Wolf killed by pellet gun

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I wonder how much more power the "compressed nitrogen" pellet guns will have compared to the ordinary pellet guns. Anybody know?
 
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Cocking effort is ultimately the limiting factor in the spring-piston guns, whether the springs are metal or compressed gas.
 
When i was a child many years ago, a kid in my neighborhood killed his own brother with an accidental shot to the heart with a pellet gun. Treat these pellet guns the same as you would any firearm.
 
Yep, and for even more noise and power, Forget to clean a drop or two of oil from the bore, when fired, the oil will diesel ignite, makes nice smoke rings too.
 
Today's mid-high end pellet guns are impressively powerful weapons and should not be used to just "scare something off." Especially the gas piston and pre-charged pneumatics.

For a "scare away gun" a variable pump BB rifle would be more appropriate.

"I wonder how much more power the "compressed nitrogen" pellet guns will have compared to the ordinary pellet guns. Anybody know?"

They aren't really so much more powerful, but more consistent and have a more pleasant recoil signature.
 
I hope you don't mean that any .177 or .22 pellet gun is near or exceeding 22LR level, because my Gamo Big Cat 1400 shoots .177 pellets at 1400fps and is one of the most powerful rifles in that caliber and it's still 10 times less powerful, at 20 ft-lbs at the muzzle, than my 22LR rifle with Aguila Supermax 30 grain rounds shooting at 1750fps and 204 ft-lbs at the muzzle...

.357 and .50 caliber PCP pellet guns? Sure..
 
Only the .357 and .50 caliber air rifles are near 22LR in power. Those are truly high end guns, though... A 22LR is still 10 times more powerful than 99% of the affordable pellet guns.
 
Decades ago the same thing happened to a doe in Lassen County. Some old lady wanted to chase away the doe from her flowers and shot it with a pellet gun. Punctured the lungs. The doe walked off and died.
 
Air

No .22 air rifles approach the .22lr in terms of power. Even subsonic .22lr cartridges produce about 100 ft.lbs. ME.
About the larger PCPs. I have a Sam Yang in .45 caliber. It does not shoot a 200 grain bullet at 730 fps......
Actual chrono'd data is a .457" lead round ball (144 grains iirc) at 704 fps. Quite accurate.
A 200 grain LSWC swaged to .458" at 603fps. Also accurate.
Powerful yes but no 1911.
Power is in the 160 ft.lb area for both.
Pete
 
Wolves are great, majestic creatures. Until you need to live in an area with an unnaturally large population of them. It is not unheard of (not that I agree with it) for farmers to shoot them with pellet guns, or gut shoot them with a .22 so they will die a long ways off from where they were shot.
 
Currently the first requirement for the BSA rifle shooting Merit badge is to explain why airguns should be treated exactly like rifles........

-kBob
 
raa-7 said:
Todays pellet rifles are pretty damn powerful. A person could easily get killed by one for sure. I just cant see trying to "scare" off an animal with a pellet rifle with a direct hit. A person could fire one off without the pellet and it sounds just like a .22 lr . As for a deer , shooting one with a pellet gun or bb gun,, it would be cruelty to animals and a nice long prison term.
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That will wreck a nice spring piston gun, they need a pellet (a lead one!) to slow down the piston to a level where it is not destructive to the gun.
 
mike28w said:
Assuming that the wolf was shot with a more common pellet gun.....

How close would the wolf had to have been to the gun for the pellet to penetrate as it did ??

Admittedly , the pellet didn't hit bone , but it still would have needed to penetrate the fur,the skin,an unknown amount of intra-rib muscle ( called intercostal muscle) as well as the pleura and still have the energy to puncture lung....

I'm thinking that this wolf must have been quite close. Probably damn scary for the shooter !!
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I'm guessing it wasn't a big bore air rifle, as they probably wouldn't have used diabolo pellets and thus would not have identified it as a "pellet" rifle.
 
Firstly, these claims of 1400fps from companies like Gamo are false. The numbers are founded using ultra light alloy pellets. These pellets are just like dry firing your gun. And the accuracy is horrid.
Put a REAL pellet, a lead pellet in that gun and velocity will be nowhere near that. Couple that with break in spring set and you will find that the guns struggle to run 1000fps. Two weeks ago a buddy brought out his new Ruger Airhawk magnum. Exactly as predicted. With lead it lost 300 fps down to 1100 from advertised velocity. After just one shooting session of 200 shots, that gun was running 850ish. The spring had broke in and set.
Airgun and compound bow mfg use the same deceptive techniques to sell their crap. Folks never know because very few own a chronograph.
Secondly, anything hard with mass fliying at any reasonable speed will devastate meat and bone. The daisey red ryder at 280fps has taken plenty a kid to the hospital and pet to the vet.
Airguns are indeed very real threats. I laugh at the ignorance of the powder burning crowd. Their mentality is that they out grew airguns years ago.
Fact of the matter is, if you can shoot a spring airgun well, you will look like a master with a powder burner. This rule however, is far from true in the reverse.
I have every confidence in my R1. If i ever needed to feed myself and do it undetected, the airgun will take care of me. Think of how small and light weight 500 or 1000 pellets are.
 
Onward Allusion said:
Darn straight pellet guns can kill. However, even the heaviest 22 Cal pellets out of uber air rifles will not generally exceed the energy of a 22LR. I think the heaviest 22 pellet is 32gr. Muzzle velocity out of a high-end hunting air rifle will run around 1,000fps with a heavy pellet.

Like the lowly 25ACP proves, all it takes is 60-something lbs to kill and a lot less with a lucky shot.
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4 ft lbs kills..

I've dispatched many a trapped rabbit with .22 colibri from a Taurus M94 snubnose. 20 grains at 300 fps is 4 ft lbs.. Enters the skulls and kills them instantly every time complete with exits at times.
 
As for a deer , shooting one with a pellet gun or bb gun,, it would be cruelty to animals and a nice long prison term.
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As overcrowded as prisons are today if you think someone is going to get a long prison term for shooting a deer with a BB gun you are delusional. It's not even possible according to Florida statute where you live.

Here is the Florida statute on it.
The possible jail term is UP TO one year in county jail.
The crime is the same classification as loitering, DWI, hot checks under $150, reckless driving and trespassing.

828.12 Cruelty to animals.—
(1) A person who unnecessarily overloads, overdrives, torments, deprives of necessary sustenance or shelter, or unnecessarily mutilates, or kills any animal, or causes the same to be done, or carries in or upon any vehicle, or otherwise, any animal in a cruel or inhumane manner, commits animal cruelty, a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or by a fine of not more than $5,000, or both.
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If abuse is excessive and repeated it CAN be classified as a 3rd degree felony which in theory can carry up to 5 years in prison.

But trust someone who works in the field, shooting a deer with a BB gun aint getting someone prison time. The way it is now, shooting a person with a BB gun wouldn't necessarily guarantee jail time let alone prison time. It blows my mind to see what crimes just get probation and a fine these days. I see it every single day.
 
I know this is a little old but there are .22 pellet rifles that break the 100 ft/lbs mark, especially when modified with custom valves and such.

Either way, my .22 pellet rifle is much less powerful than the more expensive pcps, and I would guess a direct head shot would penetrate my skull. I wouldn't want to rely on it for self defense but it's far from a toy.
 
WY is no place to start off about being a wolf lover, in a bar, it could be hazardous to one's health.
 
An unknown neighbor (presumably the little kid across the street who got a BB gun for Christmas in 2013) shot our cat.

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Didn't kill him but cost me a pretty penny getting him x-rayd, antibiotic treatment, etc.
 
I've got a classic Beeman 17 cal air rifle that shoots 8 grain pellets at about 500 fps. I guess it is possible one could penetrate and kill a wolf or a deer, but highly unlikely. A few years back, some kids borrowed it and reported that the pellets bounced off of the squirrels they shot at close range. Sure, there may be a 1 in 100 chance of a fluke kill scaring a deer out of the garden or a wolf away from the livestock, but I think such actions would be legally regarded as a freak accident from a legitimate attempt to apply a non-lethal deterrent.

A deer has a better chance to die in a car accident, a snake bite, getting hit by lightning, or eaten by a shark than to die from a pellet from the vast majority of pellet guns in American homes.
 
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