Thoughts on air rifle. 177 or 22?

[762Scot]

Again thanks to all for the valuable input. I wanted to ask a question on scope choice for the spring airgun. What are your thoughts on a fixed power scope and any recommendations?

 

[Alistair]

To be honest I am not really a fan of fixed power scopes on air rifles. As I said before I use 6x for virtually all my hunting, but I like to zero with more magnification so I tend to go for a 3-9 or a 4-12 mag scope. If your budget stretches to it I use these: Optisan MTC Mamba Lite | MTC OPTICS
on my hunting air rifles and I used to have one on my old .22lr as well. They can be put in low mounts and are very capable.
Cheaper stuff that is still up to the job includes these Hawke Optics UK | Airmax EV although I find the reticule a little cluttered, especially for lamping, or a simple scope such as: Hawke Optics UK | Hawke Sport HD 3-9x40 AO Rifle Scope will do good service for not much money. You can find a 4x32 or a 4x40 on the hawke site as well, but I find a 3-9 more useful in the real world.
Enjoy!
Oh, I almost forgot, but I would avoid anything with a side focus for hunting. I use them on my target rifles, but they seem designed to snag on every single thing when you are trying to get a quick shot off. There is no real need to fiddle with the focus at low magnifications anyway; I just leave mine on 25yds which gives sufficient clarity at 6x for shots from 10 to 40yds.

 

[ruby tuesday]

After shooting pre charged from the early 1990,s this year I bought a laminated stocked 177 HW97, brilliant brought the fun right back again really insensitive to the way you hold it just groups brilliantly since buying it my precharged have been left at home its not more accurate than them but for some reason seems more fun.

 

[bewsher500]

Depending on the rifle the recoil from a springer can be significant
personally I would always go with fixed power and keep your range down

hunting doesn't often allow for ranging through parallax imo
i have lost more shots due to a rapidly changing range from a target moving with a variable scope on higher power than I ever have on a low power fixed.

my scope is a 4x32 at the moment
i can hit a 5p piece at 33yds.....mag is not an issue

 

[labrador77]

I've got a hw97 thumbhole which is great for general airgun purposes and recently after suffering a plague of rats on our smallholding, I bought a crosman 2250xl ratcatcher which is quite possibly the most fun you can have with your clothes on!

 

[Feugh]

HW77k in 22 for me, built in 1987 and bought by me in 2013. I used to have a 177 HW100 but sold it because it wasn't getting used after I got the HW77. The HW77 was given the Welsh Willy treatment: the internals were polished, he put in a new spring and piston sleeve and fettled the trigger, all of which resulted in hardly any recoil and a lovely rifle which is deadly accurate - if the trajectory is correctly accounted for.
The 177 does give a flatter trajectory, but I feel that the 22 has more knockdown power and in a springer the pellets are much easier to feed into the barrel. It wasn't a problem in the HW100 because I could load the magazines at home in good light with warm fingers, but out in a cold barn taking out ferals I'd struggle to load the small pellets.
I'd recommend a second hand HW springer and then consider getting Welsh Willy or SFS to pimp the internals. It's great having a good springer, no hassle with dive pumps and no seals to leak.

 

[762Scot]

Thanks for all the help and recommendations.

 

[paultap]

I have a tuned Hw95 in .177, which is excellent. As you probably already know .177 has a flatter trajectory and is more forgiving when estimating range on live quarry at sensible air riffle ranges.

 

[Monkey Spanker]

There is no contest on calibre IMHO, it has to be .177! It is strange though that about 80% of air rifles sold are .22, but this is undoubtedly because people naturally assume that bigger is more powerful which is a farce in the case of air weapons restricted to 12 ft/lbs. The laws of physics would suggest that a .177 pellet or around 10 grains will have to be travelling around twice as fast as a .22 pellet of around 20 grains. People always think that a .22 pellet is affected less by wind too, but a .177 pellet gets there quicker and therefore has less time to be affected by the wind!
It is no coincidence that most professional vermin controllers choose the .177.
You should also consider a 'Gas Ram' though over a springer where you are compressing air rather than a spring. Still quite heavy, but you get the best of both worlds!
MS

 

[Kernow_Stalker]

Air arms tx200 hunter carbine in .22
great little combo at a good price! all this speak of trajectory in air rifle is negligible in my experience. they all drop like buggery lol

regards

KS

 

[Alistair]

There is no contest on calibre IMHO, it has to be .177! It is strange though that about 80% of air rifles sold are .22, but this is undoubtedly because people naturally assume that bigger is more powerful which is a farce in the case of air weapons restricted to 12 ft/lbs. The laws of physics would suggest that a .177 pellet or around 10 grains will have to be travelling around twice as fast as a .22 pellet of around 20 grains. People always think that a .22 pellet is affected less by wind too, but a .177 pellet gets there quicker and therefore has less time to be affected by the wind!
It is no coincidence that most professional vermin controllers choose the .177.
You should also consider a 'Gas Ram' though over a springer where you are compressing air rather than a spring. Still quite heavy, but you get the best of both worlds!
MS

Slight point of order, but the relationship between energy and velocity isn't linear, so actually the .177 pellet at half the weight is actually only travelling approx 1.4 times as fast for the same energy (square root of 2). However they do seem slightly less sensitive to wind in my experience.

 

[FGYT]

177 is the best for Sub 12ft lbs and plenty for anything you wish to kill at ranges further than you can shoot accurately

However if your going for a spring Gun I would recommend 22 as its more efficient so you will get a less bouncy Gun also heavier will help with the Recoil
If you go .22 dont get lured sown the heavy pellet route 14 grains is good for .22 but over the last 15yrs .22 pellets have been getting heavier these are best suited to FAC PCP guns

PCP suits 177 and Pellets in the 8grain area Domed are usually the most accurate (see FT shooters) anything else is a gimic Accuracy rules in airgun Hunting its a 0.75" target or smaller head shots

 

[merlin]

I've got 3 air rifles (at the moment.... ); an AirArms s410k in .177 (sub-12), a BSA Ultra in .22 (sub-12), and a Daystate Huntsman in .22 (FAC @ 30 ft lbs).

Disregard the fact that they're all PCP, but I obviously have both calibres. My fave sub-12? The s410k. Love it. And the smaller calibre isn't an issue - I've shot 75 rats in 3 outings with it recently. I daresay that the .22 would have done the job just as well, but once you start getting into 'rabbity' ranges vs 'ratty' ranges, the flatter trajectory of the .177 makes it one less thing to think about as much. Headshoot the rabbits - they won't know the difference between .22 and .177.....

Rifle choice? I'd look at gas-rams (plenty of choice now that he technology isn't ringfenced by patent any longer). A 'snappier' firing cycle in some cases than a conventional mainspring, but smooth to cock and consistent.

Scope choice? I have a Tasco/Hawke 2.5-10 x 42 on 2 of my rifles, and an MTC on the 3rd. I don't think that you'll go far wrong with a Hawke. Have a look at Optics Warehouse.

 

[Feugh]

There is no contest on calibre IMHO, it has to be .177! It is strange though that about 80% of air rifles sold are .22, but this is undoubtedly because people naturally assume that bigger is more powerful which is a farce in the case of air weapons restricted to 12 ft/lbs. The laws of physics would suggest that a .177 pellet or around 10 grains will have to be travelling around twice as fast as a .22 pellet of around 20 grains. People always think that a .22 pellet is affected less by wind too, but a .177 pellet gets there quicker and therefore has less time to be affected by the wind!

You are completely correct, theoretically the knockdown power of a .177 and .22 pellet coming from rifles restricted to 12ft/lbs is the same. However, I found that I had more rabbits that I'd headshot with the 0.177 running a bit before dying than I did with the 0.22. Maybe it was just a perception thing. Whatever, I sold my HW100 0.177 with all the extras and used the money to fund a 25-06 instead and don't miss the HW100 at all (although it is a cracking piece of gear).

 

[Mr. Gain]

I'd look at gas-rams (plenty of choice now that he technology isn't ring-fenced by patent any longer.)

I've used and like gas ram guns, and know more people are making them (Crosman, Hatsan, etc.) but does anyone make a good one?

 

[762Scot]

Thanks for all the help and advice.
I have decided to go with the springer though.

 

[Northwest]

I've used and like gas ram guns, and know more people are making them (Crosman, Hatsan, etc.) but does anyone make a good one?

Walther Falcon Hunter

 

[Mr. Gain]

Walther Falcon Hunter

Is that not a Hatsan? IMO Hatsan do features, not quality, but maybe I'm missing something.

 

[Hereford]

I've used and like gas ram guns, and know more people are making them (Crosman, Hatsan, etc.) but does anyone make a good one?

HW90k - solid, accurate and holds its money

 

[merlin]

I've used and like gas ram guns, and know more people are making them (Crosman, Hatsan, etc.) but does anyone make a good one?

Bsa lightning xl.....available as gasram or conventional mainspring.