A look into hunting airgun ammo

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

I had a ton of mail asking for more info on airguns, as I said I'm not much as an expert, still learning myself.

I will show my quiver ( in the surfing world you call a quiver your collection of surfboards) since I have quivers in archery, I will call quiver my collection of airguns too

O.K. so, eventually I'll show my quiver of guns, but today i'll start with showing my hunting ammo.


Starting with the basic .177 cal or 4.5mm , this one is a bit on the high end at 10.5gr Hollowpoint, perfect for birds











Than we go to the .22 cal or 5.5mm ,  shoot this out of a rifle and a pistol, this one is on the medium to high range at 18.2gr Hollowpoint  devastating on small birds, good for chickens, it would be great for rabbits and animals that size if we had them












Next is the .357 cal or 9mm , nice round at 116gr Hollowpoint, I shoot this one out of a rifle and a pistol, good for short range head shots on hogs, and long range big birds









Finally the .45 cal , this one I shoot out of a rifle at 200gr hollowpoint is good for both body and headshots for hogs














Those are the calibers I have for my guns, I have many different weight of ammo for each caliber, i was just showing the top of the line on each,

hope you enjoyed it, and i see you on the next instalment 

[david w.]

Cool. i've never seen a .45 cal airgun before. Looks like it would do the trick

[mrkinsey]

Did you buy your large caliber airguns from anyone in particular?  Did you make your own? 

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Robert Vogel from indiana makes those big bore ammos, he shoots and makes .50 cal and .58 cal guns/ammo 

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Did you buy your large caliber airguns from anyone in particular?  Did you make your own? 

...sorry missread your question,....my 2 big bore rifles are production Korean made, the pistol is a limited edition made by a guy here in the states

[mrkinsey]

i have been looking for a mid caliber airgun for a while.  any suggestions?

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

I would buy the Eu Jin SUMATRA .25 cal ,can shoot 40-50gr pellets in the mid 900s fps, 6 shot repeter lever action

or the Shing Sung  707 ULTRA  9mm , can shoot 70gr roundballs in the mid 900s fps, 6 shot repeter lever action

[recurve shooter]

my pellets dont say what they weigh.  anyway i shoot flat nosed .177. like em.

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Flat nosed, or Wadcutters are the choice for target shooting for great accuracy, in .177 they probably are in the 7gr range

[recurve shooter]

ok cool thanks. man you got me itchin to get that gun workin again. spent thirty bucks on new parts and scope mounts, not i wanna shoot something!  wish i had one of your air-cannons though. 

oh and sence you seem to be the airgun guy as of late, what kinda pellet would you recomend for skwirls and rabbits, ect? i know hollow points are a good choice, but ive been seeing some strange new ones, like they have one thats basicly a big hollow point with a copper bb set in the hollow, stuff like that. wadaya think bout those? 

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Those are GAMO  (brand) pellets, Gamo makes good guns but I would stay away from the pellets, I don't know the power of your gun so is hard to say what pellet, on top of that every gun is different and you have to find what flys,

.177 don't really have the juice to get the hollowpoints to expand, so a Domed shaped pellet is the best all around,...make sure you stay well away from pointed pellets, those are the most erratic, your flat nosed work good for hunting untill you wanna take long shots, than they loose energy downrange faster than the domed ones.

Have fun out there 

[mrkinsey]

I have used GAMO pellets before and they work fine as long as the shooter is using an airgun that doesn't shoot faster than 1000 fps.  Because they are lighter than normal pellets the tend to wobble, twist, and tumble at higher velocities compared to standard lead pellets.  In other words, if you like accuracy and speed, just use the standard lead pellets.  They will increase fps significantly on lower powered airguns, however. 

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Gamo makes real good rifles, but theyr pellets are just not up to par with the good ones out there, they are O.K. but when we are talking touching holes at 30 yards Gamo just don't cut it.


I was shooting the Rocket 9.6gr ( the one with the copper ball on the tip)out of my Gamo .177 and was shooting good, than I changed to the Discovery 10,5gr hollopoint and now the rifle shines, and the Discoverys are nowhere near as good as some pellets out there.


As for the PBA, the Gamo alloy light pellet 5.4gr , it's just horrible, only good for those that try chase super speeds thru the chrono 

[recurve shooter]

lotsa good info here, im enjoying reading it all. 

im just shooting an old benjamin. it says 600 fps on it somewhere, but sence its a pump gun im sure it can varry depending on how many pumps you put on it.  anyway its not really a high end gun, just something that works for me so far. i guess ima just have to buy a few different types of pellets at bass pro shops today after school and see what flys best.

my friend came over and helped me sight in my gun today, and he wants one now lol. we thinkin about a .22 cal break barrel in the 100-150 dollar range, and dropping another 40 bucks into a nice red dot sight to put on it. any suggestions?

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

If I had to buy a break barrel  .22 today,  it would be the Benjamin Trail NP XL    299 bucks, but it comes with a 3-9x 40 centerline scope, the gun is a nitro piston so has much less vibrations than a springer therefore easyer to be more accurate, the gun has a shrouded barrel so is super quite, you can keep it cocked unlike springers because the nitro piston does not fatigue, she will shoot a 18gr pellet in the 800s and a 14gr in the 900s

I'm just waiting to sell my .22 so I can buy it