Airgun Calibers: From .177 to .50 and Beyond - What's Your Pick?

[JustNeedORingSize]

One of the critical choices we make as airgun shooters is the caliber of our weapon. The range is wide, from the standard .177 and .22 to larger calibers like .25, .30, .357, .45, .50, and beyond.

Each caliber brings its own strengths and potential drawbacks, and the "right" choice often depends on your intended use, be it hunting, target shooting, pest control, or plinking.

Let's discuss:

1. What's your preferred caliber, and why did you choose it?
2. How does your choice of caliber affect your shooting performance and experience?
3. If you have used different calibers, what have been your observations?
4. Any specific brands/models that shine in certain calibers?
5. What is the future of airgun calibers - will we see larger calibers becoming more common?

Eager to hear your thoughts.

 

[Sqwirl57]

Low to medium wind and inside 60yds I'll take .177 all day. For hunting purposes I try to stick inside 40 but occasionally stretch it out further.

.22 is a close second and definitely helps with the "longer" range stuff and slightly bigger pests.

.25 is great for even longer range stuff and bigger game like fox. I rarely use this caliber these days and I've never needed a larger caliber than this for an airgun. One day I may try one out but I'm in no rush.

If I had to pick one I would go with .177 all day. It meets 90% of my needs and is plenty accurate and dirt cheap to shoot. If I need more I can always switch to rimfire.

 

[Ranchibi]

.22 for me as I only own .22's now. Reason is ammo is the same price as .177 and there are a plethora of pellets and slugs to choose from. Suits my needs for plinking/target and for the small game/pests. If I lived on acreage, a .30 would also be in my stable.

 

[Spartan]

Some of these recent threads from the OP remind me more of school assignments than of forum discussions.

Anyway… I generally stick to 22 and 25 for all of my hunting, plinking, and paper punching needs. If I need more power than a 25 airgun can provide, then I use a powder burner.

 

[Sqwirl57]

Some of these recent threads from the OP remind me more of school assignments than of forum discussions.

Anyway… I generally stick to 22 and 25 for all of my hunting, plinking, and paper punching needs. If I need more power than a 25 airgun can provide, then I use a powder burner.

You read my mind. It feels like market research to me.

We had a guy do this on Reddit for awhile. About 6 months later I stumbled across his YouTube channel and he had used the data from his posts and even took a ton of our photos and videos and used them on various videos on his channel. I am in no way saying OP is doing this its just a similar vibe.

 

[Nomadic Pirate 66]

Hard pick between .30 and .357, both are very versatile for both small and big game.

 

[Moog]

The .22 is my preferred air gun caliber. My air guns (springers) are mostly used for plinking in my back yard at reactive targets. Not a very scientific explanation but I enjoy the .22 more because I just like making a bigger "thunk" .

 

[ctshooter]

If I had to place an answer it would be .22. Reason being I feel it's the most versatile with pellets ranging from 11gr to 34gr+.

But, I have a few others:

.177 - a nice plinking caliber for some calm quiet shooting.

.20 - just a good caliber. Nice option for a springer.

.25 - just coming into this caliber but I'm liking how it does in the wind.

.30 - been a fav for a while - has a nice thump to it.

.357 - still learning this caliber but has some serious power.

.72 Zeus - well that just too much fun but not very practical unless hunting deer

 

[MLE]

I only shoot .30s and .50s.

There’s nothing I can do with a .177, .22 or .25 that I can’t do with a .30. And there’s nothing in my neck of North America that I can’t kill with a .50.

.30s make great plinking guns. Some of them pack the same satisfying thwack as a 22lr without the annoying bang, and at a fraction the cost per shot. I can take my Dreamline .30 out to my home range and pop cans at 100 yards, or do hole on hole groups at 70. Pesting with that gun is a breeze. I have a Blitz in .30 that I would not want to be downrange of. My .30 Challenger is an excellent predator gun. I even took a turkey a couple years ago with my Hatsan .30 break barrel. It’s a highly diverse caliber.

My .50s are for anything bigger than me that needs to lie down.

As far as your question about the future of caliber sizes, I bet we see a plateau around .72 or .82. The Zeus already puts out 1500fpe, which is 3x as powerful as a 45 ACP and more than half as powerful as a 12 gauge shotgun. Most up and coming airgun manufacturers are determined to approximate firearms, for better or worse, so my guess is that the technology starts to focus more on increasing air fill capacity for higher shot count and moving into a greater selection of semi-auto options in big bore. I give it 20 years before there’s virtually no practical difference between the products made by Ruger or Remington and the products made by AEA or Umarex. Except the cost.

 

[Jasonmc]

I have more 22's than anything..My go to is usually a 22.. big enough for small game and small enough for pest birds. I have 177 that I shoot slugs with, that taking a liking to.. then I jump straight to a 45 for everything thing else.

 

[Doc C.]

I shot .177 for years and only 177.
I did not like the ballistics of the .22's
But,,,that was all springers.
Now, it is all .22's. For all the same reasons as listed above.

What did I win? Do I get a free tin of pellets for completing this survey?

Doc

 

[orangeokie]

One of the critical choices we make as airgun shooters is the caliber of our weapon. The range is wide, from the standard .177 and .22 to larger calibers like .25, .30, .357, .45, .50, and beyond.

Each caliber brings its own strengths and potential drawbacks, and the "right" choice often depends on your intended use, be it hunting, target shooting, pest control, or plinking.

Let's discuss:

1. What's your preferred caliber, and why did you choose it?
2. How does your choice of caliber affect your shooting performance and experience?
3. If you have used different calibers, what have been your observations?
4. Any specific brands/models that shine in certain calibers?
5. What is the future of airgun calibers - will we see larger calibers becoming more common?

Eager to hear your thoughts.

Let's discuss:

1. What's your preferred caliber, and why did you choose it?
2. How does your choice of caliber affect your shooting performance and experience?
3. If you have used different calibers, what have been your observations?
4. Any specific brands/models that shine in certain calibers?
5. What is the future of airgun calibers - will we see larger calibers becoming more common?

1. I would say I have three preferred calibers (.177 - .20 - .22) for the bulk of my shooting at the present time (backyard pesting and paper punching)
2. I am most interested in and enjoy traditional walnut-stocked accurate rifles that are easy to shoot, without a lot of tinkering. I have only been involved with PCPs since December 22 and my current arsenal includes the Air Arms Paradigm .30 - FX Crown Continuum (.177 - .22 - .25) Daystate Air Wolf .22 and Huntsman Regal .20 - Air Arms S510 Carbine .22 - BSA Scorpion Multishot .22 - BSA R10 .177 - and a couple of bullpups AirMaks Caiman X .25 - Benjamin Akela .22 . . . I enjoy shooting them all and all are very accurate.
3. I bought the .30 cal and .25 cal guns mainly for hunting up to Coyote sized varmints. I have effective moderators on all three rifles which allows me to shoot them in the backyard incognito (sound-wise) However, living in a suburban environment, it is critical to have a safe a secure backstop with such high FPE rounds going downrange. These guns are best used in the field IMO. Accuracy between my .177 - .20 and .22 rifles is virtually the same, so they get the bulk of my shooting.
4. My Daystate rifles are .22 and .20 and can both stack pellets at backyard ranges up to 30 yds. My S510 in .22 is the same accuracy. My two BSA rifles in .177 and .22 are dime size groups routinely. The FX Crown can stack 'em and the Caiman X is a dime size hole. Alot of this depends on if I do my part, which is not all the time.
5. I have no interest in calibers larger than .30, nor am I interested in owning more than one rifle in that caliber. I think I have one of the best for my hunting application. I do think that we will see more and more big game hunters moving into the larger caliber PCPs as the technology advances. I think it is also going to bring legislative speed bumps for PCP ownership.

I have a safe full of very fine smokeless and black PB's in virtually every cf caliber from .204 Ruger to .416 Rigby and .32, .50 and .54 muzzle loaders, so any big game hunting is done with one of those rifles. Also have a selection of .22 and .22 mag rf rifles.

 

[Trucker3573]

Anymore I don’t shoot much other than 25 or 30. 177 gets blown all over in the wind so I don’t even shoot that. The only 177 I own is a break barrel that just sits. 22 is nearly the same boat. Good ammo that is at least 18 gr is not much cheaper than 25. If you drop to the cheap crosman stuff…wind thing again. To me 25 is just a great do all caliber. The 25.39 are pretty decent in most conditions and are pretty cheap. I can always turn my gun up and shoot 31-34 gr too. The 30 I don’t really need but it seems easier to shoot accurately at longer distances 75-100 yards. It smacks the spinners harder at 80 yards than the 25 does at 45. Can’t beat that sound.

 

[jps2486]

First of all, I’m a target shooter. I don’t hunt. My favorite calibers are .177 and .22. I shoot up to 50 yds with the .177 and 100 yds with the .22.

I do have barrels in .25 and .30 but rarely use them. The .25 is hard to get accuracy from, but I wish it were better, and I would likely use it more for long range. The .30 is good for 100 yds, but the .22 is just as good in my experience, so I don’t use it much. Pellets are spendy as well.

 

[MadCowCrazy2]

One of the critical choices we make as airgun shooters is the caliber of our weapon. The range is wide, from the standard .177 and .22 to larger calibers like .25, .30, .357, .45, .50, and beyond.

Each caliber brings its own strengths and potential drawbacks, and the "right" choice often depends on your intended use, be it hunting, target shooting, pest control, or plinking.

Let's discuss:

1. What's your preferred caliber, and why did you choose it?
2. How does your choice of caliber affect your shooting performance and experience?
3. If you have used different calibers, what have been your observations?
4. Any specific brands/models that shine in certain calibers?
5. What is the future of airgun calibers - will we see larger calibers becoming more common?

Eager to hear your thoughts.

1. 6.35mm aka .25, I live in Finland and this is the biggest license free caliber for airguns. We have no restrictions on power.
2. Bigger round means less deviation at longer distances, I want to start shooting at 100-300 meters, bigger and heavier rounds are less affected by wind so should increase accuracy.
3. Lower calibers are normally affected more by wind at longer distances.
4. Not enough experience to be able to make a claim.
5. I think 7.62 aka .30 has a big future but problem is restrictions in many countries. It will probably be the caliber of choice for precision shooting at 100+ meters/yards. Countries with restrictions will probably go with single load airguns shooting super heavy rounds, think 75grains in 5.5mm (.22) and 100+ in 6.35mm (.25).

With that new 600 bar (9000psi) compressor coming it we might see larger calibers but I personally wouldn't feel comfortable with such high pressures next to me, 300 bar exploding is bad enough.

 

[MLE]

…but I personally wouldn't feel comfortable with such high pressures next to me, 300 bar exploding is bad enough.

I wouldn’t sweat it. The difference between 300 bar exploding next to your face and 600 bar exploding next to your face is the same as the difference between getting eaten by a shark and getting eaten by a bigger shark. Either way, you’re shark food.

 

[beerthief]

.177 90 percent of the time occasionally .22 Pellets . Bigger than that i use PB's way cheaper than big air .

 

[shambozzie]

The .30 cal. You can shoot benchrest 50 to 100 yds. Pop sparrows, tree rats and coke cans @ 100. Need a yote or fox smoked @ 75 yds, done. Targets @ 200 yds very doable. Works for me. Your mileage may vary. Raw hm1000x .30 cal

 

[madeintheuk]

I use mostly 22, and 25, but I know its limits, and I have a 30 to push those limits.
The main reason I choose the calibers I do, is cost. At some point, ammo becomes as expensive as powder burner ammo, and they’ll never be as powerful, so why bother?
After all, I got into this sport bc of how expensive powder burners got to shoot.

 

[Arkansas_Airgunner]

I have two. And I have them with a particular purpose, and personal preference. I have 3 rifles in .25 Caliber and I have 2 in the .457 Caliber. I am not one to just jump on the band wagon with everyone else and go with "Popular" or "Newest Trend" calibers. I don't nerd out on FPS, Ballistic Co-Effiency, Pellet Sorting/Weighing/Head-Sizing, Slug Designs etc....I like to shoot, hit my target as accurately or Precisely as I possibly can, and just have all around fun while doing it. Don't get me wrong, I do keep extensively detailed notes when trying something new, and I absolutely keep my DOPE Cards up to date as well. I'm just not a trend follower.