I don’t mind squirrels.
Truth be told, I find the cheeky little beggars to be quite charming — most of the time. With two huge pecan trees in the back yard, I’ve been known to waste an afternoon or two sipping tea and watching them wind up Herself’s Jack Russell Terrier into an absolutely incandescent (albeit adorable) froth.
Howsomenever, attic access is verboten to arboreal rodents.
I’ve no particular desire to discover — at zero-dark-thirty — that in the course of wearing down his incisors upon handy bits of copper, Johnny Flufftail has burned down my sodding house.
So there is an official slam order on any, and all, attic trespassing skwirls.
Unfortunately, it seems the residents of my current municipal area have a bit a complex when it comes to random gun-fire; and while I kind of figured that a .22 maggie was out of the question, I had no idea that a single, solitary .22 Long Rifle report would get that many knickers into knots.
Odd, that.
Any-the-hoo, I was dinking about with the idea of purchasing a dedicated Arboreal Rodent Assassination Air Rifle, when it dawned on me that we had a couple of boxes of Aguila Super Colibri left over from Blogorado.
What, ho, I thought to myself, and hied over to the ammo closet to grab a couple of rounds and Herself’s Browning lever-action. Experimentation soon showed that not only would a Super Colibri go through both sides of an empty bean can at fifteen feet — it would do so with not much more noise than snapping fingers; and the holes always appeared right on top of the front sight.
Huzzah!
Soon enough Miss Praline worked herself into a right tizzy just outside the back door, and when I went to have a shufti, I discovered a fat tree rat sticking it’s head out of a vent in the attic and cussing that little terrier for all it was worth.
Matter-of-fact, it was so busy describing Praline’s parentage, sexual proclivities, and general lack of moral fibre that it didn’t notice the kitchen window stealthily sliding open, nor the muzzle of the Browning rim-fire just inside of said window.
I am happy to report that a 20-grain Super Colibri into the Brain Housing Group from a range of about eight feet will turn off a squirrel like a light switch.
For Close Combat Squirrel Eradication the Aguila Super Colibri gets the LawDog Paw of Approval.
LawDog
*Shamelessly stolen from a conversation with Herself.
I'm using the ones you gave me out of KatYbeth's Cricket, and they're quieter than my Gamo .177 air rifle.
They'll also do a rabbit nicely at 20 yards, too.
I've always used a .17HMR on squirrels, but I'm not doing so in a populated area.
It turns them inside out and/or cuts them in half.
Plus, eradicating the evil squirrels means more pecans for Praline and Chuy! Oh, and y'all, too. 🙂
Do not use in a pistol length barrel if you need them quiet!
Indeed, that Super Colibri is quite the shizznit. I took advantage of what seemed to be a pricing error at Cheaper Than Dirt's website a few years ago, and bought a case of the stuff (10 bricks) for not much more than the common retail price of a brick.
I haven't had to hunt any tree rats (the cats and terriers generally take care of that), but we have enjoyed hours of suburban backyard target shooting with Romanian M1969 .22 trainers and proper backstops. With the Super Colibri, they really are quieter than many common high-velocity air rifles.
As Will said, the quietness doesn't extend to pistols. 😉
Around here, .22 CB Long is employed to much the same effect, and has been used to switch off dozens of tree rats. Like the Super Colibris, they're primer only, and will turn a squirrel off instantly.
It's been a while since I commented on your blog, but this one really grabbed my attention. I have been kicking around the idea of buying a suppressor (legal in my state despite it being a very liberal one, provided you pay the massive federal tax on them and pass whatever background checks they come up with) for this exact purpose (well, rats, squirrels and any bird that thinks my alarm clock is set too late).
I have never heard of this ammo, but I have a single-shot .22 Walther rifle from my grandfather that is fairly quiet using normal ammo, I wonder how quiet it would be with this stuff. I have never heard of it; would you mind giving a review of it? Do you sacrifice accuracy when using it? I live in an urban setting, and while this is a super-accurate rifle (target gun, top-of-the-line when it was made) I absolutely can't risk my neighbors with a missed shot, even if it is a tiny round that would fly up and just fall to earth at terminal, rather than ballistic, velocity.
My other idea was a suppressed .410 with really fine birdshot, but dang, the feds just want way too much money for those class III permits, and air guns just don't cut it some times. A quiet .22 that does not cost me an arm and a leg would be a godsend. And the odds of me saying "the heck with it" and breaking out my AR15 go up every time the buggers chew on something I like. Such as my ethernet cable.
-Dave, the resident gun-toting, meat-eating, ex-cop, liberal.
There is the warning on the Supr Colibri NOT FOR USE IN RIFLES. CB Caps will have a beter chance of clearing the barrel and hitting with a tad more UMPF, as well.
Mr Lawdog, I may ahve missed something.
Do I take from your writings that "Herself" is now a quasi permanent fixture at Casa de Lawdog.
When did this happen ?? Why weren't we informed. ?? Did I miss something ??
If this is indeed the case – Good for Both of You
Casa de Lawdog needed more dogs, cats, etc.
And FIE on tree rats too !!
You should try CCI CB Longs. Works well, sounds like a staple gun.
Colibris will not exit the barrel of my Model 52 Winchesters but will from my Ruger 77/22 and Stevens Favorite. OTOH, CB Longs work in everything. In a target barrel they're very quiet, and run about 720 fps which is air rifle speed, but with a 29 grain bullet.
If I recall correctly, CBs do have powder, albeit not much.
I'll have to pick up some of those CB Longs to reduce the local groundhog population.
I discovered CB caps many years ago and have used both shorts and longs to rid the homestead of unwanted pests. Don't know how they would work on larger critters but I took out a semi-feral cat that thought my freshly tilled garden bed was the neighborhood litter box. Furthermore, CB caps are available at my local gun shop.
It seems to me that a treerat that has fattened hisself on pecans would be mighty tasty!
Antibubba
Standard velocity .22 shorts are very quiet in a rifle and have more energy to assist the vermin to visit their maker.
My Win 9422 has helped many a squirrel to paradise, along with a couple of raccoons and a possum that would not be relocated.
Roger
May I also direct your attention to the Aguila .22 SSS?
60 Grains of lead powered by little more than the primer in the case.
At 25 feet from an upstairs window it knocked a squirrel off the bird feeder so hard he was gone before he hit the ground.
With Tasco scope it shoots to the same point of aim as a regular .22 rimfire out to about 50 feet through a stock Ruger 10/22.
It did make enough noise to stir up the dogs next door though.
The Super Colibri won't make it out of the barrel of some rifles, will others; try it out in yours. Out of an old Remington bolt gun I can hear the click of the firing pin falling, and the 'wock' of the target impact, and nothing else.
John, the .22SSS is subsonic, but definitely not primer only; that bullet is moving around 950fps. Odd round; the bullet is so long that lots of barrels will not stabilize it and give lousy accuracy, but in that that will it's often very accurate.
Firehand, I've been thinking of getting a conversion kit for the AR, with it's 1:7 twist barrel, and seeing how THAT stabilizes the Aguila SSS. I've seen the same problems that you've seen.
Anyone know the rate of twist for a normal .22 LR Rifle?
Ususal twist in a .22LR, and a .22WMR for that matter,barrel is 1 in 16.
At least any of my recent inquiries in to .22 rifles have been of the 1 in 16 inch twist versions.
I taped a 21 LED flashlight to the side of a Stevens Favorite replica and feed it one of the Colibri rounds to dispatch neighborhood raccoons. It's my tactical, lever-action single shot and it hasn't bothered a neighbor yet.
Blogger Firehand said…
>>>>>>John, the .22SSS is subsonic, but definitely not primer only; that bullet is moving around 950fps. Odd round; the bullet is so long that lots of barrels will not stabilize it and give lousy accuracy, but in that that will it's often very accurate.<<<<<<<
Well rats! I have never fired it over 50 feet, but now I suppose I need to take it to the range and see if I can produce some of those keyholes everybody is talking about.
I will take pictures.
Well done, LD! Laughed my butt off at this one.
I use a pipe and bucket trap that's a sucking black hole for squirrels.
http://billllsidlemind.blogspot.com/2010/05/squirrel-trap.html
As an amusement, I suppose you could hang the pipe up in the tree, and let the dogs take care of the rodents that fall through it. I bet they learn fairly quickly that a squirrel investigating the pipe is not to be barked at. Just sit there and wait.
John, you may or may not get keyholes. I've got a Martini that gives about 3" groups with the SSS at 100 yards, and a bolt .22 that puts half the shots through the target sideways at 50.