Newsgroups: AIRGUN.LIST
Hi Folks:
      For a number of weeks (months), many topics have been concerned with
airarm caliber recommendations ..... .177, .20, .22, .25?    What is best?
The recommendations have varied with a common thread of being directly
related to airarm power levels, with an apparent general consensus that
bigger calibers need higher power levels.   Power levels are individual
airarm based, so caliber selection recommendations need be for a specific
model.   Also some airarms have enough power for the biggest caliber but for
unknown reasons, are unable to give good levels of accuracy.    But
generally, I would say that low power airarms need small calibers and high
power airarms need large calibers.   For example:
(1) Beeman Crow Magnum (gas springer):
      This has the power to put .25 cal pellets out at good velocities, but
reports suggest .25 cal is not very
      very accurate in this airarm and that .20 cal is the top
recommendation for long range accuracy.
(2) Beeman R1(steel springer):
      This is a heavy field airarm that is the fastest in .177 and can be
had in .25 cal, but the top
       recommendation for any R1 with Venom, Maccari, or other power tune
kit, is .22 cal.   A stock R1
       is fine in .177, but powered up, the smaller .177 bore reduces
efficiency to the extent, .22 cal is the
       recommendation by the  most experienced users (especially
airarmsmiths).
(3)  Beeman R7 (steel springer):
       This is a light target/sporter of low power (700 fps with light .177
pells is doing good....maybe a 6.5 gr
       Beeman Laser pellet will do that....my R7 has never come close with
heavier pells).   About 625 fps
       is claimed for it in .20 cal, but I would bet it couldn't put out a
14.3 gr .20 cal Cros Prem at anything over
       400 fps.......our R7 did Cros Prem Lites about 591 fps but 10.5 gr
Cros Prem Heavies at 459 fps.
       Definitely not a hot ticket for .25 cal.
(4) Beeman RX-1 (gas springer):
      Tom Jue's RX-1 was .177 originally, but only by switching to a .22 cal
(carbine) barrel has he been
      able to achieve superior accuracy (ie. est. 3/8" 5 pell groups at 40
yds).    This is an airarm that has
      greater than R1 power and is recommended in .20 or .22 cal's .....
.177 being to small and .25 being
      too big.
(5) AirArms ProElite (steel springer):
      While this new breakbarrel airarm is fine in .177 with heavier pells,
the top choice (only comes in .177
      and .22, though Jim Maccari can put on a .20 barrel for extra $$) is
.22 cal.
(6) FWB12* (steel springer):
      This is a classic 12 ft/lb class airarm that puts out .177 Cros Prem
Lites at about 810 fps, Heavies
       at about 650 fps and though it comes in .22 cal (called the FWB127),
I don't know how fast a 14.3
       grain Cros Premier would go (w/factory stock components)....ld, you
have a 127....can you help
       me on .22 cal velocities in this classic airarm?    Correct me, ld,
if you disagree....but I would venture
       to suggest that 12 ft/lb airarms at very good in .177 and at the
bottom edge of practicality in .22 cal.
       I really don't think .22 cal is a practical, recommendable caliber in
any airarm rifle of less than 11-12
       ft/lbs to the degree that .22 cal would be recommended over .177
caliber
(7) PCP airarms at the benefit of the highest obtainable power levels and
recoiless accuracy, and at the
      cost of frequent fillups from a scuba tank or The Pump, are more
practical for .25 caliber in the very
      highest power versions, but also capably handle .177 cal by designing
them for lower power output
      which isn't too bad as it allows more pellets between fillups.
      Thus, it is hard to make generalizations on caliber selection in these
airarms and we are back to
      making recommendations based upon each model.
(8) Match airarms (steel spring/pnuematic/C02):
      These are all .177.   They put out light to medium weight .177 pells
between 500 and 650 fps and to
       to visualize a FWB300 in .22 cal is amusing.....they just lack the
power for larger calibers with resulting
       heavier pellets.
      This brings up (ying & yang) full circle to our need to know our
intended application and then to buy an airarm with specs meeting our
need(s).    There is no one airarm fitting all applications (ie. a match
airarm isn't much of a hunter and a hunter/sporter is handicapped in a 10
meter match when up against match airarms).    Possibly an adjustable power
PCP or pump up pnuematic would be the "one airarm for all reasons".   But
alternately (for a lot more bucks), most of us go the multiple airarm route.
My personal choice for small game/small varmint hunting is to have three
sporters....a low power, a medium (12 ft/lb) and a high power airarm.
The low (Beeman R7 in .177) is for indoor informal target and suburb use.
The medium (FWB124d) is for out in the country, but around the farm
buildings.    The high (R1-Watts) is for out in the countryside, away from
dwellings, hunting small varmints/game that is wary and so 50 yd distances
are the norm.
      This is with steel spring airarms....which if no quietening device is
available....are quieter than gas springers which are quieter than
equivalent pnuematics.    Quietening seems to work best on pnuematics and
possibly C02.    Unfortunately devices making airarms more quiet seem to be
in a legal grey area....but England airarm enthusiasts have used them with
great success and have shown them to be clearly desirable.   IMO, PCP and
C02 airarms would become much more popular if aftermarket, detachable
silencing devices made in England could be freely used here.    Until then,
steel springers have a large advantage over PCP and related mechanisms.
Robert Hamilton
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