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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!harpo!seismo!brl-tgr!brl-vgr!wmartin
From: wmartin@brl-vgr.ARPA (Will Martin )
Newsgroups: net.garden
Subject: Re: Sidney the groundhog
Message-ID: <1292@brl-vgr.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 3-May-84 11:20:36 EDT
Article-I.D.: brl-vgr.1292
Posted: Thu May  3 11:20:36 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 5-May-84 01:05:55 EDT
References: <588@pyuxu.UUCP>
Organization: Ballistics Research Lab
Lines: 20

Do you ever see this groundhog during the day? If so, I recommend a good
air rifle. A handy, nearly silent, and most economic method of short-range
pest control, and a nice recreational toy to boot. An RWS Model 45 can
be had mail-order for under $135; in .177 caliber will deliver a pellet
at 850 fps or so. It has good sights, but you can get a Bushnell Sportview
4X and mount for under $35 or so, also mail-order, if you want to scope
it. (You can pay more and get even better, like a Beeman R1 with a Beeman
airgun-optimized scope, but that's in the $275 or more range. You can pay
a lot less, but for actually humanely killing an animal the size of a
groundhog at 30 yards or so, you shouldn't use something that delivers
less than 750 fps for a .177 pellet. Some people prefer .22 caliber models,
but .177 is more versatile, more economic to buy pellets for, and you
should be making a head shot anyhow, where the higher velocity of the .177
will be more important for penetration than the wound channel effect of
the .22.

If you never see the critter, this won't help, of course. But if you do,
an afternoon on the back porch might be all you need to pick him off.

Will