Best pellet to use for crows?

[His lordship.]

I am primarily a crow (varmint) hunter.  I have used mostly .22 caliber pellet rifles and a 12 gauge shotgun on them.  They are very tough to take out, I call them the "Armoured car of the bird world". 

Back during the 1980's in Oregon, I used a Crosman 2200 pump up, with 10 pumps and a Crosman or Daisy brand flathead wadcutter pellet.  When the crows were hit they were stunned, had a hole in their chest, but would fly away after a few minutes.  Back then, Oregon was isolated in terms of things to buy, it was Daisy, Crosman, and cheap flathead pellets.  Later, when I moved to Minnesota I bought a RWS model 52 springer, and used, if my memory is right, Beeman hollowpoints?  The hitting power was more dramatic, but I still had to walk down to the place where the crow was hit, as they were still alive, but stunned and could not fly, and finish them off with other means.  The only time that rifle did the job cleanly, was inside of 20', the crow was killed immediately.  Needless to say, I sold off the RWS as I was disapointed that an expensive gun like that could not humanely kill a crow inside of 60 yards.

Now that I have a Benjamin pump up 392 in .22, and might get another springer, what pellet is the best on crows?  I can say with only a few days of ownership that the Benjmain has been very distructive on house sparrows, with only 3 pumps.  But, house sparrows don't take much to drop.

Thanks.     

[blhof]

The heaviest pellet you can find that will work in your gun.  I've used the Benjamin HP's with great success on rabbits, squirrels and one crow.  I usually can't get a crow close enough to shoot with anything short of a sniper rifle.  I've used the heavy pellets with great success in both my Crossman pump up pistol and my GAMO springer, but a friend's pump up didn't get real good accuracy with the Benjamins and went with polimer tips with reasonable success.  Someone on Ebay sells multipacks of a variety to test and see what handles best in your gun, cheaper than investing in expensive pellets that don't shoot well.

[jamaldog87]

I am primarily a crow (varmint) hunter.  I have used mostly .22 caliber pellet rifles and a 12 gauge shotgun on them.  They are very tough to take out, I call them the "Armoured car of the bird world". 

Back during the 1980's in Oregon, I used a Crosman 2200 pump up, with 10 pumps and a Crosman or Daisy brand flathead wadcutter pellet.  When the crows were hit they were stunned, had a hole in their chest, but would fly away after a few minutes.  Back then, Oregon was isolated in terms of things to buy, it was Daisy, Crosman, and cheap flathead pellets.  Later, when I moved to Minnesota I bought a RWS model 52 springer, and used, if my memory is right, Beeman hollowpoints?  The hitting power was more dramatic, but I still had to walk down to the place where the crow was hit, as they were still alive, but stunned and could not fly, and finish them off with other means.  The only time that rifle did the job cleanly, was inside of 20', the crow was killed immediately.  Needless to say, I sold off the RWS as I was disapointed that an expensive gun like that could not humanely kill a crow inside of 60 yards.

Now that I have a Benjamin pump up 392 in .22, and might get another springer, what pellet is the best on crows?  I can say with only a few days of ownership that the Benjmain has been very distructive on house sparrows, with only 3 pumps.  But, house sparrows don't take much to drop.

Thanks.     

that is odd, i used the same gun and pellets and always had one shot kills(very dead,stone dead). People i can see your problems. 1. 45 yards is about the max for most airguns(PCP and very powerful springer can go more far). I always had one shot kills on the body up to 45 yards with diasy wadcuts with the crosman 2200 past that yeah they would get up and i would use pointed pellets up to 60 yards and head shots only.

the Benjamin 392 in .22 can kill ground hog at ranges up to 30 yards with the right pellets. For me with the crosman 2200 these are the best for range and killing power: Crosman .22 Copperhead Competition Wadcutter(up to 30 yards it kills like a laser),Crosman Copperhead Field Hunting .22 Cal, 14.3 Grains, Pointed( up to 60 yards with crows with head shot and the rest body shots, also i used these to kill many coons and beavers at 30 yards, so yeah they work),Daisy Flat-Nosed(killed my first gray with it at 30 yards and kills rats real good).Gamo Hunter,Gamo Magnum and Gamo Master Point (all kill with a white hot hate). If i had a Benjamin 392 right now i would start off with crosman pointed and see what happens. they killed coons,nutra, and beaver in my 2200 at 30 yards so i think you can do it.this is the rule some what with pellets, pointed for penetrates,round noise for shock ,and wadcuts for short range shock. use this site for more info on pellst: http://www.reviewcentre.com/products4594.html they have tons of reviews on it.

oh my gun has only a 4x15mm on it.

[Robert lehman]

I like JSB Predator pellets they are very accurate in my RWS 48 and they transfer allot of there energy for a clean kill.

[mechanic]

I have had solid body hits on crows with a 223 and had them fly off.  I'm sure they died, just not right then.  I can't imagine shooting them with pellet guns and expecting one shot kills every time.  But you guys are probably better shots than me.

[jamaldog87]

I have had solid body hits on crows with a 223 and had them fly off.  I'm sure they died, just not right then.  I can't imagine shooting them with pellet guns and expecting one shot kills every time.  But you guys are probably better shots than me.

you have to hit them in the head with most pellet guns. Even when i made a bad shot and it did fly off, it was maybe 30-50 yards. Now small game like rabbits and squrrels are hard to kill(i killed one with my .22LR that had a 32cal lead ball in it.) Most times with a airgun they go down, sometime just like with real gun it takes 2.

[Larry Gibson]

Chris D

I'm an old Oregonian myself though I now live in Washington.  I've killed many a crow in Oregon....only during season of course   I've had a RWS M54 .22 cal fo some years now and have killed a lot of crows and other varmints with it.  I too have found them tough to kill on a frontal or side body shot.  Their breast is thick and tough and their folded wings are like level IV body armor!  If a head shot is not in the making and they are not presenting me with my fafavorite shot (between their shoulder blades) then the only pellet I've had any real success with is a hard domed pellet like the Crosman CP. 

The reason they are successful is penetration. If a "kill" is to be had then the pellet must penetrate into the vitals just like with anything else.  Crows are tenatious unlike many birds who seem to die if you look at them crosseyed.  I've had to run down many with broken wings and have watched to many fly off after a center chest shot with soft pellets, HPs (Including Crow magnums) and WCs.  There are crows and then there are crows; the northern and western crow is a bit larger than eastern and southern crows.  I have found quality domed pellets like the CP to give sufficient penetration within 40 yards with a body shot UNLESS the wing bone is hit   Accuracy of the CP is exceptional also and velocity of the 14.3 gr pellet is right at 800 fps out of the M54.  Your M52 should be similar.

Larry Gibson

[LEO]

Well, I know I am probably going to cause a stir with this post but, me and crows don't get along and I shoot quite a few of them, I have given up on shooting them with air rifles.  If I need to be quite, I use a single shot 22 rifle with either CBs or Remington sub sonics it is quiter than most serious air rifles and shoots a heavier bullet even then I stick with head shots or between the wing shots from behind with the CBs.  But where I live there is no law against discharging a firearm and if I wanted to shoot them with my 223 so long as I didn't do it real early of the morning on a regular basis no one would care and I realize you may not be as fortunate.  I experienced the same problem when I shot them with an air rifle and I finally just quit trying to kill crows effectively with one.

[jamaldog87]

as with most things yours  results may be different from everone elses. I never had a probelm with my crosman2200 with any pellets i could find killing crows. the  fish crows we have in FL are not as big but are very mean and hard to kill birds but a head shot kills them. I have opened up a few after the kill and the .177 pellets don't do much damge but the .22 crosman pointed seem to key hole (small hole in VERY big hole comeing out) in the birds makeing a very big mess.

 also as i have said before this same gun with pointed pellets has kill coons and nutra so to me it has no problem on a smaller game like a crow and i would use it on crows.

before i stopped killing crows i killed about 75 in one year with the crosman 2200.