Survival Item – Pellet Guns
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Survival Gear
Most people wouldn’t think of a B.B. / Pellet Gun as a survival item, but lately a number or people have emailed us about adding one to their supplies.
So why do so many of our readers suggest adding a Pellet Gun to your list of survival items?
- Price – Pellets and B.B.’s are far cheaper than any other type of Ammo. You can easily buy 5000 rounds for under $10 When compared to other types of guns you get a bigger bang for your buck with a pellet gun.
- Good for hunting small game. A good Air Riffle can take down birds, rodents, small rabbits and other small game.
- Legal to carry in most of the country.
- They do not attract as much attention, making it easier to take out multiple small animals in the woods.
- Great for hunting bird!
B.B. Guns and Ammo on Amazon
that is a good thing to carry for hunting small game
It’s good to keep one of these around.
Very bad idea, and I am simply shaking my head in disbelief. I have hunted small game extensively, and only an expert would try hunting with a pellet gun. It lacks killing power for squirrels and rabbits, and have fun getting close enough to kill any animal with it. You are far better with a manual action .22, which has plenty of killing power and range. Ammo is cheap and you can therefore afford to practice and get the accuaracy skills necessary to hunt with a .22. A 410 shotgun might be better for those with poor skills; can still take small game, but slugs provide better protection against predators-or people.
you are a poor shot if you cat kill a squirrel with a pellet gun.
My pellet rifle will shoot upwards of 1,250 fps. I’ve taken down a few rabbits with it no problem. It doesn’t require co2 and its very accurate up to 100yds. The only downside is its a little slow to reload. For shooting small game, I think the pellet rifle is indespensible.
Big T, you must not be a good shot, I’ve been back packing for 30+ years now. I’ll always carried my crossman 1377 and never went without eating and never wornned an aminal to wonder off to die. Rabbit, squriel, dove, or quail all are one shot one kill. Try bushing up on your stocking skills.
Slingshot, slingshot, slingshot. replenishable ammo, doesn’t need CO2.
I live in a rabbit infested desert area with a nazi like HOA who will harras and fine any home owner with bare(rabbit eaten)spots on the lawn and I had to reply to the comment regarding the lack of power in a pellet gun to take small game. I love wild life at my front door but the rabbits have had to be delt with. The .22 single stroke Remington(NPSS)pellet gun I’ve used to dispatch several of these lawn eating mouraders at 25-30 ft.tears right through them and drops them in their track. More then enough power to humainly dispatch these buggers. Then they’re placed at the back fence line where the coyotes remove them for me. Just sayin.
I like slingshots, but I’m better with a rifle.
You can reuse pellets and BBs in my experience.
And none of my pellet guns use CO2 canisters.
I think a BB/Pellet gun is a must have for any survival kit. Big T sais only an expert would try hunting with on but when it comes down to it if you need food this is the way to go. Not only can you take down small game but if you miss your first, second, third, or fourth shot it is silent enough to keep your prey close by. My Crosman 2100 goes for around $60 and shoots 755 fps with standard .177 cal BB’s and 725 fps with pellets, thats close enough to compaire to a lot of .22 cal long rifles out there which average 800 to 900 fps, and to top it off my BB gun is just as accurate as any small cal. rifle. And as Joe is implying I do not need Co2 for my gun it is pump action and a sling shot is not accurate at all unless you have enough experience to even come close to what you are shooting for.
i think a pellet gun is a great idea.im not a expert by any means but i know for a fact you can take squirls,rabit,birds,rats,and coon with a .22 small calliber pellet gun because ive done it up to 35yrds easily and 50yrds is a little harder but definitly possible even at a hundred yards with a 1000fps rifle and a .22 pellet you can put down medium game.a 900fps gun using a 17gram pellet produces 30.5 ft.ponds of energy from the muzzle more than enough to penetrate skin and bones. not only that but pellet guns are very accurate and have low to no recoil. infact a moderatly priced pellet gun can out perform a compitition .22 centerfire rifle with in a 100yrds if put into the right hands.i can put 10 shots in a dime sized group from 35yrds away.also if you like big game i used to have a .50 calliber air gun that could take a 130lb buck look on youtube for people tacking wild boar and even a 2000lb buffalo with airguns. and if you want to know more about airguns try pyramydair.com or the yellow airgun forums.
I am afraid BigT just has not given today’s air guns, which are worlds apart from the Daisy Red Ryders of our youth, a fair chance. Serious small-game hunting can be done with a growing number of offerings from Gamo, for instance. Their Whisper line has guns capable of 1,200 fps velocity, coupled with an integral sound-dampening muzzle, which reduces the “crack” produced by projectiles travelling faster than the speed of sound, by up to 52%. I have used one of these rifles for pest/vermin control at a large apartment community where I work and have never had one complaint of being “too loud”.
I have the Henry U.S. Survival for a small game rifle. Its a semi-auto .22 rifle that can be easily taken down and stored in the stock. The stock holds 2 mags, receiver and barrel. It’s water proof, floats, and all the metal components are teflon coated for weather resistance. It costs well less than $300, ammo is cheap and light, and the rifle weighs 2 pounds. Much more practical than an air rifle.
That is a neat gun i think i will pick one up to play with. hope i can find one for around a hundred or so. for “SURVIVAL” i agree this is much more practical. still love my airguns for hunting though…lol.
Yeah Joe, its great. It’ll fit in a backpack or large tool box. Check it out you’ll probably like it!
talking about pellet guns, yes you can hunt small animals like rats,rabbits,birds when i was 12 years old my dad bought me a daisy 880 pump air rifle that uses BBs and pellets.With BBs wouldnt do much damage, but with pointy pellets it was real good. now i use a winchester 1000X pellet rifle .177 cal. with a scope that goes at 1000 fps.
By the time you found and outfitted completely one of those ultra super-duper pellet rifles that can take ‘coons at up to 100 yards, you could have bought a reasonably tricked-out Ruger .22 fitted with nice optics and a thousand rounds and still be money ahead. Good lord, gear queers. LOL. I swear.
If I recall correctly Louis and Clark carried a Air rifle with them on their trip.
Also remember that if we are talking about ‘survival’ and not sport hunting, ANY source of protein adds flavor to the pot. Plenty of ‘tweety birds’ around for that overhead – add that to your canteen cup for about as easy a protein source there is.
Do agree that pellet rifles (at least pneumatics) should have their small game animal range limited – maybe 30 yards maximum. I killed a rabbit with my old 70′s vintage Daisy 880 when I was a teenager, but it was not a clean kill, it took several shots to make it dead.
You can go with springer, but those are pretty heavy. CO2 are lighter, but then you have powerlet availability and pressure issues with temperatures. To my mind, the Benjamin 397 or 392 makes a lot of sense, the Williams aperture receiver sight of great help.
JMO.
when i was younger I killed a possum with a pellet rifle one shot
i found that even small squirrels when shot with a bb gun fail to die on the spot and go unfound. not something i would prioritze.
In my opinion planning to have only a .22Lr as your survival firearm is a bad idea.
Now I love the .22 and believe it is an essential part of a TEOTWAWKI kit.
If you can choose only one; a shotgun makes the most sense from a versatility standpoint. You can kill everything from mice to bears with a shotgun!
That being said; a powerful accurate pellet gun would be handy to have when the lights go out. .
22Lr may become hard to get your hands on, the noise could draw unwanted attention, and you can’t reload .22lr
The Air Rifle gets its power from you, you may be able to make ammo, it is real easy to store a lot of ammo, less noise to bring attention to yourself and they can be very effective on small animals. We are not talking about a daisy red rider. But a real adult air gun. Big 5 always have them on sale. For me it’s kind of a toss up between this and a Mosin.
You cant compare a pellet gun to a .22 LR A 22.lr has around 140 ft-lbs of knockdown power A .25 pellet rifle has about 20 ft-lbs and we are talking a webley at 600 fps .Yes you can kill small game with one but dont compare on the FPS a .22 is a 40 gr a .177 standard pellet is about 7.5 grain . and gets about 3 to 6 ft-lbs.
I have a Gamo and have killed small game with it. The proper air rifle not BB-gun could be a valuable tool in a survival situation. By the way I also own a Smith and Wesson MP-1522 and it is a sweet gun but I cant bust it off with the neighbors around.
Big T:
You’re uninformed…I’ve been taking rabbits, squirrels and other small game for over 20 years with a high-powered break-barrel pellet rifle, in .177.
And as far as ‘humane’ is concerned, when I or my family is hungry, if I slow any animal down enough to catch it, kill it and eat it, I could care less whether or not it lived for a minute or two past the initial wound…
On a side note: it’s funny how the ‘humane’ argument doesn’t carry over into snares, which strangle an animal to death…oh yeah…I use those too…
Cheers!
Absolutely a modern high velocity pump, break barrel or PCP) (preferably nitrogen piston, or PCP with the hand pump accessory) pellet rifle is ‘much’ better than a powder rifle for ‘true’ survival situation …. assuming it’s prolonged, and not just something to get you through for a few days/week or so.
You won’t run out of ammo in a prolonged survival situation with an AG because you can shoot things that ‘will’ provide some sort of food ….. even if it’s not the best ammo …… like your own whittled down hard wood pellets and etc.
If you are talking about going pack-packing and haven’t done the proper things to let folks know where you are going to be, or you are flying the bush in the great white north or Alaska and have a propensity to land unexpectedly, then a PG will probably be the better choice, but ….. if talking about ‘basic’ survival ‘food hunting’ for a prolonged, unexpected emergency situation, like the collapse of modern western society ….. then a modern air pellet gun will still be providing you food when an empty powder gun is nothing more than an ineffective club.
So ……. basically blow off the .22 survival rifles, either get a good .223/5.56mm or 308/7.62mm caliber PG (the worlds most popular ammo calibers) to both protect yourself and more rarely …. to shoot large game ……. ‘and’ a good (1000FPS) pellet rifle to save the big gun for better use.
If you can only afford one …… get the pellet gun.
Keep in mind in the event of a ‘colaspes of society’ situation were many people are starving, big game will become scarce in a very short time, and worse …… people will hear you shooting, which will draw attention to your actions …….. more than likely in an very unfavorable way.
But if you decide you still want a .22 survival rifle let me know …….. I have a Charter arms AR7 .22 bolt action, clip mag, 8 round, repeater that all fits in the stock (it even floats) that I will either sell you (through your local gun shop/FFL holder) or trade for a Benjamin Marauder or maybe even a Benjamin XL1100 air rifle in excellent condition.
Then …… a few months after the advent of Armageddon, I’ll probably get it back from you in trade for a few rabbits and maybe a couple of quail that I’ve shot with the AGs …. so I can trade it again to some other initiated person for a pellet gun ……. then repeat over, and over again ………
in my opinion a true break down of modern day society any firearm/ pellet gun would be extremely helpful even thought the knock down power of a .177 cal pellet gun is low, you can quite easily kill squirrels and rabbits. I do this all the time in fact in large quantities with my friends.and once we skin them (from hemorrhaging) we can see the animal took a lot of damage from a such small pellet. almost 80 percent of the time it penetrates fully through the rib cage where it plows through a assortment of organs and finally lodges itself somewhere in the squirrels body . however every so often it will hit a bone and it will not die (thats why i hunt theres 3 of us a shooter a tracker(fancy name for the person who trys to tree one up)(and also another shooter who alternatively the catch carrier) however for home defense a pellet gun should NEVER be in your hands. Not only to kill a BG it would take close range and multiple pellets, but if he happens to have more intelligence than an amoeba he will either fight you with fist or a weapon he may have concealed. you would be better of with a ar 15 (accuracy and reliability) but if for some reason a BG enter your home a 12 gauge shotgun does the trick.
yeah maybe so but they do make pellet rifles that are powerful enough to kill a rabbit or squirrel or even a possum with one shot irregardless of where you hit them I mean come on you can find pellet rifle that do 1600 feet per second if you spend the money heck that is faster than a 22 but to all the people pushing the 22′s what you seem to be forgetting is that the reason for the pellet rifle is noise a 22 can still be heard from a long way away and in a shtf situation stealth may just be the key although you could always use 22 cb’s they are practicly noiseless and up to 30 yards or so will still kill small game easy enough
With today’s air guns you can hunt and hit a dime at 60 yards. And even have shooting power to hunt rabbits at 100-120 yards. I don’t shoot firearms anymore. I was hooked when I was young and I am 50 years old now! It is the most rewarding, you become a very very good shooter. But also make sure if your going to kill something that you will take it home to eat it.
wow, who knew i have been a ‘expert’ at taking small game since age 7!
In my opinion, a good break barrel pellet rifle or a pump action pellet pistol is a must have for any survivalist. Ammo is very inexpensive and light weight, they now have alloy pellets that weigh much less than standard lead pellets, and travel at a greater velocity. Also, in a pinch you could load the weapon with virtually anything in place of a pellet: small rocks, a small sharpened stick, whatever you can find. Granted these are not ideal projectiles, but when the ammo runs out you will still be able to shoot small game.
I recall shooting a rabbit with a Daisey powerline pellet rifle when I was a kid. loaded with a BB. and at 3o yards she was disatched quickly with 1 hit to the side of head. I guess BBs go much faster than standard pellets. but need to hit an area that causes brain loss/damage/scramble to disatch an animal quickly. of course luck was a factor at 1o yrs old.
tasted good coz it was my first.
Air rifle, not BB gun.
Pellets .17 or .22. with 900+FPS, pump not CO2.
a Daisey Powerline is a pellet rifle that shoots BBs to . It IS a multi pump pellet rifle.
Air guns have come a long way. Calibers range from .177 to .45 which will shoot through a cinder block. Granted you would need to fill the reservoir with either a scuba tank to 2000psi or a multi stage hand pump to that pressure which would take an hour or so of hard pumping. But even when the ammo runs out the air will still be free and in good supply. The area I live in has a bit of a rabbit problem and with my Remington NPSS .22 dispatching the little lawn eating buggers at 25 yards is nothing. I hope I never have to feed myself or my family this way but modern airguns make it possible if need be.
Recently bought a crosman phantom rated @ 1000 fps in .22
Power is VERY impressive…
I say you should get good with a bow and arrow for a survival situation. Best to learn wich a traditional bow because then you can make on yourself pretty easy if you need to. Arrows are reusable and easy to make with a sharp rock and some duct tape. And a bow is proven to take down just about anything you will meet in the woods and is very silent.
Anyways, about pellet guns. Either you go with a high powered springer, I got one of those in .25 that shoots around 700 fps, these high powered air rifles are very loud, about the same as a .22lr. I also got a Marauder PCP pistol, it is not as loud and you can easily convert it into a carbine. But carrying a big bicykle-type pump around would not be a good option in a survival situation.
Maybe an FX independence that has an onboard pump? Well, they have alot of weight in them and even though you might be able to take out a squirrel at 100 yards, you would burn more calories going to get that squirrel than you will gain eating it.
Now, I live in Sweden, so our conditions might be different.
As an avid hiker, I started contemplating about ways of taking small game in emergency situations.
I started with a slingshot (not with a whole lot of expectations). YES U DO need to practice a lot b4 its a viable option at close range, learn to stalk the prey i.e get within 30 feet!!
With the $19 cheapo Truemark 2K, I get an average of 200 fps using 1/2″ lead slugs I made (12 grams). That is close to 22 Joules at 20-25 feet, with potentially unlimited ammo everywhere. Not to mention you can also carry couple of take down arrows for bow fishing and hunting.
Next up is a Crosman 1377 pistol, modified to .22 caliber with additional fps and accuracy mods (500+ fps is quiet possible). I grew up shooting pellet guns and can easily take head shots from 50-60 feet (without a scope, so still a viable option
Survival rifles: Henry A7 ($200), Marlin Papoose ($320ish), & Scout M6 (way over prized due to supply, but comes with over/under 22/410
I like the 1st two options and of course I will always prefer a firearm over the former two.
However things that go in the favor of the former
Sling: If there is a rock u got ammo, small/light, quiet, easily field repairable
Air pistol: Ammo is very small to pack, I mean you can carry 500 pellets in the size of deck of cards. they rarely jam or breakdown.
I would personally carry a sling, AND a Henry or Marlin
Here’s my idea of a pellet gun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClVbIS3r3-g
I think there are a few benefits to consider; ammo is cheap and easy to stock. You can pump these up with an air tank (if you have a generator for a compressor) or with a hand pump, and they are fairly quiet considering. These big bores can take any kind of game you’re after.
i agree rws 350 magnum .22 pellet gun will fill all your small game needs up to 65 yards or so and provide stew beef for sure .;lets not forget our rimmys or c.f will absolutely be needed for self defense and big game and ammo wont last forever
Big Cat® 1200 (Gamo)is a .177 caliber Air Rifle with 1200fps. This will take any small game out that a .22 will and no pumping. Just break the barrel, load, close and shoot.
Not everyone is lucky enough to live in a country where firearms are widely available. I live in Spain and getting a firearms licence is a huge problem for anyone not fluent in Spanish. I’m restricted to an 18Lb/Ft Air rifle. If I still lived in the UK, it would be 12 Lb/ft, although I may stand a chance of getting a shotgun licence.
This is also a good option for those of us who can’t legally carry firearms.