22. vs 25. for long range accuracy

I live in southeast Arkansas, no shortage of deer, no shortage of coyotes, rabbits are scarce due to current agricultural practices. Rats abundant in the corn, bean and ricefields. I suspect that a coyote eats many more rats than anything else as they are plentiful and a no risk prey animal. Would I shoot a coyote if given a reasonable chance? Of course, but give the devil his due. He is an important balancer in the system.
 
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I still love my .25s. The only caveat to all this is you have to spend some coin to get a .22 cal gun that will produce that power efficiently and accurately. The .25 and .30 can get more power on a budget so to speak.
Not really the fx synthetic drs slinging 40 gr slugs at 900 ish fps have quite a punch also and one of my higher powered 22 cals though
 
⭐ I'd love to see this 3 (three!) years old thread
revivedwith new input now
after the high BC slugs have came out (Altaros ATP, then ZAN ELR and Scout Sniper).

Matthias
It looks to me like this year, .25 Altaros shooters are going to smoke everybody. It doesn't matter if they don't though, I know the round is actually the best, it would be the indian failing, not the arrow. I never thought of airgunning as a spectator sport, but I'm rooting for team .25 this year, actually every year.
 
In Matts new videos which i’m sure many of you saw, towards the beginning he briefly explains why he thinks the 22. is the best long range caliber out of all the other small bore calibers such as 25. and 30. To me, I wanted to purchase a 25. cal for long range because of the extra power and potential of having to shoot a coyote every once in awhile. But watching the video made me realize that in 22. with 34-40 grain slugs he was achieving around 80 foot pounds of energy, which is more than most 25. produce stock and even tuned up a little bit. Obviously 25. can be tuned to create more power, but do you really need any more than 80 foot pounds when hunting pest and small game? I’d feel pretty comfortable taking a coyote out to 50 yards with a headshot if I knew my gun was creating 80 fpe. He also briefly covered how the ballistics of the 22 caliber is better and how that’s another reason he prefers that caliber for long range. Before watching this I was 100% set on buying a 25. for my long range set up but after this am leaning towards a 22. Curious as to what others have to say on the topic.

Thanks.
I agree with the .22 having similar if not better accuracy in most conditions. There is a better selection, better price, and more shots per fill (pcp’s) as well imo.
 
Larger caliber ammo will always have a higher bc unless you restrict the length of the ammo. I doubt I will ever own a FX so I really do not care you can get a higher bc 22 into a FX magazine. I wonder what the shot count of a 80 fpe 22 is? I know it will be a lot lower than a 80 fpe 25 or 30. Matt is OK but some of his stuff sounds like quasi science to me. This one sounds like a bit of a troll.
 
The world spins on it’s axis; what has become old will become new again.

In the heyday of pellet guns, the .25 was deemed the new .22 , and .30 was considered the new .25 especially when considering long distances.

Then, not all that long ago, came a newcomer to the scene. This fancy fishing weight turned the world upside down. Various tribes consisting of Newbies, Tweakers, and Power Mongers started to ditch the old-world technology with eyes set on these new projectiles. A war was waged across the land, and after the long endured fighting ended a victor emerged from the dust and ashes.

Behold the slug!

Today a knight was crowned King of the land. King Slug .22 became respected and loathed by his clan of ancestors, the pellets..

top

ps - Buy the .22 and don’t look back with regret. Then save some more and add other calibers to your clan.
Watched the movie but didn't read the book. lol
 
We shoot on our backyard range out to 400yds with ar500 targets. (Neighbor has a fab/cnc shop with scrap 1/4” ar500 drops occasionally)
With his .22 M3/800mm barrel setup out to 75yds is like a lazer beam. Out to 200yds with nsa 35gr slugs, his accuracy is pretty good. After that if more than 8-10mph quartering wind, it’s a guessing game for him just to get a splash.
My FX Dynamic 700 in .25 with 38.9gr nsa slugs. Was no lazer beam to 75yds like his, but at 100yds from 75yds my hold is almost the same. At 200yds is where my .25 starts showing off. 300yds with same wind I have very little wind hold. 400yds gets out their but I splash 3/4 of the shots on a 12” plate. Still very audible hits.
I’m not real sure why it’s always said, same speed, same weight. I run up to 55gr out to 895fos as where he stops at 35gr and 1020fps
But my 38.9gr I run up to 1085fps. To many variables to say apples to apples I think.

Both guns have killed many raccoons out to 150yds at night. High shoulder or head for me, headshot for his .22. The High shoulder shot in .22 has never been a light switch in our opinion
 
We shoot on our backyard range out to 400yds with ar500 targets. (Neighbor has a fab/cnc shop with scrap 1/4” ar500 drops occasionally)
With his .22 M3/800mm barrel setup out to 75yds is like a lazer beam. Out to 200yds with nsa 35gr slugs, his accuracy is pretty good. After that if more than 8-10mph quartering wind, it’s a guessing game for him just to get a splash.
My FX Dynamic 700 in .25 with 38.9gr nsa slugs. Was no lazer beam to 75yds like his, but at 100yds from 75yds my hold is almost the same. At 200yds is where my .25 starts showing off. 300yds with same wind I have very little wind hold. 400yds gets out their but I splash 3/4 of the shots on a 12” plate. Still very audible hits.
I’m not real sure why it’s always said, same speed, same weight. I run up to 55gr out to 895fos as where he stops at 35gr and 1020fps
But my 38.9gr I run up to 1085fps. To many variables to say apples to apples I think.

Both guns have killed many raccoons out to 150yds at night. High shoulder or head for me, headshot for his .22. The High shoulder shot in .22 has never been a light switch in our opinion



150 yard racoon night head shots....❗
What a mouthful.

Very good shooting!! 😎

You guys are great!! 😃

Matthias
 
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For squirrels I have very good results with 177. They drop a little bit faster with a 22 or 25 with about double the fpe but they consistently die quickly regardless. I see no difference between a 32 fpe 22 and a 32 fpe 25. The only time any ran was center of chest impacts fron the front that ended behind a rear leg with the 25. More than 2 dozen hit other places dropped immediately.

But I think 22s are too small for larger game. I killed a small raccoon with a 32 fpe 22 but it took 3 shots including a brain shot and finisher. One brain shot with a 25 tuned to nearly 50 fpe on a similar raccoon was lights out.

I don't think a squirrel needs more than a 22 hole to the vitals but I think larger animals do.
 
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