I thought this was a really well done experiment. But candidly I really don’t see the point. One of the rifles has a short barrel, one of the rifles has a long barrel. They both produce the same amount of energy, of course the 25 is going to penetrate further, I think we could’ve saved a lot of time and a couple of pieces of pork, And a couple pieces of wood. Your outcome was extremely predictable.
As far as hunting is concerned. The first time I ever shot a raccoon in the head, I was 12 feet with from it, with a 28 ft.² pound 22 caliber Theoben shooting 18 grain JSB. I hit him right between the eyes dead on at 12 feet. He grumbled and crawled off the deck and walked away.
I knew I had enough rifle, so I did some anatomy checking. And found out that the front of the skull right above the eyes is like an armor plating. The next time I shot him from the side, May be a bit behind the ear. He dropped like he was hit with a ton of cement.
if I take a switch barrel Airgun, and put a 17 caliber barrel on it shooting 20 foot pounds, when I change to 22 caliber it will be approximately 30 foot pounds. There’s really no question that on any kind of a beast , which one is going to perform better on dispatching game.
if you want to kill hogs with a 30 caliber by shooting them in the top of the skull, I would recommend over 100 foot pounds. Even with a pellet, I’m pretty darn sure it’s going to blast right through. You could test it out with your boards I guess. I know that with my eight year old unregulated Daystate wolverine, I’ve shot right through the body of raccoons that were 120 yards away. Big raccoons. Dead raccoons.
Again, it was a well-done experiment, not criticizing, I just don’t see the point.
Just FYI, I know I have owned at least a dozen 25 caliber airguns. I’ve only owned 4 30 caliber. I’ve done extensive testing shooting at ranges out 200 yards and beyond with both. And hunting.
30 caliber is going to perform way better with good shot placement on almost any big game. As long as you have appropriate foot pounds of power. Why would you degrade one with a shorter barrel?
If I had to choose between equal foot pounds 25, or 30, prior to your experiment, it would’ve been a no-brainer. The 25 is flatter, it’s going to be easier to hit what your shooting at, which means good shot placement.
For the original shot placement from lesson one, you didn’t have enough rifle. With a properly placed headshot, not trying to hit the armor plating on top, either one of your rifles would’ve knocked a hog down at 50 yards like he was hit with a ton of dynamite
my 10 cents
I would love to see the experiment redone with guns shooting the exact same amount of air, through similar barrel Lengths.
Not angry at all. I know you guys have access to more rifles than I do. Again, I just don’t understand the experiment.
Mike
My answer to your question above is, depends on how many foot pounds and at what speed you’re shooting each caliber rifle.
