177 or 22 ?

I recommend the .22 It will give you better accuracy in the wind over longer distances and more energy for pesting. Ignore the pellet speed claims, they are usually exaggerated and +1000 FPS speeds will be less accurate anyway.

If your main objective is bird pesting go with the .177. flatter shooting and pellets are cheaper. A nice shooting .177 zeroed at 35 yds one mildot should cover you out to 50 yds. The main thing is get in the game. Don't sweat the .177 .22 debate. Soon you will have a closet full. Don't know many Airgunwerks with only one gun. Happy shooting.

Please do yourself a favor. If it's small birds out to 50 yards, save for a HW, Diana/RWS, any used tuned rifle from a good guy here.

I started with a Gamo after my initial Crosman days. Twanged & shook every scope loose or broke. My RWS 48 John in PA tuned rifle puts hole in hole rested on porch rail w/ CPHP's and great with JSB domes out to 100 if no wind or you can read it.

Please do yourself a favor. If it's small birds out to 50 yards, save for a HW, Diana/RWS, any used tuned rifle from a good guy here.

I started with a Gamo after my initial Crosman days. Twanged & shook every scope loose or broke. My RWS 48 John in PA tuned rifle puts hole in hole rested on porch rail w/ CPHP's and great with JSB domes out to 100 if no wind or you can read it.



good advice right there!

There used to be a saying 117 for feathers and 22 for fur..... I prefer the 117 it has a flatter trajectory i will say ive hit birds really solid and heard the Whack and watched them fly off with the 22 but not so much with the 117 If you can get just the riffle then buy a scope to go with it is usually better than the scope that comes in a combo kit. The Hammers 3-9x32AO or 3-9x40AO is a good inexspensive way to go.......I'm sure you'll end up with atleast one in each caliber

22 will cover all your pesting needs.

A few decades ago when living in West Virginia I started with .177 cal HW springers (.177 HW50, .177 Beeman R10, .177 HW77k, .177 Beeman R9) which were used for general plinking, pest control and squirrel hunting. The "skinny pellet" worked well but then I bought into the "fat pellet mo gooder hype" and bought a .20 R9. I used that .20 R9 for about a year and was rather disappointed that the larger .20 cal dome pellet didn't drop a tree squirrel any quicker than a .177 dome with "through the vitals hits" and .20 pellets that missed the vitals weren't any better than a .177 that missed the vitals. Then I bought a .22 cal R1 barrel, sent it off to be "chopped and choked" for use with my R9 and used it for six months and finding that it wasn't any better than the .20 when it comes to dropping squirrels. I ended up selling both the .20 & .22 replacing both with .177 never to look back!

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised because in my "rimfire for squirrels days" I had more than a couple take a 100+fps double lung hit and still travel several feet to get into it's "tree hole".

On one particular WV squirrel hunt with my brother we were stalking down a trial in the woods, taking turns shooting the squirrels we saw within range. I was using my .177 R10 and my brother was using his .22 rimfire with high speed short hollow point ammo. Those 29 grain short hollow points checked out at 1000-1100 fps and about 70fpe (not very consistent velocity) when shot over the chrony. We came upon a squirrel in the path 20 yards away and it was my brothers turn to take a shot so he offhanded the squirrel. The squirrel straight up into the air with the shot making a mad dash into the woods. I was laughing and commented to my brother "chuck a rock next time" thinking he missed. Well, that squirrel ran 10 yards to the base of a large oak tree, started to climb the trunk, then fell off dead after climbing about 3 feet! Retrieving the squirrel we found that the .22 hollowpoint was perfectly placed through the ribs and the exit hole was large enough to put a finger through. When cleaning the squirrels taken that day we noted that the "double lunged squirrel" also had the top half of the heart removed by the .22 hollowpoint. LOL....if a squirrel can take that kind of ".22 rimfire fpe" and still travel several feet with a double lung hit then I really don't think it matters much if hit with a piddly <10fpe from a .22 cal pellet.

When hunting squirrels in WV, out to my 30 yard zero distance using a R9 springer I didn't notice a "nickels difference" which cal I used, but past my zero distance the larger pellets definitely were a disadvantage with my R9 class springers due to the loopy trajectory. Using a 30 yard zero with the .177 cal barrel I could reliably brain a squirrel at 40 yards. Misjudging the distance a couple yards wasn't too critical, however with either the .20 or .22 cal pellet mis judging the distance by a couple yards was a wounded or missed squirrel.

My personal opinion based on shooting .20 & .22 cal pellets from my R9.....if you want to use the "fat pellets" get a PCP!

I have a Diana 48 in .22 and a RWS 34 in .177. The 48 will push H&N FTT 14.66 gr 807 fps, 10 shot average. The 34 will push H&N FTT 8.64 gr 854 fps, 10 shot average. I've killed birds with both and I prefer to shoot the 34. The 48 is a hammer and for anything past 35 yards (pesting) I prefer it.

I bought a 177 pcp recently and I love it.

The 177 shoots very flat ( less drop).

More pellets are in each tin.

The 177 uses less air. ( huge advantage) / Less recoil...

The report / noise is much less..

The 177 pellets are little bit harder to load when you have "fat fingers." 

The 177 has plenty of energy to kill birds. It also does not generally frighten others birds when the pellet impacts your target. ( that was the main reason I bought the 177)

I do prefer 22 cal for squirrels past 35-40 yrds.. ( if I don't hit a vital/s)

Also, the 22 will buck the wind better.. But its fun to figure the wind and hold for it..

Good luck!!!

When all is said and done, it comes down to how much do you wanna spend? I recently bought Crosman's brand new GuideHawk NP .177 ultra magnum from Midway USA on their clearance page for $70! And this is a nitro piston Remington look-alike that Crosman site wants $249.99 for, Midway's regular price (after 4th) is $199.99. Very good, solid wood-n-steel rifle that came with a Centerpoint 3-9x32 mildot scope on what looks like Hawke mounts on a welded Weaver rail. Just like the Benjamin Trails.





Then there's the Hatsan Striker 1000x .22 I also got from Midway USA on ale for $95.99. Came with crap Optima 3-9x32 scope,, which I immediately replaced with a Hammers 3-9x32AO mildot scope I'd already ordered from amazon seller Treadpro. Good German steel barrel and isn't overly pellet-picky. The springer like this one can still be had cheap if you look around. I shot hole-in-a-hole at 25yds with CPHP's 14.3gr. 5-6 shot group that could fit in a dime at that range too.





And, if you like vintage air rifles, then something like this Crosman 66AB Powermaster would do for birds and other small pest species, They can be had for around $60 on eBay auctions, Amazon, etc. This one has a Optima 3-9x32 scope on mid rise Hawke mounts. A good young adult-sized .177cal pump pester.





Also, if you might fancy Co2, there's the Umarex Fusion .177cal. Not very expensive, shoots well and at respectable velocities for $140 to $150. Co2 gas tube cap needs replacing with metal Archer upgrade cap that doesn't leak Co2 or get stuck because of old seal materials used in the Umarex cap.



The Fusion stock looks a bit different now, but internally, it's undoubtedly the same. A few choices I have personal experience with...

I shoot .177 only. 12 chipmunks, 2 starlings, and 2 red squitrels this year so far. All of my shots are withing 35 to 40 yards. .177 will knock them down at shorter ranges. If your going to air it out then .22 is the way to go.

All the rifles I showed are .177, or can be had in that caliber and still look like those shown. As a matter of fact, the only one that isn't .177 is the Striker 1000x in .22. Which can also be had in .177 and .25, springer or vortex. you can also get the Striker in a 1000s, which is the black plastic stock, but I don't recommend it.

One thing to mind, is the smaller the pellet the harder it is to handle with wet or cold fingers. If you have thick fingers or have lost sensitivity in your digits, the .177 will be harder to handle.

I prefer .177. I have repetitive motion injury to both hands. I have issues with both .177 and .22 pellets. The pellet pens help when my hands are in particularly bad shape. 

which caliber did you end up ordering?