Is there a big difference in pellet drop between 177 and 22 cal

I would be curious to have folks add .20 cal to this discussion too, if the OP doesn't mind.

I have used the Hawke ChairGun APP to chart the trajectories for my HW95 and found that it is fairly accurate. Here is a link and you can tweak the parameters for whatever pellet, FPS & distance that you want to chart. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hawke.chairgun&hl=en&gl=US

Example of a ChairGun chart.

I think velocity and BC are more at play than trying to match pellet weight. The purple graph is my HW30 .177 with JSB 7.87 shooting 640fps. The green graph is my HW50 .22 shooting FTT’s at 615. Very similar POI’s

I agree. I think there's a misconception that traces back to choices one has to make when buying a spring piston gun. For a particular power plant, 22s will not have as flat a trajectory as a .177 because the .177 is going faster. If a spring piston gun can shoot the 22s at the same speed as the .177 and their shapes were similar their weight should make no difference at all. It's kind of like dropping objects off a building. Weight has no bearing in itself on how something drops and vertical motion is independent of horizontal motion.

I think a lot of the thinking around the .177 .22 debate is based on sub 12 or 16ftlbf, fixed power rifles.

For high powered use in tuneable guns

Take a 20g slug in .177 ( around 10mm long)

And a 

20g in .22 ( around 8mm long)

Both similar shape.

Shoot both at 900fps.

How much will the difference in BC effect drop.@ 50y

Yeah, this whole discussion that .177 caliber has a flatter trajectory stems from the limitations of the past....

Back when we only had springers, the .177 did indeed shoot faster than the .22, and therefore had a flatter trajectory.

Because the springer powerplant of a certain model was pretty much the same, whether you bought the gun in .177 or in .22.





Then, however, the PCP's arrived! And a .22 PCP comes with a lot more power than a .177. So, we CAN shoot a midweight (for caliber) pellet in .177 at 900fps, and we can shoot a midweight (for .22) pellet in .22 also at 900fps. No prob.

And the factor that makes a difference now is not weight between the .117 and the .22 pellet — but their drag — or in more useful terms, their ballistic coefficient (BC). And .22 pellets have hands down better BC than comparable .177. This results in slightly less drop at long ranges. And a lot less wind drift at any range.



This whole discussion that .177 caliber has a flatter trajectory also stems from the excessive limitations that the govnmt in certain countries arbitrarily subjects its citicens to. Like the 12FPE limit in the UK. Or the 6PFE limit in Germany. Again, because of this limit the .177 is especially attractive due to its flat trajectory.



God bless the USA and the freedom it offers its citizens.



Matthias