ratshot effectiveness

[Buzzkill]

Anyone know how effective those little cci ratshot capusules for the .22 are?stray cats are a big pest in my area so i saw one at the corner of the house and as ha was running away i shot him in the back.The range was about 7 yards.How far would those little pellets penetrate if at all?

[Wild Bill Bucks]

Buzzkill,

I have used them for years inside my warehouse for birds, and if you are shooting them out of a rifle with good riflings, they will scatter very quickly. I can't kill a bird with them any further than about 15 feet. Every now and then I get lucky but not very often. I scare more of them than I kill. Quite a while back they used to make a 22LR that did not have any riflings in the barrel(smooth bore) and the rifle was very effective out to about 50 feet, but I don't think I've seen one in years. The problem with the plastic cover over the pellets is that your riflings spin the shot so fast that they scatter as soon as they leave the barrel. Try one on a 3ftX3ft peice of cardboard at 15 feet. I have found that the rat shot with the crimped front, shells seem to work much better.

[Buzzkill]

thanks for the reply bill!

yeah i did a 'ballistic penetration test' with an apple .At about 10 yards the 2 or 3 that hit only go in about 5 or 6mm.At 3 yards 2 centimetres.

The cat came around again since.He looked straight at me.The range was about 10 yards or a little more.Even still through the scope I could see it jump about a metre off the ground so i'd assume a few pellets connected

The intention wasn't to kill it just to discourage it from coming around again.

[FirstFreedom]

They're for rats, not cats. Shooting a cat with one is highly unethical, IMO, since all you're gonna do is wound it. Use a .22lr or larger, or a .410 bore, or larger.

[Buzzkill]

did you read my second post??

The intention wasn't to kill it but to discourage it from coming round again.Outside 10 yards their not even going to penetrate,thats the ranges i was shooting at.If i wanted to kill it i would have loaded up my .17 .That would do the job quite easy.

[ibfestus]

Unfortunately my neighbor had a habit of shooting dogs with a pellet gun... a 5MM Sheridan. He thought he was only "burning" their hide. Somebody retaliated by shooting his dog the same way. A few days later the dog had developed a terrible infection and he had to take the dog to the vet who dug out the pellet. Despite massive antibiotic doses the the dog still died.

Even if the rat shot only barely penetrates the hide the cat is still likely to suffer. As I said bad juju.

[dustoff]

I've seen a couple rats killed with them but more often than not they don't even get the job done there. Chances are the shots won't even wound the cat. It may sting the cat a little but thats about it. I would probably just kill the cat and get it over with. The cat is more than likely coming around for food. All it is going to learn is that when it sees you it should run. It won't leave easily if it is finding the food it wants.

[sparkysteve]

I think a .22lr hollow point should do the trick.

[oldbillthundercheif]

If you want non-lethal, how about either a few big firecrackers or a big string of small ones? I suspect it may cause them to relocate at high speed if you can lob them into its general area.

[Jseime]

The cats used to scatter at the sight of my airsoft pistol when I still had my old truck. Now with my new truck the next cat I catch up there will recieve the death penalty. Something about them peeing on my windshield and the smell of cat whizz in my nice new truck isnt that appealing to me and may cause this to become a kitty free area very quickly.

I reccomend a .22lr for close up precision work, 12 guage if you dont like the cat, and .270 if they are way out yonder and you dont like the cat.

[Taxidermist]

The cat came around again since.He looked straight at me.The range was about 10 yards or a little more.Even still through the scope I could see it jump about a metre off the ground so i'd assume a few pellets connected.


You could put an eye out doing that. Not nice at all.

[Double Naught Spy]

did you read my second post??

The intention wasn't to kill it but to discourage it from coming round again.Outside 10 yards their not even going to penetrate,thats the ranges i was shooting at.If i wanted to kill it i would have loaded up my .17 .That would do the job quite easy.

Yes, I am sure he read your post. What he is saying is that your discouragement is a form of wounding the cat and he called it unethical. Others would probably just call it cruel.

I find a super soaker has better range that .22 shotshells and a much more dramatic impact on critters without doing them any harm other than getting them a bit wet and startling them...that is if you truly want to discourage them instead of exacting revenge and punishing them for daring to come around your place.

[FirstFreedom]

The intention wasn't to kill it but to discourage it from coming round again.

Wait a sec - are you thinking that the pellets will just bounce off and not penetrate the skin even? If you are trying to discourage it in that way, AND if it didn't penetrate, then it might be ethical. But it won't bounce off. It will penetrate at least the outer layers of the fur/skin, and so it's going to cause a wound, yet not kill cleanly - it could put out it's eye, so then it may starve to death if it cannot hunt successfully with bino vision. All sorts of undesirable wounds/infections could result. So DNS is correct - it's cruel and unethical. If you want to discourage it, please thump it with a paintball or rubberband gun or the garden hose for that matter. If you want to kill it, kill it with your .17, as you say. But the "in-between" of the ratshot will wound - not good karma at all to wound animals, IMO. Certainly not good for the image of hunters and other gun owners. That's a really nice way to put it. If we weren't in someone's virtual living room here, I'd put it how I really feel.

[nutty ned]

A live trap and a can of sardines and take them to the pound.

[MeekAndMild]

Ditto on First Freedom's sentiments. "Rat shot" is a misnomer. It's not for rats, cats, birds, elephants, Ford vans full of meth heads, et cetera. Its proper name is snake shot and its proper use is for poisonous snakes. For that purpose it isn't as good as a hoe but it will work.

[ARmasterzach]

My good ole Tippmann A5 paintball gun with electronic full auto firing and flatline barrel good for about fifty yards does pretty good on stray dogs that find their way into my yard. Makes em pretty colors too might be a bit much for a cat though. I hear alot of people using slingshots with marbles around where Im from. they even sell yellow bags of marbles at the lumber yard called catshot or something like that.

[T. O'Heir]

"...recieve(sic) the death penalty..." That'll get you arrested, your PAL revoked and ALL your firearm seized. It's called cruelty to animals and it's illegal. No matter where you are in Canada.
Shotshells fired out of a rifled barrel produces patterns with huge holes. The shot string files in a spiral sending th eshot who knows where.

[Scorch]

The shot in most of the 22 cal shot capsules is #12 shot, also called "dust shot". It is not totally worthless, but I cannot imagine shooting it out of a rifled barrel and expecting to hit anything. Out of a 22LR smoothbore, it will take down sparrows or pigeons out to 10 yds or so, they use it all the time in slaughterhouses when birds get in. For snakes, it would probably work out to about 5 yds. Like it says above, a hoe works better.

[Dirty_Harry]

ARmasterzach, I have the same gun and use it, but w/o the flatline. If I want to kill the critters they just get the .22 rifle.

[2rugers]

Rat shot will be totally ineffective for cats unless you are just trying to teach them to stay away.

410 shotgun and up will do the trick well though.

If you live in a neighborhood and have a cat problem because most cities do not have leash laws for felines like they do canines, a high power 22 cal air rifle works well with head shots.

You can also use Aguila .22 super colibris to good effect to about 25 yards.
These shells use no gun powder only the primer to push a .20 gr. (I BELIEVE) bullet at modest velocity.

Many has been the time when my fenced in dogs have awakened me to let me know they had chased away one of the neighbors many cats they had caught raiding their feed bowls late at night.

Sometimes a polite plea for them to control their roaming rascals works and sometimes not.

If you are like me you will give kitty at least a couple of warning experiences before the neighbor is sent walking the neighborhood calling for a Mr. whiskers whose nine lives membership card has expired.

[glockman19]

They're for rats, not cats. Shooting a cat with one is highly unethical, IMO

Cats keep rats away. They're good for your situation. Getting rid of the cats will only increase your rat problem.

[fastforty]

I had a pretty bad experience with .22 snake shot & a cat a few years ago. It's definitely not something that I'm proud of, in fact, it haunts me to this day. Information on said experience is offered as a deterrent to others who might think too highly of the cartridge.

(Trying not to be too descriptive)

I live out in the country on an acre, part of which is fenced yard. I had a spayed female cat who was born in that yard, and has *never* left it in her 14 years with us. A very large and wiley feral tomcat started coming over the fence, kicking our old and feeble pet cat's butt and eating her food on a daily basis. I tried every non lethal way possible (from the beginning he would quickly disappear on sight of me at any distance) to discourage the tom from ripping our pet up in her own yard.

One evening, I caught sight of him entering my garage through a partially open window. Since the rest of the building was completely closed, I strolled over and closed the window. Now what? Besides having a concrete floor & concrete block walls, my garage is piled with tons of other stuff that .22 bullets would love to richochete off of, not to mention that I really don't want to shoot up my possessions. In such close quarters, this really looked like a job for you-know-what.

So, after donning a pair of shooting glasses covered by a pair of shop safety goggles & loading up six rounds of you-know-what, I made entry. I found the cat hiding in a corner, & carefully placed a shot from 4-5 feet away (it patterned exactly the size of his body). To my dismay, the result was not terminal, as I had expected. I spent the next minute & a half chasing him around the garage, taking several shots from a distance of 1-2 feet. All six shots had scored direct hits, I was out of ammo & he was still running away.

Sound hunting ethics have always been at the top of my list & I now found myself in the middle of my worst nightmare. I HAD to put this animal down, and FAST (but I still wasn't willing to risk shooting myself by bouncing a solid bullet off of concrete). After reloading, I finally got the critter cornered & was able to place the muzzle behind it's ear, point blank. It was BARELY enough.

Again, this was a mistake that I made & still have trouble living with. By relating it here, I would hope to prevent others from making such a mistake.

DO NOT SHOOT ANIMALS WITH .22 SHOTSHELLS !!!

[Birdville2011]

thumping the cat with a paintball gun could kill it. have you ever been paintballing? those suckers leave welts with a 2" radius. a good shot to the head would probably kill it and you might hit its head even if you were aiming for the body b/c paintball guns aren't exactly your 600yd range varminter...

[hunterjoe21]

I've had trouble killin small critters with 22 "birdshot". Nuisance chipmunks have required follow-up shots, even though the first shot was from < 10 FEET.

I would agree that shooting a cat with .22cal shot loads is unethical and immoral. I'm not one to preach morality, but a shot fired at an animal should only be performed with lethal intentions. If yer not gonna kill it, dont shoot it!

[Jseime]

I still vote for lethal cats are stubborn creatures and do not learn quickly I shot them with an airsoft gun on top of my truck for walking all over my nice new chevy and the kept on doing it. I took out the 597 and a mag full of CCI mini-mags last night and a single HP to the head ended one big tom cat right there.

Now every time I see a cat on my truck the offender is going to get a mini-mag between the eyes until they learn or we run out of cats. You may think I am being unreasonable about cat tracks but I just bought the truck and when the tom cats pee on the windshield and the whole thing stinks for months I get a little edgy... and a little shooty.