Armed Polite Society

Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Jim147 on November 23, 2020, 12:38:05 AM

Title: RATS
Post by: Jim147 on November 23, 2020, 12:38:05 AM
Like every weekend I went to check the fluids on my wife's car today.  Ten pounds of gravel and a nest made of the hood and firewall insulation later I got it cleaned out and everything fixed.

I've fought pack rats for 25 years but this is a becoming a problem.

So of course the question is what caliber for rat?

I'm thinking .45 long colt.
Title: Re: RATS
Post by: Snowdog on November 23, 2020, 04:08:57 AM
Stick you a 6' blacksnake, a Rat Terrier and a claymore in there.  You won't have that particular trouble anymore.

Winchester's .22LR ratshot from a rifle will kill a rat within 10' with ease.  I wouldn't want to use that around a vehicle though.   

Then again, it is said rats avoid making nests in locations that are engulfed in flame....
Title: Re: RATS
Post by: 230RN on November 23, 2020, 06:34:38 AM
Traps haven't worked for the 25 years you've been fighting them?

Of general interest and amusement:

https://youtu.be/8OuCMJDpJJg (10:09)

The revolver rat trap trapped me into watching the whole thing.

We've always had cats so rarely had problems with small vermin except in one case we had mice in the tack room where the grain was stored.  The cats could not get in there, and the inevitable spillage attracted the mice  --who could.  I finally got a multiple mouse trap where you wound it up and it would kick the mice into a chamber.  It worked OK technically, but disposal was a problem.

I note with the nail gun mouse trap in the video, he did not show the results of the kill or how he got the nailed-down critter out of the trap.  Must have been messy, but no messier than the revolver method.

Title: Re: RATS
Post by: HeroHog on November 25, 2020, 07:17:34 PM
Removal from the trap was easy because he used that small board under the target area for just that reason. Open side, slide board/rat/nail out, remove nail, profit!
 :old:
Title: Re: RATS
Post by: charby on November 25, 2020, 07:22:12 PM
Time for some outdoor bait stations
Title: Re: RATS
Post by: MechAg94 on November 25, 2020, 07:41:39 PM
If you know roughly where they are, those sticky traps work pretty well.  Just put them along the wall behind stuff where they are likely to move.  A couple times I have seen two mice on one trap as the 2nd one just ran over the first and stuck to the other side of the trap.  

The one time a mouse managed to get into my house (left the door to the garage open), I put a few sticky traps along the wall on either side of the hallway entry where I had seen it.  Caught it within a few hours as it tried to move around again.  

They make the large sticky traps for rats. 
Title: Re: RATS
Post by: Jim147 on November 25, 2020, 07:54:33 PM
I'm pulling out the 20 gauge/.22 tomorrow and going hunting.

The dog did get one Tuesday morning but I know where a few more nests are.
Title: Re: RATS
Post by: WLJ on November 25, 2020, 09:23:27 PM
I have 10 cats. No rats
Title: Re: RATS
Post by: Andiron on November 25, 2020, 09:34:31 PM
I have 10 cats. No rats

10 cats?  You need a .22..
Title: Re: RATS
Post by: Hawkmoon on November 25, 2020, 11:13:06 PM
Henry to the rescue:

https://www.henryusa.com/shotgun/garden-gun-smoothbore-22/

I saw a video. The smoothbore patterns a LOT better than the rifled barrel.
Title: Re: RATS
Post by: RoadKingLarry on November 26, 2020, 12:17:44 PM
I have 10 cats. No rats

I'm not sure which would be the worse option.
 =D
Title: Re: RATS
Post by: RoadKingLarry on November 26, 2020, 12:19:54 PM
Henry to the rescue:

https://www.henryusa.com/shotgun/garden-gun-smoothbore-22/

I saw a video. The smoothbore patterns a LOT better than the rifled barrel.

Henry makes some darn good varmint control devices.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/7811/33067614608_b62ec5b386_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/So5aLm)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50295981106_4be9e2f4db_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jCu3U3)
Title: Re: RATS
Post by: lee n. field on November 26, 2020, 06:01:09 PM
Like every weekend I went to check the fluids on my wife's car today.  Ten pounds of gravel and a nest made of the hood and firewall insulation later I got it cleaned out and everything fixed.

I've fought pack rats for 25 years but this is a becoming a problem.

So of course the question is what caliber for rat?

I'm thinking .45 long colt.

How big of rat?

Not finding anything online now, with some lackadasical g00gling, but I recollect from years back that there was a group of guys somewhere that would go around practicing for some air rifle sport (field target (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_target) possibly)by rat hunting in farmers' barns.

Title: Re: RATS
Post by: Fly320s on November 26, 2020, 06:05:28 PM
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rat+shooting+with+pellet+gun