N/A What Caliber???

[C_Money]

I’m sure this has been discussed but I couldn’t find exactly what I’m looking for.

I know this is mostly personal preference but what caliber is best for what shooting?

I have a EdGun Lesia in .25 which I bought only because it was the only option.

I used to have an impact and crown in .25 but I sold those.

I’m wanting to pick some others up in the future but idk what caliber. .22, .25? What’s the main reason to go one way or another?

 

[Emu]

Cheaper: 22

Better to deal with wind and more killing power: 25

The wider the wound the fastest the kill.

 

[MongooseV8]

22Cal is my favorite overall. If you have something that can do 40-50fpe that covers all the hunting ammos I use. I like the Hades/Atomics, JSB 18g, Nielsen light weight slugs etc. You can reach out pretty far these days with a 22Cal for either hunting or paper punching. 25Cal does everything with obvious extra power at all levels. It can be pretty cheap to shoot still, but not as cheap as 22Cal as you would expect. For hunting further distances or bigger critters I really like my 25Cal slugger. It only really gets used past 100yds on ground squirrels, or the rare occasion I need to take care of an opossum or racoon. 22Cal is great for anything skunk or smaller in my experience. It is also really good for those times you are concerned about property damage, tune it down low and it is much safer than something bigger.

 

[Franklink]

What caliber? The answer is ALWAYS .20.

Kidding aside, caliber really depends on what you're wanting to do.

Very different answers for sub20 fpe field target and the long range exhibition benchrest matches. Or for shooting starlings versus coyotes. Or for shooting in your 25 foot backyard versus shooting prairie dogs at 150+ yards.

For me, the draw of airguns is about doing more with less. So I max out at .22 at about 55-60fpe. But if I was a hardcore exhibition match shooter where only pellets are allowed, Id be chasing a .30 and the new AEA pellets with high BCs.

Outside of competition-specific parameters that must be met, it's largely a matter of cost/performance. Smaller calibers are usually cheaper. If distances past 50ish yards are the intent, you'll want to be chasing projectiles with higher BCs. Be that better BCs in realm of pellets, or better yet BCs in the slug category.

Caliber is very use-specific.

 

[C_Money]

I am mainly going to be hunting and just target shooting for fun. Would love to stretch it to 100 yards or so

 

[maxtrouble]

I’m sure this has been discussed but I couldn’t find exactly what I’m looking for.

I know this is mostly personal preference but what caliber is best for what shooting?

I have a EdGun Lesia in .25 which I bought only because it was the only option.

I used to have an impact and crown in .25 but I sold those.

I’m wanting to pick some others up in the future but idk what caliber. .22, .25? What’s the main reason to go one way or another?

The jack of all trades caliber is .22. The pellets start at 11 grain and go all the way 34 grain. Slugs go up to 40 or 50 grains with a super high BC. 500 pellets per tin so cheaper than .25.

The obvious answer is get TWO rifles, one in .22 and one in .25

 

[Franklink]

The jack of all trades caliber is .22. The pellets start at 11 grain and go all the way 34 grain.

I agree.

If you're going to box yourself in with a line (multiple lines?) in the sand around one single caliber.......22 gets you the greatest range of usable fpe, due to the largest spread in projectile weights.

I am mainly going to be hunting and just target shooting for fun. Would love to stretch it to 100 yards or so

So, hunting/target shootings/ and maybe stretching it out to 100 yards? Yep, I'd have to say .22 (assuming your "hunting" is mostly small game).

 

[JimD]

I killed a small raccoon with a 32 fpe 22 but I used a 48 fpe 25 on the second and it worked better. With a well placed brain shot a 177 can kill some fairly large animals but I think 22s are best used for animals 5 lbs or under. My Caiman is tuned to about 40 fpe with slugs but I still think it's a small game gun. It can kill bigger animals but it leaves little room for non optimum placement. How big with a 25 I am not sure. Some says 25s over 50 fpe are OK for coyotes. I'd rather have a 30 or even 35. One of the things I look at is the area of the projectile versus the area of the animal (side view). On that basis a 25 is definitely small for coyote and a 35 is indicated. But reports on 30 arem60b h8 good.

Small game 177, 22, and 25 all work well. 177 kills a little slower on body shots but I have not lost any with a decently placed shot.

 

[igolfat8]

My favorite caliber is .22 for hunting, pesting, target shooting and N50 competition. I do have a couple .30s for 100Y Benchrest matches but I don’t shoot them nearly as often as I do my .22’s.