What caliber do you think is the most versatile?

[Nomadic Pirate]

This thread is/was about the versatility of a caliber... not having one gun, or casting, smelting, melting, etc. Hands down it has to be the .22, no matter how much the .30 or .45 or even .50 are talked up... they definitely are not as versatile in a practical sense.

Absolutely, .45 and .50 aren't versatile, like .177 and .22 limited to one side of the spectrum.

.30 isn't versatile in a practical sense ?

In the sense that after I get home from work. And get to plinking and target shooting I’m not going to do it with a .30. I could just break out some CCI CBs if  I wanted to shoot chunks of lead real slow. And after plinking and target shooting, I can go pesting or hunting with the same load out. No adjustments necessary...

Again, we are trying to figure out what is the most versatile caliber for the broadest spectrum possible across the board of all the possible applications,.....not just for what you personally do,....Subjectively everyone will have his personal most versatile because of what he/she does.

[Nomadic Pirate]

Along your reasoning I can say this all day,....357 is the most Versatile for me

I don't care much for these kind of topics as they are controversial and stir the pot with peoples beliefs or feelings...the answer is so subjective. If you were to attempt to objectively answer this, you'd maybe say the most versatile should be whatever is middle ground, which allows the largest swing in energy variance to cover nearby calibers. If you were to answer this through the lens of which caliber is most practical in terms of cost and potential energy range it covers, then that answer shifts. If you were to answer this through the filter that omits cost/efficiency, you'll get another answer. If you have a minimum energy requirement that must be met to fit within this 'versatile' definition, well then that completely disqualifies many smaller calibers...you see where I am going?

That said the obvious answer is .25 or .30 cal  (joking)

Quite right my friend, this type threads we need try keep them as objective as we can.

this is what would happen if I turn it subjective ;
I think the most versatile caliber is .357 !!!!
well at "MY" house I can plink and target shoot .357 no problem, also I can target shoot for cheaper then .177 ....how so ?
I can target shoot with arrows, and since arrows are reusable cost is ZERO ...cheaper then .177

My .357 with JSB pellet is perfect on mongoose ( Squirrel size game ) the high shoulder/neck shot waste no meat if you eat your kills, also Dove the neck shot don't waste meat, if you stray a bit with .177 you'll miss that spine, not with the .357 LOL

Then I can hunt with arrows and I can take down elephants if I want.


So for me the most versatile caliber is .357 !!!! ...just kidding, but you see that an argument can be made for anything.

But we gotta stay objective and look for what's really in the middle ground and fit the specs :

........ ability to adapt or be adapted to many different functions or activities.

[Nomadic Pirate]

This thread is/was about the versatility of a caliber... not having one gun, or casting, smelting, melting, etc. Hands down it has to be the .22, no matter how much the .30 or .45 or even .50 are talked up... they definitely are not as versatile in a practical sense.

Absolutely, .45 and .50 aren't versatile, like .177 and .22 limited to one side of the spectrum.

.30 isn't versatile in a practical sense ?

In the sense that after I get home from work. And get to plinking and target shooting I’m not going to do it with a .30. I could just break out some CCI CBs if  I wanted to shoot chunks of lead real slow. And after plinking and target shooting, I can go pesting or hunting with the same load out. No adjustments necessary...

Also your CCI CB at 700 fps is vastly more dangerous then a soft Predator hollowpoint at 40 FPE,...and since they are very inaccurate too 
....... and you can go hunt after pesting quite effectively without adjustments, and probably be more effective too

[UnderPressure]

Shotshells?

Gamo made a .22 air shotgun that got some decent reviews:

https://www.airgundepot.com/gamo-viper-express-air-shotgun.html#item-reviews-container

And then there is the Seneca Wingshot in .50 which does pretty good:



They are both smooth bore though!

A rifled bore will cause greater dispersion. The faster the twist the greater the dispersion.

P.S. Here is a video using hand made .177 shotshells through a rifled barrel:

[Luis Leon]

This thread is/was about the versatility of a caliber... not having one gun, or casting, smelting, melting, etc. Hands down it has to be the .22, no matter how much the .30 or .45 or even .50 are talked up... they definitely are not as versatile in a practical sense.

Absolutely, .45 and .50 aren't versatile, like .177 and .22 limited to one side of the spectrum.

.30 isn't versatile in a practical sense ?

In the sense that after I get home from work. And get to plinking and target shooting I’m not going to do it with a .30. I could just break out some CCI CBs if  I wanted to shoot chunks of lead real slow. And after plinking and target shooting, I can go pesting or hunting with the same load out. No adjustments necessary...

Also your CCI CB at 700 fps is vastly more dangerous then a soft Predator hollowpoint at 40 FPE,...and since they are very inaccurate too 
....... and you can go hunt after pesting quite effectively without adjustments, and probably be more effective too

Yes, you make my point, I wouldn’t break out the CCIs. As the .22 pellets/slugs do nicely. It not about what I do. It’s about what IS the most versatile airgun caliber. The numbers don’t lie... it’s the .22 Some have taken small hogs and even coyotes with the lowly, but extremely versatile .22

[rsterne]

I would venture that you could cover the widest range of targets (plinking to big game) with a .25/.257 cal, shooting pellets down to 20 gr. at 500 fps (11 FPE) up to 112 gr. at 1000+ fps (250 FPE).... It may not be practical to dial one gun over that entire range, however.... but the question was which CALIBER?....

Bob

[Nomadic Pirate]

I would venture that you could cover the widest range of targets (plinking to big game) with a .25/.257 cal, shooting pellets down to 20 gr. at 500 fps (11 FPE) up to 112 gr. at 1000+ fps (250 FPE).... It may not be practical to dial one gun over that entire range, however.... but the question was which CALIBER?....

Bob

Agree with you,

I love the .30 but as I said several posts back I think the modern .25 probably is the most versatile.

[UnderPressure]

I would venture that you could cover the widest range of targets (plinking to big game) with a .25/.257 cal, shooting pellets down to 20 gr. at 500 fps (11 FPE) up to 112 gr. at 1000+ fps (250 FPE).... It may not be practical to dial one gun over that entire range, however.... but the question was which CALIBER?....

Bob

Yep, .257 with 1 in 7" twist would be able to cover the largest range. As you mentioned perhaps not the most practical..... e.g. 1 in 7" would probably limit diabolo pellets to low speed but that would be fine.

P.S. I noticed Air Venturi advertised .25 for the Air bolt (Arrow) at one time:

https://www.airventuri.com/airbolt

I wonder why that never happened? It would have expanded .25 to include the largest game! (Laws permitting. Not all states allow air bow hunting.)

EDIT: Maybe if .25 doesn't work......30 cal Air venturi  air bolt would?

[Nomadic Pirate]

I would venture that you could cover the widest range of targets (plinking to big game) with a .25/.257 cal, shooting pellets down to 20 gr. at 500 fps (11 FPE) up to 112 gr. at 1000+ fps (250 FPE).... It may not be practical to dial one gun over that entire range, however.... but the question was which CALIBER?....

Bob

Yep, .257 with 1 in 7" twist would be able to cover the largest range. As you mentioned perhaps not the most practical..... e.g. 1 in 7" would probably limit diabolo pellets to low speed but that would be fine.

P.S. I noticed Air Venturi advertised .25 for the Air bolt (Arrow) at one time:

https://www.airventuri.com/airbolt

I wonder why that never happened? It would have expanded .25 to include the largest game! (Laws permitting. Not all states allow air bow hunting.)

EDIT: Maybe if .25 doesn't work......30 cal Air venturi  air bolt would?

Yeah I was super excited by the .25 AirBolts ( that would definitely make it the most versatile caliber by miles ) but they never came, I'm guessing the shaft had to be to skinny and couldn't handle the power.

[UnderPressure]

I would venture that you could cover the widest range of targets (plinking to big game) with a .25/.257 cal, shooting pellets down to 20 gr. at 500 fps (11 FPE) up to 112 gr. at 1000+ fps (250 FPE).... It may not be practical to dial one gun over that entire range, however.... but the question was which CALIBER?....

Bob

Yep, .257 with 1 in 7" twist would be able to cover the largest range. As you mentioned perhaps not the most practical..... e.g. 1 in 7" would probably limit diabolo pellets to low speed but that would be fine.

P.S. I noticed Air Venturi advertised .25 for the Air bolt (Arrow) at one time:

https://www.airventuri.com/airbolt

I wonder why that never happened? It would have expanded .25 to include the largest game! (Laws permitting. Not all states allow air bow hunting.)

EDIT: Maybe if .25 doesn't work......30 cal Air venturi  air bolt would?

Yeah I was super excited by the .25 AirBolts ( that would definitely make it the most versatile caliber by miles ) but they never came, I'm guessing the shaft had to be to skinny and couldn't handle the power.

Yes, it could be the shaft had to be too thin....and the gun meant to use it (Sumatra 2500) was too powerful for it. This especially if .25 airbolt needed a heavy arrow head to stabilize because of the micro-bump fletching (re:high FOC arrow (created by using a heavy arrowhead) can get away with using smaller vanes for stabilization).



(.25 air bolt prototypes on the right. https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=124330.msg1213089#msg1213089 )

https://www.bowhuntingmag.com/editorial/the-benefits-of-front-heavy-arrows/309131

Using a heavy point will also make the arrow more forgiving. An arrow with a higher FOC will move the fulcrum point farther forward on the arrow, giving the fletching more leverage. This improved leverage allows you to use smaller vanes to maintain the same steering power. Using smaller vanes is a good thing, because many of the good aspects of hunting arrow performance are inversely proportional to the total surface area of the arrow. In other words, the less surface area, the better the arrow will function.

It's important to use a relatively stiff shaft when using a lot of weight in the front end of the arrow. The dynamic spine (stiffness) of the arrow decreases as weight is added to the front of the arrow. The dynamic spine is a measure of how stiff the arrow acts as it is being accelerated by the bowstring. The more weight on the front end of the arrow, the weaker the shaft will act. The static spine is a measure of the shaft's stiffness at rest. The static spine will remain the same no matter how much weight is added to the front of the arrow.

[Nomadic Pirate]

If they made .30 airbolts there's many guns out there that can use them ( they aren't just for Sam Yang )

I use Air Bolts in my REX .357 Mini-Carbine,...all you have to do is cut the shaft to length.

Yes FOC is key, I use high FOC in my arrows for archery and also I use heavier heads on The AirBolts, 160gr when I had the .50 and 125gr on my current .357

I think that probably .30 is to small for arrows, but if they ever come out with them I'm in

.357 been out of stock for a year, wander what's going on there ?

[UnderPressure]

I think that probably .30 is to small for arrows, but if they ever come out with them I'm in

The micro-bump fletching on the .25 (I just added the picture to my previous post) looks barely thicker than the diameter of the arrow.



And the shafts on the .357 arrows look significantly thinner than .30 cal:



Maybe .30 cal air bolt is possible, but Air Venturi won't release unless they have a gun matched to it? (I noticed Sam Yang makes every caliber except for .30)

[Nomadic Pirate]

Here you go, my mini Air Bolt .357 on the caliper

[Nomadic Pirate]

Maybe the AirBolts where 1st developed with SamYang in mind , but Pyramyd sells enough guns to realize that those bolts can be used in many more guns then just SamYang.

[UnderPressure]

Maybe the .25 Air Bolt could work if the shaft were shortened? (re: shorter arrows can use weaker spine shafts all other things being equal.)

[bear air]

Great topic. I'm still undecided though. I understand all the given arguments so far and each one of you has great points. I like the idea of a 25 or 30 caliber but the 22 caliber is very versatile as well. Although the more I shoot and the better I become I realize more and more its really about shot placement more than power. Although I'm all in from a low powered 17 to a mid powered 30.

[UnderPressure]

HAve you really tried to get round lead ball to shoot worth a "carp"....may be "perectly round"but that doesn't man they are all the same diameter.

Never really came close in accuracy with .177's, 22's,or 25's....a few were good enough to be useful...often shooting better than the worst pellet-pellets test, but not really to the potential.

Did find the bigger the bore, the better round ball shot (as a percentage of the best pellet=pellets)….so basically followed caliber(with bigger bores doing better with lead ball than little bores...but both not nearly as good a pellet-pellets).

But go ahead...give it a try...might bet lucky....whichever, post whatever you find.

Air venturi .358  67 grain Round balls did really well in this video (1/2" 3 shot groups at 45 yards with both the 34" and 24" barrels for the Texan):

[Nomadic Pirate]

Maybe the .25 Air Bolt could work if the shaft were shortened? (re: shorter arrows can use weaker spine shafts all other things being equal.)

For Airbolts to work they need to be as close as possible to the valve,...to much empty space between the valve and nock and they are rendered useless

[UnderPressure]

Maybe the .25 Air Bolt could work if the shaft were shortened? (re: shorter arrows can use weaker spine shafts all other things being equal.)

For Airbolts to work they need to be as close as possible to the valve,...to much empty space between the valve and nock and they are rendered useless

Yep, that is what Tyler Patner said at 6:17 of the following video:

[anti-squirrel]

I do a lot of pesting and small game hunting, so you'd think I'd be all about .22 especially with an unchoked LW in my Leshiy.

Surprise!

Most versatile is the .35 because air-bolts, slugs, and diabolo pellets can all be shot from the same barrels.  .30 needs more love in the bolt arena.

.22 and .25 offer slugs and pellets but no bolts.

So, going strictly by ammo types as showing "more versatile", .35 wins by a landslide since it offers slugs, pellets, and bolts and tunes down easier than the bigger bores.