Rat hunting

[josephlys]

Has anyone here taken a rat with a homemade airgun.

[Forum Admin]

I've never taken one with a homemade airgun. I have taken quite a few with a modified Crosman 2240. Very effective for such work. We've been catching mice on glue traps the last couple of days. I finish them off with my Gamo Shadow. It literally blows their head clean off. 

[FighterAce]

I've shot 2 of em... on the first one it was a gut shot, he was still alive and crawled away but I found him dead in the shack a few days later. The other was a pure head shot, his legs were still movin abit but he was dead. The nail went through and through.

[josephlys]

Cool, how many psi and how what inch dart?

[FighterAce]

Cool, how many psi and how what inch dart?

it was a paper dart with a nail tip (5cm long)... here I even made a vid how to make them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4EhauBKfCQ
I used 10bar (145psi)

[username1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXR5XYrb_4A
I don't know whether there are any similar video clips on Internet (rats, homemade airguns)...

[Forum Admin]

Youtube seems to be the best source for finding homemade airguns and hunting videos. Here is a site dedicated to killing rats: http://www.ratkill.com/main.shtml. I've found it to be quite entertaining. Another site for homemade airguns is (but they do not view hunting with them favorably): http://www.spudfiles.com.

[username1]

Thank you, Admin. But I mean "rats + homemade airguns" :-)

[Forum Admin]

Yeah, not too much out there on hunting rats or even other animals with homemade airguns. Lately, I've been experimenting too much to get any field time. I've got 4.5 acres of land and have hardly hunted it at all. 

[josephlys]

ive thought bout it but havnt tried it. my house dont hv rats only tiny mice. i feel that precharging the gun too long whilst waiting will wear the gun out & cause leaks.(thats what happened to my PVC AG when i precarged it for hours while hunting feral cats whithin a month it leaked like sh--  ).Ive made a new one with trigger and steel chamber but havent dared try the same thing again, the rats here take a long time to show their ugly faces.

[username1]

What ammunition are you using on the cats, Josephlys?

[josephlys]

4'' nail darts(10 grams) and lungshots. its effective and has worked for me. i've just added 10-12'' long (thick) coat hangar wire darts with 1.5cm width razor broadheads to my arsenal. they weigh more than 15 grams i think, have'nt tested it but it looks way deadly.
=the only problem i have now is- my AG is
1) heavy(3kg),
2)sticks out like a sore thumb to public when i'm huntin,
3)Takes ages to load and cock the gun( bout a minute),
4)Akward to carry (external pump)&(loading stick)
The Good :
! Deadly (especially the Razorbolts)
! Quite accurate

[username1]

Can I see yours? That sounds very powerful and fatal!!! I think rats deserve to be punished much more than cats. How can you know whether a cat has an owner or not? I think paintball or wet paper ball or water "grenade" is enough for the cats and still very fun :-) You should save that your extremely serious ammunition for really serious rats. Are you going to improve your gun or make another better one?

[josephlys]

well first theyre skinny, dirty, some diseased with no collar, and wander the neighbourhood tearing my garbage and once scratching my dogs nose, then running into my house and tearing my moms curtain. also leavin droppinds in my premises.
But like i said the gun is :
1)tiresome to use, akward to carry around,pump and all.
Btw, scince i shot 2 of em dead, the rest aint givin me problems. So im not hunting them anymore, but i keep the AG and a Spear ready if they ever hurt my dog again.
Im in the mood for Blowguns recently, i want to kill a pigeon. Can only get those in town, unfortunately i live in the suburbs

[Lord Joshy]

I am planning to, Just making a few more mods to my air powered sniper rifle, I think i should get a scope, As i would hunt the rats at night, There are heaps of them in my chicken pen, They come down for there food at night, So ill try to take a few out! The only problem is, They are small and fast, Which means they make a hard target!