Safe vs Discreet

Looking for perspectives on firearm choice for predator and pest control.
There are other homes, outbuildings, and roads at varying distances outside my property. For that reason I could choose .410 shotgun to decrease range and therefore the safety of neighbors. But shotguns can be very loud for myself and my neighbors, so perhaps judicious use of .22LR would be a more discreet choice. What would Jow Forums do?
Pic related was a pest. Fox, coyote, coon, skunk, groundhog, pigeon, and feral cat would be the primary targets.

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Use the .22LR. Its quiet ish and is good enough for pests. Also no spread reduces risk of damage to suroundings.

If youre going all out use subsonics

22 LR is plenty fucking loud unless you're shooting subsonics with a can.

safety has everything to do with whatever is behind your target, not so much your choice of weapon.
I wouldn't use a .410 except for birds though. For the larger animals you'd need to use more than just birdshot, and if you're going to be firing buck or slugs then you're no safer than you would be with a .22. In fact, you're less safe because the shotty won't be as accurate.

Best choice: suppressed 22 rifle w/ scope
2nd choice: magnum air rifle with scope
3rd choice 22 without suppressor

you can go the pcp route with a .25, accurate, expensive, exclusive, somewhat quiet, exotic. whats not to like about a 1,5k pellet gun

.177 pellet gun with integral suppressor.
non-regulated, not a firearm (gets around laws for discharging firearms in city limits or within X feet of a road), very quiet, still kills things dead.

I've shot coons point blank in the head with a pellet gun and it took like 6-8 shots and a lot of pain for it to actually die. I refuse to use pellets for anything bigger than a squirrel now.

Use a silencer and then use whatever you like.

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Sounds like you were using a toy instead of a proper pellet gun. There are many modern pellet guns whose power reaches or even exceeds that of a .22 LR.

Raccoons are tough little meat sacks.
This guy took 4 shots of 9mm HP to the body before keeling over.

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Maybe I was, I was kind of young when I worked on the farm doing peat control. Either way it was cruel and I prefer firearms to airguns now because the little bugger didnt deserve what he got

22cal pellet and larger might be worth looking at with a pellet that penetrates well.
Ive had similar experiences to you with things as small as squirrel taking multiple shots but to the body with a .177

>Either way it was cruel
Nobody is telling you to use a toy airgun to shoot critters.

A real one does the job without suffering, though they aren't cheap either. You don't have to avoid all airguns, you just have to avoid underpowered ones. Hell, the Airforce Texan is .50 caliber!

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don't worry about pellet diameter.
Worry about fpe (foot-pounds energy). There's a video up on YT of someone shooting a feral pig with a high-powered precharged pneumatic .177 and it drops stone fucking dead with a single shot....because not all .177s are created equal, and because his shot placement was correct.

OFC you don't want to be cruel, but it's more than possible to put down pest animals humanely with an airgun, assuming you have a sufficiently powerful one.

>I've shot coons point black in the head
Aim for center mass. They have tiny brains, haven't you seen the infographics?

They can take an incredible amount of abuse and keep on trucking. This guy took 3 rounds of 300BLK subsonic before he stopped. Unless you can hit him in the neck/spine with a pellet its going to be a long day for that raccoon. I'm sure it will die and bleed out half a hour later, but its a bad way to go.

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>Unless you can hit him in the neck/spine with a pellet
Isn't that a given? WTF would you shoot it--with ANY round--if you weren't sure you were hitting CNS or heart/lungs?

Ever tried to hit one while they're moving around or turned at some angle, obscured partially?
You don't always get a perfect shot.
The only times I've immobilized them with a single less than perfect shot is with 5.45 or 223. 9mm and 300 blk were sub optimal. I am doubtful that a pellet gun will cut it.

If theyre going after your chickens hit it however you can and finish it off if necessary asap

That's been my modus operandi.
I try to put them down as quickly as possible.

yeah, shooting a racoon with a Daisy isn't going to end it quickly. Even a $170 Gamo air rifle is going to be shooting .177 at 1400fps though.

Most of Jow Forums will hissy fit over this but if you're close enough to your neighbors that hitting someone else's property is a legitimate concern, you're too close to your neighbors to do backyard hunting/pest control. Learn to use traps...it's fine to dispatch a trapped critter if you can safely shoot them from relatively close up and at a downward angle. If it was my neighbor out in semi-suburbia doing that shit though? I don't give a flying fuck if you're on your own property, if you're within 100 yards of my house shooting on the same plane as the structures, you're getting lit up.

>Ever tried to hit one while they're moving around or turned at some angle, obscured partially?
Nope.

>You don't always get a perfect shot.
If I don't get a perfect shot I don't pull the trigger.

>The only times I've immobilized them with a single less than perfect shot is with 5.45 or 223. 9mm and 300 blk were sub optimal. I am doubtful that a pellet gun will cut it.
If you're taking less-than-perfect shots then you damn sure want to avoid pellet guns.

I scare 'em off. Then I sit and wait for them to come back.

Traps work great, I second this.

chickens are not pests you dumb fucking nigger why dont you put that 22 barrel in your mouth and kill yourself

The diameter doesnt concern me so much as the extra mass and energy when traveling at a similar velocity. Ive seen forums suggesting expanding pellets for varmints which I never understood because of how poorly they penetrate. Those same people ask you aim for the head which is probably related to them using expanding pellets.
>t. grew up with german ~850 fps break pellet gun and thats the bulk of my experience.
Ive been curious about sabots for a while but I dont really shoot it anymore

and you've got a 40% chance that they'll kill themselves within a year, so you can replace them with new ones

This, with a silencer you can use a .308 and all they will hear is a little "pew" sound.
Couple that with a ghilie suit and they wont even whats going on around them.

why the fuck did you shoot a chicken?

to be fair, my FAL + silencer is still fucking loud. 223 our a bolt gun or even out an AUG seems substantially more quiet.

I appreciate the perspectives everyone. Thank you.

A fair point and I will definitely be using that method of control. For context, my closest neighbors' homes are over 100 yards away but we have outbuildings within spitting distance. On two sides of my property the nearest neighbors' buildings are hundreds or thousands of yards away. Public roads are more of a concern, but they have very clear lines of sight. Pic related was at a downward angle into a hill at least 180 degrees from the nearby homes.

Chicken fucker.

It violated the NAP and I was fresh out of tactical McNukes.

This is probably what I'll do based on the advice given here. 22 cans are cheap.

.22LR pistol & rifle.

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