Need recommendations for quiet air fun for taking squirrels You can

In town? Stick with traps. Most municipalities frown highly on projectile weapons being discharged, but since you seem insistent on a more terminal approach, I'd recommend a Crosman 1377 or 1322 only because I've owned both in the past and used them for that purpose, hence my original warning.

Either has enough oomph to ice a tree rat at backyard distances, are compact enough you can hide them from nosy neighbors until the last moment, and don't 'look' as intimidating as some airguns out there to a non-shooter.

They're also cheap enough to afford to lose when 'The Man' has to regulate on you. I'd rather lose fifty or sixty bucks rather than a couple hundred or more for a primo airgun. Trust me on this one, friend. That stunt cost me over two hundred bucks in fines and court costs in addition to losing my airpistol.

How much do you want to spend on an air rifle?

Nitro Venom in .22 is pretty quiet and powerful. Check at Pyramid Air as they give noise ratings as well as velocity. Will need an air rifle scope for it also, don't skimp there or it will frustrate you and eat a lot of your time up.

I do like traps also though as they work 24/7.

Bentonville said:

What do you do with the animal after you trap it ? I presume it’s a live-trap. If you don’t take them 15+ miles away, they will come back. I really don’t like squirrels .

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When I used to do that I shot them with a .22, skinned them, tanned the hides and froze the meat for deer hunts (along with raccoon and other wild game). I'm guessing that's not in your plans. You could shoot them with the air rifle in say your garage after you trapped them or try rat poison. It really comes down to what RedlegRick said in post #2 about municipal problems. Around here it wouldn't be a problem unless a neighbor complained.

Bentonville said:

What do you do with the animal after you trap it ? I presume it’s a live-trap. If you don’t take them 15+ miles away, they will come back. I really don’t like squirrels .

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That's pretty much up to you, when it comes down to it. The ethical and humane answer is the fifteen mile road trip with your new buddy, but there are other ways to deal with them later.

With a multi-pump such as the 13xx types there's still quite a lot of noise, so you might want to invest in a quieter-downer sort of device. tko22.com offers very cheap devices which have a great reputation; he's sold tens of thousands over the years. A friend uses a couple in his 30fpe+ PCP rifles and they're very quiet indeed, even at that power level.

RedlegRick said:

In town? Stick with traps. Most municipalities frown highly on projectile weapons being discharged, but since you seem insistent on a more terminal approach, I'd recommend a Crosman 1377 or 1322 only because I've owned both in the past and used them for that purpose, hence my original warning.

Either has enough oomph to ice a tree rat at backyard distances, are compact enough you can hide them from nosy neighbors until the last moment, and don't 'look' as intimidating as some airguns out there to a non-shooter.

They're also cheap enough to afford to lose when 'The Man' has to regulate on you. I'd rather lose fifty or sixty bucks rather than a couple hundred or more for a primo airgun. Trust me on this one, friend. That stunt cost me over two hundred bucks in fines and court costs in addition to losing my airpistol.

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Very true...many cities there is no difference between a red rider and 500 nitro express.

Or in my town, also no difference between those and a slingshot, or an airsoft pistol if the police happen to be in a bad mood. Haven't tested this for myself, but it's written into the bylaw.

A Benj Marauder is the quietest I've shot, but it also had an extended suppressor. The Mrod at a lower setting will certainly be even quieter since the normal power setting is basically overkill for a squirrel. Maybe I'll turn it down one of these days and note the noise level. The quietest break barrel I've ever seen is a cheapie 177 Crosman I modded by adding a suppressor, tuning it and taking the spring spacer out which drops power in half to 9ftlbs. It also drops cocking effort in half so it's crazy easy to cock at 12lbs. Fine for brain and heart, maybe lung shots, but I hate to see stuff suffer so I'd say brain only. I guess it depends on your range, the guns accuracy and how much you hate the squirrels. Chinese guns often have poor accuracy so it's a gamble, but the tuning and reduced power help a lot.
A cheaper pcp is the Benj Maximus and you can get a suppressor for it. I do not have this one b/c the Mrod is well worth the extra $.
You have to charge a pcp and the cheapest is pumping by hand, which is not easy so a no-go for plinking, but I think fine for what you're doing.
Lastly; Aguila Colibri 22LR ammo is super quiet if the barrel is long enough. I have 22's with 18, 20 and 22" barrels and I only use the 22" b/c it makes a diff. In fact I bought a Marlin 925 just to shoot this ammo. Since they don't feed in an auto and often jam when cycled in them by hand, the mag fed bolt gun was the way to go. Plus it's hard to find a 22" barrel and this one has it. They sell Colibri and Super Colibri, the super are much louder so no point imo. They also bumped the power of both a bit since I last bought so I can't say how quiet they are anymore but my old batch is quieter than any airgun I have other than the Mrod. Maybe equal to the modded break barrel but hard to tell from my (shooters) perspective. Colibri are very weak like my weaker break barrel, but at least worth a try if you already have a 22....
It's illegal to shoot in my yard too, even indoors, so I understand the need for quiet which is why I have this stuff. I can shoot any of the mentioned at rats at night and as far as I know I've never woken a neighbor, and I've lived on 100' lots before...

I was using my 5mm Sheridan Blue Streak, but it's old and tired (needs rebuild) and also pretty loud, though that doesn't matter much here. I wanted something in .177 and just a break-barrel. The Crosman Fire I bought last year seems like it will do the trick. Think I paid 79 bucks for it at Tractor Supply. The cheap CP scope that came with it was remarkably easy to sight in, and soon I was ringing tiny steel flippers at 60-70 feet. Bought mine for chippies that are causing problems for me-squirrels I seem to have no problems with. The old Sheridan took out plenty of chippies, so last year I didn't have many. They're back this year, though. Lock and load!

Stevie-Ray said:

I was using my 5mm Sheridan Blue Streak, but it's old and tired (needs rebuild) and also pretty loud, though that doesn't matter much here. I wanted something in .177 and just a break-barrel. The Crosman Fire I bought last year seems like it will do the trick. Think I paid 79 bucks for it at Tractor Supply. The cheap CP scope that came with it was remarkably easy to sight in, and soon I was ringing tiny steel flippers at 60-70 feet. Bought mine for chippies that are causing problems for me-squirrels I seem to have no problems with. The old Sheridan took out plenty of chippies, so last year I didn't have many. They're back this year, though. Lock and load!

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I may have written this post myself.
Replaced the blue streak with the Benjamin titan, but hard to use a full size rifle around my place. I've been using rat traps but sometimes there's a chipper still kicking so recently picked up the crosman 1322 to dispatch them before bagging and tossing in the trash.
One piece of advice, wear disposable gloves and use ziplock body bags. The stink and maggots get out of hand quickly.

milemaker13 said:

One piece of advice, wear disposable gloves and use ziplock body bags. The stink and maggots get out of hand quickly.

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No need here. I just toss them out back and the foxes take care of them. No waste in the national forest.

Very nice. Before I started baggin' I'd get a lot of flies and one morning the trash can was covered in maggots, Inside and out. Yikes!!

If you have a bolt action .22 rifle, get some of these. Not to be confused with .22 shorts or .22 quiet/sub-sonic loads. It's a 20 gr bullet propelled by the primer only. As quiet if not quieter than most air-rifles. Get at Midway, Midsouthshooters, or targetsportsusa.

At the risk of sounding like a hypocrite, I have used Colibris myself for the same purpose, although in my case it was sitting on my porch late at night, listening for rats trying to get into the trash cans, with a flashlight ziptied to my scope so I could see them. Much quieter and quicker than an air rifle, with roughly the same result.

However, that happened during a time the village I live in was having a major rat problem and 'The Man' unofficially turned a blind eye to stuff like that, as long as you weren't stupid. Once they began getting a handle on it, they resumed enforcing the ordinance.

In the right circumstances, those loads are great for low noise pest control, but I re-assert my original statement of sticking with traps in town. The big difference between what happened with my airpistol and what I had to do much later (20 years) was I got caught zapping squirrels in broad daylight and upset an elderly neighbor who was feeding the furry b******s and creating a denser population of them on our end of the street, while the other occurred in the small hours of the night, when hardly anyone else but me were awake.

My Beeman R1 177 works great on tree rats. I use the H&N wadcutter pellet. Also use Kania traps. The break the neck.

In town I'd also vote for live trapping. But check first as some jurisdictions have regulations concerning the live trapping and relocation of wildlife.

I've wanted one of these for the rat issues. As much as I'd like an air gun, I don't have the devoted time to wait and the critters that pass through are night opportunists so that definitely has some limitations. This is ready 24/7 and for multiple resets after being triggered.

pert near said:

If you have a bolt action .22 rifle, get some of these. Not to be confused with .22 shorts or .22 quiet/sub-sonic loads. It's a 20 gr bullet propelled by the primer only. As quiet if not quieter than most air-rifles. Get at Midway, Midsouthshooters, or targetsportsusa.
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Watch out for squibs. A couple of these didn't exit my 581.