.25 vs .22 - Any downside to .25?

.25 has more drag and higher ballistic arc.

.25 uses more air.

.25 has fewer pellet choices.



I shoot both .25 and .22. love em both. 

I was in the same boat as you a while ago and decided on the .22cal and ordered a bunch of the .25gr redesigned JSB pellets. When I was messing around with Strelok Pro they showed pretty good performance. The rest will be up to me to practice and learn the art of longer distance shooting.

Just a thought: instead of going for a whole new rifle and caliber, why not give .177 slugs a shot? NSA makes them, among others, and they promise everything you're looking for. 

I own...too many air rifles (PCPs). Of those I only have three .22 calibers. The majority of my guns are .25 cals. However, for my limited range -- 50 yards, at best -- the .22 caliber is what I use most. I view the .22 as more versatile than my .25 calibers. I'm able to use it for target-shooting, plinking and pesting. In fact, I took out this large raccoon sitting atop my backyard fence at ~40 yards. This minor feat was accomplished with an FX Impact .22 caliber, pushing the JSB Exact Redesigned Monster 25.39 gr. at 965 fps.

If I ever went hunting or pesting at 100 yard and farther, I would use this .22 cal. Impact and the FX Hybrid slugs (22 gr.), for more stability beyond 50 yards. I believe the .22 caliber is capable of getting the job done.



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I own several Brococks including a Sniper HR and for the price paid I would strongly recommend a 22 or 25 Daystate Renegade HPs high power which is a far superior gun. I own 3 Renegades 2 HR Huma Regulated and a HP. They are much better guns IMHO. I think the Brococks tho good are priced much higher than they should be and am willing to bet that the Daystate Renegade HP high power will be more accurate. YO!

I'm looking for maximum accuracy and minimum wind drift at 100 yards or more. Currently looking at a Brocock Sniper HR as I can get one of for a pretty decent price and I think it solves the issues I have with the Concept Lite.

So that said, what would be the best choice? .25 or .22?

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What’s the best choice is arguable. You could go with the .22 Sniper HP or a .25 Sniper HR. You need to define with a number what you consider maximum accuracy at 100 yards. 1” groups, 1 1/2” groups? Wind drift will be determine by the BC of whatever projectiles your sending down range and the wind on any particular day. The larger calibers tend to group better I don’t believe there are many serious competitors using the .22 at 100 yard events like EBR. That said with my .22 Bantam HR my best groups to date at 104 yards range from 1-1/2” to 1-3/4” sending JSB 18s. I believe I can do better but need idea conditions and better technique. I have some JSB 25.39 Redesigns on the way. Looking to see what they might do at 100 yards over the 18s. 


Bottom line: you need to seek out the best groups being consistently shot by the best shooters at that 100 distance. Make note of which caliber they using that suits your criteria and off you go. Good luck!

Well.........poop.......choices.

Hunting small game I like .25 cal.Calm days I love .22 shooting 18 plus grains at 900 fps.

.25 I like 900fps so if cost of ammo was no concern.......25 all day.

But since my guns love Cheap.22 cal crosman premier hollow points at $7 per 500 rounds.

.22 is my favorite.

.25 cost too much for fun.

Hunting........25 cal 

If you are looking for little drift to the wind at long distance .25

If you are looking for little drift to the wind at long distance .25

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Not so simple, a HP .22 with heavier pellets or slugs can be viable. Little drift in the wind? That would depend on the strength of said wind on any particular day. A .25 might drift less or not, lots of variables at play. The OP needs to boil down in numbers what it is he’s looking for as far as accuracy at a 100 yards. Then he can start to focus on gun/ammo/scope combos that will get him what he wants. No matter the gun, shooting MOA or sub MOA 5-shot groups at 100 yards consistently, is not as easy or repeatable as some would have you believe. Outdoor conditions and the shooter are big parts of that equation. 

For wind drift and BC in general the larger caliber will always beat the smaller caliber. Same is true with slugs over pellets.

The negative is higher cost per shot and lower shots per fill.

It seems my experience is a little different than some here. In my testing the 22 Monster Redesign had as good of bc as the King Heavies and very close to the 30 cal 50 gn. It was better than the Kings or 44 gn 30 cal. The 22 MRd's like the 970 to 980 area of velocity though. So this is my breakdown:

1. 30 cal 50 gn - most air use and most expense

2. 25 cal 33.4s- very high air use at 890-900 fps and high expense

3. 22 call 25.4s - high air use at 980 fps , a little less expense

4. 30 cal 44 gn - very high air use and high expense- best below 900

5. 25 cal 25.4s - much better air use and similar expense to the 22 MRd's - best below 900

6. 177 cal 16.1s - much less air use than the above and less expense than any of the above at 980 fps

7. 22 cal 18 gn - similar air use and expense to the 177, 16 gn, best below 900

Keep in mind... the top 3 are very close in bc so for me it's a matter of less air, noise, expense , and behavior. Fairly good jump to 4 in bc and by 7 it's a significant jump. Also, these aren't the only pellets so Baracudas , for instance, might fall in there within this list. I just don't have as many for significant testing and they haven't proven as accurate on the whole. Also keep in mind this is all testing with DS LW poly barrels. Others may yield different results. For instance, direct comparison of my Crown X in 25 cal w Kings to my DS Hp 25 w ART barrel yielded a significant (barely) difference in bc in favor of the ART but the King Heavies yielded a more significant difference in favor of the ART. To muddy the water a bit though , the Crown couldn't achieve the same power level so this has an effect as well.

So, everyone may have a different result or opinion , but these have led me to really enjoy the 177 w 16s out to about 75 yds virtually unmatched and my 22 w 25.4s beyond that. In comparing w a friends 30 cal EVOL w 50s , I actually had less wind hold at 220 and 289 in the same conditions but seem to remember he had more hits on the 289.

Bob

OK, this got me thinking... how much would I end up spending in a year if I shot 3500 pellets per year? Here are some common pellets I have shot with various guns through out recent years. 

Pricing are all shipped from PA (with typical discounts there):

• JSB .25 Kings (4 tins of 350) $59.26 / 1400 = 4.2 cents/pellet x 3500 pellets = $147
• JSB .25 MKII Heavy (4 tins of 300) $59.26 / 1200 = 4.9 cents/pellet x 3500 pellets = $171
• H&N .25 Baracuda (4 tins of 150) $29.56 / 600 = 4.9 cents/pellet x 3500 pellets = $171
• JSB .22 Jumbo Heavy (4 tins of 500) $59.26 / 2000 = 3.0 cents/pellet x 3500 pellets = $105
• JSB .22 Beast Jumbo (4 tins of 150) $43.06 / 600 = 7.2 cents/pellet x 3500 pellets = $252
• Crosman .22 Premiere (4 tins of 500) $34.85 / 2000 = 1.7 cents/pellet x 3500 pellets = $59.50

And if you bought a bunch at the same time i.e. JSB kings (12 tins), the price drops a bit down to 4 cents/pellet. You would end up with 4200 pellets for $168 so buying more at a time can save some $$$.

BTW, I had a Kral that shot the .22 jsb beasts really, really well. But the cost was just... well... beastly.

I think you could not go wrong in either caliber. In essence, .22 is a more cost effective caliber to shoot. All my PCP’s are .22 now (had .25) but realized that with a good powerful .22, power is close to .25 with heavier pellets and with .22 having the largest selection of pellets and slugs made it a no brainer for me personally. Tuning to shoot efficiently makes .22 more back yard friendly if need be. I had a Compatto and Regal in .22 both taking starlings out to 100yds, both 30ft/lb guns depends on your wants/needs. I now have a couple of .22 Raptor’s that are 60ft/lb guns that fit my wants/needs. It’s important to fit the gun to your wants/needs and affordability.

Don’t forget .25 cal Air Arms 25.4gr (Just JSB’s)

(4 tins of 350) $47.97 / 1400 = 3.4 cents/pellet x 3500 = $120

Glad both of my .25 cals shoot them as well or better than the over priced JSB’s. That extra $3 a tin drives me crazy. Just wish AA would sell the 34gr for cheap too.