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Best High Power Pellet Guns for Kids, & .22 vs .17??

Sligh1

Sligh1

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Staff member
hey Guys, my bb gun when I was a kid couldn't kill a squirrel unless you used a pellet in it and still had to hit it in the head. It was useless, so when I got older, I got a ruger 10/22. Well, my son & my nephews want to squirrel & maybe rabbit hunt. I don't want to get them a gun with bullets yet. I see pellet guns that are leaps and bounds better than what I had as a kid. some of the FPS are like 1,000 all the way to like 1,600. Now, I recall, the .17 is a little faster but maybe less of a punch? LIKELY GOING WITH .22 CALIBER.
SO..... What's a well built pellet gun for kids that will kill a squirrel or rabbit no problem? I for sure want to be on the side of "more speed & power" - so which brands are good, what speeds do I want to attain that are solid with likely the .22? Good quality, powerful and take down those tough rascally squirrels & Rabbits most efficiently?
Price-range I should plan on spending?
Also, last, what's you all's opinion on range, 50 yards or less? THX!
 
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I killed a few rabbits with my crossman pumpmaster 760 and pellets . Lots of sparrows and black birds. Those were the days....
 
Why pellet gun? Why not 22l or 17? Price is going to be about the same for a high end pellet gun. Got my boy a 10/22 and tricked it out with a Boyd's stock. Feel it will outlast any pellet gun.
 
Have a Gamo and its a tack driver. It's a .17, never shot the .22. Wanted the velocity. My oldest son is 5 and I don't really feel he has a good enough grasp of the safety aspect to let him run around with a .22 rifle just yet.
 
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Cooter said:
Why pellet gun? Why not 22l or 17? Price is going to be about the same for a high end pellet gun. Got my boy a 10/22 and tricked it out with a Boyd's stock. Feel it will outlast any pellet gun.
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We have .22's and rifles and shotguns. I'm just a little nervous on the higher power stuff and even though pellet guns probably have similar power to a .22- we likely will start a lot of shooting in a somewhat urban area that I think we get by shooting air guns without complaints. It's safe to shoot but many places we for sure can't be cracking loud guns Just using this as a stepping stone. Have the $30 BB gun. Now the air rifle and few more years they can all begin to have my guns and we're not lacking on big stuff. Just "steps" for young kids and being close to town.
 
You may want to check out the Benjamin Marauder. A little pricey compared to a $30 BB gun but awesome power & accuracy! My bro-in-law has one for in town squirrel control and it is great!
 
The best will be a PCP but they can get well into the price of powder burners. Squirrels pretty much should always be taken with a head shot so the best bang for buck rifle to get them started would be a Crosman 2100. They are accurate and powerful enough to kill a squirrel. Buy some quality domed pellets as they will be the most accurate of any type of pellet. Also never believe the box FPS those are all hyper inflated by using super light alloy pellets that can damage the gun and are not accurate
 
Off topic...I wasn't raised in a hunting family or gun owner family for that matter. I was gun crazed from a fairly young age. I distinctly remember my dad asking a family friend what was an appropriate first gun. (After the whole RR bb gun phase). Dad asked about a .22.... Family friend told my dad " no way, bad idea". Too easy to plunk plunk and goes LONG way. He suggested a 20 gauge. "Kid will know they are shooting a very powerful weapon and respect it more" .

This was at a young age and stuck with me after all these years. I think it makes sense. On the flip side, i guess it could develop bad habits if it scared or hurt a kid too much.

Anyway, don't the make air rifles capable of killing deer now? Thought I heard that. Is true, that's crazy.
 
My son (10) has the Gamo Whisper in .22 caliber. We sighted it in at 20 yards and I have seen him kill a squirrel at 30 yards dead. Not terrible on price either. It is a little bit long though so they may need a forked stick for a while until they get used to it.
 
IowaBowHunter1983 said:
Off topic...I wasn't raised in a hunting family or gun owner family for that matter. I was gun crazed from a fairly young age. I distinctly remember my dad asking a family friend what was an appropriate first gun. (After the whole RR bb gun phase). Dad asked about a .22.... Family friend told my dad " no way, bad idea". Too easy to plunk plunk and goes LONG way. He suggested a 20 gauge. "Kid will know they are shooting a very powerful weapon and respect it more" .

This was at a young age and stuck with me after all these years. I think it makes sense. On the flip side, i guess it could develop bad habits if it scared or hurt a kid too much.

Anyway, don't the make air rifles capable of killing deer now? Thought I heard that. Is true, that's crazy.
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There are pcp air rifles in .357 up to 50 cal
 
I had a Benjamin 392 pump 22 cal shooting 685fps growing up. Killed birds, rabbits, squirrels, racoon's, opposums, muskrats etc with it. A 22cal is a must as it has much more pop to it. I bought the same gun in 177 cal and even though faster I was disappointed.

There are a ton of great options out there these days.
 
IowaBowHunter1983 said:
Off topic...I wasn't raised in a hunting family or gun owner family for that matter. I was gun crazed from a fairly young age. I distinctly remember my dad asking a family friend what was an appropriate first gun. (After the whole RR bb gun phase). Dad asked about a .22.... Family friend told my dad " no way, bad idea". Too easy to plunk plunk and goes LONG way. He suggested a 20 gauge. "Kid will know they are shooting a very powerful weapon and respect it more" .

This was at a young age and stuck with me after all these years. I think it makes sense. On the flip side, i guess it could develop bad habits if it scared or hurt a kid too much.

Anyway, don't the make air rifles capable of killing deer now? Thought I heard that. Is true, that's crazy.
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My dad was similar, started us all on shotguns. Didn't like the rifles range.
 
TeenageHunter said:
Had the same thing, worked great! Even have some crossman BB's left.
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I honestly can say I don't know how you didn't shoot your eye out....lol

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Think mine was a crossman also. Been many many many years ago. Killed many things. Few holes in the machine shed. 10 pumps so you were also getting your exercise.

Beat were the bb gun fights with brother and friends.... two pump limit. My brother still has one of my bbs just under his skin.

So that's kinda why I stayed away from bb guns with kid.
 
After the Red Ryder I bumped up to the 760 pumpmaster as well. It was an effective pellet gun but not what I would consider high power. Things went to a whole new level when i got my hands on a RWS topped with a scope.....
 
HorseDoctor said:
You may want to check out the Benjamin Marauder. A little pricey compared to a $30 BB gun but awesome power & accuracy! My bro-in-law has one for in town squirrel control and it is great!
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I have a .22 cal Maurader and I love it. I have the hand pump and can get 20-30 high power shots off it. It will wallop any rabbit and or squirrel. Hits them hard and very very accurate. The gun is very quiet, quite a bit quieter than a one cock barrel break pellet gun. Definitely take a look at this gun.
 
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