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s. Other airgun articles By Rada Plesinger ....
...Thoughts
on foot pounds applied to air guns.
By Rada Plesinger.
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Thoughts on foot pounds
applied to air guns.
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For a long time I have been reading on the airgun forums
the questions and answers regarding foot pounds as applied to airguns. Questions
seem to be from new shooters to the game, or some one that is going to hunt with
the rifle at least on a limited basis. What does surprise me is the answers.
Where a seemingly knowledgeable
respondent will suggest a certain foot poundage is enough to dispatch the game.
Just to find out later, perhaps weeks later the person who suggested the lesser
foot pounds ‘hunts’ in his back yard only. Then there are those that would like
unlimited amount of power to use as they like. Who is correct? When asking
these questions as to how much power is enough it is important to at least have
an idea who is replying. Read all the suggestions but ask do you hunt or just
shoot.
Here are my qualifications; I shoot the 10 meter game
rifle and pistol. Not too often and to various degrees of success. I compete in
silhouette matches as much as I can, field target on a rare occasion. I hunt,
in the open not the back yard safari but then again I have been on some back
yard safari’s not necessarily my back yard. Hunting is where I will concentrate
most of the article. Also worth noting I have hunted with rifles and pistols
anywhere from 6 foot pounds to 35 foot pounds.
Lets take a look at all the game, 10 meter is a good
start. Asking shooters what they think the optimum velocity is gives almost as
many answers as questions. Naturally they are not concerned with foot pounds
just as long as the pellet makes aclean hole in the target. But the preference
seems to be toward pistols that push the pellet around the 500 fps mark. And
rifles that will push as lightly heavier pellet around 560 fps. Reason is
basically simple, those seem the best velocities for those type of pellets. And
it gets the pellet out of the barrel fast enough to limit the shooter of doing
something wrong with the hold on target.
Next is the field target shooter. He wants something
that will shoot fast enough for a flat trajectory. Those shooters are not that
concerned with foot pounds either as long as the pelletis accurate at 50 yards.
But most ofthe rifles seem to be in the 16 foot pound range. Accuracy at long
range is the key in this game with reasonable foot pounds to knock over the
paddle on the target.
Silhouette is another game that requires long range
accuracy. The longest target is 45 yards and the target is generous compared to
the targets for field target. The catch here is the shooteris standing for the
whole course. Again the targets are not that hard to knock down once you get a
clean hit. Rifles used vary as to power but are on the high end, some exceeding
30 foot pounds. For that game it is ok as long as they do not damage the
targets. Reason for the high power is to flatten the trajectory and minimize
the wind drift and should a bad hit be made have enough power to knock down the
animals anyway. Only score a shooter gets is for the steel animals to be off the
stand. So if a pellet is split on the animal with more power there is a good
chance the steel will fall for a score. That same thing applies to pistol
silhouette. I started with a Daisy 717 and used to like watching the pellets
through the scope fly toward the target. Nice addition to the entertainment
until I could see what the slightest of winds does to pellets at sub 400 feet
per second. Now I shoot a silhouette Tau-7.22 that will fling a 16 grain pellet
out at 525 fps.
When it comes to hunting things are not as clear as for
any of the shooting games. There are some shooters who even pointed out how
little foot pounds it takes to kill a particular game. And I will be the first
to agree, some game is very easy to dispatch with the smallest of powered
airguns. But, and there is always the but. When hunting in the open fields the
range estimation is critical. Half inch off the mark on an animal and that is
enough the hunter could leave it crippled not to be recovered. And I hope that
is unacceptable to all the hunters out there. Here is the dilemma, how to get
the pellet to the target at various ranges. One is to carry a range finder,
good idea if you have the time. In the open hunteris moving all the time and
does not have the time to use it when the quarry appears. Mil dots are a good
idea, as is the laser to gauge the distance. All of that is useful for a
dedicated hunter shooter who takes the time to figure out the exact trajectory.
But the simplest is to increase the velocity therefore the energy. Here is
where I like the 35 foot pounds of energy out of a rifle as opposed to let say
20. More energy also increases my range somewhat.
A pigeon at 40 yards may be an easy target for a 35 foot pound rifle and
challenging for a 20 fpd. In England where a shooter is limited to 12 foot
pounds his range is also limited. On the other hand most of the English do not
shoot that far because of population limitations. When the range is limited to
lets say the back yard here is a time where too much power does exist. 20 fpd
is just too much when the game is an English finch and the back stop is a wooded
fence. Even 15 fpd I would say is too much since there is just not that much
substance to a finch to slow down the pellet. This would be a perfect time
where a low powered pistol would do very nicely. In fact the basic hunting
target in the backyard is normally easy to dispatch with even lower power. My
Tau-200 Safari in .22 puts out about 10 fpd and it was used just fine at a
friends back yard safari. But there are those lucky hunters that have the
squirrel problem or rabbit problem. Rabbits have been taken with low power again
my Tau-200 Safari is proof of that. But I also hunted squirrels and I consider
them one tough critter at any range. The lowest power I used was my Pro-Sport
at about 15 foot pounds. Head shots were taken when possible, but some shoulder
shots also. The speed of the ‘kill’ was not as great as I would have liked, so
now I use a 30 fpd rifle. And almost always use a .22 to chase squirrels with.
Under controlled circumstances like the back yard where the yardage is known
exactly and the hunter knows where the pellet will land within quarter of an
inch less fpd is acceptable.
So far I have not even covered the caliber question. I
use .177 or the .22 only. Not that I do not like the others like the .20 or the
.25, I simply do not own one or the other. But I have used the .177 and .22
extensively on targets, live and metal. For both I prefer the .22 by far, but
that is not to say the .177 does not have its uses. When me and my brother
started hunting with airguns one would carry the.177 and the other the .22.
Then next hunt we would swap, normally we were close enough to one another to
observe the hits on live game. In all cases the .22 was the more superior in
penetration and the speed of the kill. And yes even head shots seemed to be
cleaner with the .22. Bear in mind this is hardly a scientific experiment just
a close observation by couple of people.. At one time we had with us on
asquirrel hunt a .177 with a 21 fpd output and a .22 with 23 fpd output. That
was as close as we could get couple of rifles to one another at the time. In
all cases the .22 won as to killing potential on game if not the trajectory. I
hope at this point the reader noticed I am not being definitive as to the best
foot pounds I would recommend, and that is on purpose. For hunting there are
too many variables. But here are some of my personal suggestions.
10 meter game,
shooter is required to use the .177 and about 500 fps for pistol and 560 fps
for rifle would be my recommendation.
Field target,
shooter can use the .22 but such a large majority of shooters use the .177 I
would also stick with it. The .22 can get deflected on the rim of the kill zone
where the .177 will pass just fine for the score. Foot pounds around 16 give or
take one fpd would be recommended.
Silhouette,
anything to get the pellet to the target with out the effects of the wind. Foot
pounds between 20 and 30 should keep the range master happy the targets did not
get damaged. The .22 closer to 30 fpd is superior to the .177 under 20 fpd.
Backyard hunting,
unless the target is large or tough like crows or squirrels to name a couple
anything around 12 fpd should be sufficient.
Openfield
hunting, like in silhouette more is merrier but there
should be no limit. The under lined caption should also have‘unknown range
hunting.”
One more thing I should emphesize is that the hunter
should know his rifle. More shooting at unknown ranges makes a good hunter as
far as hitting his target. If he or she has a rifle that will put out only 15
fpd but, he can make a head shot on a squirrel at 40 yards with regularity he or
she is definitely not underpowered.
Goodhunting.
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