I have a similar situation to yours, out in the country, cat population that seems to peak every 2-3 years to an uncontrollable level creating severe sanitation and livestock (chickens and such) issues.flechero wrote:I have a problem with feral cats... yes, lots of them. I am also opportunistic in that I have decided this is a good enough excuse to purchase a fun little target shooting rifle. I did a little research and think I have decided on a 22 mag. I have a 22lr but don't feel like it's enough for cats and coons, out to 100 yds. I considered the 17HMR but read too much on how prairie dogs were crawling away so I think critters up to 20 lbs or so deserve something larger. I'm hesitant to go centerfire for this as I don't want a large mess to clean up after each shot.
What do you think? Is a 22 mag a good choice or have I missed something better?
I tried one of the Gammo air rifles, they pack a major punch for what they are but unless you hit accurately they make a nice clean surgical hole that causes the animal to run off and suffer so I stopped using it the first time that happened. I'll use a 10/22 with hollow points for close range shots, and I use a rossi ranch hand with light 45LC loads for longer distances, the idea being to do as much damage as possible even with an off shot to kill the animal as quickly as possible while minimizing post shot issues. If you can get decently close range shots then a 410 shotgun seems like a reasonable solution with some large shot.