Going from a .177 to a .22 air rifle - here's why.

[btefft]

Going from a .177 to a .22 air rifle - here's why.

I've decided to return my Ruger Blackhawk 177 Air Hawk air rifle to Sportsman's Guide and get a Gamo Whisper 22 cal instead.

Here's what helped me decide
http://www.brassfetcher.com/Brass Fetcher Evaluates 0.177 and 0.22 inch airguns.pdf

The Whisper is also about a pound lighter.

Plus, I've also read many, many rave review on the Whisper. I did read a few negative reviews, but they were in the minority

Hack

 

[rcmodel]

Don't get too wrapped up in ballistic gel penetration tests.
Neither caliber is all that great compared to a .22 RF.

The old saying is:
.177 is for Feathers.
.22 is for Fur.

I have both calibers, and the .22 is definitely the better of the two for squirrel / rabbet size game.
With body shots.
A .22 Flat-Point whacks them.
A .177 pokes a hole in them and they run off to die somewhere else.
Shoot them in the head and it doesn't matter which one you use.

The .177 is better for longer range and smaller targets like Starlings & Sparrows however, because it shoots much flatter then the .22.
That makes estimating exact range much less critical with the .177.

rc

 

[MCgunner]

If you're not inside a city limit, .22CB short tops any air rifle for a game gitter and is actually as quiet from a long rifle tube as an air rifle.

 

[pbrktrt]

The Gamo's are a great air rifle except for one thing. The trigger sucks. Do yourself a favor & order a replacement from CharlieDaTuna. Best money you will spend on the Whisper.

 

[btefft]

Thanks guys, lots of good advise.

Hack

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

The old saying is:
.177 is for Feathers.
.22 is for Fur.

Does that old saying (which I've never heard) mean:

".117 [pellet] is for feathers; .22 [pellet] is for fur."

or does it mean:

".117 [pellet] is for feathers; .22 [rimfire] is for fur."

Not saying that I disagree with it, either way; just wondering what it meant.

 

[rcmodel]

No, it means airgun calibers.

As for "the old saying"?
I don't really know how old it is.
I think I first saw it in print in a 1980 or there abouts Beeman Airgun catalog.

Further airgun experience through the last 30 years seem to validate that it as very true.

There is a marked difference in killing/stopping power on small game animals.

Either one kills pest size birds about the same.

rc

 

[7X57chilmau]

I've heard it forever in reference to airgun calibres specifically.

I don't put much stock in it. Shot dozens of squirrel and snowshoe hair with a 900fps .177, and very few of them went any distance afterwards. Only when I failed to do my part.

Last hair was hit between the eyes at 25yds, and he just rolled back and faded out in about 20 sec.

J

 

[rcmodel]

As I noted in post #2:

With body shots.
A .22 Flat-Point whacks them.
A .177 pokes a hole in them and they run off to die somewhere else.

Shoot them in the head and it doesn't matter which one you use.

BTW: I have two Beeman air-rifles with similar velocity.
C1 .22 = 670 FPS.
R7 .177 = 700 FPS.

At 15 yards against 1-liter pop bottles of water.
The .22 flat-point pellet will penetrate one side and split the bottle open with a lot of water loss.
The .177 flat-point pellet will penetrate one side and the water slowly leaks out the little hole.

It appears to have the same effect on body shot squirrels & rabbits.

rc

 

[stonecoldy]

I enjoyed using a Sheridan .20 pump for a number of years before it suffered a serious malfunction. I think the company was bought by Benjamin and then disappeared. You could develop forearms like Popeye after using it a bit, was a pretty tough stroke for a skinny kid.
Beeman pellets were excellent, the cylindrical pellets sold by Sheridan were terrible for a good gas seal and pretty inaccurate. Using Beeman brand pointed pellets you could easily shoot through a crow, and kill grey squirrels with chest shots with good reliability. Biggest game I took was a smallish groundhog from short range with a head shot after emerging from its burrow. I liked to think of it as a good compromise between the .177 and .22 calibers.
When we were much younger, my hunting buddy and I would bait my backyard with bread and crouch in the cellar steps with our pellet rifles and let the fun begin. Starlings would come in, we would pop 'em and then use twigs to set them up in the yard as decoys, worked GREAT!
The whole deal started to unravel after my parents noticed the big wooden bird feeder in the yard had ALOT of holes in it with black feathers imbedded in them. My mom seemed to believe the "woodpecker" theory, but my dad knew better. Me and my buddy killed hundreds of starlings over a couple years and enough house sparrows too. Really sharpened our skills for squirrel and bunny season.
European Starlings and House Sparrows are not typically protected and are terrible competitors for our native bird species for nesting cavities.
I wish I still had that rifle.

 

[czarjl]

+1 MCgunner .22CB short is a great round

 

[hockea]

Arent the 22CB short and the 22CB Long the same loading? Same 29gr bullet with the same 727fps MV.

http://www.22ammo.com/cci1.html

 

[jlbpa]

I like my beeman r1 in .22 . Wouldn't trade it for a gamo or any other break barrel. I also have a sheridan .20. Both very are capable starling, english sparrow and varmit eliminators.

as for 22 cb shorts.... they are very quiet in long barreled rifles but not all rifles can shoot them with good acurracy. 22 cb longs seem to do better in most rifles.

If anybody has a sheridan that needs help Mac1 Tim McMurray will do right by you.

or there's a place called Air Venture in Bell Flower California that fixed my vintage benjamin pump pistol for a very reasonable price and they'll work on sheridans too.