I've been exactly where you are.  Here's what happened to me:  I started with a 10/22.  It was a squirrel killing machine, but I decided I wanted something "better."  I bought a Ruger 77/22 and hated it.  It wasn't as accurate as the 10/22 and the sling swivels (integral) were noisy in the woods.  I had to wrap them with duct tape to quiet it down.  Also, it was stainless and looked like a chrome Harley coming through the woods until I painted it.  Next I went to a Mark II pistol (6 7/8" slab side bbl. Gov.'t Competition model).  I put a Leupold 2x scope on it and it was GREAT--but VERY loud.  It was handy to carry in a shoulder holster, as accurate as most any rifle, and so loud that it was killing my hearing and scaring the other five tree rats in the hickory tree that I could have killed but now can't because they scattered when I shot the first one.  Soooooo, now I'm back to the 10/22 with RWS subsonic hollowpoints (blue trimmed box).  It cycles 100% with them and is very accurate.  One other thing--the slow bullets knock the rats out of the tree like they were hit with a baseball bat instead of a bullet in the head.  Also, the semi-auto makes it much easier to kill several out of one tree as the only sound is the shot, no action sound.  For ultimate killing efficiency I love the 10/22 or similar.  Also, I highly recommend the Leupold 2-7x rimfire special scope that the bastards just discontinued.  GRRRRR!!

My grandfather used to put out bird food for birds from the lake at the golf course that was next to their house.  Only problem was that the squirrels would always come and eat most of the food.  So he bought a bolt-action .22 (sorry, don't know what kind) and used CB shorts to dispatch them.  Only slightly louder than an air rifle.  He said he stopped keeping track at 200 kills.  I bagged a few myself during a visit one summer.  

This went on for a few years until one of the neighbor's kids saw him and called the police.  The cops came, didn't do anything but told him to knock it off.  This was in the suburbs of Minneapolis (Edina for those that know the area), residential, overlooked the fifth hole of the golf course, not out in the middle of nowhere, so he could have gotten in a lot more trouble.  Probably would get arrested for doing that today.

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