Thread: Recommended air rifle & scope for possum / rabbits

If your mainly going to be shooting possums, do look at the .25 and .30cal hatsan brakebarrels. Wicked amounts of energy to knock over possums.

I've taken alot of possums, rabbits and even a rogue wallaby with my .25cal hatsan. I'm a bit of a nutter and spend alot of time shooting to learn the holdover/under of the distance I shoot. Even ballistic calculated one scope for the .25 so I could dial in the range. Yep it make you feel like your long range shooting lol.

I also shoot .177 and .22, .22 is the best overall caliber. Possums with a .177 if you don't get the right shot can take a few pellets right through them before they are down.

Yet just the other month I shot a possum out of tree 177 no issues.
In the past have shot possums up north with 22lr and had it take a swipe at me after it feel to the ground. Watched them circle down the tree after a twig got in way and deflected the shot slightly.
The fpe and accuracy of the shot are the deciding factors at the end of day. Knowing your gun and its limitations is essential for any kill. A 22lr is not a cure for bad shot placement, or ricochet of a twig.
I've also just taken out a possum with a low powered air pistol .22 because it was within a couple of meters very low in tree. The fpe at range was well high enough and the accuracy was to close to miss. Anything more would have required the 177 I'm using as I'm between 22 hunting rifles.
I77 is not a calabar I prefure for hunting, but because I understand the limitations of my air rifles 177 is not a calabar I'm scared to use and to good effect.

I can certainly recommend one of these if a springer is what your after. Perfect in .177 for feathers & deadly accurate to about 50m. As others have suggested, Dave is a wealth of knowledge & will help with what you need. The Niko Sterling on this one is all you need & very affordable.Zero has not moved after a full tin of pellets.

Originally Posted by SL600

I can certainly recommend one of these if a springer is what your after. Perfect in .177 for feathers & deadly accurate to about 50m. As others have suggested, Dave is a wealth of kAttachment 218981nowledge & will help with what you need. The Niko Sterling on this one is all you need & very affordable.Zero has not moved after a full tin of pellets.

Sorry, but what gun is that?

Originally Posted by mintjberry

Sorry, but what gun is that?

Weihrauch HW97K

Originally Posted by SL600

Weihrauch HW97K

Nice, but outside my price range

Originally Posted by OGM

Sticking multiple pellets into an animal because of a preference for a particular calibre or can't be arsed getting a powerful enough rifle is just plain cruel and contrary to hunting ethics.

My call for possums is a 22 but they are hardy animals.

If I had to dispatch a possum right now I would use my 22lr and a 40gr HP round. Instant lights out, no mucking about.

But if an air rifle is all you have I'd go for 22cal and a 18gr+ HP pellet.

I do tend to agree OGM - big difference between someone who does really know their air gun limitations and some life style block muppet who thinks his $300 new .177 airgun will kill possums humanly - I know bain of life for many selling airguns because most buying dont know a damn thing about them - I just dont like the idea of a young person having to repeatedly poke slugs into some poor possum simply because he / she is completly underarmed for the job - .22 and suppressor is quiet and will kill possums so much better - I found rabbits with my diana .177 were relatively easy to kill at ranges less than 30 metres - but possums did not even try - well my two cents worth

Having shot possums in the chest with 22LR hollow points and seen them still standing, I would agree that they are hard to kill.

My young fell has a stoeger .22 gas piston was under $400 for package
No issues with it at all shoots great and has got an impressive rabbit kill tally with longest kill on rabbit at 40 yards
For what you plan to use it for I would consider something like this

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

... big difference between someone who does really know their air gun limitations and some life style block muppet who thinks his $300 new .177 airgun will kill possums humanly ....

Not every lifestyle block-er grew up or educated with a firearm or air gun,
We trusted the person behind the counter told us,
That my latest most powerful air gun (at that time) was the right tool for the job (to kill possums) and no, it wasn't $300.

In some way that sales guy was right, only he didn't say how many pellets.
I don't like the idea of the sales guy not knowing or not telling the whole truth.

Hence now I have FAL but I don't shoot possums as often anymore,
I only take 1 or 2 for my wee buddy's dinner.

Originally Posted by OGM

Not referring to anyone in particular here.....

All good...

In the past, I used to set a bunch of possum traps,
the one that looks like a bear trap but the mini version.

The trouble was, I forgot how many and which trees I set the trap on until the smell set in,
Unfortunately, one of the traps got a possum and her joey.
I felt so bad about it and stop using traps.

Talk about a trip to GunCity, I feel like a little kid in a candy store as soon as I walked in

Know the feeling, when I first got back into air rifles was a whole new world. Totally made the mistake of listen to the sales person. My own fault should have done the research.
Gun wasn't up to it. Accuracy the biggest issue, but by no means the only one. By the time I finished with mucking around with it cost me about the price of a top line gun and still was vastly inferior. You expect sales people to know thier products but I guess those days of people who use the stuff, sell the stuff is dwindling. Stupid thing is I went in with enough money to buy something really good and would have been happy to wait for them to order it in. Turns out they were just interested in selling the brands on shelf.
Still got me back into it and I'm loving it. ( Though I still have my why didn't I grab the 22lr some nights and maybe I should get a pcp others. But I'm enjoying myself and it keeps me on my toes)

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

I do tend to agree OGM - big difference between someone who does really know their air gun limitations and some life style block muppet who thinks his $300 new .177 airgun will kill possums humanly - I know bain of life for many selling airguns because most buying dont know a damn thing about them - I just dont like the idea of a young person having to repeatedly poke slugs into some poor possum simply because he / she is completly underarmed for the job - .22 and suppressor is quiet and will kill possums so much better - I found rabbits with my diana .177 were relatively easy to kill at ranges less than 30 metres - but possums did not even try - well my two cents worth

The thing is that young shooters need to learn is the trajectory is completely different when shooting up at a possum at over 45° versus shooting a rabbit at 0°. We all as young guys with guns never started out perfect and the only way to learn to shoot well is by learning from poor shots and working out what went wrong and how to fix it.

A .177 with a perfect POI on a possum will do just as good a job as a .22cal. If you watch UK shooters shooting sub12 ftlbs air rifles and most are .177cal.

A very good video that explains shooting uphill for new shooters with air rifles is this video below.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zWYcsRr7T6E

Originally Posted by Snap 4T

Not every lifestyle block-er grew up or educated with a firearm or air gun,
We trusted the person behind the counter told us,
That my latest most powerful air gun (at that time) was the right tool for the job (to kill possums) and no, it wasn't $300.

In some way that sales guy was right, only he didn't say how many pellets.
I don't like the idea of the sales guy not knowing or not telling the whole truth.

Hence now I have FAL but I don't shoot possums as often anymore,
I only take 1 or 2 for my wee buddy's dinner.

I am sorry mate but I have to say most store types in gunshops could sell ice creams to a frozen eskimo ( sorry Inuit to be politically correct ) most know fuck all - but there are good ones - learn who knows something - one of my best mates was well over 30 years in firearm sales and would have given out great advice ( if listened to ) but someone with 2 months and sound good well I rest my case

Originally Posted by OGM

What is your price range?

Around a grand, inc scope