Anyone had any practical experience as to whether or not the .22 short or .22 quiet ammo is quieter than a high powered pellet gun? Need to eliminate some squirrels asap before they chew up everything in our yard.

I've seen some of the videos comparing on youtube but curious if anyone on here has used personally.

This might get better visibility in the Open Hunting Discussion. Mods can move it.

My 22s are a lot quieter than that dang Gamo, but mine are all wearing cans. Hard to beat a 22 bolt with a can attached, for yard critters. When using subsonic ammo, there's no crack. And the bolt action eliminates the sound that semi-auto makes, with its bolt snapping back and forth. It's QUIET!

Another benefit of a bolt-action 22 is that it can cycle a wider variety of ammo, without issues. My 10/22 is effectively a bolt action, for some of the lighter loads anyhow. And 22 cans are pretty cheap. I bought a few AAC Pilots, last year, at $260ea with a $200 store credit. The store credit basically helped me recoup the cost of the tax stamp. Plenty of good 22 cans out there...

Having said that, I do have one yard squirrel that I've come to like over the years. A few years ago, a hawk was standing over ne of my chickens that it had killed. And that dang squirrel was trying to catch that hawk. It was jumping up and down and chasing the hawk away - this went on for about 20mins straight. The squirrel was ticked, because it didn't want the hawk to get its babies. I respected the heck out of that, so this particular yard rat gets a pass on my property.

All depends on the length of your rifle barrel (assuming no can); 24" barrel can be fairly quiet with CCI CB Longs, with 'CCI Quiets' being just a bit louder'. Aguila Super Colibri are very quiet in a 16 - 22" barrel.

This^^^ The Super Colibris are very quiet out of a rifle - you hear the firing pin hit, then the bullet hit the target. I used to shoot a bunch of them when we still lived in town. No one ever had a clue what I was doing.

Just get some large rat traps from the hardware store. drill a hole in them and screw it to a tree. Bait them with peanut butter.

I've got the Gamo Whisper, and routinely shoot the CCI quiet load's thru my Ruger SP 101.

The Gamo is much louder.

I would assume that a lever action would provide the same noise level as a bolt action? Thinking a quiet 22 might be a better option than the pellet gun. I could use rat traps as suggested, but that wouldn't be nearly as fun.

I have a Bengamin marauder pellet gun that I use for squirrel hunting and it is a blast to hunt with. It is very quiet. The only thing you hear at the shot is the ping of the spring and the pellet "hopefully" hitting the squirrel.
The negative points are it is heavy and for occasion use it is pretty expensive.

Use the super colibre's out of my 10/22 for varmint control. It will knock a squirrel down good. Its on the lite side for coons and opposums unless great shot placement. Shot a starling out the back door at 58 yards with it a couple weeks ago, lucky shot aiming a couple inches over him.

Savage Mark II TR with 22" barrel is quite. Especially with CCI SV.

Hard to beat a suppressed bolt action 22lr with subsonic ammo and a quality suppressor.

Agreed

If you don't have a suppressor, Super Colibri is the way to go. WAY quieter than any pellet gun I've ever owned. You'll wonder if it actually went off.

I don't know about the quiet but I can vouch for the super calibri being quieter than my BIL's new "quiet" pellet gun and it hits with a lot more energy.