When I was a kid, I traded my Daisy BB gun for a CO2 pellet pistol that was a Smith & Wesson. I got pretty good with it and no bird, rat, or other small creature was safe nearby! I still have the pistol -- somewhere. I also used a .22 pistol belonging to my dad on the rats that used to thrive in my friend's avocado trees. I pretty much got into it on my own.