Minimum amount of energy required

[JimD]

My last squirrel may help to illustrate why I like a little more power. It was a squirrel that likes to run off so I did not have time to get a better setup. I had to lean away from an obstacle and shoot off hand but it was only about 18 yards away. I hit it right about in the middle with the shot angling up and out through the spine. The squirrel dropped immediately. Presumably the spine hit is what did it. The pellet stopped under the hide and showed marks from hitting the spine. I was using my Prod that is tuned to about 18 fpe. Not a real powerful gun but powerful enough in this case. I would not have wanted any less power. My 32 fpe 22 would have probably exited but I don't think the squirrel would have been any more dead. I don't really know what would have happened if my Prod was still at the original ~13 fpe level but I know I lost a couple after seemingly better hits. If I had placed it better lower power would probably have worked. But you don't always get the setup you want and I do not always put it exactly where I want to.

 

[357cal]

Notwithstanding everybody has taken squirrels and rabbit and even foxes with. 177 Cal, taking every thing with a. 22 Cal with 30 foot pounds is better; and. 25 Cal with above 50 pounds is even better, and. 30 Cal with 85 foot pounds is much better.

. 177 Cal is bordering the barrier of "just suitable for indoor target shooting".

Thats why i all ways go with something more than i need. good point.

 

[Emu]

Like years ago some friends visited me for a weekend on a farm I managed. We had a lot of bush pig and hare. The one guy came with only a .375 H&H where everybody else had .22LR rifles. So when he saw a hare, that canon was the only thing on hand and BOOM, a head shot, head on. All that was left of the hare was skin and ears.

Hahahahaha

You should had tell him that cape buffalo was restricted in that area !!

 

[Nomadic Pirate 66]

Regardless of what some people keep saying the .177 cal with the right amount of power and the right pellet is indeed a deadly option even with bigger game,....myself have taken down a decent size wild boar with a Disco .177 a member here took down a good sized Wild boar with a more powerful Maverick .177

So once again despite the misinformation the properly matched Power/ammo .177 is indeed very capable of taking down bigger game


Here is a video of shooting a Boar with a Disco .177 at 17 FPE with 10.5gr Baracudas

 

[Nomadic Pirate 66]

. 177 Cal is bordering the barrier of "just suitable for indoor target shooting".

Clearly either a comment done without hands on experience or a misleading one done on purpose .

 

[Nomadic Pirate 66]

You can have hunted your all life but if you have no experience with a certain product it means nothing.

Example even if you hunted your all life with various weapons but never used a selfbow then your comment about the efficacy of a selfbow is meaningless.

 

[Nomadic Pirate 66]

This was your initial comment :

. 177 Cal is bordering the barrier of "just suitable for indoor target shooting".

..........so you are either moving the goalposts or just talking to avoid your teeth to get sweaty

 

[Nomadic Pirate 66]

Experience make you choose the better option available.

On those days of Diana brakebarrels I had not discovered yet PCP’s….. It took some years to have my first PCP in .30 Cal.

My first PCP was an Evanix Ar6 .22 …. Super powerful. I took my first Javalina with air rifle with that Evanix. And my nephew took a bobcat with that one too.

That isn't the scope of this thread, ........that is to explore the real world capabilities of the .177 cal

You are just going off in tangents, by your reasoning then you should just scrap airguns altogether and only use firearms because in the end they are "the better option available"

 

[Nomadic Pirate 66]

For sure with a “perfect” head shot you can take a lot of animals with a powerful hp .177 slug…..

Yeah and with a non perfect shot even a 200 FPE .357 will result in a failure, ,,,,Happened to me, same size hog that I took with the .177 in that video was getting dark so I rushed the shot not waiting for the perfect angle and the .357 bullet @ 200 FPE just bounced off the skull,

So yeah power and caliber will not bail you out and the precision shot will be effective with a tiny .177......it's all about precision.

Hell I hear people getting their 30/30 bounced off the skull of a hog, so people can draw their own conclusions on the matter without being told that the .177 is barely an indoor target round.

 

[Nomadic Pirate 66]

For sure with a “perfect” head shot you can take a lot of animals with a powerful hp .177 slug…..

And then we have once more a piece of misinformation from you,......Actually a Hollowpoint slug is a horrible choice, you need a hard pellet like H&N.

Brother you need to get a grip, seriously.

 

[qball]

And then we have once more a piece of misinformation from you,......Actually a Hollowpoint slug is a horrible choice, you need a hard pellet like H&N.

Brother you need to get a grip, seriously.

While I agree with your statements but the 12.5 grain NSA simply won’t expand and it’s just an ice pick! The penetration ability of those 12.5 grain NSA slugs is really impressive so give them a try. They even shoot pretty well out of most 177 airgun barrels.

 

[Nomadic Pirate 66]

While I agree with your statements but the 12.5 grain NSA simply won’t expand and it’s just an ice pick! The penetration ability of those 12.5 grain NSA slugs is really impressive so give them a try. They even shoot pretty well out of most 177 airgun barrels.

Yeah they will to expand however they are still made of significantly soft lead, for a brain shot, moreso on a bigger critter I take the 16gr Baracuda anyday

 

[RangerPete]

i had couple scene when hunting. the squirrel face to face with me. mostly right up my head stick in the tree facing down to me. i take a shot. they fell when i check my poi. pellet just pass the head shaving the head hair. just can see the white skin.1 line. no hole. no blood. but died. how about that? any same experience? .177 cal

Near death experiences can be very scary. I think you scared him to death…