💢 Talk me into KEEPING a .25cal PCP! — What does .25cal do that .22cal can't?

[JungleShooter]

Seriously: 
 💢 Talk me into KEEPING a .25cal PCP!   

What does .25cal do that .22cal can't?​


I wanted a gun that trashes the feral pigeons in a spectacular manner. 

But no hollow point or slug I have tried — even at 60+ FPE — could accomplish that. 

So, now I have a .25cal P2 Prophet II Compact Performance
with 500mm RPB [slug] barrel —
and I wonder what I should use this gun for....

➠  ❓ What does my .25cal do that my .22cal P1
Prophet I Compact Performance
with 400mm CZ barrel
does not...?
 
 
Help me out — am I missing something?   
 
Maybe I AM missing something — because I have noted a lot of airgunners that buy
compact .25cal PCPs.



➊
Pigeons out to 100y:
Both P1 and P2 shoot with precision, and they shoot slugs. Dead is dead. 


➋
Bigger game:
In Peru we don't get to shoot much bigger game than ducks, hares, and vizcachas:
Both P1 and P2 would kill them fine. Dead is dead. 


➌
Long range shooting — say 200y:
The P1 will do OK out to 100y. 
On my first try the P2 did a pretty good group with ATP Smooth slugs.
But the 500 compact barrel seems a limitation.... 


➍ 
Better BC:
What surprised me is that .25cal pellets usually don't have a better BC than .22cal pellets (the .25 Heavy dome at 33.95gr being the exception). 
So, no big advantage there.... 


➎
What am I forgetting? 🤔


❓ What does my .25cal do that my .22cal does not...?
 
Thanks, 😊

Matthias
 

[21grains]

  WACK  That's what a .25 does !!! .....Franky

[sb327]

If you are thinking you might have sellers remorse, get a probe, mag and barrel in  .25 for the P1 before selling the P2.

I’ve had .25’s but don’t now. My 22’s do everything I want.

Good luck in your decision!
Dave

[Mr.P]

.25 pellets are durable and easy to load
Easier to cast .25 than .22

[mobilehomer]

More expense for basically the same result.

[Xraycer]

A bigger hole!

[Habanero69er]

Those .22, 25G, JSB Ultra Shocks leave really big holes & carry plenty of weight to dump energy into prey.

[triggertreat]

Those JSB MKII 33.95gr blew open a couple of squirrels at 75 yards the last time I used my .25 cal.  tuned to 55 FPE.  It was kinda grewsome and shocking to see.  I use my .25 or .30 cal for more retained energy at the longer ranges.  My .22 wasn't doing the trick is how got into the larger calibers.  This because my .22 is best tuned for the 18.3gr.

[avator]

I have an AV Avenger and a Hatsan 1KV break barrel in .25.
I cast 250 27 HF pellets and the AV loves them... the 1KV, not so much. It likes 24 - 25 gr production pellets.
I don't hunt but I do pest fur and feather.
I am strongly considering selling the 1KV mainly due to the cost of the ammo it likes. If the AV didn't shoot my cast pellets accurately like it does I would sell that gun along with the mold.
I get my lead free from a buddy that owns a tire shop.
On the other hand.. not much puts a school boy smile on my face like the sound of a 27gr hunk of lead smacking a steel target at 40+ fpe.

[JimD]

I've been a bit surprised that my P35-22 drops squirrels as well as my P35-25.  They used to be tuned to the same fpe, about 32.  The 22 would penetrate deeper but the 25 made a bigger hole.  Both normally shoot through a squirrel.  More recently I put a power plenum on the 25 and retuned it to about 50 fpe.  I have not shot any animal with it since.  But if I see an adult raccoon it is the gun I would reach for.  I killed a little one with the 22 but I am more confident that the greater power and penetration of the 25.  I suspect a wider hole would be more important on a larger animal.

For head shots I doubt it make a difference how big the hole is.  177 seems to work fine and drop them just as quickly on brain shots.  Body shots seem to take a few second longer to drop them with a 177.  I think you can have success with a high power 22 on some pretty large animals if you restrict yourself to well positioned brain shots. 

My P35-22 cannot reasonably reach 50 fpe or more, even with a larger plenum.  It's regulator has to be about 135 bar to get to 32 fpe.  The hammer spring won't open the valve past 150 bar.  Might not make it all the way to 150 bar.  My other higher power 22 is my Caiman.  It makes low 30s easily with a regulator setting of 100 bar.  It's favorite pellet is a 18 grain, however.  I've tried 21 grain and 25 grain and accuracy was poor.  I haven't tried slugs seriously yet.  It did shoot one H&N slug I had on hand reasonably well but not as well as it shoots it's favorite 18 grain pellet.  I'm sure there is a way to get it shooting a heavier projectile well so power would go up significantly but since I have a couple 25s I don't currently see the point.  A high shot count accurate 22 shooting 18 grain pellets seems like a pretty good thing.

So I think it depends some on what guns you have and what sort of shots you want to take.  For an animal up to 3 lbs or so, I don't think you need more than a ~30 fpe 22 caliber airgun for shots at 50 yards or less.  But if you want to take body shots at animals bigger than this, I think a 25 caliber may be indicated.  If you have a 45-55 fpe 22 you can go up some on the size of animal but if you use an expanding projectile to make a bigger hole it will significantly reduce penetration.  When you get up around 10-15 lbs I would rather have a 34 grain 25 caliber pellet than a 25 grain 22 caliber pellet going faster.  The wider heavier pellet will give you a wider and still quite deep hole in the critter.

[JungleShooter]

Those JSB MKII 33.95gr blew open a couple of squirrels at 75 yards the last time I used my .25 cal.  tuned to 55 FPE. It was kinda grewsome and shocking to see. 

Keith,

thanks for the comment. 👍🏼

I'm not sure what you found that looked gruesome and shocking because your projectile "blew open" the squirrels. 
 

Let's compare:   ● Your .25cal JSB Heavy 33.95 hit them critters with about 680fps (35FPE) — that's pretty slow and low-ish in power. ➠ You got achieved a high level of destruction. ✅ 
➠ vs. ➠
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
● My .25cal JSB Heavy 33.95 hit my 26-yard pigeons with about 850fps (55FPE). ➠ Yet I just made a couple of holes into them — no massive destruction like what you achieved.... ⛔

WHY is that? I'm trying to understand! 👍🏼

Matthias

[JimD]

Seems like a good question.  My 25 caliber squirrels were with 20 grain and 25 grain pellets but they just dropped.  Nothing gruesome about it.  But I have hit a bird or two on the spine squarely.  Last I remember was with a 18 grain 22 caliber pellet.  That tore the bird up more than I expected and made a louder sound than normal too.  I've hit the spine many times but it seems like centering it makes more of a mess.

[longislandhunter]

Both work well for me when hunting but I do prefer the 25 cal pellets.  For one thing the added size makes it easier for my arthritic fingers to manipulate and I also find them to just be more effective on tough critters like squirrels.  Just my 2 cents 

Jeff

[JungleShooter]

I have hit a bird or two on the spine squarely.  Last I remember was with a 18 grain 22 caliber pellet.  That tore the bird up more than I expected and made a louder sound than normal too.  I've hit the spine many times but it seems like centering it makes more of a mess.

Jim, 😊

that is a very helpful observation. Thanks.


When you say "squarely" and "centering" — do you mean a shot from behind, at exacly 6 o'clock?

Matthias

[triggertreat]

Those JSB MKII 33.95gr blew open a couple of squirrels at 75 yards the last time I used my .25 cal.  tuned to 55 FPE. It was kinda grewsome and shocking to see. 

Keith,

thanks for the comment. 

I'm not sure what you found that looked gruesome and shocking because your projectile "blew open" the squirrels. 
 

Let's compare:   ● Your .25cal JSB Heavy 33.95 hit them critters with about 680fps (35FPE) — that's pretty slow and low-ish in power. ➠ You got achieved a high level of destruction. ✅ 
➠ vs. ➠
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
● My .25cal JSB Heavy 33.95 hit my 26-yard pigeons with about 850fps (55FPE). ➠ Yet I just made a couple of holes into them — no massive destruction like what you achieved.... ⛔

WHY is that? I'm trying to understand!

Matthias

I'm not real sure.  My best guess was just being gut shots.  They definitely got opened up.  I have not seen that before, but I was not able to do headshots on them that far out like I normally do due to the cheap scope on my Marauder.  I have dispatched many at 85 yards with my .30 FX Impact, but all were headshots using 44.75gr JSBs.  The JSBs just poked a hole in them.

[JungleShooter]

Thanks, Keith. 👍🏼Trying to make sense of it all — everything helps.

Matthias

[kbstingwing]

my .25's shoot much longer distances and better accuracy at those distances, my Uragan shoots 33.95 gn JSB MKll's well over 160 yards accurately, I've head shot GS's at 160 yards with it, none of my .22 will do that with pellets, haven't tried slugs.....

[anti-squirrel]

As much as I love .25, I find .22- especially NSA slugs in .22- really work for my needs.  Someday I may buy a .22 barrel for our Lelya so it too can enjoy the same NSAs my Leshiy Classic enjoys.

OTOH, I absolutely love my dwindling pile of .25 wadcutters.  I love .22 wadcutters but whatever they do a quarter-bore wadcutter does even better- especially reaching out past 35 yards.

[James340]

Thanks, Keith. 👍🏼Trying to make sense of it all — everything helps.
A lighter pellet going faster has a better chance of expansion.A pure lead pellet has a better chance of expansion than a alloy pellet.Antimony&tin make a hard pellet with little chance of expansion hitting a bird
Matthias

[JimD]

To me hitting the spine squarely could be from many angles but you have to put the center of the pellet on the center of the spine.  When that happens, it seems to be particularly effective in messing things up (on the target). 

I think the last one I shot that way was facing me.  It was stupid enough to land on my pellet trap while I was shooting.  I couldn't resist.