New Pellet Gun

Hello,
I am shopping for a new (my first) air pellet riffle. I am getting overwhelmed with chipmunks this year and nothing I have tried is working so I am thinking about just start shotting them in my backyard.
Here are some of my expectations:
Accuracy is important out to 35 to 40 yards
Quite beings I am in town but a fairly large backyard

The two I have looked at pretty hard are the Gamo Varmint and Gamo Swarm Maxxium gen 2.
I am not set on either of these so asking for suggestions.
Also not sure which cal. to go with .177 or 22

So main use will be chipmunks shotting in my backyard.

I appreciate any help and suggestions,
Thanks
Mike

I have this one. Its the .177 caliber Ruger Air Hawk Elite. Has a suppressor on the barrel to keep it quiet and comes with a pre-mounted scope. I’ve been pleased with it and use it for rabbits, tree rats, crows, gophers, etc.

I also found that the better pellets are the pointed ones. They generally just have a better penetration and mortality rate and are not as affected by the wind as other pellets.

https://shopruger.com/Ruger-Airhawk-Elite-II-177-Pellet-Rifle/productinfo/17826/

I doubt you’ll get what you’re looking for in that price range. I’d look at a beeman R9 with those criteria. I’ve killed hundreds of chipmunks with an R9 in 177. None are perfectly silent but the neighbors won’t notice the noise.

I have a Gamo “Whisper”. It’s by no means quiet but sounds like a released spring, nothing you would relate to a gun. The PBA hi velocity ammo is fast, but not accurate a good quality lead pellet…

Rat trap with peanut butter is quiet. Tie it off. Have had them drag it under the deck before they died.

Standard rat traps baited with peanut butter solved my chipmunk problem. I think I caught 6 in 2 days with 2 traps.

ive been thinking about getting one to take care of the woodpeckers attacking my house

Winchester model 77XS isn’t very quiet but it’s cheap. I would think a chippy wouldn’t need ten pumps. With .177 Gamo rocket pellets and ten pumps it does the trick at 35-40yds on bunnies and squirrels.

Thanks for the suggestions. By quite I mean not like a riffle or 22. I understand there’s going to be some noise. My chipmunks must be different, they go right past the traps with PB.
I should have stated my budget. $200 max

Daisy pumps are pretty cheap, and with a pellet wont hit supersonic speeds. I got a single shot break action with a “suppressor” and it was louder than any of my 22’s. A pellet in a pump will take out any little varmints, but starts to fail at bunnies.

Live traps with candy coated peanuts work well too. You just have to take care of the live part. Not as sporting though.

stevenoak wrote:

Rat trap with peanut butter is quiet. Tie it off. Have had them drag it under the deck before they died.

100% They get more chipmunks than you will with the pellet gun for sure.

CaptainMusky wrote:

100% They get more chipmunks than you will with the pellet gun for sure.

There has been a couple chippies hanging around my house this summer and my dog has learned to recognize that high pitched squeal they make. She immediately goes on the hunt looking for the source. The chipmunk often goes up one of my gutter down spouts but its trapped once it gets the vertical portion. She’ll bark and paw and bite that down spout until I address it. I disconnect it with the chipmunk inside, and fling it onto the open part of the lawn. The chippy has no chance in open ground.

I ditched the Pellet gun for my .22 with a short shell. I can shoot with neighbors house 15ft away and they have no clue what I am doing.

bigcrappie wrote:

I ditched the Pellet gun for my .22 with a short shell. I can shoot with neighbors house 15ft away and they have no clue what I am doing.

I’ve done quite a bit of shell searching lately for the .22 and those “quiet” CCI rounds are indeed quiet but very slow. My .22 cal pellet rifle is faster and far more accurate. There are a few sub-sonic rounds that have fragmenting bullets like the quiet rounds have and they too are short of accuracy, even at 25 yards. The .22 short in the CCI line is fairly accurate out to about 35 yards and not very noisy at all, certainly no more so than the .22 pellet rifle. I’ve plinked a couple squirrels now with the short shells but the problem is the gun itself….it looks like a regular rifle not almost toy-like that some of the pellet rifles look.

stevenoak wrote:

Rat trap with peanut butter is quiet. Tie it off. Have had them drag it under the deck before they died.

This is my primary method for chipmunks. Pellet gun is bonus

Keep it under 1125 fps so it is subsonic. Most of the 22LR I have is subsonic and with my silencer you wouldn’t know I am shooting a pistol outside

Fill a 5 gallon bucket about 2/3 of the way with water. Drop some peanuts with the shell on in the water. Chip munks will go in after the peanuts but cannot get out. My late Father in Law killed hundreds this way. He kept a running tally each year.

I have a Beeman pellet gun from FF a few years ago.Came with a scope under $200 and is a squirrel killing machine

Got a gammo wisper cat. It sounds like a hammer hitting a board. Not horribly accurate. I set a live trap where they run by the edge of a building, no bait. Catch them all day long.

Call this guy up. He is nice. See if he has a qb78 for you. They look a bit silly but are the perfect easy to shoot backyard plinker. Nothing spring powered is going to regularly shoot chipmunks at 40 yards.

http://flyingdragonairrifles.org/index.php?route=product/category&path=59

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I have a live trap and a couple rat traps set but have only caught one so far in the live trap. Thanks for the help.

I’ve been using rat traps lately for vermin that seem to enjoy digging in Ma’s potted flowers on the porch. It’s a little tricky out there with an air rifle given all the traffic. Red Squirrels and Chippers have been the usual targets but this morning just now a grey squirrel made the trap snap and he’s currently on the lawn after managing getting his head out of the trap but deader than dead now. I use the Victor Rat traps with peanut butter and the trap is zip tied to a red brick. If there’s any question on whether a rat trap will handle a grey squirrel, well, they do.

Jimmy Jones wrote:

If there’s any question on whether a rat trap will handle a grey squirrel, well, they do.

They’ll also handle a blue jay.

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

They’ll also handle a blue jay.

lol

I drill 2 holes in rat traps and zip tie them to bricks. It’s a great way to control tree rats in town.

Walmart has Gamo Whisper Mach 1 on sale for $195. I picked one up this weekend in .22 but haven’t shot it yet. They get very good reviews online overall and look to be a great bargain at this price. Can’t wait to try it.

good score!!!