After A 20 Year Hiatus - .177 Or .22?

[Bazz_74 0]

Hi, i'm just venturing back into the world of air rifle hunting after a 20 year break and when i was last shooting the general consensus was that .22 was the better pellet size for hunting small furry things, in fact i remember thinking at the time that .177 days must be numbered. However since starting to look into getting back it seems that .177 seems to have made a bit of a resurgence and in fact alot of people seem to rate it over .22.

 

By the way when i last shot i had both and hunted successfully with both, although i think i preferred .22. So what are most people using these days?

[ArchieHood 3,692]

I find that my pellet of choice in my calibre of choice fired from my gun of choice gives the rabbits very little ch.............................

[Dyl003 2]

I recently had the same dilemma, back after a 20 year lay off.

 

I did a little reading and it seemed .177 seemed the calibre of choice more than .22 so that's what I went for.

 

I'm just pleased with my choice of gun and PCP after shooting only sprinters in the past!

[barrywhite 282]

my thought is in the days when guns had only v sights [the scopes that did exist were rubbish] ,a top gun was a bsa airsporter ,webley mark 3 ect these guns shot at 10 ft lbs in 22 .9 ft lbs in 177 .max range with v sights 25 yards .In this situation a 22 is the best caliber to use . Now with both calibers shooting at 11.5 ft lbs, pcps ,excellent scopes and pellets .177 leaves 22 lumbering behind .

[David.evans 5,323]

Agree

[Rez 4,957]

Whatever your most accurate with...

[villaman 9,979]

my thought is in the days when guns had only v sights [the scopes that did exist were rubbish] ,a top gun was a bsa airsporter ,webley mark 3 ect these guns shot at 10 ft lbs in 22 .9 ft lbs in 177 .max range with v sights 25 yards .In this situation a 22 is the best caliber to use . Now with both calibers shooting at 11.5 ft lbs, pcps ,excellent scopes and pellets .177 leaves 22 lumbering behind .

What a load of rubbish , As long as you know your set up ie gun , pellet ,scope and most important what you can do , all 4 cals will do the same

[barrywhite 282]

 

my thought is in the days when guns had only v sights [the scopes that did exist were rubbish] ,a top gun was a bsa airsporter ,webley mark 3 ect these guns shot at 10 ft lbs in 22 .9 ft lbs in 177 .max range with v sights 25 yards .In this situation a 22 is the best caliber to use . Now with both calibers shooting at 11.5 ft lbs, pcps ,excellent scopes and pellets .177 leaves 22 lumbering behind .

What a load of rubbish , As long as you know your set up ie gun , pellet ,scope and most important what you can do , all 4 cals will do the same

 

so you dont have any 177 then

[villaman 9,979]

Yes I do and .22 and looking for .25 as well

[risingfriend 1,042]

Put the pellet where it counts and cal no matter

[bigmac 97kt 13,732]

Rifle, pellet, kill zone = kill what ever cal (if you can shoot)

 

atvbmac :thumbs:

[Coypu Hunter 486]

If you have big sausage-shaped fingers, go for .22. If not, you could go for either calibre. If you can't make your mind up, sit on the fence and go for .20.

 

In very general terms:

 

.177 = flatter trajectory, higher velocity, less stopping power.

.22 = more parabolic (loopy) trajectory, lower velocity, more stopping power (heavier pellet).

 

As has been said, the best calibre is the one that allows you to place the pellet accurately in a kill zone.

 

If you have a local air rifle club that has rifles for visitors to use, go along and try both calibres and see which suits.