What size would you open up a .177 to ?
I'll start off by saying that I'm no expert on this, but just this morning I did open up the transfer ports on my .22 Kral. I went with a 0.164 inch (4.166 mm) drill and can confirm that in my rifle I'm getting 37 FPE now with JSB 18s and before I was getting about 31 fpe.
I realize this does not directly help to answer your question, but I think the answer will depend on your "needs"... I think we'll need more info to help you:
- What gun are you using
- What do you do with your gun (hunt, target shoot)?
- What pellet weight do you want to shoot and at what speed?
I think folks will want to see some baseline of what have now and you want to achieve before making specific recommendations!
Oh, you should definitely measure each port opening as part of your evaluation. For reference this what I started with on my Kral . 22 (I listed the smallest and largest ports with inch measurements.)
Transfer ports sizes: valve = 3.7 mm
power wheel = 3.46 mm (0.136 in)
block = 4.05 mm (0.159 in)
barrel = 3.8 mm
FWIW, if you take 80% of your .177 caliber you get about 0.142 in.
I think I read that 80% should be about your max port opening size. There are also considerations regarding how pellets load if you go to big...