The caliber you regret...

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Yeah, I have a Hatsan FlashPup in .25 caliber that I regret. When I purchased it, I was thinking I'm going to bust the hell out of these pain in butt squirrels. The bigger the caliber the better. But thanks to reading posts on here, and Youtube, bigger is not always better. I never took into account of sound and reflection. I would have been great with a .177. Cut down on sound from the neighbors and less reflection. You learn.
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...I guess if I were completely honest I would have to admit this too...the .22 Flash was out of stock and I thought the .25 would be better...

...I dumped the Flash but ended up with lots of .25 cal pellets...so I bought a .25 cal TalonP only to discover I cannot carry it on state land and that it is too powerful for casual shooting in the back yard...

...now it sits in the corner, whilst I shoots the crap out of a CZ T200, a low powered .17 cal target rifle I bought in 2002...
 
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...the .17 HW97K boasts 120fps more velocity than the .20 cal version...950 fps vs 820 fps...

...the FAC versions only eek out another 5# over the limey version...

...I suppose that is a lot when you look at the percentages involved....
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Yes, at the muzzle it may have more velocity but the fast light .177 will loose energy quickly compared to the heavier slower .20. I would also bet the quoted .177 velocity is with a light 7.9-8.4 gn pellets, from experience, I have never found a barrel that likes shooting light .177 anywhere near 950fps

Trust me, .20 is a very capable hunting calibre.

Bb
 
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Yup.......started with .177 cal R10 and R9, found the 'forums", drank the "bigger more gooder" Koolaid and bought a .20 cal R9. Was disappointed in the effectiveness on squirrels compared to the .177 because the loopy trajectory which made guessing the holdover more difficult and I got more wounded squirrels than I got with the .177 cal.

I "high stress tuned" the .20 R9 to shoot Beeman FTS pellets at 800fps which flattened out the .20 trajectory a bit but past my 30 yard zero I still had more "crawl aways" than I did with the .177 cal at 13ish fpe. I used that .20 R9 for one season and then I bought a used .22 cal R1 barrel. The R1 barrel was sent to be professionally "chopped and choked" and I used that barrel for six months. I preferred the .22 pellet to the .20 pellet, however the "skinny pellet" worked better for my West Virginia squirrel hunting than either the .20 or .22 cal. I ended up selling the original .20 cal R9 barrel and the "chopped and choked" .22 R1 barrel reverting back to .177 never to look back.

That was a couple decades ago when I lived in West Virginia and it's only been .177 cal for my HW springers since!
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@ bucketboy...I like what you are saying but this guy is scaring me...LoL...

...I am talking .17 vs .20 in a very specific venue, the HW97K....
 
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Yup.......started with .177 cal R10 and R9, found the 'forums", drank the "bigger more gooder" Koolaid and bought a .20 cal R9. Was disappointed in the effectiveness on squirrels compared to the .177 because the loopy trajectory which made guessing the holdover more difficult and I got more wounded squirrels than I got with the .177 cal.

I "high stress tuned" the .20 R9 to shoot Beeman FTS pellets at 800fps which flattened out the .20 trajectory a bit but past my 30 yard zero I still had more "crawl aways" than I did with the .177 cal at 13ish fpe. I used that .20 R9 for one season and then I bought a used .22 cal R1 barrel. The R1 barrel was sent to be professionally "chopped and choked" and I used that barrel for six months. I preferred the .22 pellet to the .20 pellet, however the "skinny pellet" worked better for my West Virginia squirrel hunting than either the .20 or .22 cal. I ended up selling the original .20 cal R9 barrel and the "chopped and choked" .22 R1 barrel reverting back to .177 never to look back.

That was a couple decades ago when I lived in West Virginia and it's only been .177 cal for my HW springers since!
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@ bucketboy...I like what you are saying but this guy is scaring me...LoL...

...I am talking .17 vs .20 in a very specific venue, the HW97K....
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Yes, the .20 is a bit more loopy than .177, and the .22 is more loopy still but the squirrels “crawled away” not because it was a .20 but because of poor shot placement, you just need to learn the holdovers..



Bb
 
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Not exactly what you were asking but I regret not getting a .25 cal ( pcp) when I bought my .177 springer. Although my springer shoots great, it don’t get it done on coons.
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Coons are a certainly a completely different world than rabbits or squirrels. I will always say that .177 is more than enough for the smaller animals (based on years of using one personally) but not for the larger one.
 
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...I have to say as a kid I always regretted having a .17 and wanted a .22...I blamed my failures on bore size...

..."normally" I would not even consider a .17...

...I did buy a couple as an adult, the CZ T200 and a Biakal 46M, strictly for dedicated NRA type paper punching...

...pressed into service as mentioned above the CZ T200 turned out to be a good example of less being more...
 
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Not exactly what you were asking but I regret not getting a .25 cal ( pcp) when I bought my .177 springer. Although my springer shoots great, it don’t get it done on coons.
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...the solution is simple...buy a .25 PCP now...your coon rifle...
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That’s my plan, can’t decide between a tipan veteran or edgun r5m, neither are in stock any where. I would actually like to put my hands on them before buying one but that is just not possible. 
 
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Not exactly what you were asking but I regret not getting a .25 cal ( pcp) when I bought my .177 springer. Although my springer shoots great, it don’t get it done on coons.
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...the solution is simple...buy a .25 PCP now...your coon rifle...
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That’s my plan, can’t decide between a tipan veteran or edgun r5m, neither are in stock any where. I would actually like to put my hands on them before buying one but that is just not possible.
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https://www.pyramydair.com/s/m/AirForce_Talon_SS_PCP_Air_Rifle_Spin_Loc_Tank/135
 
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I regret none of them....lol. I have guns in .177, .20, .22 and .25. The first 3 work just fine on everything up to even woodchucks considering I took one with a head shot between the eyes at 20 yards with a Polymag and regardless of Ed and his overly repeated .20 just doesn't work for squirrels?? Out to the 30 yards I shoot it works just fine with well placed head shots :)

Raccoons? Yeah, the .25 covers that. Done it with both a .25 break barrel and H&N Crow magnums. Between the eyes or between eye and ear gets the job done or I can always go bigger and grab this one which these days I usually do:

galatian-2-1.1599878235.jpg

 
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Anyone ever get a caliber and wish they got a different one? My friend just got 177 marauder and wished he got the 22, so I figure it must be a common issue when ordering guns that you regret what you got
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What’s he not liking about it? Cause I have one and found it shoots the nsa slugs under an inch at 100 yards. It also puts poly mags shorts hole in hole at 40 yards. So very effective over a good spectrum with one gun. Birds and squirrels are good with pellets and slugs for coons 
 
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