Anti raccoon rounds

[doc_kreipke]

Anybody have an opinion on what's the best pellet to penetrate raccoon skulls for:

.177, 17 ft/lbs muzzle energy, range 10 yards. ? (Winchester 1000X)

The other night, I popped an intruding ring-tail in the temporal area, as advised in a previous thread, but the beastie survived the hit. I was using a crow magnum pellet, and I reckon the hollow point just squished on the bone instead of going in. Would something more solid, like a point or round-nose do a better job of breaking through the bone?

[ed1921]

I think a solid would be better at penetrating,
Their skulls a kind of sloped & I bet the pellet just skidded off.
How fast it that moving? 17 ft. lbs. seems a little light to kill a racoon.

[Lone spur]

I've managed to drop coons with a .22 cal. with 11 lb/ft, but I don't advise it. Racoons and possums are amazingly tough critters, and if their adrenal is pumping it can be down right scary. I once had on close in on me from 15 feet down to 3. It took two rounds to the chest and one to the head to stop 'em, AND THAT'S WITH A 12GA. It sounds like you're in a confined space confronting this animal, be careful. statistical 28% of racoons have rabies. Fortunately if he did get away, I doubt he'll be back. He's probably dead by now from the hydocephaly that was induced.

[Robert]

I agree...a pellet rifle is hardly enough....but if they have eaten your chickens or geese....It just depends on how much you like them to suffer.

[Lawdog]

Anybody have an opinion on what's the best pellet to penetrate raccoon skulls for:

.177, 17 ft/lbs muzzle energy, range 10 yards. ? (Winchester 1000X)

The other night, I popped an intruding ring-tail in the temporal area, as advised in a previous thread, but the beastie survived the hit. I was using a crow magnum pellet, and I reckon the hollow point just squished on the bone instead of going in. Would something more solid, like a point or round-nose do a better job of breaking through the bone?

Chances are the pellet ricochet off the skull.  The very bast spot to aim for is between the eye and the ear.  Between the eyes won’t cut it.  The pellet I would use with your set up is the Beeman Silver Arrow.  At 11.5 gr. it will have around 22 lbs. of energy at the muzzle out of that Win. 1000X.  My daughter and I have taken a number of raccoons with our pellet rifles but shots have almost always been under 20 feet(only two out of the 13 have been over that range).  Lawdog
 

[jh45gun]

Coons are tough a pellet gun even a strong one is not really enough to be assured of consistant kills. If you are in a place where a 22 or larger is not a option then trap them. Jim

[dukkillr]

22 cbs are an option if noise is an issue.  Also, depending on the situation, you could practice what a guide in Quebec once said when I asked why his camp-bear gun was loaded with 12ga 6's.  He said it was a lot easier to shoot them in the guts with 6s and let them run off to die somewhere else.  That's not my style but if the only goal is getting rid of 'coons I guess it's your choice to make.  I'm sure any .177 pellet in the guts would prove fatal eventually.

[doc_kreipke]

[... The very bast spot to aim for is between the eye and the ear.  ... The pellet I would use with your set up is the Beeman Silver Arrow.  ... Lawdog

Hey! This really works!

Despite the previous ricochet, the varmint got cocky and was milling around just at the periphery of the porch light illumination. Range was about 12.5 yds. He gave me a classic profile for a few seconds ... The pellet (Silver Arrow) went in midway on a line between its ear and eye. He made it about 15 feet before his brain checked out.

... Just in case you guys ever wonder about the advice you give out. ...

[Charles/NM]

Personally I think this is a case where you need to use a 22 rimfire for a humane kill.  Some of the large caliber DAQ airguns might do the job but I've never used one.

[ABaker]

good shootin Doc!

[jeager106]

In my limited experience ( limited due to failures) My thoughts are the pellet from almost any springer won't due well on a regular basis for critters over the 2 or 3 pound range.
Rabbits are notoriously easy to kill and 2 pounds is about average for a mature cottontail.
Raccoons can easily go over 12 pounds.
.22 heavies from my RWS 48 bounce off groundhogs heads and I refuse to chest them.
I live in the country, in a rabies alert county and raccons, cute and darling they may be, are a hazard to be avoided.
I don't fool with incurrable diseases knowlingly.
I've seen, shot, and burned, rabid raccoons.
The disease is most SPREAD by unwated cats gone feral and cats are MY PREFERED target.
At that I've only dispatched one cat with an airgun and it was a perfect brainer.
The .22 l.r., 12 bore with large shot, are better suited to the task, though those in a condo might object. :-D

[Lawdog]

I don't fool with incurrable diseases knowlingly.

While the Rabies Virus is fatal in rare cases it is treatable.  You would be surprised at the number people treated every year.

And the taking of large critters such as Raccoons is better suited for rimfires/shotguns but a magnum powered air rifle will kill cleanly when the use of firearms can't be used(for reasons of location, safety, legality, etc.).  Just limit the range, use the right pellet, pick the spot(know the anatomy of the animal your going to shoot) and put the right pellet where it will meet the least resistance getting to a vital spot equals one dead varmint.  Lawdog
 

[jeager106]

Lawdog:"While the Rabies Virus is fatal in rare cases it is treatable. You would be surprised at the number people treated every year."

Rabies is FATAL PERIOD. One person in modern times is known to have survived rabies but was left with permanent brain damage.(1970:failed vaccine don'cah'know)
Rabies is incurrable and fatal.
Perhaps you mean people that get bitten by SUSPECTED rabid animal and receive vaccine don't DEVELOPE rabies?
One rabies DEVELOPES you iz a gonner pal. History, end of story.
Yes I quite agree that a pellet placed properly will dispatch larger critters.
I lived in a small town when I used the pellet rifle to dispatch the feral cat.
It wasn't my cat, it was in my garden, pissing, ergo it's feral!
Of coures you can't fire the 12 bore in a condo and maintain freedom for very long.
The trick is to get the pellet in the right place under conditions less than perfect.
( From the FDA:But whether pre- or postexposure, rabies vaccines and rabies immune globulin are the first--and only--line of defense for humans exposed to rabies. There are no tests that can detect rabies in humans at the time of a bite, and by the time symptoms appear, it's too late for treatment. The disease is a swift, deadly killer, and there's no cure.)

[Lawdog]

jeager106,

There are no tests that can detect rabies in humans at the time of a bite, and by the time symptoms appear, it's too late for treatment.

This is the key.  You don't wait if you have been bitten, you go in and take the shots which do stop the rabies virus.  I personally know two people that were bitten by rabid animals(one bat the other a Gray Fox, that were killed and tests proved they were rabid) and they took the treatment(which is a horror story in itself).  Both are very alive today and so are many, many others that have been bitten.  You don't wait until symptoms appear because then it's too late.  The records are at CDC, just look them up.

It wasn't my cat, it was in my garden, pissing, ergo it's feral!

You wouldn't believe the number of people that end up in court(both civil and criminal) thinking this way.  They just sent one guy to prison for five years and fines of $25,000+ for shooting his neighbors cats.  I wonder if he thinks it was worth it?  Lawdog
 :toast:

[jeager106]

Right.
You get the shots right away an you LIKELY will be safe.
The one case of rabies in which a person survived was AFTER THE SHOTS but they failed to stop the virus.
Once you're INFECTED WITH RABIES YOU ARE TOAST.
Not just bitten, but once the bug has become the disease called rabies you're history.
Rabies innoculation is not the old horror story it once was.
Actually it isn't bad at all.
The treatment is simple small needle injection in the BITE and there are a total of 7, not the 14 in the solar plexes of 25 years ago.
Far cry from horrible, unless your bitten in the nose. :-D

Yes I know getting caught shooting someones PET will get you in deep doo-doo.
The only time I gunned someones pet was a very large dog trying to eat my five year old!
No one said a word over that.
Back to airguns please, though the info on rabies is valid to anyone that handles any animals as rabies is on the RISE the past three years.
The airgun that turned cat killed was a Benjamen pump up with 8 pumps in .177 and is a good airgun in it's own right.
A little slow to pump and reload, but capable of 700 to 800 f.p.s.