Have .25 caliber Airguns Lost their shine?

[qball]

Can you define “fair” and “challenging”?
And also what do you recommend I use?
Crow

With .25 hades at even 650FPS it was just execution even with a bad shot placement. I had a bad gut shot and the nutter had 4 inches of intestine hanging outside, it jumped and froze in pain which made the follow up shot very easy. They hardly move after getting hit by .25 hades in my personal experience, very effective on squirrels but I feel kinda bad. I’ve switched to 10fpe 177 so now I need to be on point with my shot placement. Fortunately with practices from FT, I’m getting pretty good at it even with lowly 177 or no need for .25 knock down power.

 

[otis1016]

With all I am learning through places like this I found a first gen Gauntlet in the classifieds here. Not the most high end rifle but it’s worth what I paid and the scope was more than the rifle. It’s different than anything else I have and I like it so another .25 is a good possibility. Not that I need another rifle but need has nothing to do with it.

Rick H.

 

[crowski]

With .25 hades at even 650FPS it was just execution even with a bad shot placement. I had a bad gut shot and the nutter had 4 inches of intestine hanging outside, it jumped and froze in pain which made the follow up shot very easy. They hardly move after getting hit by .25 hades in my personal experience, very effective on squirrels not I feel kinda bad. I’ve switched to 10fpe 177 so now I need to be on point with my shot placement. Fortunately with practices from FT, I’m getting pretty good at it even with lowly 177 or no need for .25 knock down power.

If I remember correctly my 77 and 97 shot rounds of 15.89 or Hades 560 fps, .25 is not my favourite cal.for squirrels but occasionally I’ll use my 77 or 97. I can stack rounds with either up to 35 yds. Most the time for Nutters I’m 20-30 yds. away. Every 77 and 97 kill was one shot.
Never grazed a squirrel. Shot placement or no go I’m patient he’ll be back.
I don’t know how you can blame a gun for your mistake. Grazing could happen with any cal.
‘Sorry but I just don’t get your point on your original jab. Crow

 

[Hearkens]

The new 25 jsb king heavies have a .061 bc and competition accuracy in the impact superior barrel. Deadly on doves & starlings past 150 yards. Solid performer!

 

[delooper]

I don't think counting calibres in the classifieds has any hope to tell you about popularity of calibres. Perhaps 0.25 shooters are more frugal, selling one 0.25 and buying one or two others? A lot of 0.25 cals in classified tells you there's some people selling, but it does not tell you what people are buying.

Myself, I mostly just shoot 0.22. It does everything I need my pellet gun to do, and it's nice and cheap. I do have some 0.30 cal barrels for my gun, but I've yet to use them.

 

[qball]

If I remember correctly my 77 and 97 shot rounds of 15.89 or Hades 560 fps, .25 is not my favourite cal.for squirrels but occasionally I’ll use my 77 or 97. I can stack rounds with either up to 35 yds. Most the time for Nutters I’m 20-30 yds. away. Every 77 and 97 kill was one shot.
Never grazed a squirrel. Shot placement or no go I’m patient he’ll be back.
I don’t know how you can blame a gun for your mistake. Grazing could happen with any cal.
‘Sorry but I just don’t get your point on your original jab. Crow

Not blaming anything, obviously bad shot was me and .25 bowling ball made sure it didn’t go far. It’s is a good thing generally speaking. I’m just saying I feel little bad about way over kill…..again, not a bad thing. I shoot 177 low power for the challenge and now that I’m better I really don’t miss in my yard unless it moves at the last second but I’m more patient now too so chances of that is low to none. Another way to put it is I’ve gotten good enough to not needing the knock down power of .25. Not a dig at the caliber, more or less tongue and cheek “gripe” about it being too effective. Plus I live in suburbia invaded by Bay Area people so 10 FPE 177 is safer and stupid quiet.


However, for my high power slug guns I’m migrating back to .25 cal right now after getting bored with .22 cal slugs. Again, .25 is a better caliber for slugs too!

 

[Keyman62421]

25 has the pop that only a few 22' s have without the 30 cal price. Every time I think of 22 I get out my wildcat ( so stinking accurate that I'm stunned, but without the " pop") I settle back onto my 25' s. Same with 30. Just so close to rim fire and even 9mm now. Can't go that way for every day shooting.

 

[Hal4son]

There was a time when .25 was a heavy weight choice. If it has lost some shine it's because it is now a middleground caliber.

 

[baloo]

I love .25 for hunting and long range I personally don’t care for .177

I do like my .22 mostly because I can go to any sport store and get pellets if I need to

that’s the biggest drawback on the .25 very very few big box stores carry pellets that size

FOR ME, 177 has no practical use. .22 ok, but I like the .25. I have more .25’s then any other caliber. Has not lost its shine with me. I would think that you are seeing so many .25’s for sale because it’s so popular a caliber, so many out there.

 

[Buttonz28]

I love my .25’s the smack they make with a slug on pigeons is next to none . I use .177 and .22 a lot for inside of barns . The winds around me are alway present and when stretching the yardage the bc of .25 always comes through.

 

[rally2]

I started going with the .25 because it seemed the pellets came in better shape. Many of the .22 were always damaged in the tin. Tried ordering from many different places with the same results. The .25 pellets and .30 pellets were always straight and not beat up.

Thanks,

Jeremy

 

[mhstill01]

I just feel that the .25 makes the most sense as a do it all gun. It’s not too big and loud, it’s not much more expensive to shoot than other small bores, and it’s a solid performer for target shooting or hunting.

 

[Texan1023SC]

Seems to be a lot of 25 caliber air guns in the classifieds now and very few 22 or 177 caliber airguns. What’s up?

Seems to be a lot of 25 caliber air guns in the classifieds now and very few 22 or 177 caliber airguns. What’s up?

Seems to be a lot of 25 caliber air guns in the classifieds now and very few 22 or 177 caliber airguns. What’s up?

I still have my Benjamin Maurader .25 & absolutely love it. It’s quiet, accurate and absolutely beautiful. I think there’s a movement to have higher caliber airguns on hand as weapons… but this isn’t entirely realistic for so many reasons.

 

[JimD]

I have 5 PCPs and 2 are 25s. I need 22 or 177s for the state game lands in my state. So I bought a P35 in each caliber a few months ago. Before that I had 2 25s and a 22 (Prod). I shot 18 squirrels on private land last year with the P35 in 25 caliber. I shoot 20 grain FTTs at about 870 fps. 15 of the kills were pass throughs. One that was not was shot through both shoulders and dropped. The other two were shot lengthwise and ran less than 20 feet. None of the pass throughs ran. I am quite impressed with the lethality of my 25s but I need more data on the higher power P35-22 I just got and the P35-177. I will be surprised if the 25 isn't a bit better at stopping squirrels quickly than the 22 or 177, however. With proper shot placement I am confident any of them will work fine.

For cheap shooting the P35-177 works best. 22 pellets don't seem much cheaper than 25s unless you shoot Crosmans. They are too light for my P35-22 at it's as-received tune. The P35-177 likes them but seems to do a little better with H&N Baracuda Match (also the favorite of the P35-22). I also like the fact that I get about 100 shots per fill on my 177, that's almost double the 22 and 25.

I have no plans to get rid of either of my 25s. Caliber of next gun will be influenced by how the 22 and 177 do on the squirrels this year.

 

[Raden1943]

If I could only have one airgun it would be a 25 primarily because I pest and hunt alot. However I love plinking too which makes 177 great. I think the 25 is the best gun for hunters. 22 is great for people who plink and hunt. 177 is perfect for people who plink and occasionally hunt. They all have a place but it depends on how you need the gun to preform. When I started getting back into airguns the long range competition guys were really using alot of 25 cal and 30 and now with slugs I see alot more videos of guys using 22 cal again. So in those circles perhaps 25 has become less mandatory due to new ammo selections. Fads come and go but I bet my grandkids will be using 25 years from now. The 25 is still shining IMO

 

[dizzums]

.25 ammo costs alot but it starts getting serious with .25 if the goal is hitting something hard ... check out this 40y hit on 3/16 aluminum from my modded mrod, 34 jsb @ ~910 .. its next to some .22 and .17 hits .. sent it downrange about 20yds and took the top off the pvc pipe it was sitting on with it lol ..'serious power' ..

 

[Sc0-]

.25 pellet cost is more, so reserved for larger vermin or longer target distances.
.22 is pretty effective for most reasonable ranges and purposes to include BR shooting.

Have one switch barrel rifle, prefer it in .22 for most everything but if possums, coons, or nutrias are mentioned then the .25 barrel goes on. Working on a second switch barrel rifle for .22/.25. .177 for plinking, targets, or small vermin up to rabbit. I just prefer the larger whack of the. 22 for hunting and wind doping.

 

[Bullseyes777]

I have just one .25 cal gun. Benjamin Marauder .25 PCP. Super accurate and powerful. Got rid of two large foxes that kept sabotaging my neighbor’s chicken farm. Rid my property of annoying squirrels that kept getting into my roof and attics. Clean shot each and every time.

 

[steve-l]

I love .25 for hunting and long range I personally don’t care for .177

I do like my .22 mostly because I can go to any sport store and get pellets if I need to

that’s the biggest drawback on the .25 very very few big box stores carry pellets that size

The solution is mail order. Try it, you'll like it and you get the best prices and availability. On the thread note. Energy is mass times speed. Air guns are speed limited. If you need energy at distance, you need more mass. The .25's are a very good compromise. I really like mine.

 

[MartinT]

Another possible thing to consider is when shooting a semi auto airgun. One tends to shoot so much more pellets with a semi than with a single action airgun (at least I do, and I figure not to be the only one in that respect …) So when I got a Leshiy2 in .25 I eventually “downgraded” it to a .22 as the cost with .25 pellets was really getting out of hand, (and that was even before the recent price increase of the past 6 months…) So .22 is much more economical. (150 shots extra per tin for same price if you use JSBs)

By that same standard the .177 of course wins them all, but i find the handling of those little pesky pellets not ideal when needing to fill them in magazines in copious amounts. Bigger is better in that regard!

So for semi auto the .22 is IMO the best trade off between cost and handling. (Especially when buying the CPHP tins of 500 for $6.24+tax each on Amazon! A steal really, only thing is they need a good wash (and lube) to get rid of all the lead dust and small pieces of production chafings that are in abundance in each tin. And I also found out empirically that when ordering them on Amazon, go 5 tins max per separate order. When you order 10 at the same time the bottoms of the tins get all nicked and dented through their individual plastic and carton back blister pack as it seems the total weight is just too much to cope when stacked loosely together in a brown cardboard box.


My 2 cents… (which equals only half a .25 JSB pellet and nearly 2 CPHP .22’s!). …See what I did there…