Rats hunting at my house

Great for mice and rats.

As a teenager the depth of trouble we got into was astounding. One of our adventures was making exploding pellets. As close as I can remember we took apart firecrackers, collected the gunpowder. Then took .22 pellets and placed a little bit in the pellet and crimped a bb encapsulating the powder. We would shoot the pellet backward so the bb struck first and would cause a small explosion upon impact. Not sure a rat would cause enough of a resistance to explode but.... good times.

Stay with traps if you can't use poison. You'll never kill enough by shooting them if they are outside, if they don't get in your house you're in pretty good shape. Sounds like you're having fun shooting at them, you might get a scope for your rifle. I kill the cottontails raiding my garden with a .177 Daisy pump up rifle but left a few suffering, so I bought a .22 cal air rifle and it was 1 headshot kills from then on. In the winter I eat them yummy little fellows if I feel the urge.
 Stan

Water bucket type traps help in our horse barn somewhat. And without poison. Anything that can expand and or fragment is helpful on them but we mostly use suppressed 22lr so I can't speak to air rifles. Red flashlight helps at night

You could try the domed pellets. When I shoot the rats with the target pellets, it rolls them.  Then they pop up and start scratching the point of impact.  I've not had that issue with the domed pellets.  
Also, Rats here in the PNW love apples.  You could try baiting them with some apple peels or cores to get them to slow down enough for good head shots?

Good Luck.

LenV wrote:Great for mice and rats.

Hey Len, with that muzzle flash, does it roast the little guys?

The FWB is a nice rifle but too light for what you are wanting to do.
I've killed ground hogs with 177 12 joules rifle and gray squirrels. Go to Walmart and get yourself a gas piston break barrel and it will get the job done.

Go way bigger, like 25 cal

https://www.airgundepot.com/25-caliber-air-rifles.html

^^^^^ This. 

I have a .177 Diana spring piston and it is fast, but harsh shooting and not too accurate. Not good for larger stuff like groundhogs. I gave it to a friend who has squirrel problems. With heavier pellets it's pretty quiet (if that matters). I replaced it with a Weihrauch HW90 (in .22) w/Hawke scope. Gas piston, nice trigger, accurate...but somewhat loud. Much better results in the groundhog department. 

Regarding rats, true story. My late grandparents were building superintendents in a hi-rise building just off Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. They would sometimes get rats in the basement boiler room. Tried poison, but they get smart and leave it. Then another super told him to stick the tip of a steel rod in the burner under one of the boilers. Trap one, stick it (aka, get it screaming), then let it go. It worked! No rat problems after that. 

My wife and I have three daughters who live in Chicago. The rat problem is unlike anything I saw when I was younger. They run across streets and alleys right in front of you, even during the day. Munch on garbage as you walk by. My wife says "I'll bet you wish you had your air pistol for a little target practice." Of course I agree with her, but a glowing piece of wrought iron always comes to mind first. Since it's hard to have a hot piece of wrought iron handy, I always wondered how a cattle prod would work. The big ones that run on, say, 6 or 8 D-cells.

LenV wrote:Great for mice and rats.

Wow, this looks like my Ruger Old Army being fired!  Check my forum photo!

mikemyers wrote:

LenV wrote:Great for mice and rats.

Wow, this looks like my Ruger Old Army being fired!  Check my forum photo!

You ever shoot a snub 357 in a darkened range? 
Ball of fire will blind you

OT rat story - Rats got in the wall through the tub drain hole in the floor.  Ate through the plastic waterline to the tub. 
4k worth of damage.  Insurance has a 1k deductible

Step # 1 - Remove the food source that's attracting the rats.  Quite often it's bird feeders. My good friend was plagued by rats that hid in the flower beds around his house and chowed down on all of the spilled birdseed under the multiple feeders.  His wife wouldn't give up the bird feeders, so I loaned him my old multi-pump Benjamin .22 air rifle. He must have killed 10 or 12 before they decided to cut back on the birdseed - which was mostly oiled sunflower seed.  Now the squirrels are unhappy. LOL

PS: I told them squirrels make great stew, but that didn't sound attractive to his wife. 

Gamo Swarm Maxxim in .177 works ok on grey tree rats, but .22cal would be better. Not impressed with its accuracy, but then, it ain't a Bullseye gun!

This is clearly a spam/scam account. Original post text was lifted from here:

https://www.huntingnet.com/forum/airgun-hunting/426020-rats.html

However, this did bring up a lot of rat knowledge, which is good, I guess?

-Chase

Hmmm.  I'm waiting for the posting "alibi".

OldShooter43 wrote:Step # 1 - Remove the food source that's attracting the rats.  Quite often it's bird feeders. My good friend was plagued by rats that hid in the flower beds around his house and chowed down on all of the spilled birdseed under the multiple feeders.  His wife wouldn't give up the bird feeders, so I loaned him my old multi-pump Benjamin .22 air rifle. He must have killed 10 or 12 before they decided to cut back on the birdseed - which was mostly oiled sunflower seed.  Now the squirrels are unhappy. LOL

PS: I told them squirrels make great stew, but that didn't sound attractive to his wife. 

Yup.  Mothers bird feeders equal rats equals leaked pipes.