varmint gun

A varmint rifle is a small-caliber precision firearm or high-powered airgun primarily used for both varmint hunting (the elimination of outdoor animals which harass properties) and pest control (the eradication of indoor infestation by destructive species). These tasks include killing three types of pests or nuisance animals that spread diseases or destroy crops or livestock:

Small/medium-sized non-game animals such as crows, ground squirrels, jackrabbits, nutria, marmots, groundhogs, porcupines, opossums, skunks and weasels;
Non-native feral/invasive species such as starlings, cats, dogs, goats, wild boar/pigs and donkeys;
Animals considered to be nuisance vermin destructive to man-made properties and vegetation, crops and domestic livestocks, such as rats, house sparrows, gophers, and small predators such as coyotes and jackals.
Varmint guns fill a design gap between the more powerful big game rifles and the less powerful rimfire firearms.
Big game rifles are more suitable for stalking and taking down individual large-sized animals such as reindeer, elk and buffalo at medium ranges, but not adequate for frequent repeated firing. Rimfire firearms (such as the highly popular .22 LR caliber) are best used to shoot small vermin such as squirrels and rats at close distances, and are somewhat underpowered for many outdoor rodents (which are often alert enough to spot hunters from a long distance away and flee or hide underground), small predators such as coyotes and larger feral animals such as goats and pigs. The varmint rifles are very suitable for repeated medium/long-range shots from a fixed firing position, thus fulfilling and overlapping the functional demands with both in terms of hunting applications.

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