Today I was removing some pests from the yard. After collecting one of the birds though, I found something that intrigued me. There was a hole in the back of the bird, the pellet did a complete passthrough. Now you should know this was center mass from 30 yards away, with a 730 ft/s .22. So I performed an autopsy. The pellet had no problem going through the breast bone and out the back. Now this made me start to think a few years ago when I got my first pellet gun. It was a daisy 880 with a cheap 2-7x20 on it. It only shot about 580 ft/s with 7.8 grain daisy wadcutter pellets. Once again I shot a starling from 30 yards away. The pellet hit him center mass and also had a complete passthrough. This time though, the pellet only hit with 2.9 fpe, the .22 pellet from today hit with 11.8 fpe. Remembering this made me wonder, what is the minimum energy for a guaranteed kill on small a small bird? What thoughts do you have about minimum energy requirements on small game?
Minimum energy for humane kills on small game
- Thread starter SpringerRay
- Start date
Smaller birds are like shooting through paper. Barely even slows down the pellet down. It is all about making a good shot at effective range. When I was a young kid we used to shoot small birds with a daisy red rider and it worked pretty good at close distance. I wouldn't do it now of course... I don't think there is a guaranteed FPE kill. There is over kill but that is better than being under powered. It is more about accuracy and shooting vitals. But I wouldn't use a rifle to dispatch furry animals much less than 11 or 12 FPE at the muzzle. Maybe less for small birds at close range. JMO
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You never know. Sometimes, pigeons drop dead at 25 yards when hit with my .177 with just 10 FPE at the muzzle. This said, I've hit pigeons at 50 feet with my .25 with over 40 FPE, and end up shooting them 2 or 3 more times. As mentioned, it all depends on where you hit them.
The subject of ethical power levels comes up from time to time, and always garners deeply-thought comments on both ends of the argument. But lets face it, if we really were thinking only about ethics, we wouldn't be hunting at all! Further, one has to juxtapose ethics against starving to death, and that is one argument no one will EVER win!
The subject of ethical power levels comes up from time to time, and always garners deeply-thought comments on both ends of the argument. But lets face it, if we really were thinking only about ethics, we wouldn't be hunting at all! Further, one has to juxtapose ethics against starving to death, and that is one argument no one will EVER win!
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12fpe is max in England without a FAC. They take rabbits all kinds of distances among other 4 legged critters like fox. Shot placement is key even more so with lower energies. With foul any body shot will equal death, as lungs and heart are all squeezed into same small place along with the rest of vitals. I hit a crow at 20 yards body shot. He fell off branch, wacked himself on the metal shed roof and landed on the ground. He was alive then still but died in less than a minute. I got another from 49 yards and he was dead before he hit the ground. Body shot, but heart. I lost sleep over neither. 30fpe .22 on each.
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Dont go under 10fpe. Use hunting pellets. Pellets have two behaviors Ive been attempting to quantify - punch vs pierce.
Punch being the size of the entry point diameter, relative to the depth of penetration. Pierce being the inverse of that.
To pierce, the pellet transfers very little energy to the target. All the energy is directed forward - think Superman flying with one fist forward.
To punch, a pellet directs its energy perpendicular to the vector of travel. Think of a train plowing through snow
Target pellets have a high piercing factor, where making a well-defined, round hole is desirable, not shredding it up and tearing one hole into a neighboring hole. Hunting pellets divide the energy up between parallel and perpendicular components, and perform a balancing act between impact and penetration.
All this to say, 10fpe is suffient enough to make the pellet choice less important, but, to be honest, pellet selection is far more important than energy.
Punch being the size of the entry point diameter, relative to the depth of penetration. Pierce being the inverse of that.
To pierce, the pellet transfers very little energy to the target. All the energy is directed forward - think Superman flying with one fist forward.
To punch, a pellet directs its energy perpendicular to the vector of travel. Think of a train plowing through snow
Target pellets have a high piercing factor, where making a well-defined, round hole is desirable, not shredding it up and tearing one hole into a neighboring hole. Hunting pellets divide the energy up between parallel and perpendicular components, and perform a balancing act between impact and penetration.
All this to say, 10fpe is suffient enough to make the pellet choice less important, but, to be honest, pellet selection is far more important than energy.
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If you read this article and do the math, 9fpe seems to be the recommendation, at a range which allows you to maintain accuracy.
http://www.pyramydair.com/article/Airgun_Hunting_April_2012/83
http://www.pyramydair.com/article/Airgun_Hunting_April_2012/83
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I had my P-rod set at over 6fpe with CPHP and shot a squire about 4feet away between the eyes and at ground level, gun was literally a few inches off the ground, and it left a bald spot but didn't break the skin. Several seconds later blood came out it's nose but it didn't behave any differently. So I just lifted the thing that it was hiding under and let my dog at it. Left a few bite marks on my pooch but he killed it pretty quickly. Now I upped it to about 10fpe. and going for body shots instead. Reason why I had it so low is for indoor ratting and don't want to damage the building if missed or have too much of a pass thru if any.
The CPHP actually is more accurate above 500fps then below. Before it was about 450fps now it is about 550fps. Zero at 10meters w/red dot.
The CPHP actually is more accurate above 500fps then below. Before it was about 450fps now it is about 550fps. Zero at 10meters w/red dot.
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