom fit the situation.

I have a HW30s in .177 which I use to shoot Starlings and sparrows. It would probably do well on squirrel or possums with head shots. Recently I bagged a Starling on a telephone wire at about 26 yds. So it has a surprising amount of power with .177 pellets. The rifle is a little pricey, but it is German quality with no plastic or rubber, all steel. You get what you pay for. And it is pretty quiet too.

I am well satisfied with my R7. Very sweet shooter, and quieter than my sheridan rocker. It is powerful enough to dispatch rabbit sized animals. It was about $300 five years ago. Don't know what they go for now.

I have a gamo whisper I received as a birthday present from my wife. I really like the gun. With PBA ammo it is pretty loud because of the supersonic crack of the bullet. Using regular 177 lead pellets... maybe a little quieter than most other pellet guns because you hear rattling when the gun discharges. But im the only one who ever shot it and it seems loud when your face is pressed against the stock. My neighbor says he cannot hear it from his yard. Ive killed some squirells with non-PBA ammo without issue.

The R7 is the Beeman version on the Weihrauch HW30s. The wood is a better, maybe walnut and checkered.

Your Quest isn't breaking the sound barrier unless you're shooting lightweight alloy ammo. If that's the case, shoot some heavier ammo and it will quiet down and gain accuracy.

The nitro piston guns might be a little quieter, but they're still fairly loud. Springers are loud, there's no real way around it.

Someone mentioned the Benjamin Marauder. That truly is a fine recommendation. You probably can't come close to getting anything that quiet for the money. If I were serious about air rifles, that is definitely the rifle I would pick. PCP's are at least slightly quieter than springers by nature, and the Marauder has a shrouded barrel that makes a difference. The Benjamin Discovery, for example, is a similar rifle but without a shrouded barrel and louder. Also, I have read that the .25 caliber Marauder is louder than a .22, and with a .177 you risk shooting supersonic. I would stick with the .22 caliber.

If you want to stick with a low budget, multi-pumps are generally quieter and also cheaper than springers. A Daisy 880 accounted for literally thousands of starlings, pigeons, and European sparrows through my youth. It had plenty of power for those. I have also witnessed a squirrel dispatched cleanly from approximately 15 yards with a Crosman 1377 pistol and a standard hollow point pellet through the lungs. Shot placement should be critical with any airgun anyway...