[steven gordon]

A friend of mine accidently killed the doe he had intended to hit in the gluteus with a 177 to keep her out of his apple trees. She turned to look at him exactly as he was pulling the trigger, the pellet hit her in the chest, she staggered two steps and fell over, dead.

Inside a deer, a small, low speed pellet will ricochet around the inside of the chest cavity several times before stopping, creating a lot of damage. Thus the weapon of choice of many hit men (I'm told) has been the .22 short.

I don't know if an airgun pellet would exit a raccoon or not; if it would, the animal's death would be agonizing.

My bottom line: get the .22. Put the extra $ into it now; there are some very accurate, fun 177's out there that don't cost as much as dinner and a movie for two but to the best of my knowledge there aren't any bargains like that for .22's.


That being said, I use CB caps (22 ultra shorts, you can get them from cheaperthandirt.com) in a bolt action .22 and it's quieter than my air rifle. I recommend at least a 21" barrel, preferably longer.