Which caliber for racoons, groundhogs?

Not an expert but I'm a fan of .25. It is just much bigger than .22 and normally the gun pushing it will have more power. Also it can be a little more forgiving if you are off some with your placement. 

Your .22 is enough gun with a head shot at 10 to 20 yards. I have taken red and gray fox, raccoons, ground hogs and opossum all with a .22 HW100 out to 45 yards. What you may be looking for is an excuse to buy a bigger gun. Ha-ha wink, wink.

The Compatto has the same power output in either .22 or .25 at around 30 ft/lb. Your .22 will do the job as indicated with a well placed shot. I have seen Jim Chapman (American Airgun Hunter) take small hogs with the .22 Compatto in his videos!

Thurmond

I've tanken a chuck at 60yrd with a 25cal headshot. I've also take. A chuck at 30 feet with a 177, but I wouldn't shoot at one past 30 with anything less than a 25. I shot the one at 60 with a jsb 25grn and went through one side of the skull and only cracked the other. Honestly their tough little bastards and it high risk of injuring and not recovering down a hole, so a well placed shot is crucial

I had a raccoon problem a couple of years ago. Adult coons are tough and I found harder pellets like H&N and ploymags penetrated a lot better than the softer JSB's. I have had 22 cal JSB 18.1 shooting 32 fpe bounce off adult raccoons. The 22 cal H&N 21.14 grain shooting 32 fpe penetrate adult coons every time. 

Video is my buddy shooting a 25 Edgun at 45+ fpe. The first pellet is a JSB 25.4 at 915 fps. 2nd pellet was a polymag 26 grain at 910 fps.

For adult raccoon I recommend 30+ fpe and use a hard pellet or slug. Same for groundhogs. 

Sam63. Where the coons killed over bait? We deer hunt in Arkansas in Feb and put out 20 corn feeders . We get pictures of 5 or 6 coons at the same feeder a lot. The deer are afraid of the coons and the coons get a lot of the corn. I will try a 30 cal this coming season on the coons. 

Ground Hogs , .177 at 18fpe and 40 or so yards, lights out oneshot clean kills. Can be much harder to get the same shot on a raccoon but it certainly works.
John

I have shot about 300 plus groundhogs with various air rifles mostly in .22 caliber and about 50 last year with my new .25 caliber Wildcat. The main thing you need is the ability to penetrate the skull and get into the brain for a kill shot. Penetration requires harder lead pellets or heavier pellets of a combination of each. For my Condor in .22 caliber I use the 32,4 grain Eun Jin Pointed pellet. In my Talon SS in .22 caliber I use the H&N or Beeman Kodiak 21.12 grains, which is made of harder lead and has excellent penetration. In my FX Wildcat the heavy JSB's at 33.95 grains do the trick. I limit my shots with the TalonSS to about 35 yards because of its power. With the Condor or Wildcat I usually limit shots to about 50 yards because of accuracy in the field, unless the conditions are calm and I got a good set-up then I might stretch it to about 70 yards. Airgun Bill

I like my 30 cal 78 ft lbs of energy with a jsb 50.15 grn takes away all the guessing out to 75 yds. 10 shot groups in not much more than a groundhogs eye!

You will love the .25 w/ JSB King Heavies MKII. They have amazing flat drop, (prob most accurate), and really high energy. 

Some really good information thus far. 22 is certainly enough to take coons, but your shot placement will have to be better. That shouldn't be too much of an issue when you're within 20 yards, though. I personally prefer .25 because you have something with a higher BC and more FPE, providing more solid (more ethical?) hits. Here's a list of some pros about each.

.22 Pros:
Higher shot count
Tends to be quieter (uses less air)
Ammo more readily available and cheaper

.25 Pros
More accurate at longer ranges
More energy being transferred (More forgiving if shot is not perfect)

I shot 5 coons at 25 yds with my AA S510 carbine in .22 cal regulated down to 15 fpe. They all dropped dead from the tree. A 30 fpe .22 is way more power than needed and all you need is correct shot placement which shouldnt be to hard at 20 yds or less. If you cant hit the mark at 20 yds or less then dont take the shot even with a .25.

"Sam63"I had a raccoon problem a couple of years ago. Adult coons are tough and I found harder pellets like H&N and ploymags penetrated a lot better than the softer JSB's. I have had 22 cal JSB 18.1 shooting 32 fpe bounce off adult raccoons. The 22 cal H&N 21.14 grain shooting 32 fpe penetrate adult coons every time. 

Video is my buddy shooting a 25 Edgun at 45+ fpe. The first pellet is a JSB 25.4 at 915 fps. 2nd pellet was a polymag 26 grain at 910 fps.

For adult raccoon I recommend 30+ fpe and use a hard pellet or slug. Same for groundhogs. 

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Damn did you make a coat with all them coons?

"Clyde"I found this on the Hard Air Magazine site. It is just an estimation from Brocock and is not gospel. I would have thought the .25 callwould have more energy than the .22 Cal. 
Since I will only be shooting in my back yard at a Max distance of 20 yards, I will see what happens with what I have. I "zeroed" this at 20 yards using JSB 15.8gr pellets.
Thanks for all the input.

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it's a joke the .25 is less energy then a .22

Got three groundhogs last night with my WildCat 22 18.3 jsb one at 35 yards one at 45 yd and 1 @ 80 yards all head shots you don't need a 25 all you got to do is hit him in the head but I'm amazed cuz I wondered about that too

The answers abound. I take coons at 53y's with .25 jsb heavies mkii at 52 ft/lbs from muzzle. Never move from spot with head shots. I took a large ground hog at 85Y's and he never moved from his spot. FX Bobcat used. So you have lots of choices here. Enjoy your choice.

I had to take care of a couple of groundhogs last month to save our garden. Took both at a little over 40 yards with my .25 Impact and JSB Heavies. Both were a complete pass-through.... both stopped in their tracks and didn't move again. I would recommend any accurate .25 shooting heavies at 850 fps or better. I'e had equal success with my .25 Cricket and .25 Marauder (which has been modded to higher power). I don't have any hunting experience with .22 but a lot of guys hunt successfully with them.....and of course, I would say no problem with .30 cal and higher to answer your question.

I haven't seen a pest walk away after I tagged them with my condor ss using 33 grain 25 cal