airguns, rats and respect

[fightingquaker13]

As I type this, it sounds like the freaking Kentucky Derby over my head. I swear if it weren't for Occams Razor, I would think I had Clydesdales rather than rats in the attic. Thing is, the sofits are still solid and I have hardware cloth over the vent pipes. Obviously I have a hole the roof. This is tommorrow or the next days project after "borrowing" back my 20' ladder from a "friend" who is not so good at returning stuff . The question is the rats in the attic. I hate glue traps. I find them cruel and awful (imagine that kind of death), not saying I won't use them, just that they bother me. Poison is out as it causes dehydration which leads the beasts outside to seek water before they die (no stench, but dead rats in the yard). Again not pretty, but the main concern is my dog eating a poisoned rat and becoming collateral damage. Not an option. This leaves two choices. Old school rat traps which kill quick and clean (what I will probably use). OR, just to find the silver lining in the cloud, pellet pistols. I can bait and shoot the little bastards with a crossman .177. (I stil regret selling my Webley). Quiet, clean and entertaining. The reason for this rambling post is this. Most of us live in suburbia. We all suffer from a lack of easy places to shoot. The ammo shortage has hit us all. Why not more posts about airguns? They are cheap, virtually free to shoot, and if you buy the serious stuff, they are as, or more accurate than any "real" gun out there. Add to this their power. My RWS .22 at 850FPS is an adequate 50 yard gun for small game. Hell, you can get a .50 caliber that will kill a deer (or similar sized creature) at 100 yards. They are quiet, not regulated, and cheap to practice with. Why aren't we talking about them more?
FQ13

[sledgemeister]

Tell me you dont drive a Prius! Please!

[fightingquaker13]

Tell me you dont drive a Prius! Please!

1998 F-150 Off Road FWD with 17" wheels and a towing package. But I don't see the relevance. Someone on this board said, and I paraphase if not quote "I want a place where I can piss off the front porch and shoot off the back porch, and not annoy the neighbors". Most of us don't have that. Shooting rats, possums, squirrells and iguanas with a pellet gun is ok. Using the AR? I'm likely to ruffle some feathers.
FQ13

[Big Frank]

Around here pellet guns are considered firearms and I can't shoot them inside city limits. I can only have about 20' of room in my basement to shoot so why bother?

[fightingquaker13]

Around here pellet guns are considered firearms and I can't shoot them inside city limits. I can only have about 20' of room in my basement to shoot so why bother?

Sucks about the city limits thing. We have it too, but who is going to notice? As far as 20'? How far away do you think somebody you'll shoot with your carry piece will be?
FQ13

[Sponsor]

[bulldog75]

My dad took a .22 and pulled the bullets out and then pushed them into a bar of soap, and shot them in the head at about 10 feet. It done a number on them.

[tombogan03884]

I practice in my living room with an Airsoft pistol and the little "sticky" target.
Got new phone books so I may try the pellet rifle again My Apt. is 30 ft long and I can shoot the length of it 

[Solus]

happened to come across this and thought of your rat problem, FQ.  It says it is for bats, but maybe rats are close enough.

http://www.cleanairgardening.com/bat-magic1.html

[Jackel]

we had a rat/ squirell problem in our roof too. ended up using traditional rat traps and trying to find where they get it (which didnt work) it was satisfying to hear it crawling around at 2am an then smack... peaceful bliss

[Solus]

I rather gruesome way to get rid of rats is to lace the bait with yeast.  While the digestive system of rats are fairly close to humans (that is why they are used in lab experiments) one difference is they cannot metabolize or pass yeast.  It will ferment in their digestive tract filling it with CO2 and rupturing it.

Might want to use this on "outside" rats only.