Ask just about any fire arm hunter about the .308 and they will say it is a good deer gun. Unfortunately I cannot help but wonder if in an effort to attract those same guys that knows what a .308 is as far as firearms that air rifle manufactures hasn't perhaps stepped out of bounds coming out with this caliber air rifle as a viable deer hunter.
At 1100 FPS this is only 268 FPE out of the muzzle for a 100 grain bullet and from what I can find about the largest gr weight bullet available is 150gr.
Now don't get me wrong I know some of you guys could shoot and kill a deer with a .25 but we are talking about manufactures trying to bring firearm hunters over to the air rifle side by offering them a caliber of rifle they recognize as a deer hunting rifle. Ask any of those same firearm hunters where the best place is to shoot a deer and they will most likely reply boilerplate. and worse yet ask them at what range and some will reply 250 300 yards
I come from a Black Powder deer hunting background and even for my .50 BP I use a .45 in a sabot because it seems to dump more of the energy into my target than a .50 does at least when deer are concerned. In the same issue as an Air Rifle Black Powder rounds do not travel fast enough to provide hydrostatic shock damage but instead relies on expansion of the bullet and kinetic energy dump into the chest cavity along with of course penetration to damage vital organs. I do not know the proper term of it but when I say Kinetic Energy Dump what I am talking about is the absorption of the bullet mass by the organs, Even the organs that are not directly pierced by the bullet are punched and blood vessels are torn away causing more blood loss. Blood Loss is the primary goal in hunting with Big Bore Air Rifles, Black Powder Rifles, and Archery whereas in firearms in many cases the animal can expire from the actual shock of the impact.
The actual boilerplate kill zone is about half as large for air gun, black powder, and archery hunting as it is for fire arms because of that lack of hydrostatic shock. By Kill Zone shot I am talking about an animal normally expiring within 30 to 40 yards of being hit.
Add this to the fact that a .308 has less mass and therefor will loose more energy down range than that of a heavier massed bullet is the .308 a viable deer hunting air rifle?
At 1100 FPS this is only 268 FPE out of the muzzle for a 100 grain bullet and from what I can find about the largest gr weight bullet available is 150gr.
Now don't get me wrong I know some of you guys could shoot and kill a deer with a .25 but we are talking about manufactures trying to bring firearm hunters over to the air rifle side by offering them a caliber of rifle they recognize as a deer hunting rifle. Ask any of those same firearm hunters where the best place is to shoot a deer and they will most likely reply boilerplate. and worse yet ask them at what range and some will reply 250 300 yards
I come from a Black Powder deer hunting background and even for my .50 BP I use a .45 in a sabot because it seems to dump more of the energy into my target than a .50 does at least when deer are concerned. In the same issue as an Air Rifle Black Powder rounds do not travel fast enough to provide hydrostatic shock damage but instead relies on expansion of the bullet and kinetic energy dump into the chest cavity along with of course penetration to damage vital organs. I do not know the proper term of it but when I say Kinetic Energy Dump what I am talking about is the absorption of the bullet mass by the organs, Even the organs that are not directly pierced by the bullet are punched and blood vessels are torn away causing more blood loss. Blood Loss is the primary goal in hunting with Big Bore Air Rifles, Black Powder Rifles, and Archery whereas in firearms in many cases the animal can expire from the actual shock of the impact.
The actual boilerplate kill zone is about half as large for air gun, black powder, and archery hunting as it is for fire arms because of that lack of hydrostatic shock. By Kill Zone shot I am talking about an animal normally expiring within 30 to 40 yards of being hit.
Add this to the fact that a .308 has less mass and therefor will loose more energy down range than that of a heavier massed bullet is the .308 a viable deer hunting air rifle?
