URBAN HUNTING GUNS!
                                                      Jim Chapman
We take a look at the requirements for a good all around urban / suburban hunting gun to use for pest control. There is a need for everything spanning the range from low power starling plinkers to high power coyote killers, but the environment does dictate some common specifications in my books!
Airgun hunting for small and large game species is a rapidly growing sport, however it is safe to say that the majority of airguns sold for field use continue to focus on pest control. Several states either allow airguns for small game or are in the process of reviewing their regulations to assess if change is needed, but most currently permit their use for controlling pest species and predators. Often time’s pest and predator species occur in areas where a firearm doesn’t make sense, because of safety related issues or the need to be quiet and unobtrusive. Local sports fields and golf courses are frequently overrun with ground squirrels, rabbits, or ground hogs. And there are many suburban areas where raccoons, fox, or coyotes are creating a nuisance. Another opportunity for airgunners are industrial areas where pigeons and starlings are covering the factory floor in droppings. In all these scenarios there is great potential for an Urban Hunting Gun to open up a lot of shooting.

The best guns for this application in me experience are examples of form following function, so a good place to start is with a look at the requirements. An urban hunting gun will, as the name implies, be used to hunt in urban and suburban settings where there will usually be buildings, equipment, and people in close proximity. Often it will be necessary to access the hunting grounds from a public area where it is advisable not to be seen walking around with a gun. Even though you will get permission to hunt these spots from property owners or their agents beforehand, a call to local law enforcement by a concerned office worker that has watched you amble across a parking lot to an abandoned warehouse with a rifle slung over your shoulder can ruin your day! Likewise, people sitting around the dinner table will generally exhibit concern if it the sound of gun shots starts ringing through their house. If you get the call to help thin out the rabbit population at a local golf course, it is generally stipulated that you can’t cause a disturbance to golfers or residents in the vicinity. The bottom line is that the urban/suburban hunter usually needs to fly under the radar, and requires a gun that will allow a stealthy deployment.

In my opinion there are some general “must have” features in an urban hunting gun, followed by a list of either useful options or requirements for specific situations. To get started let’s take a look at these requirement the before moving on to look at what’s new in urban hunting guns today. In a nutshell, I think the “must haves” are a quiet gun, compact dimensions, pinpoint accuracy and appropriate power for the intended quarry. The nice to have features would include; a takedown design, multi-shot capability, and adjustable power. After the basic gun is decided on, there is also a lot that can be done in terms of optics and accessories to further optimize the kit.
There are also a few interesting choices when a compact carbine producing higher energy levels is required for larger quarry. One of my favorites is the Swedish made FX Verminator; which is a take down design that is powerful, very accurate, and (with the integrated moderator) very quiet. The gun utilizes a buttstock air reservoir providing a high shot count per fill and leverages the proven eight shot magazine used in many of the full sized FX rifles. This gun is an absolute tackdriver that generates over 20 fpe in the .22 caliber version, and will drop a fox or a raccoon dead in its tracks with a headshot inside of fifty yards. I used this gun to shoot ground squirrels, woodchucks, and crows around a golf course earlier in the year, and never felt that I was limited in using a compact carbine rather than a full sized rifle.

Another option is to build your own Urban Hunter, and there are a number of approaches to achieving this. One of the best is using a proven platform such as the Crosman Discovery along with third party components to make the gun exactly what you want. There is a small start up company called CrosMods that offers shrouds, stocks, trigger assemblies, receivers, and just about anything you could want to build a unique gun based on Crosman’s budget priced multi-pump, CO2 and PCP designs.

Once you have the gun sorted out, the next bit of gear to look at is the sighting system to be used. For most applications where this type of gun makes sense, a high degree of magnification is not required, I’ll typically mount a fixed 4x, 6x, or 3-9x variable scope. I do like a larger aperture and a 30 mm tube, because much of the shooting is done in low light conditions, so good light transmission characteristics are a must. I also like a mounting system that incorporates additional ramps for multiple sighting/lighting devices, such as lasers and flashlights, to be mounted. Gamo makes a Varmint Scope configuration which provides all of these devices in a single package. Leapers is a manufacturer offering several optical devices and lights, and has a wide range of mounts available for building up an almost infinite range of sighting/lighting solutions for the urban hunter. Another device I’ve been using lately is the CenterPoint red/green dot that has four different crosshair/dot configurations; a single dot, three vertical dots, and two crosshair styles are provided. While there is no magnification, this is a great option for fast in-your-face shooting action, and works perfectly in conjunction with a scope mounted light on a handgun or a carbine used to shoot rats or pigeons in a barn or industrial building.

The take away message here is that if you need a gun to hunt in urban and suburban areas, you want it to be accurate, generate appropriate power for the task at hand, be quiet, compact, easily transportable, and have an optical system mounted that lets shoot under a variety of lighting conditions. The right gun will allow you to fly under the radar, even in heavily trafficked areas, and discreetly hunt where the pests are! Even if you’re a city dweller, you’ll be surprised by the number of new shooting opportunities close to home.
One approach is to use a handgun such as the Brocock Grand Prix; a single shot precharged pneumatic (PCP) pistol that comes in .177 or .22. This gun is very compact, dead accurate, medium power, and a great choice for removal of smaller species such as squirrels and rabbits inside the twenty five yard mark. I used this handgun earlier in the year to cull pigeons in an industrial complex, and at the closer ranges shooting off the various rest the environment offered, it was deadly. A gun like this can be slipped into a shoulder or hip holster and easily concealed on your way into the shooting area.

I also like the Evanix Hunting Master in areas where a powerful handgun is needed to take larger animals. This is a fairly accurate and very powerful hand cannon that will know a raccoon flat on its backside, but the power comes at the cost of being loud.

With the standard air pistol I restrict my range to about twenty five yards, not because of inherent inaccuracy of the gun, but rather because this is my limit as a handgun shooter. The Marauder Pistol is another PCP handgun (in .177 or .22); this one comes with a shrouded barrel, an eight round magazine and is both accurate and powerful.

As a mater of fact the power on this gun can be dialed up or down depending on the hunters need. While the Marauder is somewhat larger than the Grand Prix, one of the things I really like is the gun is shipped with a skeletonized shoulder stock, which replaces the pistol grips and turns the pistol into a short barreled and very compact hunting carbine. This gun can be easily transported onsite in a backpack, and then quickly put together to provide a stable shooting platform for hunting out to forty yards, and due to the shrouded barrel it is very quiet.
My Evanix Hunting Master Carbine is a poowerful Takedown design, that has a 6 shot rotary magazine that digest almost any pellet, is very powerful and will do 3/4" groups at 30 yards, It is loud but my gun has a screw on modifier. The short reservoir provides about 10 shots.
These two takedowns designs have very different power sources (and energy outputs). The top is a spring piston low powered gun, and the bottom is a powerful PCP.
These two takedowns are both pcps, but the lower one is a 16 round multishot, both are capable of anchoring a coyote.
The Marauder pistol in carbine trim is shown with a few starlings with the Hunting Master in pistol configuration used on an idustrial park bunny.