So why is it harder to drive a .22 (25.4gr very heavy pellet for caliber) at 1000 vs a .25 (25.4gr average to light pellet for caliber) at 1000? I can probably get close to 1000 with the kings in .25 but I can't shoot a monster in .22 at that speed with the same gun, same length of barrel, same reg pressure, same hammer spring its harder to drive a heavy pellet for the caliber than it is a light pellet for a step up in caliber. I think its a surface area of the back of the pellet vs weight calculation Matt can probably explain better.
It's easier for a gun to do your example in .25.
There are many factors that go into how a certain projectile performs.
I was trying to answer the OP original question.
Given the unknown of the amount of air being used it is difficult to determine what makes one pellet perform better than another.
Now depending on the set values of a certain gun. If the gun in question at it's optimum peak to propel a .22 cal 25,4 gr pellet to 800 fps. that same gun by only changing the barrel caliber cannot build up the required pressure to volume ratio, because of the larger volume.
But if a gun was pushing more air volume then the lenght of barrel could perform. And was wasting air after the pellet has left the barrel in a .22 cal. Then YES! It would do better in a larger caliber because of the coefficient friction in the barrel due to the larger caliber and potentially gain more FPS. But these are factors that in eeverey set up is always different.
The Optimum tune for that caliber will not perform as well in another caliber. (Has to do with PSI, air volume, lenght of barrel etc.....)
So depending from which facet of the diamond you are looking at this problem then it could go both ways.
BUT!
If the weight of the pellet and the FPS are the same it wouldn't matter what caliber it was. The FPE would essentially be the same just as it leaves the barrel.
I think we're coming at this question from different angles.
Both of the theroies/answers have validity, but it would depend on many other unknown factors with the set up in question.
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