.22 vs .25 meat damage

[Elgreco]

Hello All,

Assuming that you are hunting pigeons, squirrels etc.for consumption, what is the meat damage comparison between the two with body shots?

 

[nervoustrig]

Right about 29.1% more for .25cal

Assuming we are comparing the same head type, velocity, and alloy. But make the .25 a dome and the .22 a wadcutter and the .22 will generally leave the meat in worse shape.

 

[Guest]

On quail my .25 can do roughly %60 more damage with a HP slug, maybe more. I stick to the .22





Thanks for reminding me quail season is over...(playing moonlight sonata sad music now)

 

[Elgreco]

Ok,

I feel more confident with my caliber choice now. I mostly hunt smaller animals and I want to keep as much meat as I can. 

 

[Guest]

.22 will do nearly any animal in. Plus way more pellet and slug options 

 

[qball]

Ok,

I feel more confident with my caliber choice now. I mostly hunt smaller animals and I want to keep as much meat as I can.

best way is head shots, granted it’s not always possible. If you setup bait stations then they will give you plenty of time to put a pellet right between the eyes. 

 

[Airgun-hobbyist]

If you want a clean kill and less meat damage it would be good to look at something with a shallower hollow point. A domed pellet will obviously do the job without as much traumatic shock and a lot of times are way more accurate than slugs for head shots at close range to loose even less meat.

 

[LostinTejas]

Three one hundredths of an inch. We are talking 800-900 fps round. If you get expansion, maybe a little more. Hitting them in the head and you lose nothing unless you like brains, but then you wouldn't head shoot them.

You won't get a pattern of shocked meat, even in a squirrel.

 

[SDellinger]

I've eaten many pigeons,doves, and squirrels with 25 and 22 caliber holes in them. Couldn't tell the difference. 

 

[davidsng]

Your splitting hairs. A .22 hades does way more damage that a .25 jsb Diablo. Is it really going into make a difference that matters? If shot them with .22 to .30. Sometimes a .22 will do less damage, but you may loose a pigeon or two. All that meat is lost.

 

[Pysiths]

For squirrels not that much. Body shot for me is heart/lung in the rib cage area behind the shoulder and there no meat lost unless you like mini ribs. If you hit the shoulder with ether caliber, you're losing both shoulders/upper body to damage..

 

[JungleShooter]

I like shooting ferals....

No matter the overkill caliber, no matter the excessive impact energy: 

No meat lost. Ever. — Just another pest, pestering humans.



And that I find good.

Matthias



PS: And yes, I do shoot for meat as well. Different story.

 

[Beezer]

Personally, I would go for head shots if I was eating meat from a small animal as long as I was using lead pellets. Do not want the lead residue in the meat. H&N makes the Rund Kugeln round ball that is copper coated that gets rid of lead residue issues in meat, but my Lonestar does not shoot them accurately. If I was only going after very small animals like squirrels, quail, rabbits, pigeons, doves, etc., and doing only head shots, then I would use a high powered .177 cal and heavy pellets with a high BC for accurate long distance shots.

I am more worried about the lead toxicity that affects me than the meat damage the pellet will cause to an animal, if the pellet is hitting any meat I would be consuming. Take it from a guy that had to be detoxed from mercury he got in dental fillings. In a heart/lung shot on a mule deer, I get rid of the heart and lungs as it is full of lead fragments from my expanding soft nosed bullets, with up to half or more of the lead gone from the recovered bullet. Lead free pellets should be used if going for body shots on small animals you intend to eat.