Airguns are an excellent option for controlling unwanted pests lurking around your home because you can own one of these guns without a license, and they offer the pest in question a clean death, which is a much better option than poisons. Before heading out to buy an airgun for pest control, you should brush up on South Africa’s airgun control laws.

There are two essential aspects of these laws that would be important to someone buying an airgun for pest control and one crucial piece of information to remember:

• The first will be that if you purchase an airgun with a caliber of over .22 or that exceeds a 5.6mm gauge and muzzle energy of 8 joules or six foot-pounds, you will need to have it licensed per South African law.
• The second is that you cannot legally shoot one of these airguns, even for the use of pest control, in an urban area with close neighbours, meaning that only people living in a more rural setting can utilize an airgun for pest control.
• Although baboons and monkeys might be considered pesky in South Africa, it is illegal to shoot them. Suppose you want to prevent these animals from becoming pests. In that case, you might consider shooting into the ground a good few meters away from them to frighten and, therefore, deter them from accessing your property in the future.

Pest control can become quite a problem whether you grow crops, raise stock animals, or even if you are developing a simple vegetable garden. The usual suspects would be rodents, pigeons and other birds, moles, squirrels, mongeese, and wild dogs in a South African situation.

A simple method to control these pests would be utilizing an airgun, but the question is which one would be the best. Several airguns would suit this purpose, and we will discuss a few below.

Benjamin Maximus PCP 5.5mm

This PCP air rifle is one of the more affordable and high-performance rating types that you can get in South Africa. Its high-powered PCP pellets make it an ideal option for pest control. Listed below are some of its unique features.

• Fires .22 caliber pellets
• PCP-powered bolt action
• Fiber optic front and rear sights
• Rifled steel barrel
• Its muzzle velocity is around 500 and 700 depending on the pellets used; this is perfect for pest control
• Its gas chamber can give around 30 shots
• Dovetail mounting rail
• Built-in pressure gauge
• All-weather, black synthetic, ambidextrous stock
• Single-stage trigger

Venom B57 PCP Air Rifle

This solid air rifle is an excellent choice for entry-level PCP shooters and perfect for pest control. It is lightweight, powerful, and shoots accurately. Some of its unique features include:

• Fires .22 caliber pellets
• Side cocking lever for easy loading
• It is also a single loader and requires reloading after every shot
• Velocity 800 – 900 FPS
• A place to fit a silencer
• Swivel studs allowing for frontal or sling bipod fitment
• Doverail, which will accommodate a red dot sight or rifle scope

Evanix AR6K Hunting Master 5.5 Semi-Automatic

This all-purpose PCP air rifle is built for game hunting and is perfect for pest control. You can expect to have good precision shots up to 75m away with this well-balanced air rifle. Let’s take a look at some of its more distinguishing features:

• .22 Caliber
• 6 round magazine
• Built-in manometer
• Buttpad is adjustable
• Single and double action

Kral Arms

Several Karl Arms breakneck pellet guns and PCP air rifles suit regular pest control.

• Kral NO1 Skull 5.5mm
  • Tru-Glo fiber optic front and rear sight
  • The rear sight is adjustable for elevation and windage
  • Rifled barrel
  • Built-in scope stop
  • The ambidextrous synthetic stock has a ventilated rubber butt-pad which keeps recoil to a minimum
  • Spring piston power plant keeps noise to a minimum which is great for pest control
• Kral NO7 W Nitro Piston Air Rifle
  • Fires .22 caliber
  • The rear sight is adjustable
  • Tru-Glo fiber optic muzzle sight
  • Lightweight at 3.4 kg
• Kral NO1 Carbon Fibre .22 Cal
  • Fires .22 caliber
  • High visibility open sights
  • Ventilated recoil pad and scope rail
  • Two-stage trigger with safety
  • Easy cocking action
  • Lightweight at 3.28 kg
• Kral Puncher Mega 2 PCP 5.5mm Walnut
  • Muzzle velocity 900 FPS making it an excellent choice for pest control
  • Lightweight at 3.55 kg
• Kral Puncher Monarch PCP Walnut, 5.5mm
  • Improved adjustable trigger system
  • Muzzle velocity 820 – 900 FPS, excellent for pest control
  • Average weight at 3.8 kg

Evanix Black Leopard 5.5mm PCP

This sleek black beauty is great for dark corners, melding into the background, making it great for pest control. The following are some of its more unique features.

• Firing .177 caliber
• Two-stage trigger
• The trigger is adjustable for let-off and position
• Butt option, either angled down or straight line
• Manual safety catch
• Adjustable butt pad

Final Thoughts

There are so many excellent airgun choices out there for pest control. One essential piece of advice is to try and test out your chosen airgun before making a purchase. This way, you will ensure that it is the right one for you. The main thing you want to look for in an airgun that you wish to use for pest control is the gauge; anything below 5.5mm is probably not worth it as it won’t give you the power you need for proper pest control. You also want to avoid airguns with calibers over .22 as these require a license.