Has the .30 Cal the best possible we could expect from a .25 Cal?

[Emu]

This could sound wird, yes !!!

To achieve 71 foot pounds of energy you need 850 fps of a .30 Cal 44.7 grain pellet.

To achieve 71 foot pounds of energy you need 970 fps of a .25 Cal 34 grain pellet.

It is very easy to tunned down a .30 Cal to give 850 fps.

Not all .25 can be tunned so high to achieve those 71 foot pounds.

A .30 Cal at 71 fpe is more lethal for hunting purposes than a. 25 at the same energy just because bigger hole to damage more tissue and better absorption of the shock at impact, causing more damage.

The point from where the above has came from is the following analysis:

I have been thinking about which one could be the very best .25 Cal to add to my PCP's.

I am getting to the conclusion that even getting the very best according to my desires (power, accuracy, comfortable to shoulder, bla, bla, bla), .25 Cal, it could never be able of what my Sidewinder .30 Cal already gives easily, even if I finally buy a Sidewinder in .25 Cal.

 

[Motorhead]

Blunt force trauma with less penetration goes to the .30
Greater penetration and flatter shooting goes to the .25

Unless your quarry is larger ( Coyote, small hogs etc .. ) Both with Kill equally well with a correct placed shot.

Pellet guns at sub-sonic speed impart very kinetic shock damage, Tissue damage is still just a hole and if a pellet stops within the animal the impact energy is similar to a baseball into a catchers mitt ( Tho a lot less )

If looking for accuracy and broad range application ... as MANY do .. Go .22 !!!

 

[drumie]

Also with the 25 you have way more options on pellets than you do with the 30 cal. That is a big difference. Each cal has it place and some overlap eachother.

 

[Jnine]

I skipped the .25 for reasons you mentioned. I can just turn down the power if I wanted to reach .25 level energy.

The downsides of .30 is cpr is higher than .25 and less shots per fill.

 

[Harv24]

Which one has the higher ballistic coefficient?

 

[Emu]

Which one has the higher ballistic coefficient?

I do not know.

Once I read an article of someone that said that as .177 had better penetration that .22 and .22 better penetration of .25 and .25 better penetration that .30 and .30 better penetration than .35, you had to get to the conclusion that cape buffalo should be taken with .177

Real world is that .30 Cal kill better than .25.... That is a practical fact.

 

[Airgunmann]

Which one has the higher ballistic coefficient?

I think that goes to the .25 cal 34 gr pellets

 

[_CTAIRGUNNER_]

I think that goes to the .25 cal 34 gr pellets

Nailed it, .062 on the .25 33.95

 

[DuncanHynes]

less air so less sound with .25 and far more choices. 50ft•lbs is very lethal so 75lbs isnt needed every time. .25cal for me.

 

[silvershooter589]

My 30 cal Guantlet goes from about 70 - 125 fpe depending on the adjustments and ammo.

My 30 cal Challenger Pro will shoot even slower if you want and all the way up to 130 fpe.

So, for me, I'm only interested in 25 caliber for more compact guns. I don't see the point in pushing 70-80 fpe on a 25 cal when you can do that by lowering the power on a 30 (and it will be a lot more quiet and air efficient to do so versus maxing out a high power 25).

 

[Emu]

less air so less sound with .25 and far more choices. 50ft•lbs is very lethal so 75lbs isnt needed every time. .25cal for me.

Agree..... But.... If you are hunting and it happens to appear something bigger, you will be more confident if you have in your hands a .30 Cal.....

If you are making holes in paper, .22 and .177 will make the job and with plenty of alternatives of ammo and rifles on any price range.

My point of view is the one of a hunter (rabbits to deer, jabalina, wild turkey, etc)

 

[PumaCarl]

Looking over all the arguments on the the internet over the years, and yes, the hard data, shooting any pellet over 900fps on the regular just doesn't make any sense at all. (Unless you live in an underground cavern with no wind, and never come out.) So if one was to take the advice to not shoot pellets over 900fps and you just shoot the best pellet for each caliber, the caliber differences can really be appreciated, especially with respect to penetration, and over penetration and not dumping the energy into the target, but just doing a pass-through. A .30 56gr Zan pellet at 900fps trumps a .22 or .25, easily in this scenario. Of course, if you do push pellets faster than practical, or you shoot slugs, everything gets jumbled up. The OP was talking about pellets, so that is my emphasis here too. In the real world, most are moving to slugs, where the slugs love the speed and mushroom beautifully to dump energy so these discussions are going the way of the dinosaur very fast. Shoot what you like, for whatever reason sounds good to you.

 

[_CTAIRGUNNER_]

Looking over all the arguments on the the internet over the years, and yes, the hard data, shooting any pellet over 900fps on the regular just doesn't make any sense at all. (Unless you live in an underground cavern with no wind, and never come out.) So if one was to take the advice to not shoot pellets over 900fps and you just shoot the best pellet for each caliber, the caliber differences can really be appreciated, especially with respect to penetration, and over penetration and not dumping the energy into the target, but just doing a pass-through. A .30 56gr Zan pellet at 900fps trumps a .22 or .25, easily in this scenario. Of course, if you do push pellets faster than practical, or you shoot slugs, everything gets jumbled up. The OP was talking about pellets, so that is my emphasis here too. In the real world, most are moving to slugs, where the slugs love the speed and mushroom beautifully to dump energy so these discussions are going the way of the dinosaur very fast. Shoot what you like, for whatever reason sounds good to you.

Every time I have shot my 33.95s in either my taipans I had or my hubens, they are more accurate at above 900 fps, my huben likes 930-940fps, my Taipan long liked them at 910ish. Each pellet is different, the MRDs have been reported to like speeds over 900 as well.

 

[Emu]

Looking over all the arguments on the the internet over the years, and yes, the hard data, shooting any pellet over 900fps on the regular just doesn't make any sense at all. (Unless you live in an underground cavern with no wind, and never come out.) So if one was to take the advice to not shoot pellets over 900fps and you just shoot the best pellet for each caliber, the caliber differences can really be appreciated, especially with respect to penetration, and over penetration and not dumping the energy into the target, but just doing a pass-through. A .30 56gr Zan pellet at 900fps trumps a .22 or .25, easily in this scenario. Of course, if you do push pellets faster than practical, or you shoot slugs, everything gets jumbled up. The OP was talking about pellets, so that is my emphasis here too. In the real world, most are moving to slugs, where the slugs love the speed and mushroom beautifully to dump energy so these discussions are going the way of the dinosaur very fast. Shoot what you like, for whatever reason sounds good to you.

My only concern about hunting all time with .30 Cal is that when shooting to birds in branches, the pellet can fly so long causing damage of someone if get to catch it.... I do not mean that a .177 won't cause damage, but I feel more responsibility when sending to fly a .30 Cal.

For shooting to the ground I have no doubt that everything works well with a .30 Cal....

 

[mtnGhost]

Hand's down, the 50.15gr JSBs in a properly lapped 26" TJ have shot better than any other pellet for me. And they hit extremely hard. They're effective and very precise from 700-960 (unsorted).

Second best would be 18gr JSBs out of the 32" twist poly choked LWs (RTI spec barrels). They've shot with G1 ballistics to 130y for me at 1030-1078 (0.054). Very accurate and very little drift tor what they are.

My problem with 34gr MKIs is identical that of the MRDs. JSB is using several old and completely different dies - mixing them all together in tins during packaging. It wouldn't be so bad if they separated them by tins / lot numbers, but they don't, and that to me defeats any BC related benefits.

Side note, if you want a flat shooting / lower drift small game hunting pellet that doesn't require much air to shoot - JSB 15.89 in .20 are awesome! They've been good for taking squirrels and grouse at distance.

 

[smythsg]

If you need to take down something big ( yote, pig, etc ) beyond 50 yards I think the .30 is probably the better choice, especially if not taking head shots. If you're like me, and rarely get greater than 50 yard shots in the thick North GA mountains, my Airforce Escape UL in .25 cal shooting heavy pellets or slugs is perfectly capable of taking yotes, pigs, and anything else that is legal to hunt with a .25 cal. ( deer and turkey are not legal for .25 cal in GA )

The nice thing about Airforce rifles is the power wheel allows me to keep the gun dialed down to about 60 ft lbs for hunting small game, but I can dial it up to 75+ ft lbs instantly if necessary for bigger prey. The last pig I took was shot at about 30 yards ( head shot ) with a .25 cal rifle that only developed 50 ft lbs at the muzzle, so I know the Escape in .25 cal is fine out to 50 yards.

All of this is not to bash the .30 cal if you need it for your circumstances. I owned a AEA .30 cal for a few months, and it definately delivered the power, but at the cost of high weight and low shot count. (my Escape UL weighs less than 5 lbs with optic) After a few woods walks with the .30 cal, I determined I didn't need it for my normal style of hunting in the North GA woods so recently sold it to another member.

 

[Airgunmann]

I do not know.

Once I read an article of someone that said that as .177 had better penetration that .22 and .22 better penetration of .25 and .25 better penetration that .30 and .30 better penetration than .35, you had to get to the conclusion that cape buffalo should be taken with .177

Real world is that .30 Cal kill better than .25.... That is a practical fact.

I do not know.

Once I read an article of someone that said that as .177 had better penetration that .22 and .22 better penetration of .25 and .25 better penetration that .30 and .30 better penetration than .35, you had to get to the conclusion that cape buffalo should be taken with .177

Real world is that .30 Cal kill better than .25.... That is a practical fact.

22 lr has harvested a ton of large animals all over the place. Real world is dead is dead and shot placement trumps all

 

[Emu]

22 lr has harvested a ton of large animals all over the place. Real world is dead is dead and shot placement trumps all

Agree on regard of shot placement..... BUT..... Caliber helps !

 

[Richieg]

Real world is that .30 Cal kill better than .25.... That is a practical fact.

Agree on regard of shot placement..... BUT..... Caliber helps !

It the decades same old argument, placement over caliber. I always choose placement, because dead can't be any deader with a bigger caliber....dead is dead.

 

[mtnGhost]

It the decades same old argument, placement over caliber. I always choose placement, because dead can't be any deader with a bigger caliber....dead is dead.

Agree on regard of shot placement..... BUT..... Caliber helps !

I couldn't rationalize hunting large game with an underpowered small bore rifle. There are too many variables that have to be aligned to maximize the probability of an ethical kill.

I grew up hunting with rimfires and witnessed one too many shots go wrong when they should have been kill shots. It's never a sure thing, but the odds of making an ethical kill with a precision air rifle is generally around power and larger caliber.