Best .25 hunting round

[Mason_0890]

Hello everyone. I have a benjamin maurader in .25 cal I have the full hill kit in it. Currently I am using JSB King .25 25.39 grain. They are pin point accurate at to up to 120 yards (furthest distance I feel comfortable at the moment.) The thing is at 30 yards on up the pellets seem to just zip right through the jack rabbits leaving them mobile just long enough to get hidden. I've lost like 20% of the rabbits I've shot. But the ones I find a dispatched before I even get to them. This is a center mass shot.

I guess what I'm asking, is there a pellet that has more knockdown power and can still hit targets accurately at 120 yards. I was thinking JSB Heavys MKII which are 33.95 grains which should give me 50FPE at 800fps.

Any help will be appreciated! Thank you!

 

[Dan25]

You might try poly mags. From what I read they open up well but you might have to single feed them as they might be long for the magazine. Otherwise I would look at some of the hollow point offerings from H&N. My Benjie shoots the 25 gr. JSB at around 840 and does a number on large fox squirrels that are tough to kill.

 

[wyshadow]

Years ago when I use to own a 25 mrod, the poly mags were very accurate out to 50 yards. I was surprised.

 

[yalel]

Where did you hit the jack rabbits you lost ? In case you hit them between the bottom of the ear and the eyes no jack rabbit will move more than a few inch using the jsb pellets at any speed. The Shot placement is crucial though as it is in general with airgun hunting any sort of game. The .25 has even such impact that you can afford slightly less precize shot placement in comparison with smaller calibers and still have the jackrabbit “ anchored” but running of could in my opinion only be the case when shotplacement is really out of the killing zone . Be aware that the killing zone on such small animals ist mostly not over 1 inch.

An other thing is that there is no way that you shoot guaranteed in a hunting situation repeatedly in that small zone at that long distances you mention ( till 120 yards) .. I believe you are a good shooter but he.... stick to reality hunting distance with air rifles to 60-70 yards , hit the right spot and nothing will run off or hide anymore after being hit by your nice .25 gun 

dor rabbits or jack rabbits the amount of joules /fpe arriving at the killing zone with the standard jsb’s is still more than enough to make a clean kill if you keep yourself restricted to the distance I just mentioned. No more knockdown power needed dor this kind of anmals. Foxes , coyotes, small hogs... is an other story. If your gun can shoot the heavies ( or heavies mkII) with sufficient speed you never can go wrong I would say.. . As always use the right tools for the job.

just my 2 cents ....

 

[jwrabbit123]

HI I would like to say a rabbit can be killed quickly with 8fpe easily , Now you have 50fpe at muzzle a rabbit can be killed quickly at 8fpe ,

You said you have 50fpe this is about 940 fps with the 25.39 grain and at 120 yards where you shoot comfortably you still retaining about 20fpe so you have plenty of power , I like the Jsn25.39 for any 40fpe gun or less and I rather use the MK2 on a more powerful tune .

Both can kill rabbits easily if they are hit in brain like Yalel said the brain is a small target , is it possible you not hitting the vitals? with rabbits and squirrels they just bounce around a bit with head shots and it is nerves only with a lung with your power gun you can do body shots easily , If your gun was say lower powered and you shooting 120 yards then yes a poly mag is much better but can do meat damage ,

How far have you hit them with them unable to find? I prefer slugs for anything past 75 yard as they retain energy 10x better and less affected by wind .

A small amount off vitals the rabbit will hop away or in a hole and bleed out , I am going to say shots not in vital as well . LOU

 

[JimNM]

FWIW, I agree that it does not take much to kill a jack rabbit with a well placed shot. My little .22 P-rod has scored at over 55 yards with CPHP 14.3 pellets. 

Shot placement is king. A heart lung shot will knock them down in a matter of seconds. A neck/head shot will kill'em quickly. A disruption of the Central Nervous System can me made by hitting the spine or the brain with the pellet. Here the .25 has a solid advantage, being greater surface area compared to .22.

 

[Bigredhunter]

Ebay varmitknockers 33gr hp 25 cal

 

[alex2865]

U say u have a 25 mrod.i shoot the rat sniper slugs.out of my mrod.i would give those a try.alex

 

[BlackICE]

My my opinion a 25 for hunting rabbits any pellet if accurate will work. The key is shot location. A poorly aimed shot that doesn't hit the brain spinal column lungs or heart will be ineffective regardless of what type of pellet is used, conversely any pellet hitting those areas will be effective. Of course if you're using a powder burner like a 22/250 220 Swift you can hit them anywhere and they'll blow up.

 

[Makoda]

Polymags if your gun shoots them barracuda hunters are my favorite 

 

[Jammin22]

Try the H&N Grizzlies. That is what I mainly use for hunting. I do not like JSB pellets for hunting. The Grizzlies have great expansion quality and hit like a tank. Good luck.

 

[bdzjlz]

The H&N Baracuda Hunters are deadly accurate in my Air Arms S510s, grouping better than the JSB Kings at 80 yards, with terrific expansion. The Polymags just don't group that well beyond 50. As far as grouping, it is hard to beat the JSB King Heavys. I attached a photo of comparative groups for your review. And of course, as we all know, your gun may have different preferences.

Good luck.

 

[Guest]

25.4 JSB

 

[Hepotter]

Having a propensity to like max power in an airgun, I have had great accuracy and heavy duty impact with the H&N Sport Baracudas, that weigh in at 31.02 gr.

They fly true and hit hard. They have a dome shaped configuration, with perhaps a bit more "tip" on the dome than the JSB's...which are the gold standard to check against.

I read somewhere that JSB was coming out with a new configuration heavy pellet. It appears to be a cylinder with a hollow tip...I can't say I'm impressed...here's a link:

https://www.airgundepot.com/review-new-jsb-hunting-pellets-article.html



Here's a much better looking JSB product mentioned in another thread on this website. I wouldn't mind testing a few tins of these...I like the design, click on the pictures:

https://youtu.be/F5WNtTS8lHE?t=16

 

Now that's GOT to hurt on impact. I suspect those three appendages will rip off if fired with a .25 at high fpe!!!

 

[Mason_0890]

Thank you guys for all the responses. I will no longer shoot for center mass. I will now start going for neck and head shots, I think I will try the heavy grain JSBs as well. My accuracy with the baracuda hunters went to crap after 50 yards with my Srod. All the cotton tails I've shot from 30-100 yards have instantly gone down with a center mass it's just the Jack's I'm having issues with. 

On a side note those JSB Hades look awesome!! I'm still concerned though with the open top it might mess with accuracy but we will see.

Again thank you all for the help.

 

[Hotbrass]

Mason, try head shots. They work.

 

[cdog]

Yep use headshots or shoot for structure, through the shoulders to break them down so they don't go anywhere.