Advice on weaponry

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jyoung8607

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Long story short, I have a raccoon problem.

I've made it this far in life without owning a firearm, but that needs to change. I have a trap and that works well enough, but dispensing with the raccoon after trapping it isn't a very smooth process just yet. It is legal to shoot pest animals in my township.

I'm in the market for a .22 semi-auto. Any advice? I will be taking a local concealed-carry class soon, for the education as well as the permit. In the meantime, I'm not sure what to make of the bewildering array of options.

Jason
 
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jakematic

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First off you must to be certain the rounds you are using are capable of humanely destroying the animal.

It's hard to go wrong with a Marlin rifle.
The Browning Buck Mark is my personal favorite .22 pistol - I have 3 of them.

I'd talk to someone knowledgable at a GOOD sporting goods store or gun shop and explain your situation.

It's been eons since I was on a coon hunt, but would be very surprised if we used anything as small as a .22
Then again we didn't have Stinger and Velocitor rounds back then either....


When you get your CHP don't even think about letting ANYONE tell you which firearm you should get.
They will tell you this that and the other is the best thing since sliced bread.
YOU need to make an educated decision on caliber, stopping power, and kill factors, and then fire several different makes/models/calibers at a rental range or that friends own to see what you like.
Find the one YOU are comfortable with and will actually carry.

Suggest reading up on some of Massad Ayoob's articles.


ps- Go through Hunter Safety education and get a hunting license whether you go or not.
It supports wildlife and forest management and proves to the haters that we are indeed large in number.
 
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Uwe

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I'm in the market for a .22 semi-auto.
It's not entirely clear to me whether you're looking for a pistol or a rifle. Since you mentioned shooting racoons after they're trapped, and a carry permit, I'm thinking you're looking for a pistol?
 
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jyoung8607

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It's not entirely clear to me whether you're looking for a pistol or a rifle. Since you mentioned shooting racoons after they're trapped, and a carry permit, I'm thinking you're looking for a pistol?
Leaning mostly toward pistol, yes. I may pick up a rifle later, just because I've enjoyed target shooting in the past and eventually my sons will need to practice marksmanship for Scouting. The concealed carry permit was mainly for education and (legal) confidence. I started looking into whether/how I could take a weapon with me back home when visiting family and my brain started to hurt. I think I'm okay with it locked up in the trunk, but JFC it gets complicated depending on where you're going. I decided going through the classes was the best way to get clued-up and the permit might be of value later.

Jason
 
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Uwe

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What I would buy for a do-it-all .22 pistol is a Ruger SR22. Not too big to conceal, not too small to aim accurately, and very reliable.

Where's "Back home"? The laws do indeed vary by state and if you wish to be a "law abiding citizen", you have to check the laws of every state you'll pass through. www.handgunlaw.us is a good place to start. Personally, I only claim to be a "peaceable citizen", not a law-abiding one. ;)

-Uwe-
 
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jyoung8607

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Let me try to add some background here, sorry...

I'm familiar with safely using a gun: which end goes bang, safety always on when not in use, guns are always loaded, etc. I have been to the range several times with family back home. That's not to say I would turn down more formal training, which is part of the reason for the concealed carry class.

I am not at all familiar with selecting or actually owning a gun. There's the legal aspects, which is the other reason for the carry training. There's also about 2^16 kinds of guns available and I'm not sure what's right for me. My wish-list is: easy to learn, easy to clean/service at home, effective for close-range raccoon termination, and on the quieter end of the spectrum.

Jason
 
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Uwe

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Some guns don't have manual safeties.

A concealed carry class should not be confused with actual self-defense training.

As for selecting something: Find other people who own various guns and shoot as many as you can, or find a range that has rentals. Some will simply feel better to you than others. Once you narrow things down some, read up on the models under consideration. If you only have one, first and foremost, it has to be reliable. A number of my guns tend to be safe-queens 'cause I don't fully trust them.

-Uwe-
 
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jakematic

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Personally, I only claim to be a "peaceable citizen", not a law-abiding one. ;)

Far more eloquently worded than what came to my mind !


on the quieter end of the spectrum.

Are you in the city limits ?
Curious about why this is a consideration.
Many jurisdictions require a boatload of paperwork if you allegedly fire a weapon inside certain imaginary boundaries....

I have a friend and colleague in your state who may be local-ish to you who would be a good resource too.
 
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jakematic

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Some guns don't have manual safeties.

The only safety is the one atop the shoulders, located between the ears.

As my friend Eric Shelton says "Keep your booger hook off the bang switch"
 
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jyoung8607

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What I would buy for a do-it-all .22 pistol is a Ruger SR22. Not too big to conceal, not too small to aim accurately, and very reliable.
Hrm... interwebs say it's chambered for .22LR which would certainly be handy if I wanted a rifle later. I'll put it on the short list.

Where's "Back home"? The laws do indeed vary by state and if you wish to be a "law abiding citizen", you have to check the laws of every state you'll pass through. www.handgunlaw.us is a good place to start. Personally, I only claim to be a "peaceable citizen", not a law-abiding one. ;)
Back home is St. Louis. In addition to Missouri, we pass through Illinois and one of Indiana or Kentucky depending on my mood and the weather. If I recall correctly, even without a permit I should be mostly okay if it's unloaded and secured in the trunk. Then I read that individual cities like Chicago (not that we'd pass through) have their own rules and I quit reading before my blood pressure spiked any further. I don't know how people who actually carry keep track of this stuff.

Jason
 
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Uwe

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Yeah, Ill-noise is a funny state. Almost as funny as Nazi-Jersey. In theory, federal law protects you if it is legal for you to possess your gun at both the origin and destination of you trip and you have it locked up in the trunk, unloaded, ammo separate. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop certain states (like PA's eastern neighbor) from arresting honest, peaceable people anyway. If you get an Ohio permit, it's good in IN, KY, MO, KS, but not in IL. USAcarry.com is another good resource.

-Uwe-
 
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jyoung8607

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Are you in the city limits ?
Curious about why this is a consideration.
I live in a township, where theoretically I can shoot all I want on my own property. My next-door neighbor is a LEO and he's been taking varmints here and there too. That's not to say the county sheriff wouldn't figure something out if it became a problem, and it's a residential area and I don't want to be terribly un-neighborly. All my neighbors are armed better than I am, and they understand what we're dealing with.

The situation is this: neighbors (the LEO) decided to start raising chickens, wife decides "we" (translated: me) need to raise chickens too. Raccoons have discovered them lately. We had a couple close calls, but I thought our coop was holding. Raccoons did some creative tunneling while we were gone over Labor Day weekend and killed all four of ours. Neighbor's are still okay. I'm not sure if we're going to get more chickens, but I can tell you I'm getting all those fucking raccoons. Team Chicken is still down 4 to 2, but we have the momentum.

Jason
 
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jakematic

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AH makes senses....

Raccoons are such a nightmare, almost as bad as their two legged varmint cousins.
Sounds like you need a subscription to BHM - I read it cover to cover every issue.
 
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Flaps10

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The situation is this: neighbors (the LEO) decided to start raising racoon bait, wife decides "we" (translated: me) need to raise racoon bait too. Raccoons have discovered them lately [mysurprisedface] :-| [/mysurprisedface].

We had a couple close calls, but those fuckers will do anything to kill a chicken.

FIFY

I'd suggest right behind the ear. Revolvers are fun to shoot. EOM
 
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Eric

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We can go shoot my SR22 either indoors or outdoors when you finally come visit us :) (got membership to both kinds of ranges). I also stock some toys (and reload) in 9mm and .223 . All have safeties, because unlike Jake, I like to have them. If that's not enough, RTHQ has a very wide selection, some without safeties, but no Glocks (though I'm not entierely excluding a 10mm with fully supported barrel in the future...)
 
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vreihen

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Almost as funny as Nazi-Jersey.

Hey...don't go hating on The Garbage State because of their strange concepts of public safety. (*) My collection grew by about $10K for free the day before that NJ law went into effect! :p

(*) Besides the aforementioned weapons laws, you also need an explosives license to buy Estes model rocket engines in NJ, and they (and Oregon's) have a law preventing self-immolation by making self-service gas stations illegal.....
 
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jyoung8607

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[ entirely accurate translation of my statement ]
Yeah. It was an educational experience. Normally I'm live-and-let-live with all forms of wildlife, but I'm all done with raccoons.

I'd suggest right behind the ear. Revolvers are fun to shoot. EOM
Now that my neighbor and I have two points on the board, I think I'm at the point where I'm okay with quick and humane. Neighbor shot the first one for me, before they actually got in. Second one was after they got in, and I had to handle it myself, and well, I had a lot of emotions I wanted to share with it. I'm a city boy and I'm still coming up to speed on this whole "being the local apex predator" thing, but I'm a quick study.

Jason
 
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jyoung8607

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We can go shoot my SR22 either indoors or outdoors when you finally come visit us :) (got membership to both kinds of ranges). I also stock some toys (and reload) in 9mm and .223 . All have safeties, because unlike Jake, I like to have them. If that's not enough, RTHQ has a very wide selection, some without safeties, but no Glocks (though I'm not entierely excluding a 10mm with fully supported barrel in the future...)
I'd love to, I just need an excuse to be in the general area. Jack and I have been doing business remotely for a while, and there's a decent possibility I will take my Phaeton to him at some point, which might work out well.

Jason
 
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jakematic

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I'm a city boy and I'm still coming up to speed on this whole "being the local apex predator" thing, but I'm a quick study.

Well then let me dig through my archive for some coon recipes !
Crock pot is a good way to go, can be treated similar to rabbit :D
 
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