Pellet or slug? Overkill or ethical?

[Cantona256]

“it’s the same”.

No.
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The first 2 are a .216 20.2 NSA shot at 955fps

The 3rd is a VK 16 shot at 875

The last are a .216 JSB knockout 25.39 mk II (smaller one) and .217 Knockout 27.55. Shot at 885 and 845 respectively


The VK was recovered from a chipmunk.

Expansion matters!!

 

[SciueraPlumbea]

Expansion matters!!

So does wind resistance.

shooting a 15gr slug with a bc of .078+ is a lot easier to put on target than a 16.2gr pellet at the same speed with a BC of .035

 

[Cantona256]

It's all the same mostly. I shot rabbits most of my life with a 600 fps 22 shooting crow magnums and they fell over like cards and the pellet passed thru. I've shot rabbits with 23 grain slugs at 1000 fps. It's the same results except the back stop is a bigger worry. Shooting them with 25 cal crow mags is slightly different.

Also short answer no. Pellets that I like are hades, polymags, crow mags(if your gun will shoot them). If you have a gun that can send your pellets actually as fast as you say and it's not the advertising numbers, hybrid slugs do have a dramatic effect because of how they're built and how they dump energy. On the critters ur shooting I haven't seen a big enough terminal performance to justify their cost.

So does wind resistance.

shooting a 15gr slug with a bc of .078+ is a lot easier to put on target than a 16.2gr pellet at the same speed with a BC of .035

Completely agree. The wind is why I shoot slugs to begin with. Where I live it’s always windy….

But it shocks me that I still these these types of debates. Both pellets v. Slugs and “what caliber is the best?” And then I see the responses and wonder how many people responding actually hunt on a regular basis? The answer to both question is actually really simple:

1) the best choice is always “whatever gun you shoot the most accurately and consistency.” The shooter makes the gun. The gun is just the tool.

2) it’s not about caliber or pellets vs slugs… IT’S ABOUT ENERGY TRANSFER. If your pellet or slug is pass through (at reasonable ranges of course) you’re using the wrong ammo. It can definitely be effective but hear me out. If you pass through you are leaving FPE on the table and then you have to worry about your backstop and stuff like that. But that’s universal y’all if you have 50fpe and passing through then you’re not delivering 50fpe on target…. Im shooting at 65fpe… and I hunt squirrels all the way up to coyotes. With doves, rabbits and other things in between. I’m shooting a 32gr slug at 965-970. I only get pass throughs if I’m shooting squirrels at less than 40 yards which is extremely rare for me…I don’t need 65fpe for squirrels but when I hit them they rarely take a single step. Just lay there and twitch because they if my shot isn’t perfect all of that energy is being dumped into the squirrel by decelerating that slug. Whether it’s a pellet of slug does not matter. It’s just the energy transfer.