Critter rifle advice

[Jesco White]

.22 lr subsonic h/p. and work on your aim. In the ear works.

It won't matter if you lose a few cats tho. They'll make more.

No doubt. A little cat control goes a long way, else your porch will smell like cat p!ss, as will every other good marking area. Not too many things smell worse. Start feeding the cats only at regular times, e.g. morning and evening. They'll figure out the routine and show up when its feeding time. The critters will soon figure out there's not a regular supply of food on the porch and go skulking somewhere else. IT also eliminates the cats and critters in close proximity problem, thus alleviating the need for using anything else besides a .22.

 

[Kart29]

Don't forget to follow the law and call the conservation officer and notify him of each and every furbearer you kill outside of the legal taking season and ask him for instruction on what he wants you to do with the carcasses. I'd hate to see you get fined for breaking the state game laws.

Personally, I'd rather have rats and mice around the house than have those filthy, disease ridden, invasive feline vermin hanging around. But I guess every man has to choose his poison. A cat inside the house is a pet. A cat outside the house is a target.

 

[thegeez]

I would suggest a .17hmr-it has thekilling power and will not go thru the animal=also might consider the .17hm2-it is not as powerful but should get the job done.

 

[j706]

.17hmr. Critters go BOOM!
Also, it's one of the few rounds are are still readily available.
Savage makes probably 15 different models for this caliber under $350.

This ^^^

 

[comanche]

shot several coons that were stealing cat food out our back door with a .22LR. Dropped them on the spot. where I live any caliber could be used but .22LR seemed appropriate.

 

[tyrajam]

Bullet choice is just as important as caliber. Like others have suggested, a 17hmr with the v-max bullet is a great combo, the bullet blows up inside and won't penetrate out, I've shot a lot of critters with mine and the only exit I've got was on close range gophers, and even then it was more blown apart than an actual exit.

Last winter I shot 3 raccoons in my barn with a a 38 special revolver, low powered handloads with soft lead bullets. 3 headshots, 3 dead raccoons, and 3 holes in the barn. Stick with the vmax.

 

[hoagyfire]

not meaning to be a smart A... maybe its shot placement... .22 lr is plenty on coons n opossums etc...

 

[AngryRooster]

For those that offered advice, thank you. I'll probably go with the .17 when I can find one and some ammo. Until then I'll stick with the .22.

This thread has pretty much went down hill now. I will not be killing our cats to thin the herd. The herd is not the problem. We live on a farm and would rather have our friendly cats than a rat/mouse problem any day, regardless of your opinion of cats.

Some have said: practice more, shot placement, etc. It's kind of hard to simulate a running target moving through a group of no shoot targets in the dark. Shot placement is part of the problem. Go back and look at the pictures of the cats on the roof I posted. Now stick a varmint in the middle with his head behind a cat or hidden due to body positioning. Keep in mind the cat house is on the porch and when you are on the ground it places the roof at shoulder level angled down away from the shooter. If shot placement wasn't an issue and head shots were always available then this wouldn't be as difficult.

As for the 22 always being enough, I want the varmints dead or at least out of the fight right now, not sometime after they've been shot. We've lost cats due to them getting bit after the critter has been hit. Yes the .22 would be enough if I could always get an "ear shot", but that doesn't happen.

The cats are fed at certain times, morning and evening. There is a definite pecking order within their ranks so some don't come up to eat until later. Cats aside, we would still have problems with these varmints due to the chickens.

The report on the low powered .38's was helpful. I was considering that as an option if I could acquire a reasonable lever action rifle in 357. I cast and have molds for wide .358 HP's and some pure lead. I thought the soft lead at around 500 fps would keep the round in the body pretty well eliminating the need for a tricky shot. Since they exited on you then I'll scrap this idea.

I'll try out the 60gr SSS round when I can find them again. I've not seen them for sale since all the sillyness started. I'd like to find one of the 1:7 barrels for the 10/22 and a suppressor as well. Haven't seen one of those in a while either. I won't put in any NFA paperwork under this administration, I would want to set up a trust first anyway.

Thanks again for all the good suggestions.