Posted: 6/18/2009 3:26:39 PM EDT
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Need some ammo advice. Have a problem with unwanted animals on our farm... raccoons, skunks, opossums, and feral cats.
The problem that I have is that a body shot with .22lr often doesn't drop them and they get underneath a building or something before expiring  It's not always easy to get good CNS hits. 12ga would work but would leave me a mess to clean up plus that's a lot of stray pellets potentially flying around.
I have a .410 though and I've been wondering if it would be a good solution. What pellet size would I need to get reliable skull penetration, range tends to be 10-20 yards. Local shop only has 000 buck or 7 1/2s neither of which seem appropriate. Anyone else used a .410 for this kind of "game"? |
Learn how to shoot, and shoot them in the head?
Just kidding. I have been having a little war with a ground hog for longer than I would care to admit, and have wasted more .22's at him than I care to admit. I thought I finally had him last week, but, just saw him the other day. So, when you learn how to shoot your 22, maybe you could teach me 
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Quoted: Is that a Stevens 59A?I use .410 #6 shot for anything smaller than a coon. I use .17HMR or a 12 guage on those. My .410 has served me well as a pest control gun. I did get this yote last summer with a .410 slug after I called her into the yard. http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/2593/yoteke2.jpg |
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Update:
.410 w/ #4 shot did the job, perfect performance. CNS or COM hits were DRT. Just need a 410 with more mag capacity  ; had a target-rich environment and only 3 rounds.
ETA: dispatched a skunk couple nights ago that was moping around outside the house, broadside head shot, he flopped over DRT and NO SMELL. 410 FTW. |