Fast 177 or slow 22 for quiet windbucking?

its not going to matter much past 50 if its windy, anything up to id say 40 50g will be affected quite a bit .. fast is better period for trajectory .. and then theres energy, a 177 generally wont have much 'behind' on it past 50 if the target is large and hairy .. as far as noise, if its supressed well it wont be bad ...

For quiet, there is no substitute for lower velocity. I proved that to myself when I tuned my .177 HW100 down to under 12 fpe, shooting the 10.3 at 700 fps. It is virtually silent. And since this significantly adds to shot count, I think a lower tune is your answer, in either caliber. Windbucking and devastating terminal performance are not going to be present to any significant degree in either option, so I wouldn't consider them as meaningful. My low power .177 is my primary yard pesting tool, and it is fully adequate for squirrels at the limited distance I shoot, out to 35 yards or so.

Depends on what your shooting and distance. Out of .177 and .22 the .22 Redesigned Monsters have the best BC period. They'll have the best wind bucking ability. Unless you go to slugs. However those usually like higher speeds, not always but sometimes. If it was pure wind bucking I'd go with the slower .22 Redesigned Monsters.

The notion of a wind bucking air rifle with pellets is, at best, a bit of an illusion. My 12 fpe .177, shooting the 10 gr pellet at 700 fps will drift a little over 6 inches in a 10 mph crosswind at 50 yards. The monster .22 at 900 fps will drift a bit under 5 inches. So, the question is not whether you hit with one and miss with the other, but rather, which one misses by a smaller margin. If you are good enough to dope the wind with one, you can with the other also. But, for 99% of us, it's a miss with either one. So, I suggest that you find the combination that yields the noise and shot count you want, and then learn to shoot it. 

I agree with @elh0102, the fact is that the wind is always doing the bucking. Ive found through lots of shooting that any winds over 3mph will affect POI. Some very talented shooters, using great equipment and ammo combos, have shown incredible .177 groups at 100 yards. They are the exception, most shooters will have a hard time in the wind regardless of caliber, particularly as distance increases.

I think a lot has to do with the projectile your shooting. Lately I've been doing a lot of testing with different .177 slugs. They have been devastating on small critters out to 50 yards. Haven't tested past 50 yet. I've been running them between 920 - 980fps. I can use the same aim point at 25 through 50yrs with not much change of point of impact. They are also not affected by the wind as much as most 22 cal pellets. You can't do that with a slow moving 22. If your only shooting pellets than the 22 will do a bit better in the wind. As we all know it comes down to the shooters abilities as most guns shoot better than we can!

"To further complicate things add shot count to the wish list!"

Your last requisite seals the deal for .22 in such a big way that it makes the decision an unfair fight, even if that's your least important requisite.

Virtually any PCP platform will return more shots per charge in .22 than .177 at equal muzzle energy levels. But assuming the OP is comparing a higher muzzle-energy .177 to a lower muzzle-energy ..22 (as I interpret his post), the shot-count difference is not proportional to the muzzle-energy difference; rather, exponential. 

Virtually any PCP platform will return more shots per charge in .22 than .177 at equal muzzle energy levels.

Click to expand...

Here's a good example, Leshiy Classic, 16 joule tune in .22 and .177 cal

Many thanks for posting that excellent comparison, towle; since I was too lazy to explore cyberspace or my own records for such an excellent example of my statement, "Virtually any PCP platform will return more shots per charge in .22 than .177 at equal muzzle energy levels." But since you did what I was too lazy to do, I won't beat the dead horse of my other statement, "comparing a higher muzzle-energy .177 to a lower muzzle-energy ..22 (as I interpret his post), the shot-count difference is not proportional to the muzzle-energy difference; rather, exponential."

Correction- except to say, "Just... trust me!" (about that). 

Okay, I lied! Depending on how we interpret petronio's qualifier, "A hot 177 or slower 22?", towle's graphs are invaluable.

I neither consider a 700 FPS .177 particularly hot, nor a 600 FPS .22 particularly slow. So, considering the not particularly slow .22 returned about 25% more shots per charge than did the not particularly hot .177, I'd say it goes without saying that a SLOW .22 will indeed return exponentially higher shot-counts than a HOT .177... was it not for the fact I already said that. ;-)

So it's too late to not say it again. OOPS!

Thanks again, towle.