Air Gun Home :: View topic - would a crossman 2240 penetrate the hyde of a opsossum?

ausher · Member

i got thse pesky opossums fighting with my cat. will my 2240 kill em? also loose dogs tear out my trash, attack our cat. i dont want to kill em or injur them, but scare em off. i got some daisy precision max flat tip pellets. will they not penetrate the dogs? and what ammo is good for opossums?

broommaster2000 · Moderator

Maybe have a good look around the forum. I think we've had topics about opossums. Flat-tips may do a lot more damage then you want them to, so I'm guess that'd be a bit of a no go too.

donec · Senior Member

The pellets may do too much damage and thus be cruel or upset the owner of the dog which may be a neighbor and cause you problems. Get a cheap BB gun or even an airsoft gun for the dogs and try an hit them in the rear hind quarter soon they will learn to avoid your yard.

Lipoly · Veteran Member

donec · Senior Member

Lipoly · Veteran Member

That may be so, I had a 350fps airfsoft gun and it made the dog yelp and run off. I'm sure it didn't hurt it at all, but it obviously didn't feel good. I can believe though that some dogs may not feel enough pain to be effective.

fritz · Silver Status Member

A cat that comes around my house doesn't understand my airsoft gun...

Use a paintball gun.

Anything that you wouldn't shoot another human (in good humor) with, should not be used on any animal you do not intend to kill. As for the opossum, if you can get under 15 yards with a nice headshot it should be good.

ausher · Member

Believe me I'm not one for animal cruelity, but I'm tired of my trash gettng drug out all over the ally. I was thinking of taking a shot with it to see what it do, but chickened out. Now if the neighbors don't like their dog getting shot by a pellet gun then I'd be more than willing to shoot them in the hind quarters till they learn to keep their dogs In Their yard( just kidding of course). I know an airsoft gun wouldn't even phase a dog already tried that.
And I don't want to go out and buy a paintball gun. I know the 2240 will tear up a soup can at 40 feet so I really don't wanna try it on a dog. I'll see how it does on a opossum when it's eating the trash the dogs drug out.

donec · Senior Member

There used to be something called red light green light, it was a white powder that you could put on your trash and when they got into the powder it made every thing taste real bad and they would learn to leave your cans alone. However I have not seen any in a long time but you could maybe do a little research and find some or something like it as an alternative.

oddtodd · Silver Status Member

I say go the paintball gun route. I do and the neighbor calls the cops on me. The cops always say if I didn't injure the dog they can't do anything about it. It's a white dog so that pink paint shows up really good. The first time they came here the thought they were going to do something until I shot myself in the palm of the hand on purpose just to show it can't injure you( Well I guess if you were a real puss it might injure you. lol) They never said another word about injuring the dog again. Thwackin' time

Bozo · Veteran Member

Dogs are very different from each other; some have very thin skins and light coats that are easily damaged, some have thick hides and heavy coats that will soak up a lot of energy without injury. If you're thinking of buying a new airgun for your problem, consider a Sheridan pumpup. At 2 or 3 pumps you can almost watch the pellet in flight; if you give it the maximum of 8 pumps, you can easily kill those opossum with a head shot. My Sheridan with 8 pumps and shooting Crow Magnums has accounted for a number of raccoons and a couple of opossum. (All head shots at less than 15 yards.) For the dogs, you could start with 2-3 pumps and see their reaction. If they're the heavy coated, thick skinned sort, you could move up to 4-5 pumps if necessary. You just want a yelp and rapid retreat from them, don't want to see blood or see them limping later. And aim for the hindquarters, no head shots.

donec · Senior Member

After thinking over the problem with the dogs I would get a sling shot and use that of course you may need to do some testing to find what to use that wouldn't do too much damage but sting. Maybe rock salt.

ausher · Member

can i get rubber or plastic pellets in .22 cal?

Jaxom · Senior Member

If you go the paintball route, they actually make a pepperspray balls for them. Don't even need to hit them, just someplace close so it gives them a good spraying....

kanyon · Silver Status Member

a standrad 2240 @ 460fps just an't going to do it
on a possum....Throwing the gun you will
have a better chance...