25 vs 30 cal, which is more accurate?

I know theses tons of thread about 25 vs 30 cal. Stating 30 cal will cost more to shoot, have more energy, use more air to push it, make more noises. Blah blah. So I made this thread simply to ask one question only. Which is more accurate at long range. Meaning 100, 150, 200, 250 yards so on. Which will make the tightest group? I keep seeing folks saying 30 cal is way more accurate than 25. And will beat 25 cal any day, any time. Is that true? Say both guns are the same, ie the impact. Which would be able to hit a honey bee at 150 yards? Some will say get both. Well to change from 25 to 30 cost $400. And who wants to keep changing barrel and then have to rezero each time. So one gun only and only one gun. Who is the champ? If bigger cal mean more accurate then why aren't people going 50 cal with all their guns? Just a thought.
 
People are retarded. Here is what I think. 30 cal can be more accurate.... Sometimes. 30 cal is heavier so a 30 and a 25 going the same speed means the 30 will buck the wind better. Its to hard to explain but you should read about ballistic coefficient and what your pellets do after leaving your barrel. A 25 cal with better bc will actually drop less over long distance than a 30 with crappy bc. This takes time to figure out and often you must account for the power your gun is putting out, wind conditions, bc, barrel twist, barrel harmonics, temperature, elevation, barometric pressure etc. Generally a 30 can have some advantages but not always. Get what you like and if you hunt in severe wind I would suggest a 30.if not get the 25. Shoot my 22 out shoots my 25 some of the time. 
 
.30 caliber is better, owned a RAW HP putting out 60 FPE with 34gr pellets, can’t touch the groups that my MKII .30 cal is printing.. 83 FPE from 44 grain pellets. 

.30 cal isn’t more expensive either, good lord.. buy pellets from field supply. The vortex pellets are JSB pellets under a different name and can be had for $11 a tin when on sale. 

If you want better BC get into slugs and get a .22 you’ll be fine out to 300 yards. Oh but wait there’s more, go .25, .30, and .257 and gets way better with slugs. 

Matt
 
If the BC of whatever projectile was the exact same from a 25 and 30 caliber, as well as the velocity, the trade off would be more energy on target for the 30 and more expense. The windage and the drop would be the same.

If the BC were higher in the 25 than the 30 and driven 100 fps faster, then windage and drop would favor the 25. Or the inverse.

I know that when my friend and I were shooting his Redwolf in 22 with JSB Beast's and I was shooting my 25 with 33's, it was easier for him to connect at our 200M chicken. His projectile was faster and had a higher BC. At 100Y we're neck and neck or close to it.

My expensive 22rf averages .8" at 100Y and that same chicken is easy to hit, if there's little wind I would never miss, not so with both our air rifles. That's the difference a .15 BC at 1100 fps vs a .05 BC at 900 fps for the air rifles. 

There's so much that can happen at distance! Sometimes a certain pellet will fall apart at a certain point whereas another will sail on.

If I needed the energy of the 30 cal for hunting or whatever I'd pick the 30 cal, otherwise I prefer 25, more in the magazine and a little cheaper to shoot. 

Accuracy at distance, as far as the ability to connect, can be as simple as "this barrel, likes this pellet, at this speed" and some barrels just will shoot well vs some just don't, regardless of projectile.

Say a guy buys slugs, with a significantly higher BC, but the rifle won't shoot them well with the proper twist barrel, vs the pellet barrel that shoots the pellets well, the extra BC of the slug becomes meaningless.

There are those that buy test barrels, or larger quantities of barrels, that try each one with their favored projectiles to find the most perfect combo to eek out the most accuracy, unfair I'll tell yuh!! 

Open ended question then??!! What's the most accurate at what distance?

The farther away I shoot I tend to grab the rifle out of the safe that works the best to match the distance I'm attempting and don't try to make something that isn't.... I want challenge but I don't want frustration...

If you want to shoot 3000Y you shoot a huge cartridge like a 416 Barret not a 223, right?!

It's all relative...


 
  • Like
Reactions: Centercut
Hi ashes, are you suggesting pellets will come down in price once slugs become more availible?

Hi Spray1Mark

Yes, Slugs will bring more competition and more choices to the market. Myself if slugs got down to 10 cents a round (hopefull) I would invest in a slug barrel or buy a gun setup for slugs. I think more people would shoot a lot of slugs if you weren't putting out 1 dollar a round. That would put more pressure on the JSB style pellets. 30 cal. is coming down in price now more companies are offering them.