.25 CAL VS .30 CAL !!!!

You really need a reason to have a 30 it's not a plinker. I have a 25 impact and I love it but its an expensive plinker. I was hoping to get some hunting in yet this year.
​I also have a wildcat and marauder 22. great for light hunting and plinking . 30 will raise your shooting to a dime a shot or so. 25 is a nickel and 22 is about 3 cents.
​PLUS AIR. Lots of air on a 30. however, its all in the want.

Well Keyman, I wonder where you buy your pellets? I shoot mostly with my .25 caliber guns, and I buy from 25.4 grain AirArms from Pyramyd. They're $15.99 for a tin of 350, and I buy 3 but get 4. That figures out to less than 4¢ per shot. This doesn't include the wear and tear on the compressor and/or gun obviously. As for the air used, that does relate to less shots per fill, but it isn't all that significant for a bottled airgun.

I LOVE the .30. Have had a few off and on the last 2 years and some .25s and I just find the .30s to be better for hunting and seem to be more consistent pellet wise. 

I say the 30 cal is into 22LR territory, why not consider that without the hassle of large air consumption?

How about the bc and how they buck the wind ? This to me would make plinking and hunting more accurate . I have only owned 25's but was wondering if it would be worth getting the 30 barrel for my impact , so on windy days I can still hit the dimes plinking ? 

DOES the 30 buck the wind better?

Neither really but .25 if I had to. 
Less going on in the rifle that way and more like an airgun than a PBer.

.177 is where it is at for learning/practice/varmint dispatch/safety/cost/other. I have owned and do own "bigbores" but as soon as we find the last one a new home it's .177 and perhaps a .22 or two for cheating at ranges over 100.

Learn the wind or shoot powder.

John

My biggest concern with a .30 has always been pellet availability, as in PA has them on back order except for polymags and cast bullets.

I've seen 25's on backorder as well . I think we need better explained answers !

I prefer to push the heavy .25 cal JSB 33.95 MKII’s as fast as I accurately can. I have them shooting 920 in my WAR Flex which gives me 64 ft lbs of energy, 48 shots, and a very flat trajectory out to 120 yards or so. They print consistent 1” or smaller groups at 100 yards. This is enough power to hunt anything I want and enough shots per fill for most all of my hunting trips. I have the 30 cal barrel but rarely use it because in order to get the 44.75 or 50 grain 30 cal pellets to fly as flat as the 33.95 .25 cal, I only get around 20 shots. For me, .25 is a do it all caliber for when I need more than a 40 ft lb .22 cal. 

Makes good sense, especially if you can get your .25 to perform like the WAR. Another thing I think needs to be mentioned is that the price of a 300 tin of .25 is the same as the price of a 150 tin of .30. So the .30, in addition to using more air, costs twice as much per pellet. Not saying I don't like the .30, since I have a .30 FX Bobcat Mk2, shooting 44.75 gr at 880 fps for 77 fpe, but SocalTrail makes good sense... I don't think the game we hunt with these two calibers knows the difference between 64 or 77 fpe when hit.

Hvack the last time I checked there were well over twenty .25 pellets being offered by PA and three .30 pellets with two of them back ordered. Does that explain it to you clearly enough?

And the .30 caliber pellets are back in stock already! 

And How many manufacturers make .30s, and how available are they compared to .25s? You can even order .25s in not only ammo but airguns too from Walmart. Why do you think it was big news when H&N decided to make a .30 barracuda? My point is that .25s are a lot more available than .30s in any venue you chose, and .25 airguns along with .25 ammo will always be more plentiful than .30 airguns or ammo based on cost of ammo alone. 

Does that mean I will never own a .30? Shoot no there are some fine .30 airguns out there, but they will never out number my .25s, which presently stands at four with a hard look right now at a Streamline .25. In the words of a Marvel comic book, “Nuff said”.

I own a .25 Marauder and a .30 FX Boss, and even though at times I have seen my favorite pellets for both be out of stock, I have never personally had to stop shooting because I was out of pellets. Worrying about pellets going out of stock is a non-issue as there will always be some shop, some where that has them still in stock!

For the OP - On any give day I can chose to shoot any of the numerous air rifles I own. From a Benjamin 347, to a Daystate .177 AirWolfe MCT, to a Benjamin 342 to two different FX .22 rifles to a Benjamin Marauder .25, or a .30 FX Boss. My two favorite rifles to shoot are the .22 FX Independence and .30 FX Boss. I shoot around 60,000 rounds a year and I never worry about pellets going out of stock.

Overall, just buy the caliber rifle which you expect will meet your intended needs. Please do not hesitate to send me a PM if you have any questions.

"AirGunShooter"I own a .25 Marauder and a .30 FX Boss, and even though at times I have seen my favorite pellets for both be out of stock, I have never personally had to stop shooting because I was out of pellets. Worrying about pellets going out of stock is a non-issue as there will always be some shop, some where that has them still in stock!

For the OP - On any give day I can chose to shoot any of the numerous air rifles I own. From a Benjamin 347, to a Daystate .177 AirWolfe MCT, to a Benjamin 342 to two different FX .22 rifles to a Benjamin Marauder .25, or a .30 FX Boss. My two favorite rifles to shoot are the .22 FX Independence and .30 FX Boss. I shoot around 60,000 rounds a year and I never worry about pellets going out of stock.

Overall, just buy the caliber rifle which you expect will meet your intended needs. Please do not hesitate to send me a PM if you have any questions.

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Here is a good example for you KEV , on how it should be explain and cleared up !!!!!! LOL

 Hvack I thought we were talking .25 vs .30 cal. Anyway I may have been influenced towards a .25 when I looked to purchase a FX Boss in 2015 and could not find any .30 cal ammo available at PA where I usually buy pellets. Instead I bought a RAW 1000X .25 over the Boss based on the ammo availability at the time. You may own several RAWs or may not have ever shot one. I don’t know, but if you have then you can imagine how a .25 became a favorite caliber of mine because of the RAW and .25 availability at the time.

Hvack on a side bar since you seem to quote AGShooter often, I did PM him to invite him to shoot anytime he is in my area. Someone who shoots 60000 shots a year probably has some insight into airguns that would be interesting. To quote your favorite quotee, “Please do not hesitate to send me a PM if you have any questions”. Hopefully you have found the murr, murr, murr amusing. LOL and a quote you will be using the rest of your life,”Nuff Said”.

If the target doesn’t bleed, stick to .177 and .22. Paper doesnt bleed, and there are vastly more pellets to play with in those calibers.

But if it bleeds, go higher, especially if the target animal’s weight has more pounds than your gun’s footpounds. 

My .02 worth.
for long distance target (100 yards) the .30 is the way to go. The wind does not sway the 30 nearly as much as the 25.

I bought a .25 FX Royale but sold it to get a .30.
shorter distance (25 meter and 50 yard) I use my .22 air rifle.

yes the 30 is twice the cost to shoot than a .25, but the whole time I had the 25 I was still wanting a 30. I would rather spend more on pellets than want for more gun.