Hey guys just wondering what u guys thought was the best pellet in 177 caliber for hunting raccoon?
Ed makes good point on a hard pellet for a skull like coons and possum.If you're talking smaller coons, urban bandits, (under 8lb), then you have enuff with 12-14FPE muzzle, at backyards under 25yds. It still takes a precise shot. Placement is Paramount, and yes I do it. For larger and Older Fatties, and "country coons" you are not gonna be successful. Better to have a buddy with a backup rifle, to finish the task...if you wanna try in the hunting party. I personally wouldn't let you shoot. You'd be undergunned IMO.
My "country bandits" reach 30 pounds. I have seen a 30 pounder go through my yard and was shocked at the fat it was carrying all around. It looked like a bear cub. It could not run fast at all, and looked like it had trouble even walking dragging its fat on the ground from every side of its body. About 4 of the coons I have shot were in 20-25lb range (I weighed them) with the biggest 25.2lbs. The majority (adults) of the ones I shot were 16-19lbs and were also pretty darn big or certainly above average, but that's the norm here. The only 8lb ones I have shot were youngsters, barely yearlings far from adulthood. Even the average adult Groundhog/woodchuck here is >10 pounds.Bottom line raccoons in the northern half of the country are bigger than those in the southern states.Harry
Better have an accurate and powerful rifle. At the very least 15 ft.lbs, and a accurate pellet that is 10+ grains at less than 25 yards. I like my .22 (16-21 ft.lbs ) better than my friends .177 Marauder ( ~28 ft.lbs Custom ) due to a larger pellet and more weight slamming in to the target. I know someone is going to rampage on me about how powerful the .177 really is. Honestly, here is how I compare it, you don't elk hunt with a .257, you don't deer hunt with a .223, and you don't moose hunt with a .270, so I personally don't coon hunt with anything less than a .22.
Quote from: jrhunter on January 05, 2014, 01:05:01 AMBetter have an accurate and powerful rifle. At the very least 15 ft.lbs, and a accurate pellet that is 10+ grains at less than 25 yards. I like my .22 (16-21 ft.lbs ) better than my friends .177 Marauder ( ~28 ft.lbs Custom ) due to a larger pellet and more weight slamming in to the target. I know someone is going to rampage on me about how powerful the .177 really is. Honestly, here is how I compare it, you don't elk hunt with a .257, you don't deer hunt with a .223, and you don't moose hunt with a .270, so I personally don't coon hunt with anything less than a .22. LOL.......for large critters penetration trumps caliber so I personally would prefer a .177 pellet that penetrates through the vitals than a .22 that won't....especially at the 15fpe power level you mentioned. With rib shots on coon or especially groundhog neither .177 or .22 will do the job quickly! Having rib shot a couple coons with .20 cal RamJet pellets when my R9 was tuned as you've mentioned I took a coon only by shooting under the chin so the pellet entered the brain from below since SEVERAL .20 rib shots didn't stop the coon at it was traveling over a high limb. A later coon was shot with the same gun while squirrel hunting but this time a pellet under the chin into the brain dropped it with one shot. In each case neither a .177, .20 OR .22 pellet would have made a difference with the rib shot, but a .177, .20 OR .22 pellet in the brain WILL drop a coon in it's tracks after a LOT of threshing around after it hits the ground!Hummmm.......concerning groundhogs, they're pretty easy to take with a .177 CP to the base of the ear but a pellet to the ribs won't even slow them down. Years ago I used to take my .308 Winchester on groundhog hunts using 180 grain round nose Speer slugs to practice for deer season when I lived in MD. I spotted one groundhog at roughly 50 yards and when taking an offhand shot at it a gust of wind blew the gun to the side as I was standing and I saw the crosshair on the side of the standing gh as the trigger was tripped. The gh was literally spun around and smacked to the ground with about 3000fpe of energy, yet it crawled 10 feet to get into it's hole. My father was raising silver foxes at the time and my brother and I would get the gh's and grind up the meat to supplement the foxes diet. I found my brother (those were late teen years before military duty) and we dug out the gh which was dead about 3 feet inside the burrow. Well....while traveling the 10 feet to get into the hole this gh literally left a few parts of "innerds" on the path due to the low right hit. LOL......NO NORMAL airgun (especially a springer) would have even slowed that gh down and it would have only led to a slow lingering death.......well, PERHAPS it would die.In WV I rib shot a squirrel from a bird feeder at about 20 yards using a .20 Silver Bear hollow point and to my surprise it simply ran up the tree and into the woods. A couple weeks later I shot a squirrel from the bird feeder and LOL....it had a relatively large scab on the rib from a .20 hollow point pellet that only penetrated the hide and one lung!Anywhoo......not dissing that a .22 that PENETRATES the vitals will drop a coon "better" than a .177 that PENETRATES the vitals, I'm only commenting that neither are very reliable for rib shots, but both are reliable for base of ear or back of head shots!
G-Hogs easy? They're a very tough body shot....as NCED posted. You might re-read it. Same with a possum or coon.The small difference in grains between most springer pellets doesn't do much in the "slamming" dept. on any body shot coon. 10-25g (no matter the caliber), just isn't much from a subsonic airgun. Even a little .22 short has much more than the airgun pellet...but it still isn't a sure bet for a body shot.
I know this thread kind of ended a while ago, but I thought you ought to know it may not be legal to shoot a coon with a .177; it depends on your state.