Air rifle pellet and speed/power question for ethical pigeon control

[CNN]

Hi all,
As many people on here know, controlling pigeons with an air rifle in tight spaces where you need them to drop exactly where they are and not fly off a property, can be a problem.
Does anyone have any experience to share on their air rifle pellet and speed/power combinations that they use to ensure that they don't fly off? I have an FAC .22 air rifle and had a flyer, probably due to pellet (25gr) weight being too heavy and too fast running approx 38ft lbs. It went through without dumping sufficient energy although clearly fatal. It didn't go far and was easily retrieved on the property but ideally I want them to stop almost on the spot. I have now re-zeroed using 20gr slugs at 30 ft lbs to get better deformation.
I am slightly disadvantaged in that the pigeons aren't on any raised objects, just the ground, so the moment they hear the disturbance from the moderated rifle they are automatically starting a panic flight. Were they to be off the ground, they would typically fall or lose balance, so tend to not get into any sensible flight and hence not go as far from point of shot.
I don't ideally want to go into the topic of head vs body shots since they are so skittish, a headshot has too high a risk of non-fatal injury.
Thoughts and advice gratefully received..

 

[Bo Diddley]

I use a similar setup to you, always Diablo pellets, AA Fields. My favourite shot is the bird facing away, and an imaginary triangle down from the nape of the neck to halfway down the back, flattens them every time.

 

[Smellydog]

Makes me laugh this theory that pellets or whatever don't "dump" enough energy.
It's utter nonsense.
The pellet or other is simply drilling them with little trauma causing little haemorrhage. That can happen at any performance level.
Irrespective of a useless figure that is ft/lbs any subsonic bullet or other is never going to be 100% capable of flooring what they get shot into relative to small game and vermin.
Assuming that the weight of the pellets and velocity is the problem is a red herring assumption.

The op is simply not using the right shape pellet for the job and only he can find out by using different ones.

My recommendation over any level of performance from an airgun is to shoot them through the pinions. They can't fly then.

 

[stonepark]

At 12ftlbs and .25, i can drop a pigeon reliably with a heart/spine/brain shot using H&N FTT at 20gr.

Your flyer was because you didn't hit the heart/spine/brain, possibly a lung or liver shot.

Slugs may not improve matters, as they require more energy to deform and over penetrate more.

You would be best going to a medium weight pellet (ignoring any inefficency) which is accurate enough to hit the same spot every time and light enough to deform on impact (dump energy) rather than a heavy pellet which deforms less and over penetrates

If the pellet (H&N FTT .22) is doing 900ft/sec (0.155 sec to 40 yards) and speed of sound is 1120ft/sec (0.107sec to 40 yards), the bird at 40 yards only gets 0.04 sec to react between sound arrival and impact which is not enough from a standing position to react, so something else must be alerting them... loud safety catch? Movement from you or gun?

 

[Cyres]

If you can find a flat head pellet that's accurate in your wespon then run it about 18ftlb. Head shoot or if not possible shoot through wing joints.
D

 

[Bowland blades]

Hi all,
As many people on here know, controlling pigeons with an air rifle in tight spaces where you need them to drop exactly where they are and not fly off a property, can be a problem.
Does anyone have any experience to share on their air rifle pellet and speed/power combinations that they use to ensure that they don't fly off? I have an FAC .22 air rifle and had a flyer, probably due to pellet (25gr) weight being too heavy and too fast running approx 38ft lbs. It went through without dumping sufficient energy although clearly fatal. It didn't go far and was easily retrieved on the property but ideally I want them to stop almost on the spot. I have now re-zeroed using 20gr slugs at 30 ft lbs to get better deformation.
I am slightly disadvantaged in that the pigeons aren't on any raised objects, just the ground, so the moment they hear the disturbance from the moderated rifle they are automatically starting a panic flight. Were they to be off the ground, they would typically fall or lose balance, so tend to not get into any sensible flight and hence not go as far from point of shot.
I don't ideally want to go into the topic of head vs body shots since they are so skittish, a headshot has too high a risk of non-fatal injury.
Thoughts and advice gratefully received..

The only way to get "dead right there" (DRT) is brain shots ! Shoot a bird like a pigeon with 120 ft lb 40 grain lead slug and they can and will still fly on .

 

[Smellydog]

No, just shoot them across the pinions.

 

[CNN]

At 12ftlbs and .25, i can drop a pigeon reliably with a heart/spine/brain shot using H&N FTT at 20gr.

Your flyer was because you didn't hit the heart/spine/brain, possibly a lung or liver shot.

Slugs may not improve matters, as they require more energy to deform and over penetrate more.

You would be best going to a medium weight pellet (ignoring any inefficency) which is accurate enough to hit the same spot every time and light enough to deform on impact (dump energy) rather than a heavy pellet which deforms less and over penetrates

If the pellet (H&N FTT .22) is doing 900ft/sec (0.155 sec to 40 yards) and speed of sound is 1120ft/sec (0.107sec to 40 yards), the bird at 40 yards only gets 0.04 sec to react between sound arrival and impact which is not enough from a standing position to react, so something else must be alerting them... loud safety catch? Movement from you or gun?

I will swap to pellets and see if this helps, mainly keen to get experience that I can try to see how it works for me. Birds are flying at the sound of the shot, I am in adequate cover, they are just jumpy !

 

[Bowland blades]

I will swap to pellets and see if this helps, mainly keen to get experience that I can try to see how it works for me. Birds are flying at the sound of the shot, I am in adequate cover, they are just jumpy !

If a bird flies off and fails to drop dead after a confirmed hit - your issue 95% of the time will be poor placement ! Forget all else for now put the pellet where you will get the desired result

 

[Mr. Gain]

Terminal ballistics will be sufficient with any pellet at any power level from about 8 FPE upwards. What counts (as several have already said) is shot placement. No need for head shots. Break the shoulder or the spine and it will not fly off. Wait for the right presentation, then pin it.

 

[Mr. Gain]

Alternatively, the OP may be interested in a potential trapping solution discussed on another thread. Shooting pigeons in sheds.