177 or 22 for hunting

[paulredtop 8]

hi every one newish to the sport just wondering witch is better for hunting rabbit and pigeon and the pros and cons of them 177 or 22

paul

[billbroon 9]

Hi, everyone has there own opinion on this 1 but most people including me use .22 because it has harder hitting power, but when aiming with .22 hold over and hold under has to come into consideration when judging distance of target. Where the .177 has a flatter flight path which makes it a wee bit easyer to hit bang on, so really it all depends on you. Proberly best with .22 though. Am sure somone else will fill u in better.

atb billy

[Adam16 1]

This is the longest running debate in airgunner history, its really personal preference I use .177 for all of my hunting and find it very good for all types of situations some will say only use .22 but they all have their own pros and cons. My advice is use what your happy with and do enough practice on paper until you can be spot on 100% of the time so as not to wound an animal and cleanly dispatch your quarry every time.

Adam

[Sweeney-Todd 208]

Hi Billy.

 

 

Both will do the job nicely, as long as you can put them in the right place.

 

 

 

Bill.

[jackinbox99 41]

Id be tempted to search on this, as its probably one of the oldest and most discussed topics with regards to air rifles.

 

The quick summary to it all though is that both are perfectly fine for hunting. Both will easily kill pigeons & rabbits as its all about where the pellet hits rather than the size.

 

As Billbroon said, .177 has a flatter trajectory, so you dont have to worry as much about hold over / under. Therefore some people prefer the .177 over .22. .22 is by far the most popular though, you only have to look on guntrader and you`ll see loads more .22 air rifles for sale. My local gun shop reckons he sells twice as many .22 than .177.

 

So at the end of the day, it all boils down to personal preference.

[wakey87 2]

for rabbits my favourite calibre was .177 because of the flat trajectory and the need for a headshot IMO puts the .22 at a disadvantage.

 

for pigeons and other vermin where a headshot isn't vital then its .22 hands down.

[pav 481]

get yrself a .20 best of both, just my oppinion

[Phantom 631]

Hi Billy.

 

 

Both will do the job nicely, as long as you can put them in the right place.

 

 

 

Bill.

 

Hey Paul,:stupid:

 

There is an old addage that says .177 for Feather and .22 for Fur

 

But as Bill above mentions, its all down to where you put the shot, not the calibre of pellet or gun.

 

So if you have a preference for .177, thats a good choice either feather or fur will fall (allways go for Brain Shots by the way, commonly called head shots, but allways means brain)

If you have a preference for .22, then thats a good choice for either feathur or fur (as above)

If you have a preference for .20 or .25 then thats a good choice.......

 

My advice for any newbie to hunting is always the same; Spend as much time as you can with your chosen equipment putting lead through paper targets first And then spend more time doing the same

 

When you can consistantly put all your shots into a circle no bigger than an inch, then your ready for the live quarry.

 

Take care

 

Phantom

[pest hunter 151 15]

Hi mate i find you need to hit the head on any animal to get a nice clean kill, so i use a .177 so i can hit the brain with as little mistakes made as pos and with rabbits you do not need to aim any up or down from 20 to 50 yard. Happy hunting

Edited April 22, 2010 by pest hunter 151

[Sweeney-Todd 208]

:stupid: ........ ........MATE!!!!......

[aaronpigeonplucker 32]

this is an age old discussion. people often go for .22 for hunting because it 'hits harder'. i dont quiite get this as if you put a pellet through your quarrys brain it will be dead whatever the calibre. the major difference between .177 and .22 is that a .22's trajectort#y is very loopy in comparison with a .177. basically this means (for example) if your zeroed at 30yrds (your pellet is hitting where you put the crosshair) then at 40yrds a .22 pellet may have dropped 2", way below your quarrys killzone (the brain), whereas a .177 will have dropped only 1" which might still be in your quarrys killzone. of course this is fixed by holdover (putting the crosshairs above your intented target), but if you misjudge distances with a .177 its no as disastorous as if your misjudge distance with a .22. of course this can easily fixed by buying a rangefinding device like a laser rnage finder but these cost a lot and often when hunting you nhave to take a quick shot and dont have time to 'laze' your target. this is where you have to estimate the holdover and if you estimate it worng with a .177 then you will probably still have a clean kil yet with a .22 it may wound the animal or miss it completely. i prefer .177 for this reason.

[Edgar 1]

All this and more has been said before, do a search mate.

[Deker 3,478]

get yrself a .20 best of both, just my oppinion

 

 

DON'T get yourself a .20, worst of both worlds. It doesn't do anything the .177 does as well as a .177, and it doesn't do anything a .22 does as well as a .22!

[Aaron Proffitt 142]

Up until recently I always used a .22 as I figured it was a must have for hunting ...until I began to read here some of the posts and logic behind it in reference to the .177 . Now a .177 is all I ever use....with the exception of some of our bigger critters like jackrabbit and racoon. Then I switch to a .25.

 

But for gathering pigeons and hassenpeffer and squirrels ....177 is my go to gun.

[Phantom 631]

Up until recently I always used a .22 as I figured it was a must have for hunting ...until I began to read here some of the posts and logic behind it in reference to the .177 . Now a .177 is all I ever use....with the exception of some of our bigger critters like jackrabbit and racoon. Then I switch to a .25.

 

But for gathering pigeons and hassenpeffer and squirrels ....177 is my go to gun.

 

Hi Aaron,

 

You gotta start using the English version of English or these uneducated pratts (wait for the fall out )on here won't understand you buddy :laugh:

 

And a rough translation for them is..............

 

WABBIT

 

Phantom

 

Edited April 22, 2010 by Phantom