Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Air Guns .177 or .22 purchase tomorrow?

I need help fast. I am going to get a RWS 34 tomorrow. It will either be in .177 or .22 caliber. Which should I get? I kill a bunch of squirrels each week with my cuurent crossman (old 66 model .177). I also like to sit down and target practice. No shots will exceed 35 yards. It seems like .22 would be my choice, but do I need a 200 fps when reaching out at longer shots (35 yards)? How much will a .22 drop at 30 yards? How loud are the differnces between the .22 and .177? The .177 will break the speed of sound, so I will expect a loud crack, right?

The pellet prices are not significantly different.
Thanks for the help!

I have a 17cal. but the 22cal is nice for squirrel size animals.
If you go w/a 17 shoot only the heavy pellets -forget the 1000fps talk energy is where it's at.
I shoot nothing lighter than 9.3gr pellets in my 17cal b/c a pellet wobbles as it breaks the speed of sound then woblles again coming back below the speed of sound.Wobbling isn't good -Period.The heavy pellets don't/won't break the speed of sound so in turn -they shoot great.
Either caliber will be fine -don't get caught up "looking" at pellets that "look" like a little bullet.SHOOT FLAT MATCH PELLETS AT GAME..

I have been killing grey diggers w/ my gamo cfx royal 17cal using all kinds of pellets ->after 300ish kills you get a pretty good idea of what works best --'flat nose'-- all the way.

Clean your barrel b/4 you shoot the gun!

Thanks for the reply. I think .22 pellet will be easier to grab with my fingers since I will have to reload after each shot. I found that the flat headed pellets transfer the energy more efficiently than pointed pellets, this far.

I have both a .177 and a .22. I have used both guns to whack Rock Chucks and a varity of birds and other critters. It has been my experience that a head or heart/lung shot with either is fatal. The .22 seem to kill on the spot a bit better and it does seem to produce a bigger pop when the pellet hits. A .22 gun sighted in at 20 yards shooting ~600fps will drop about 3/4" at 30 yards, still minute of squirrel. BTW my .22 is a RWS M-34 Panther with a BSA 4X scope and a C-Mount. The gun is very accurate (1 holer @ 10 yards) and shoots 14.3gr pellets at just under 600 fps (rated 800fps). The .177 is a RWS M-46 and shoots 8.3gr pellets at 750 fps (rated 960fps) and drops about 1/2" at 30 yds. I'm thinking about selling both and getting a slower .177 Beeman R-7. Anyone need a pellet gun?

Well???

Well, I went to Basspro and they didnt have what I wanted in stock. They had the .22 with scope and mount for $250. I wanted to but the .22 w/o the scope and in the near future buy a quality scope of my choice. I've been looking at internet sources for a lower cost. I have run across Midsouth and Natchez. Natchez wont ship to Georgia so that is out. Midsouth is asking $177.10 plus shipping. Are there any other sites where the price might be lower?

Not to start an arguement, but I have to disagree w/ the Flat heads for hunting unless you'll be keeping your distances to 25yds and under. The best round headed pellets outdistance the flat heads by a wide margin once you get out a ways or if you shoot in a cross wind. Try them for yourself and then shoot them over the Chrony at distance, and you'll see what I mean. The flat heads do hit w/ athority, but they loose energy at a rapid pace compared to the more aerodynamic round heads (JSB Exact, Beeman FTS, or Crosman Premier FT). Take a peek over at Straitshooter.com and look at the balistics tables for any given rifle and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Very good points Qhorse. I'll agree a short shot <20yards the flat nose wadcutters make a whap. But any shot over 20 yards the flat nose accuracy and energy is far exceeded by a round nose pellet. This is where the .22 gets the nod - having a larger frontal size along with accuracy and retained energy. FWIW I have taken over 250 rock chucks in the last 2 seasons with Air Rifles .177 and .22 cal and I too feel that I have an idea what works.

Growing up, I was totally unaware that they made anything other than the crossman wadcutters, and used them with great success on the local starlings. Of course, that was with a much inferior rifle, and I HAD to be w/in 25yds to even score a hit. Now that I'm a grown up child, my "bb guns" have gotten a lot more accurate, and my pellet selection has gotten better as well. I usually hunt w/ two varieties of pellets in my pocket. For the majority of the shots, it's the JSB Exacts. For the closer shots or shots where I'm concerned about over-penetration, I grab one of the highly effective Beeman Crow Magnums (hollow point). Those suckers hit w/ the authority of a wadcutter, plus they expand at most velocities and hold a group better at 30+yds.
Good to see the Air forum getting some attention here. I've come to love my air rifles for the fact that I can shoot them in the back yard and not get a police escort out of town..(=

Well, I finally found one on sale at Bass Pro Shop. I got the RWS 34 in .22 cal with RWS350 Scope and rings for $210. The salesman let choose the best finish they had out of the six they had in stock. I brought it home, double checked all of the screws, and mounted the scope. I was expecting a junky scope but it is much better than I expected. It has a A/O and is super clear. It only took 11 pellets to get it sighted in dead on at 20 yards. Trigger is awesome, cocking is moderate and requires some strength. The power is the most impressive thing. I was making pine cones split in half! It didnt go through a 1 inch board though. I am shooting the RWS Superdome pellets that weigh 14.5 grams. I recoverd one that mushroomed out about double the original size (guestimation). All I have to say is "Squirrels, watch out!" It is not even comparable to my old crosman 66 in .177. I'll keep that one around for popping stray dogs in the butt.

I'm happy you're happy. Youir piece likely won't achieve max accuracy until you've shot it a while. I had to put three tins of 500 ea through mine. But then, a dime at 30 yards became no problem to hit. My RWS scope actually holds zero quite good.