Shotgun vs Air Rifle Hunting as quoted from the late John Darling Air Rifle Hunting:

It is this elementary simplicity that attracted me to air rifles in the first place, and seduced me back to them even shooting nearly every type of weapon from spud-guns to machine-guns.

I can produce practically the same effect with a silenced air rifle as with a twelve-bore, so I'm happy to trade some quarry and the rifle's unsuitability to take flying shots for a peacefulness that is kind to the country-side.

Shot-guns remind me too much of a length of tube packed with nails and a stick of dynamite.

This makes me consider the rifle to be a superior weapon - it's so much more subtle.