BB/Pellet Guns for Survival? You betcha...

It's funny, but very few people seem to include these types of tools in their survival gear lists.

Why not?

Think about it.

They are relatively quiet, have cheap (and universal) ammo, and are easy to use. They are perfect for small game and hunting survival. I'm not saying you should have as your only weapon, but it's a lot easier than hunting with a bow, and a lot quieter than a standard firearm.

Just a thought.

I suppose it depends on which country your in. If the UK then it's a great idea!

I have a bow myself, but lets face it you only really get one shot because your prey will have scarpered

reply to post by Gazrok
Absolutely yes. The list of dinners the BB/pellet gun could supply is a long one.

Birds of all sorts, squirrels, rabbits, mice/rats, muskrats, snakes, frogs, gophers and many more, depending on the local fauna.

I've actually thought of this. Pellet guns would be wonderful for getting a rabbit or a squirrel. I've heard of people putting oil in their pellet guns. This is called dieseling. I've also heard it can damage a pellet gun. I've never tried it but here's a video.


I've also heard of exploding pellets. I'm not sure how safe this is for either the pellet gun or person shooting it, or how legal it is. It sure seems to do some damage, though.

I've got a Gamo Whisper Vx with 20k pellets in the bug out kit things a beast... for a pellet gun.
for the record I have friends that have taken down deer with head shots at 20-30 yds with the PBA ammo shot out of similar Gamo pellet guns.

It's very hard to get any sort of gun including air rifles/pellet guns here in OZ,so the best option for me is slingshots with marbles or sinkers for ammo,with enough practice you can get pretty accurate and a marble in the head of a rabbit will certainly get you breakfast.

There are very powerful air-guns around, also (semi) automatics.

Even 9mm and higher.

Problem would be power for a compressor, or a hand-pump and some sweat.

The problem with air rifles in the UK is the legal power limit. Anything with a muzzle energy of 12ft/lbs or more is considered a class 1 firearm which is the same class as "real" rifles and very difficult to obtain a licence for.

Rules out anything bigger than a rabbit at fairly small ranges.

It is however possible to "uprate" most modern PCP rifles yourself and in a situation where hunting for survival is required, I don't think there will be too many firearms officers doing spotchecks on muzzle velocities

Would strongly advise no one in Britain to make any illegal mods to an air rifle. It may seem petty, but it would be considered by the courts in exactly the same way as you possessing a handgun or an automatic weapon.

reply to post by EartOccupant


I didn't even know that these existed. Wow. They look like they'd pack a punch.

Like one mentioned though, for small game, and feeding yourself, they would be great. You get the ease of use of a gun, with the silence of a bow.

I wouldn't recommend it for defense, but for small game, a BB or pellet gun would seem to be the best of both worlds choice. Note, in the US, we don't have many restrictions on guns in general, especially these (which most of us get as kids)....

A deer, with a pellet gun? That's impressive. I wasn't thinking much bigger than a rabbit. (but rabbit is plenty tasty).

Yep, it really cracks me up when people say they're gonna carry x thousand rounds of this and that as they "bug out." I just watched a video this past week giving that concept a reality check. (Sorry, I can't find the link to the video.) Anyway, 1k rounds of 9mm was something like 38 pounds or so. Increase that weight by a few pounds for increasing caliber size and it very, very quickly becomes unrealistic. .223/5.56 and .22lr are the most reasonable rounds to try and take with you if you're on the move.

I like this thread though. Air rifles are a very useful survival tool as pointed out by several of the previous posters. Fairly cheap to purchase and the ammo is even cheaper.

Wow! Thanks for reminding me!

I have one of them old "Crossman pumps, that you can pump up to ten times and they go through beer cans" I haven't shot it in such a long time ..cause it use to piss off my wife (who died recently in may) when I drank to much and shot it in the house.

I think I'll break out that puppy and start plinking on me empties!!

...i cant help but think of ralphie (a christmas story) and his mother saying "you'll put your eye out!" and he nearly did - great movie...

reply to post by Wyn Hawks


Yeah! That was a hoot of a flick!!

I got my first BB gun when I was 12 "a Daisy 1894 spittin image Winchester" It was like that move..I

had to really sell it to my folks....but I won out in the end!

I have a 1948 .22 cal Benjamin Franklin air rifle. At 11 pumps, it will roll a rabbit with a shoulder shot at 50 to 100 feet. It's fairly quiet when shot.

I was interested in the oil and pellet video. I use oil on my air rifle routinely to keep the leather seals pliable. I did send it in to Franklin Co. back in 1976-77 to be rebuilt. Been the same since. I never had a noise result similar to what was in the video.

now me question is:

if TSHTF and your out hunting game
with your air rifle, what are you gonna do?
leave your good sniper rifle and ammo behind
so the squatters can steal it while you're gone?
or are you gonna tote all your guns on ur
hunting trip?

reply to post by boondock-saint


Heck! I don't know!

But! I broke out my crossman and knock down a beer can off the fire place mantle ( brick back) cool!

Originally posted by Gazrok

I wouldn't recommend it for defense, but for small game, a BB or pellet gun would seem to be the best of both worlds choice. Note, in the US, we don't have many restrictions on guns in general, especially these (which most of us get as kids)....

Yeah, I know, gun regulations in this country are terrible. It's very difficult to be granted a class 1 firearms licence (required for a proper rifle) if you live in certain parts of the country. The major problem is that all applications are at the discretion of the chief constable of the local police force. If he decides he isn't issuing any licences this year then you aren't getting one whether you have good reason or not.

Shotgun licences are a little easier to get, but you are still made to jump through all sorts of hoops and they can still reject your application without giving a reason.

Air rifles below 12 ft/lbs are treated the same here, or were in the past. There was something of a "crusade" from the anti-gun lobby in recent years that saw some tighter restrictions.

I got my first air rifle at the age of nine. Father made sure I was schooled in proper handling of a weapon and taught me how to shoot these before he would let me try his shotgun.

The point about carrying ammunition is an excellent one. A tin of 500 pellets weighs a damn sight less than 500 rounds of .22 bullets or 12 gauge shells.

reply to post by boondock-saint


I'll treat your question seriously as you raise a valid point.

The air rifle will allow me to take small game, with very little noise that would attract squatters or roving hordes of zombies in the area, to my presence. At 500 feet, if you can't see me, you would never hear the air rifle.

Lot of info spinning up the manure-o'meter-bs-guage. First AIR RIFLES; The average air rifle, be it PCP or spring piston is just about as loud as a .22 LR. The quietest ones ARE the Gamo Whispers and they are VERY quiet, but the most powerful Whisper is a .22 cal shooting a 14.5 gr pellet at 950 fps for a grand total of 23 ft/pounds of muzzle energy. In contrast, a .22 SHORT shooting a 29 gr slug at 1045 fps has 70 ft/pounds of ME. www.chuckhawks.com... I have hunted since I was a kid and would never have tried to down a whitetail with a .22 short with 3 times the muzzle energy of a 14.5 gr pellet. Now I'm sure deer have been killed with .22 shorts, with very lucky eye shots into the brain at close range. I have to say that I doubt that many deer are killed on a regular basis with an air rifle, unless it was a slow painful death from an infection from an embedded pellet in the skull, ear, gums, etc. Two things. First, they do make larger caliber air rifles that can take medium sized game. Second, they are as loud as a medium caliber, low velocity handgun, so you might as well use one. Now having said that, if I were in a survival situation I would try it with an air rifle, all you lose is a pellet. If I wanted to kill small to medium game in a survival situation with more of a certainty, with stealth, I would use a suppressed 10-22. It is quieter and more powerful, up to 183 ft/pounds of ME vs 23ft/pounds. Most states allow possession of suppressors with the appropriate BATFE paperwork and they already have all the info on you that they want, so why not use it to your advantage. NEXT; BOWS are very loud compared to what you would think. Crossbows and compound bows make an amazing amount of noise, so they are not extremely stealthy, better than the air rifles and real guns but still quite loud in the still of the forest. Most people think that bows are like they are in the movies..."whispering death"...ooohh. No, UNLESS, you have recurved longbows or recurved crossbows but the longbows take a significant amount of training over and above shooting regular bows and require a lot more strength and recurved crossbows cost over a grand. Anyway, bows, air rifles, blowguns, slingshots etc. are not the panacea that the movies, or other people, make them out to be. You can spend as much or more on an air rifle or bow than on a firearm that would give you better service. They have their place, just be sure you can justify the expense versus what you need.