.17 HMR for shooting rats

[gmerkt]

Today I ran into this old guy (three years younger than I am) who was buying his first gun. He said he wasn't really a gun person, but he'd run out of solutions to the rat problem in his garage. When I asked him what kind of gun he was buying, he said it was a revolver in .17 HMR. It got me to thinking, is .17 HMR too much gun for shooting rats inside his garage? It might be hard on the building, I was thinking. Maybe not. But you have to see rats to kill them with a gun. He said when he first noticed this problem, he could go in the garage and see rats all over. Now, he thinks they know he's coming and they hide before he gets there. I know, sounds strange but I'm sure he was all there. But the .17 HMR won't be effective without targets.

When asked, the man couldn't tell me what brand the gun was but it came from Italy and had a seven inch barrel. ?

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[solv3nt]

That's what we engineers like to call "overkill".

 

[GrayGoose]

Why are there politicians in his garage?

 

[arrowshooter]

If he has neighbors, they're going to be pissed.

Product Details

www.chiappafirearms.com

 

[Nosferatu]

I wouldn't use any gun for shooting rats indoors, unless you really don't care about ventilating your walls.

I shoot a few dozen rats a week in the back yard with a .22LR. Haven't had one bounce off the vermin yet.

 

[Juniper9mm]

He might cool on the .17 HMR after weeding around the garage an seeing all the exit frays coming out of the T 111, or getting lucky and putting a round through some romex.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Seems VERY odd. A simple airgun is plenty for a rat.

But then maybe he was looking for a gun that would go through the rat, ricochet off the concrete wall and go through the car window.

 

[TTSX]

They're there, I just know it! They know I'm coming, though! Oh yes and HIDE!! I've seen them! But not anymore... They're planning something, I tell you. Gonna get me in my sleep!

 

[dangerranger60]

Ruger used to make a single six in 17 HMR. But a couple shots in a garage would make your ears ring! DR

 

[trekkerpaul]

Rat traps and peanut butter will take care of rats. 17 her in your garage doesn't sound like a good idea for some reason.

 

[Koda]

If hes got that many rats he needs to start shooting, inside, hes got bigger rat problems and wont get rid of them shooting them.

The 17hmr is way overkill indoors, gonna fragment and shrapnel back at him.

Back in the "olden days" didn't the farmers use 22 shorts for rats inside the old house.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

This is what you want for rats:

 

[trekkerpaul]

This is what you want for rats:

But wait theres more. For the low low price of 39.99, we will include this set of knives. Drywall patch kit sold separately.

 

[Stomper]

Today I ran into this old guy (three years younger than I am) who was buying his first gun. He said he wasn't really a gun person, but he'd run out of solutions to the rat problem in his garage. When I asked him what kind of gun he was buying, he said it was a revolver in .17 HMR. It got me to thinking, is .17 HMR too much gun for shooting rats inside his garage? It might be hard on the building, I was thinking. Maybe not. But you have to see rats to kill them with a gun. He said when he first noticed this problem, he could go in the garage and see rats all over. Now, he thinks they know he's coming and they hide before he gets there. I know, sounds strange but I'm sure he was all there. But the .17 HMR won't be effective without targets.

When asked, the man couldn't tell me what brand the gun was but it came from Italy and had a seven inch barrel. ?

I can't believe a 97 year old man can't figure out that rat poison would be the better option…

 

[OneArgus]

Walmart 59.00 air rifle and avoid any collateral damage. pew pew

Argus

 

[Catfishmoon]

My first choice would be a cat that is a good mouser. Second choice would be a trap, if you use poison you can easily get a dead rotting rat that is not always easy to find and remove...
If I was determined to dispatch it with a firearm, I would use an air gun.

 

[Juniper9mm]

This is what you want for rats:

 

[gmerkt]

97 year old man

Now wait a minnit, I'm not 100 yet. It just feels like it every morning when I get up.

The guy did say that he'd tried all sorts of other remedies. Including poison, snap traps, and some kind of chemical that causes sterility. But he wasn't satisfied with the results of these approaches because he was still seeing rats about.

I wouldn't use any gun for shooting rats indoors, unless you really don't care about ventilating your walls.

I agree. You guys are gonna think I'm making this stuff up, but a childhood friend of mine who lived in Bandon, Ore. said a .22 was useless against rats. So he used a .41 Magnum. It was in a semi-abandoned structure that he was living in next to a cranberry bog (complete with hole in the roof over the kitchen) so I guess it didn't matter. On the other hand, he poached deer with a .22 so he mustn't have had hard feelings against the little round.

If hes got that many rats he needs to start shooting, inside, hes got bigger rat problems and wont get rid of them shooting them.

Yes, this would seem so. We had some Mormon neighbors who stored their food stash in a garage. Including whole grain wheat kept in suitcases. One of my daughters was over there the day they decided to clean out the garage. She said that when they got near the suitcases, a storm of rats ran out of the garage; they'd discovered the grain in the suitcases and had chewed through to get at it.

A couple of months ago, I was doing some cleaning out of my own in the garage. I had a box full of walnut shell tumbling media stored under a bench. I found that a hole had been chewed through, and media was leaking out. I don't have rats in my garage and I wondered how this happened. Then I remembered, not long before I'd accidentally left the garage door open one evening until about 2:00 AM. I doesn't take long. I didn't see any rat turds, but I kept traps set in there for a week afterward with no result.

My first choice would be a cat that is a good mouser. Second choice would be a trap, if you use poison you can easily get a dead rotting rat that is not always easy to find and remove...
If I was determined to dispatch it with a firearm, I would use an air gun.

I'm not a fan of rodent poison. The most obvious reason stated above. "Where is that smell coming from?"

The .22 CB cap is pretty good for killing small critters and is nearly as quiet as a pellet gun when fired in a rifle barrel,. Surely doesn't have the expansion characteristics of a .17 HMR.

 

[PiratePast40]

Ratinator and a half dozen of the standard spring traps if you don't want to use poison.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Now wait a minnit, I'm not 100 yet. It just feels like it every morning when I get up.

The guy did say that he'd tried all sorts of other remedies. Including poison, snap traps, and some kind of chemical that causes sterility. But he wasn't satisfied with the results of these approaches because he was still seeing rats about.


I agree. You guys are gonna think I'm making this stuff up, but a childhood friend of mine who lived in Bandon, Ore. said a .22 was useless against rats. So he used a .41 Magnum. It was in a semi-abandoned structure that he was living in next to a cranberry bog (complete with hole in the roof over the kitchen) so I guess it didn't matter. On the other hand, he poached deer with a .22 so he mustn't have had hard feelings against the little round.


Yes, this would seem so. We had some Mormon neighbors who stored their food stash in a garage. Including whole grain wheat kept in suitcases. One of my daughters was over there the day they decided to clean out the garage. She said that when they got near the suitcases, a storm of rats ran out of the garage; they'd discovered the grain in the suitcases and had chewed through to get at it.

A couple of months ago, I was doing some cleaning out of my own in the garage. I had a box full of walnut shell tumbling media stored under a bench. I found that a hole had been chewed through, and media was leaking out. I don't have rats in my garage and I wondered how this happened. Then I remembered, not long before I'd accidentally left the garage door open one evening until about 2:00 AM. I doesn't take long. I didn't see any rat turds, but I kept traps set in there for a week afterward with no result.


I'm not a fan of rodent poison. The most obvious reason stated above. "Where is that smell coming from?"

The .22 CB cap is pretty good for killing small critters and is nearly as quiet as a pellet gun when fired in a rifle barrel,. Surely doesn't have the expansion characteristics of a .17 HMR.

Re ".22 useless against rats"

I don't buy that for 1 second. 22lr is around 90-125 ft lbs of energy and I have killed lots of rats and much larger critters with .22.

Ask @Tlock about .22 for killing critters. He probably has more experience than anyone here with that I would guess.

I have killed somewhere on the order of 1500 squirrels (mostly fox squirrels) with my 14 ft lb airgun. What he is saying is just not true unless the guy is an idiot and shoots them in the butt or something or has a POS gun where the bullets come out of the muzzle tumbling or something. A 14 ft lb airgun is more than enough for rats, and of course a 100 ft lb .22 is just fine.