Recommend a coon gun

So,

My mother is having a horrible problem with coons eating her chickens. What would GRM recommend to off varmits with? the old .22 standby?

Shotgun, the last thing you want is a pissed off coon.

Well, house is about 75 yards from the barn. Clean line of sight. I'm pretty sure she's out harms way. they've been live trapping and having neighbor come in and dispose of.

At 75 yards a 22 would do the trick. If you wanted to get fancy you could even get a scope.

Ruger Mini-14. Just like a .22, only betterer.

.410, Full Choke, 3" Magnum shells, #4 shot

A .22 with viper ammo will do the trick.

Gasoline wrote: .410, Full Choke, 3" Magnum shells, #4 shot

^ This would be very effective, and would allow for a slight variance in marksmanship. I'd offer Not sure what sizes of buckshot are available in .410, but some of the smaller sizes like #4 are really awesome. Old .410 shotguns should be quite cheap too.

In reply to Mezzanine: The shotgun might be cheap, but the cost of the shells would negate that.

Mosin Nagant M44 if you can find one. Shot it and pick it up with the bayonet no need to touch it at all.

I normally use a 22 mag with a scope for my larger sized varmints and use the CCI Vmax stuff. Nothing has walked away from a shot of that.

Here is a whole coon killing kit

And you can listen to this while waiting for the coons to show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2jClPd4Iv0

Couple of little griz coon traps, a cheap .22, and the coon problems are solved.

.17 HMR. Pinpoint accuracy out past 100 yards, packs more punch than a .22, ammo isn't cheap, but also not a buck fifty a shot. The other good thing is it bleeds off energy quickly AFTER 100 yards, so you don't have to worry about throwing rounds into the next county. My dad bought one for his coon problem, but they were closer up the the house. He ended up backing down to a .22 simply because the .17 made such a gory mess on the back deck. Very quick and humane kills though, and you do need to think about that. At 75 yards and away from the house, it would be perfect.

Do you need to do this quietly or is noise not an issue?

Use a .308 and you won't have to pick anything up.

I'd offer some of the equipment out of the store for cheap, but last time someone shipped gun equipment out of StL, some douch killed a bunch of people in a theater using it.

Say yes to something that doesn't carry far. That means no to most high powered rifle and some pistol calibers. You don't want to be the guy that killed someone a couple of miles away sitting in his living room watching tv. And yes it does happen.

Woody wrote: Do you need to do this quietly or is noise not an issue?

Noise is not an issue at all. nearest neighbor is 3/4 of a mile away.

In all realality, you don't NEED anything outside the range of .17 or .22 lr. Just get a good semi-automatic with a scope (preferobly) and she should be good to go. Out of a supporting goods store your taking $100-$300.

Wait, have you verified the critter yet? Chicken usually get taken at night, so it could be a fox or a coyote, could it not?

They've caught 2 of them so far.

In reply to PHeller:

says they've been trapping, but that doesn't mean there are no coyotes around.

In reply to Grtechguy:

Awww... Its a raccoon. Thats my top totem. Don't kill them. I haves two.

scoped 10/22