I've killed some squirrels with my old Daisy breakbarrel .177 but are .22 really the way to go for small game? I'm looking at getting an RWS 34
(I'm a newbie to real airguns)
I started hunting small game with air rifles back when the .20 Beeman R-1 was first imported to the U.S. I had one of the first of them.
In 2000, my former home state of California clarified section 311(f) of their Fish and Game Code to make air rifles shooting pellets a lawful method of take for small game, but they also added resident upland game birds to the list of air gun game -including turkey. Turkey had a minimum caliber restriction of .20, at least through 2007, when I moved to Oklahoma.
An R-1 was more ordinance than I wanted to hump across high desert mountains chasing quail and chukar partridges with, so I sold it and used the proceeds to buy a pair of lighter, more compact Beeman R-9's, with one in .177 and the other in .20. I had both of these tuned to run at 15 foot pounds of energy at the muzzle.
I found the .177 to be highly effective, with the caveat being using pellets with high ballistic coefficients -examples would be Crosman Premier (both light and heavy), JSB Exacts, or Beeman Kodiaks.
In a "middle magnum" class spring-piston air rifle, it is entirely possible for a .177 to deliver more downrange energy to the target, if pellets of high BC are used, than the same powerplant in .22 can deliever. The reason being that the starting velocity will be higher and the high BC results in a higher percentage of velocity retention over distance, and since velocity is squared in energy calculations while projectile weight is not, the result is more thump. My .177 R-9 running 15 foot pounds at the muzzle will whack a 50 yard target with up to 9 foot pounds of energy. That's enough to shoot completely through a jackrabbit's noggin with the classic "behind eye / below ear" shot placement.
I didn't do much squirrel hunting out in California, but do a whole lot of it here in Oklahoma. I've not found the .177 lacking, or didn't when I still had it.
The .20, which I do still have, when shooting Beeman Field Target Specials, has a flat enough trajectory to give me an effective range of about 45 yards. The .20 penetrates well -about on par with .177 driven by the same powerplant, and obviously makes a bigger hole than .177 does, making holes that look more like .22 than .177. I might have been brainwashed by Dr. Beeman as a kid, but I still think .20 is the all-around way to go for a middle-magnum or magnum spring-piston rifle.
Another thing about the .20 and .22 is that inside of 35 yards, you can pretty much shoot any pellet you want to and whack critters dead with it.
That's not the case with .177 because some pellets, like RWS Superdomes, really ain't so super, at least in the ballistic coefficient area. The BC is so bad (.009) that they shed velocity quickly, so that at 25 or 30 yards, just about any .22 pellet shot from a rifle with the same powerplant will hit harder. That ballgame changes, though, when you use pellets with high BC (.021-.032) in the .177.
Here's another reason why I ditched the heavy and long R-1, mighty though it was, for the lighter, more compact R-9 platform....
Airgun ballistics being what they are, a whole lot more foot pounds of energy on the front end DOES NOT equal a corresponding difference downrange.
My R-1 I had, running at 19 foot pounds, would deliever about 11 foot pounds to the 50 yard line.
My R-9, running with a four foot pound disadvantage in muzzle energy, can whack a 50 yard target with up to 9 foot pounds of energy. Since I'm not often shooting game at the muzzle, but some distance away from it, how much energy I've got at the 50 yard line matters more to me than how much I've got at the muzzle.
My R-9 is tuned, but added power was a byproduct or secondary objective. The primary objective was increased smoothness of the firing cycle and reduced "hold sensitivity."
This isn't 1980 anymore and here in 2015, where I can take advantage of high BC pellets that didn't exist in .177 when I first started airgun hunting, the .177 is what I would choose over the .22 in guns running from 12 foot pounds muzzle energy to about 16 foot pounds, assuming the use of high BC pellets. Beyond 16 foot pounds, in something like a Theoben Crusader or Theoben Eliminator, it would be .20 if they still make them in that caliber and .22 if they don't.
I'm not a huge fan of pre-charged pneumatics, personally, but pneumatics generally are more efficient with larger bores than smaller ones -to a point. I don't really have anything against PCP other than I don't want to deal with scuba tanks or pumps when I could just cock, load, and shoot, as I've been doing with "springers" for decades.
I'm biased, but I highly recommend the Beeman R-9 or whatever the equivalent HW model is (HW-95??). It's an heirloom piece of equipment with good aftermarket support, a rifle designed with an eye toward easy spring and seal changes, and they have the excellent "Rekord" trigger which is still one of the best you'll find on a spring-piston sporter air rifle.
