".22 for birds and squirrels." Seems sorta like using a bazooka on a fly. Air guns in .177 have taken lots of small game for a long time. Ask the British shooters if in doubt.
Upvote 0
. 177 Cal, ideal thinking VS. Reality.
- Thread starter Emu
- Start date
I don't know why some think the .177 isn’t capable of taking game. I never hard any problems killing woodchuck’s or any other small game. My gun shoots at 20 foot pounds, how much do you need. .177’s penetrate better than most larger pellets. Hunter extreme’s hit hard and expand in game. I have no idea where this thinking comes from. Shot placement is paramount in any caliber for clean kills.
Upvote 0
Little tiny 8-10gr pellets run out of energy quick when you miss. Little tiny bores are easy to make quiet. Little tiny pellets don’t attract attention from neighbors when smacking a target or critter. Hope this helps.
Upvote 0
My .177 hits game so loud its crazy. It echo’s in the neighborhood. You know when you hit them, its that loud.
Upvote 0
With a good hit you can have a clean kill on small critters, irrespective of it is a .177 Cal or a .357 or a baseball bat.
The biger the damage in tissue the bigger the lethality.
Upvote 0
Agree. It is a relativity thing. Larger calibers allow a slightly less accurate shot to still probably do the job.
Upvote 0
That makes sense. Perhaps I should change my choice from .22 to .177 on the Fortitude that I have on order for shooting in my residential backyard.
I hear some people say "my .177 is a laser". So what is the real practical difference in trajectory between the two out to 35 yards or so?
Upvote 0
Depends greatly on the power level of the gun in question and the weight of pellets selected, but "to 35 yards" there is very little difference in general.
Upvote 0
The interesting part of 177 ammo now and days is there are simply huge selections of it. You have the 1 cent crosman with horrible BC of 0.012 vs JSB beast's 0.034 which is the about same as .25 heavy vs 15 grain NSA with BC of 0.075. So 177 now and days isn't the same as your grandma's 177.
Upvote 0
Both the .177 and .22 are suitable for small pest up to woodchuck size out to 50 yards or so. But this is heavily dependent on the shooters skill, we assume they have a capable rig. That said, ideal thinking would be buying a .177 to try an shoot MOA at 100 yards and beyond. It can be done but isn't the reality with most shooters. The .177 projectiles are capable but you need mad shooting skills and good/great conditions to get those MOA groups at 100 yards and beyond.
Upvote 0
Anybody who compares a pokey airgun to a laser should raise an eyebrow. A laser has no trajectory. All airguns have horrible trajectories. Your decision should be based on just what you plan on doing in your residential backyard. If you’re going to punch paper with a really good backstop, either will be fine. If you’re going to be shooting neighborhood critters, then you need to consider a pass through and misses. Another thing is if you have fingers like cigars or your close up eyesight is failing, you will quickly hate a .177.
Upvote 0