re: #380 thedopefishlives

You can go two ways with this. My dad has a semi-automatic .22 Long Rifle for small critters like rabbits. Larger pests, he rocks the .30-06 (okay, maybe just a tad bit of overkill) in a bolt-action rifle. It more depends on how many animals he’s anticipating having to shoot at once (larger numbers favor a faster action) and picking the right cartridge for range and size of animal.

He has a .22 LR semi-auto already. (Plus a few older bolt action ones.) That should cover small critter.

Deer hunting in the area is shotgun only (using pumpkin ball or sabot rounds.) He has a 20 g Mossberg 500 for that (including a newly acquired rifled barrel.) There’s also a 8mm Mauser in the house (my father’s old deer rifle which I used when I deer hunted in PA.)

Neighbors are all 1/4 mile or farther away except for one direction. He also wants something that is farily low noise so as not to cause much disturbance. And I think he would favor something traditional looking as compared to something looking like an AR.

.223 is the favorite right now given the need to handle something as large as a coyote. I think .17 (?) was the other load in consideration. .257 Roberts was mentioned in another comment - I have no knowledge whatsoever about that one.

My guess is limited targets at once. Presumably groundhog, coyote, and possibly fox I guess. So relatively high velocity for flat-shooting and lower noise profile if possible.