I've hunted ground squirrel, tree squirrel, crow and rabbits with my RWS 350 .22 cal. and have never had a complaint from the target animals. I have however come into a situation close to home with coyotes and am wondering if the 350 could take one down inside 30 yards. Normally I'd be using .223 at a longer range when hunting coyote, but this is in a residential area and they are taking pets. I can't even use my trusty .22WMR. Anyone have any experience with larger game and .22 cal airguns? If All I'm going to do is injure the animal I'm not going to try it, but if the RWS has the potential if making a clean kill we need to rid the area of a few predators. Poodles aren't cheap from what I hear and they have been disappearing at an alarming rate. Any thoughts on this?

I Don't own an airgun myself but I would say it could be done with a good head shot and a good heavy pointed pellet or I'd uses a lead free zinc my younger brother shot one of those though his pellet trap so it should go be able crush though the skull for a quick kill but shot placement will be key. I know a few guys that have killed dogs with chest shots but you run the risk of it running a bit so for a chest shot I'd uses a predator pellet its a polymer tip so it would mushroom fast If you look on gamo's website there is a video of a guy killing a hog with a 440 hunter in .177 with BPA Raptor ammo.
So yes it can be done with a well placed shot hope this helps and good luck

I know someone that did it, hit it in the head and it dropped like a rock. Out the kitchen window with a .22 rws. He was in the same boat as you. 22 cb's are real quiet in a rifle and that should do it with a well placed head shot also. Good luck. AL

I think getting a kill with your pellet rifle would be blind luck. If the coyote holds still long enough for an well-aimed head shot, maybe. I think a wounded animal is more likely.

If the people in the neighborhood are so concerned about their pets, they probably wouldn't mind the occasional .22 WMR report. Of course if there is a legal issue and someone might call the police and have you arrested, game over.

If the coyote was in my backyard I would shoot it with the .22 WMR.

Dittohead, if it was in my backyard I would use this. LOL
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But then again this is my backyard
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I also have a home in the city and if I shot anything out the window you guys could watch me on the 6:00 news. LOL. AL

Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

There is a funny story that goes with that RWS coyote and it goes like this.

My friend saw the coyote in his backyard and grabbed his RWS pellet gun and carefully opened the kitchen window. He looked around and all was clear so he shot it and cocked the rifle real quick in case he needed a second shot but it went down and didn't move. He shut the window and was heading outside when he heard sirens and got paranoid, he thought someone saw him and called the police. Needless to say he ran back into the house to hide the gun. In a panic he grabbed the gun and woke up bleeding on the floor. What had happened was the gun was cocked and in a rush he grabbed it and hit the trigger, no beartrap mechanism. It hit him on the side of his head, knocked him out and gave him 13 stitches. True story. AL

Everytime I see him, I ask him how the pellet gun is and he tells me to go, well you know the rest!

I'd love to be able to use my .22WMR, but there are too many homes around and I'd wind up on the news at 11. Poison is out of the question and the county doesn't support trapping. The last thing I want is a wounded coyote. If I can't make a clean kill I wouldn't do it at all. It's a shame really. That .22 RWS can flat hammer a rabbit, or feral cat. I have faith in shot placement providing it comes in close enough, but am concerned about penetration of the skull for a clean kill. I wouldn't even try a chest shot. Too much of a chance it wouldn't kill the animal right off. A coyote may just be too large to try it. Thanks for the answers one and all. By the way, I've seen the Gammo clip of the shooter taking down a hog with a .177. He appeared to be about 5 yards from the critter. I wouldn't even be tempted to take hogs with a .22 airgun much less a .177. I'll guarantee he had someone standing beside him with a centerfire ready to put the animal down in the event the pellet didn't do the job. I wonder if they had the hog tied to the tree?

shakey,
I don't want to get this to far off topic but have you seen the CCI segmented subsonic in .22 mag. I have uses these in .22 LR on dogs and they are killers, what they don't have in power they make up for in shock!!!! What they do is brake up into three pieces and make three wound channels everything I have shot with them has gone down in a few step or on the spot with a cheast shot, and subsonics have just about the same "pop" as a pellet gun. I have shot subsonics in town before to kill a coon for my grandma and she lived next door to the police station ( just a small firework nothing more if that) just food for thought

I've considered using a .22WMR, or .22LR subsonic, but the houses are so close I really don't want to chance it. The RWS has real some spunk to it and I could probably take a coyote down with it, I just don't like the thought of injuring the dog and it crawling off to die a slow death somewhere. That's not the way I hunt.

shakey,
I know what you mean a clean kill is the only way to go, first off if I was going to uses a .22 I would shot from inside the house because the walls would trap the noise, with subsonic ammo you don't have the supersonic "crack" of a rifle its more of a pop about as loud as a bullet hiting the chest of your target. the segmented bullets are the safest because they break up and sometimes don't exit and kills are fast,
Now with that said back to the airgun, what I would do here is test some ammo, first get some news paper and let it soak in water overnight
you will need about a two foot stack (I'm guessing you have shot you pellet gun around the house and its safe) take the water loged paper outside and put it at the range you want to test, next fire you pellets in the paper and see what it does.
This is how I test all my bullets for hunting I have found that what they do in the paper is what they do in living tissue an the depth is the same. I have tested everthing I own from a .22 short to a 30-06. also most dogs an coyotes I have shot in the chest will spin and bite there side trying to get at what's stinging them and then roll over an die. unlike a deer that just runs hope this helps