A Dozen Deviants Dispatched. .177 for body shots?

[J Darcy 5,871]

After a fortnights damp fog the sun finally put in an appearance. If theres one thing i've learnt in my years on this earth its that squirrels just love a sunny day, and today was no exception.

But today was not just about having a rake about, i wanted to look further at the effectiveness of a .177 with body shots. I have heard quite a few lads saying that the .177 is no good for body shots because it lacks the punch a .22 has. So, today, where ever possible i took a body shot. Twelve silver critters fell foul of the Fn12, and i guess 7 or 8 were body shots, and not only that, they were body shots with Bisley LRG which is one of the lightest pellets you can get. All the body shots moved less than two foot and only one fell with any sign of life about it.

 

Would i have killed that dirty dozen any deader with a .22????

 

Don't think so.......

 

Anyone care to add their 2 cents worth to the debate of .177 V .22 ???????

 

 

 

Happy airgunning....JD

[Guest thebigdog]

good stuff

[Phantom 631]

This just shows that a well placed shot will do the job, regardless of Calibre.

 

If you had cocked up the body shot though JD, say you hit it in the abdomen, it would have run a lot further, possibly surviving a good while until infection set in and it died because of that.

 

Now with a .22 the same cocked up body shot would cause the death of the animal but probably quicker as the entry wound would have been larger, and traveling at a slower speed, it would have tranfered more Kinetic Shock to the nervous system of the animal.

 

This is the reason that the .45 cal survived for such a long time under the name of "Man Stopper"

A 9mm travels faster but if hit in the centre of mass a man may continue to shoot for a good few minutes, whereas the same hit with the larger cal travelling slower is much more likely to put the man down immediately.

 

But regardless of Cal, you take out the heart/lungs or the brain of any our quarry, it's not going far full stop

 

Tony

[zini 1,939]

Nice post JD and undoubtedly it will cause a good debate.

 

What i will add here is that the debate over time as slightly been changed and twisted slightly by very many posts on here.

 

When i talk about body shots in this context of post i mean shots that DONT hit a vital organ (heart, spinal cord, lungs when sometimes get taken with the heart shots depending on the angle of the quarry).

 

I have witnessed myself that the .177 drills sometimes straight through the quarry wounding it and it running off only to probably die out of sight.

 

A .22 will sometimes do the same I know but on more occasions over my time as a shooter the .22 I have witnessed knocking the quarry over for me to give a quick second shot or break its neck if close enough.

 

I have no doubt what so ever that if a .177 is placed in any of the vital organs correctly within the body of the vermin we shoot it will kill it.

 

All these shots will kill in any calibre, lets face it if a human was shot in the heart, spinal cord or lungs it would be pretty bad and could cause a fatality so any of the UK vermin on the register would be in serious bother if they didn’t die straight away.

 

I now shoot .177 myself as well as .22 and .25 and all the calibres are deadly in the correct place i.e the kill zone / zones.

 

Where i think the debate as got twisted slightly is that some lads think that a .177 in a vital organ will not kill the vermin.

 

What’s other lads thoughts on this?

 

Please no one try putting the (missed vital organ body shots) theory to the test, just wait to you miss naturally like we all do from time to time and witness your own results.

 

Like i said though JD brilliant post buddy and good shooting on the squizzers.

 

Si

Edited November 17, 2011 by zini

[stealthy1 3,964]

Body shots dont kill an animal, they normally bleed to death internally, seen stacks of bodyshot animals run off screaming and hide somewere, headshots kill, and they dont run anywere, so head shots for me Good bag all the same.

[falcongit 242]

good bag there

 

symon

[fry 209]

i am in the market for a 177 after a few years on 22s just want some flat trajectory. i will still go for head shots though i have never took a body shot on purpose and when i have had them by mistake that squealing is a bit nasty.

[Tyla 3,179]

Use a .20, perfect compromise. Suits me anyway

[worthy130 21]

as a hunter myself i cannot believe that you have intentionly gone out to take 'body shots'.

 

Take a step back, think about it and if you still can't see anything wrong with this then the least you can do is stop writing about it on an open forum.

 

[fry 209]

Use a .20, perfect compromise. Suits me anyway

would suit me too but they are thin on the ground

[Phantom 631]

as a hunter myself i cannot believe that you have intentionly gone out to take 'body shots'.

 

Take a step back, think about it and if you still can't see anything wrong with this then the least you can do is stop writing about it on an open forum.

 

 

Damn it, hit the wrong button, I DONT like this post lol!

 

Forgive him JD, for he knows not who you are

 

Back before the advent of scopes for the masses, we used open or Iron sight's and we used to shoot at moving targets.

The Primary KZ of quarry used to be the chest and the best kill was one that managed to take out the heart and lungs.

Take any Deer hunter these day's, they dont go for head shot's as they require the head as a trophy.

They generally use a heart/lung shot as do big game hunters, they then have to track the blood drops to find the kill.

If you can hit a bunny in the right place it can run as far as 30 feet or so, takes only a couple of seconds, but by the time you get there it's very dead.

Granted, I prefere head shots on my quarry EXCEPT on Kit's I have learnt that if I shoot a kit in the brain, it just does not know its dead and will flap about for a disturbing amount of time!

I go for the heart and lung shot on kits, because shut down the pump and the muscles cant move, they may run a couple of feet, but thats it! They dont flap about like a brain shot kit!

 

Tony

[Tyla 3,179]

Use a .20, perfect compromise. Suits me anyway

would suit me too but they are thin on the ground

 

True, i've had my falcon since '99. You have to make sacrifices, no multishot, crap range of pellets, no chance to upgrade to newer models but wouldnt change to another calibre

[Big Jim101 29]

Use a .20, perfect compromise. Suits me anyway

would suit me too but they are thin on the ground

AGREED!

[J Darcy 5,871]

as a hunter myself i cannot believe that you have intentionly gone out to take 'body shots'.

 

Take a step back, think about it and if you still can't see anything wrong with this then the least you can do is stop writing about it on an open forum.

 

 

I have done. I have been discussing this for over 20 years. there is nothing at all wrong with body shots. An animal hit in the chest is going down, no matter what calibre you shoot with. All along i have stated that it is not the calibre, but the placement. Body shots kill. Yes. They kill effectively. Ive been at this game a little while now, and ive dropped a couple of criters on the way, and i've seen hundreds of body shots on squirrels, rats and rabbits. I am of the opinion that a .22 dont kill quarry any deader than a .177. You hit the zone and its good night vienna.

the hard part is hitting the zone.

 

What we need to remember now is , that successful and humane airgun hunting is all about placement. Power and pellet size is, for the main, pretty irrellevent. I have been preaching for many a year how that it's all about accuracy......

Shoot a pigeon up the arse with a .243 and he's going to go on his way, but a little pellet in the vital zone is goin' to do the job properly. And, just for the record, there is nothing at all wrong with doing body shots. There is a much, much larger kill zone than with head shots. Tuck that sliver of lead through his heart and lungs and theres only one place he's going, and its down. This is an opinion that has come from being witness to hundreds of body shots of squirrels and other quarry.....

[J Darcy 5,871]

Tucked a Bisley right behind this chap's elbow and he didn't move!!

He just came spinning down.......