You can think about killing deer with an air rifle and get away with it if you happen to miss your shot the first time. After all the deer will only sprint away for its dear life and probably die from the wounds in hiding.
How about if it was a bigfoot like a bear? Can an air rifle kill a bear?
An air rifle will not be the trusted weapon to down a beast in the shape of a bear. Not unless you improvise your pellets and fire them through a high-powered air rifle. Yet, your shots must be placed accurately in the right spots like the head. Make sure to be close and with a serious large firearm backup.
The bear is not your ordinary prey. With a misplaced or ineffective shot, you risk falling prey to the beast as it can tear you into little pieces for a meal.
In this article, we talk about matters of air rifles vs bears. Is it something you want to even think about experimenting with? Let’s find out.
Can an Air Rifle Kill a Bear? (Full Explanation)
Reportedly, several hunters have killed big animals like deer and boar with finely-tuned powerful PCP air rifles. There is no doubt certain airgun models possess plenty of power even beyond low-powered rimfire guns.
All that is needed here is proper shot placement. You always have to hit in the head or the lung region to have a go at the target.
On small animals, an air rifle will smash through their skin and other body parts. In fact, with the big bore air rifles, it could be overkill. That, however, is not the case for larger, more resilient deer and boar-sized animals.
Besides a powerful machine and accurate shot placement, a successful big game kill may require something even more crucial – close-range shooting. Air rifles do not retain much of the initial energy released when the pellet was first fired.
So, say you were shooting at 50 yards, you’d likely lose almost 50 percent power before the pellet hits the intended target. What this means is that you’d need to go as close to the target.
If you were thinking to shoot and kill a bear, you’d better be closer to make the most out of the airgun. However, you also ensure there is a backup weapon in form of a powerful firearm.
In case the air rifle misfires due to lack of enough power, a real gun with real power will probably be there to offer some much-needed support.
With that said, don’t go shooting bears with air rifles. You may not see the end of the day once it takes care of you.
When shooting a bear, you must know the sensitive points that will give you a better chance of downing it. The closing in bear should be shot in the upper chest or in the face.
Make sure you target the head as much as possible. At that point, you stand some chances of knocking it down. Other than that, consider any place that will inflict serious impact.
Will a Pellet Gun Scare a Bear?
The outdoor picnic adventures can hold any kind of surprise. But the worst is when you have to deal with a charging bear as you explore the woods.
Different people have different inclinations on what is the best way to tackle such life-threatening circumstances. Some are good with just bolting off, some can unleash pepper spray, and others will use a firearm to scare the ferocious beast.
With that said, what’s the place of an air rifle? Will a pellet gun scare a bear if you used it instead of a real firearm?
In general, you don’t want to face a bear with a weak weapon. And, you want to be sure whichever route you go, you don’t miss an ounce. Otherwise, you might as well become one of those easy meals for the bear.
We would say, if you are not sure about the power of your air rifle, don’t make an attempt to stop the bear. Because you will shoot at it and the shot might not pierce the thick furred skin and as you may guess, the consequences will not be good.
If you fire the pellet gun, make sure it hits the right spot. You can couple that with a good, focused dart and pray you to get out of the bear’s sight soonest.
What Animals Can a Pellet Gun Kill?
When it comes to what animals a pellet gun can kill
, you have a wide-ranging list. Air rifles are the best options for small and medium-sized animals and pests.
Generally, air rifles can kill squirrels, rabbits, woodchucks, groundhogs, foxes, coyotes, and large-sized ones like deer and boar. The most important thing is to find an air rifle of the right caliber to get your job done.
Even more, you need to be a good shot. You may have the right caliber air rifle but the quality of shots you make could just be the undoing.
The small caliber air rifles are great for small-sized game and pests. You use a .177 or .22 caliber for taking down small birds, rabbits, and co.
You use .25 and .30 caliber air rifles for medium game such as small deer and elk, and you get clean kills with them. For the large game the size of deer and prairie dogs, you will need upwards of .35 caliber air rifles for humane kills.
In that connection, a perfect small game air rifle would be a Gamo Varmint air rifle (Link to Amazon). It is a dedicated spring piston-powered break barrel air rifle that’s built sturdy and makes proper accurate shots.
If you want a great medium air rifle, you could perhaps consider the Air Venturi Avenger Regulated PCP Air Rifle (Link to Amazon) in .25 caliber. Featuring an external regulator, the Avenger is highly customizable and you get a lot of power up to 45 ft./lbs. of muzzle energy.
What Air Rifle for Bear?
You should not be running after bears because they are not quite forgiving in case things go south. It doesn’t matter you have a weapon or not.
But in preparing for the worst-case scenario, you might need to have something to give you a headstart. To take down a huge animal the size of a bear, your air rifle choice must be massive.
In that regard, the only size of air rifle you will need is a .50 caliber which is a big bore. A big bore air rifle that shoots heavier slugs and offers plenty of power and speed may just give you some confidence.
However so, you must not be too sure about yourself. Remember, this is a bear and it’s not going down that easy. You are basically putting your life on the meal table.
With that being said, there are a number of air rifles that you can always have for the next bear hunting job. All are big bores.
The first one you want to look at is the Umarex Hammer .50 Caliber PCP Powered Pellet Gun Air Rifle (Link to Amazon) . It sends the pellets with a lot of force transferring plenty of energy to the target.
You get over 700 foot-pounds of muzzle energy on this gun. This, if shot at close range, has the capability of imposing a serious impact on the bear.
At 1000 fps, you can as well see that Umarex Hammer is not a fluke. Most of the time, a powerful air rifle like this PCP model would get the job done.
Then you can consider the Hatsan Piledriver in .50 caliber (Link to Amazon) . With a velocity that spans up to 850 fps and muzzle energy of 800 foot-pounds, this is no joke of an air rifle for the big game, including bears.
What Will Scare a Bear Away?
If you are having to deal with a bear problem, you’d probably wonder what will scare a bear away, all because of your safety?
There are different things you can try. For instance, guns, pepper spray, and so on but that can backfire sometimes and the grizzly will just proceed your way fearlessly.
The biggest tool for handling such a situation is to stay calm. And do not approach the bear as it comes your way.
But you can easily scare the bear away when you make loud noises or yell, use an airhorn to bang on pots and pans, waving your arms. And ensure you don’t run but simply move slowly backward while avoiding direct eye contact with it.
If the bear looks unfazed, you better find a good spot to hide. Just make sure there is no running as that could excite it and it will catch you sooner.
Final Thoughts: Can an Air Rifle Kill a Bear?
Can an air rifle kill a bear? An air rifle may down a bear if you aim in the right spot and it must be of the right caliber. Only high-caliber air rifles can give a bear a good run for the money.
So you are looking at .45s and .50s of calibers. They produce massive power and velocity.
However, note that a bear will not give up on you if you miss it. You must therefore not hunt bears.
