{"id":2785,"date":"2019-07-19T08:15:42","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T15:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregg57.sg-host.com\/hunting\/?p=2785"},"modified":"2019-06-27T08:49:31","modified_gmt":"2019-06-27T15:49:31","slug":"high-powered-pcp-hunting-rifle-22-vs-25-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/2019\/07\/high-powered-pcp-hunting-rifle-22-vs-25-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"High Powered PCP Hunting Rifle: .22 vs .25 Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is excerpted from an article I wrote for the British magazine “Airgunner” a few years ago, discussing the .22 and .25 as hunting calibers. In more recent years I’ve written several articles for this and other magazines examining the .25 and .30 calibers in the same context, and at the end of part II, I’ll discuss my current views on all calibers. I got the release of the articles a bit out of order, the later discussion on calibers was posted on June 23rd, but I think this is still of interest in outline the foundation of my thoughts on the subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fig_1: A look at five of the calibers I frequently hunt with, the .35, .30, .25, 22, .177. I\u2019ll use the .177 in my springers, the .22 in just about any gun, but the others only in the higher FAC power range.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Having been a fan of the British hunting magazines for\nseveral years, I have seen the topic of .177 vs .22 covered many times. Most\nfrequently the subject is discussed in the context of legal limit guns, which\nplaces boundaries around the efficacy and performance of the larger calibers.\nBut in the absence of power restrictions, the balance shifts towards the larger\ncalibers for the type of hunting I do. In this article I\u2019d like to discuss my field\nexperience using .22 and .25 caliber in higher powered guns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fig_2: A series of targets shot with my Benjamin Marauders in .22 and .25. On any given day one may outperform the other, but only slightly.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From an historical perspective, the .177 was, and probably\nstill is, the most widely used airgun caliber. However, it is probably fair to\nsay that over the years there has been a shift amongst hunters towards the .22.\nThis is definitely the case in the US market, though the feedback I get would\nindicate this is a global trend (where legal). The .22 out of a high-powered\ngun is relatively flat shooting, hits hard, can be very accurate, retains\nenergy better than the .177, and there is a huge selection of guns available\nwith an equally extensive line of pellets on offer. Not a surprise then that\nhunters wanting the most effective high-power field rig have gravitated towards\nthe .22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The .25 caliber has also been around for many years, but as\nit is even less effective in legal limit guns than the double deuce, never\nreally caught on in a major way. With the availability of PCP\u2019s the caliber\nbecame more practical, but initially there was a limited selection of guns and\npellets. As most of the PCP\u2019s were being spec\u2019d for legal limit rifles in the\nearly days, they were still underpowered for the caliber. A .25 caliber pellet\nout of a sub 12 fpe power rifle has the 30 yard trajectory of a brick tossed\nunderhand. But as more powerful rifles hit the market, the .25 started gaining traction.\nThis in turn led to more guns being built and brought to market along with a\nmuch wider selection of pellets. Currently in the US, the .25 has a grown a strong\nfollowing, because paired with the right shooting platform it can be very\naccurate, powerful, and it hits with authority creating a large wound channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fig_3: This photo shows my Marauders in both calibers, on traveling hunts I\u2019ll sometimes takes both actions and one stock for more efficient packing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are many excellent guns chambered in both .22 and .25,\nsome are high dollar outfits while others are more modestly priced. On the less\nexpensive end two models I\u2019ve used extensively for hunting are the Hatsan AT-44\nand Benjamin Marauder. Another rifle that I\u2019ve hunted a great deal with is the\nEvanix Rainstorm. These three gun models helped shape my views on the .22\/.25\nissue, in that I have all three in both .22 and .25. This has enabled me to\nmake some direct observations, not only on the bench, but also to assess effectiveness\non game under field conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fig_4: I took the Marauder .22 as my small game gun on one of my South African hunts; and took hundreds of pigeons, but used the same gun for larger Guinea fowl and Egyptian geese as well.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Fig_5: My .25 Marauder (wearing a Chaska custom stock) has been responsible for many raccoon, woodchuck, and larger game, while at the same time being a great long range prairie dog gun. This big dawg dropped within 5 feet to a chest shot at 110 yards.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are many other guns I use in either .22 or .25; the FX\nVerminator .25, the Daystate Huntsman Regal .22, the Daystate Wolverine .25,\nthe FX Royale .25, the AirArms S510 FAC .22, The BSA R10 .22 and the Walther\nRotek .22 to name a few. All are great hunting guns; I don\u2019t believe the accuracy\nof one of these calibers is intrinsically better than the other, rather it\u2019s\nall about getting the right gun\/pellet pairing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In lower powered guns the trajectory is a more pronounced\narc in the larger caliber, which requires a bit more compensation. I shot\nseveral 50-yard groups with my three .22\/.25 rifle sets and could not find a\nclear winner, though noting that the flatter shooting rigs are easier to coax\nthe accuracy out of.  Sometimes the .22\ngroup was a little tighter and sometimes the .25 carried the day, but they were\nnever significantly different. On a practical note, when shooting in denser\nbrush or heavier foliage, the flatter trajectory is much easier to thread\nthrough the twigs and branches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is excerpted from an article I wrote for the British magazine “Airgunner” a few years ago, discussing the .22 and .25 as hunting calibers. In more recent years I’ve written several articles for this and other magazines examining the .25 and .30 calibers in the same context, and at the end of part II, … Continue reading »<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[223,85,226,84],"tags":[233,234,237,236,235],"class_list":["post-2785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-25-caliber","category-airgun-ammo","category-best-hunting-caliber-for-an-airgun","category-pellets","tag-22-vs-25","tag-airgun-hunting-calibers","tag-airgun-pellets","tag-best-caliber-for-airgun-hunting-small-game","tag-best-gun-for-airgun-hunting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2785"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2800,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2785\/revisions\/2800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}