Dilemma..22cal or 25 cal

Well I wouldn’t know that without buying both. Let’s assume both equally accurate, same gun just different calibers. Why 25 over 22 or vice versa?

im looking at the hatsan 95. I just don’t know if that guns power plant is enough to justify 25. I can get a much heavier pellet in 25 but the velocity is going to go way down with a 25 to 30 gr pellet. Seems like way way down?
 
I have the 95 in all 3 calibers and they all delivers about the same energy, the 25 definitly has power to deliver, it loves polymags 26gr and H/N FTT 19,91gr, the 22 loves the H/N FTT also (don't think i have tried polymags in that one yet) the 177 loves crosman Premier HP 7.9gr and they all will stop any small game you want to hunt, I cant choose one over the other cause they all are so fun to shoot, but I shoot with the 25 the most.... wich reminds me i need to shoot with the 22 cause it's been a while...
 
.22 is a safer bet and as others say pellet choice is greater,I know some of the big magnum .25 springers can be hard to cock...like over 40lbs.

And as another poster said,it is the accuracy that counts....the British are limited in the power they can have=they have become great shooters and many will say the .177 is great for what they do.

I think the .25 is after you have the other calibers..just my opinion.
 
Magnum springers are more efficient in .22 cal than .177 cal. from my experience. The Sig asp20 in .22cal that I use to own would launch a 10 gr alloy pellet at 1040 fps. The same rifle in .177 cal shots 10 gr lead pellets at 920 fps. Same weight of pellet but 100+ fps more in .22 cal. For a Magnum springer for hunting I'd go with .22cal. It splits the difference between flat shooting and down range energy.
 
Not sure which I want. Which is goin to have more hitting power at say 30 yards. A 20 gr pellet leaving the muzzle at 625 FPS or a 14 gr pellet going 800?? What do you guys think. I want something the most effective for small game.

Springer/ram I would choose the .22 - .25 comes into it's own in very large springers and PCP's; it's practical use is on animals such as large racoons, chucks and opossum. Trajectory or drop will be much improved with the .22 which is a major concern if you are shooting much beyond 30 yards.

https://www.straightshooters.com/weihrauch-hw90-.25-beech.html
 
If your talking squirrels, rabbits, and small game birds I'd go .22cal. More pellet choices and flatter shooting.

This.

I'd say .177 with heavier pellets would be more than adequate for such but I'm personally biased. I have lots of .177's, a few .22's, and nothing .25 or larger.

I actually agree, but he titled it 22 vs 25.
 
My HW 95 in .25 came in today. Had 7 different types of pellets to try but it only liked one out of these and it shoots them pretty good. Predator GTO 16.54gr are the ticket so far. Got some more coming in to try out but I’ll be happy shooting the Predators.

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How well the .25 performs depends on the rifle, but also is influenced greatly by the shooter and mostly by what it's being shot at, but in the general sense the .25 cal. doesn't have allot going for it, 1, pellet choice is not that great, availability on a local level (Small gun shops, Walmart, Dick's, Tractor Supply, all carry BB's, .177 and .22 cal. pellets, no .25 cal.) you have to get them on line and if you expect to use the rifle in a survival situation you'd best stock some pellets away because you probably won't find any foraging fo.r ammo.

2, .25 cal. pellets do carry more energy than .177 and .22 cal. at shorter 20 yd. ranges, but they loose velocity rapidly, loss of velocity equates to loss of energy, bigger is not always better, on the other hand when down range accuracy and retained energy the .22 cal. is a better choice than the .177 which suffers from the same loss of energy as the .25 cal. but for a different reason, pellet weight and mass makes it loose energy more quickly and the ,177 mass is more affected by wind.

3, So, is the .22 cal. the better choice over the .177 cal., well, maybe not, some would argue that the .20 cal. (5mm) is a better choice over both, the .20 cal. is generally heavier than the .177 making it more stable, has more mass than the .177 giving it more energy retention down range, but doesn't loose velocity as much as the .22 cal.

4, Well, wouldn't the same hold true for the .25 over the .22 cal., the short answer is no, the .20 cal. holds it's velocity, stability, better than the .177 or the .22 cal., and it holds it's energy better long range than .22 and .25, since 5mm is still making a come back not many makes and models are available to choose from, my suggestion would be to go with the .22 cal., if that doesn't work for you my other suggestion is don't break the bank on a high end .25 cal. rifle, I've heard good things about the Hatsan 1000X, and the price is right at about $129.99.

Good luck with your search. 👍