http://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=42959.0
 
    I found this to be one of the best, well thought out demonstrations.  Yes, as always, there can be further discussions on the differing techniques of testing but as a whole I found this link to be quite interesting.

Excellent, thorough, well-thought-out work. Interesting medium. I hate ballistic gel!

If you are a member, you might ask him to make one more comparison: Take one pellet style (using multiple pellets) from one rifle and shoot that one style of pellet 5 or 10 times. This would illustrate the within-pellet variation in penetration and 'wound' channel.

While the work performed in the linked webpage is extremely broad in scope, each pellet has a sample size of only "one". Even if the test I am suggesting above (look for the variation within a single pellet type and weight), showed that the within-pellet variation was very small, that in itself would be excellent information.

Paul

Touche !

Interesting.....they all seem to work.

Just like cars.  Porsches, Ferraris, Chevrolets, Toyotas............
 
 
   The all get you somewhere........albeit a little differently.

Personally, I think the smaller one goes in diameter AND power of a firearm used to take game, the more careful one has to be in choosing carefully for the game one intends to pursue. For example:

1) "Dicky birds" - BB gun - ala "Daisy"
2) Medium birds/mammals - Magpies, starlings, English sparrow (in the US and Australia), squirrles, etc. - .17 or .22 caliber break-barrel, or lever pump.
3) Big birds/mammals - magpies, crows, pigeons, grouse, rabbits, etc. - .17, .22, .25 in a PCP.
And so on as the game gets larger.

Of course there is overlap to some degree, but small diameter, coupled with low velocity, means poor terminal performance on anything but small critters. To clarify, the converse is generally true for centerfire rifles and game. Of course one shouldn't shoot cape buffalo with a .22 Hornet, but outside the extremes in size of game, and diameter of bullets, most centerfire cartridges from .243 to .338 caliber "work" just fine for most game from small deer to moose and bears, and even cape buffalo.

My point is, I believe one needs to be more selective in choosing a "pellet gun" than one needs to be in choosing a CF cartridge. One needs to be more cognizant of the primary use of the "air gun".

Just my opinion.

Paul

Couldn`t agree more.  That said, I do use a heavier pellet..........   more knock down power.

I have been giving air guns a lot of thought over the past few years. I don't have a good 'application', so I haven't 'filled me boots'. However, I think I have decided that I want a .25 caliber PCP. That's not with strong conviction on my part. There are truly 'pros' and 'cons' to just about every choice in air guns.

I am pretty settled on bigger than .17 caliber. I like the 'bigger around' of the .25, but there are more pellet choices for .22 caliber.

PCP is "the way to go" for consistent power, but it's also the way to go to higher prices. A LOT HIGHER. It is more 'trouble' to charge than a 'springer' or "gas piston", but it is more consistent and smaller time between shots with less motion on the part of the shooter.

The bad news for me is that there just isn't anything to shoot!

There are no marauding crows in this part of AK.

I'm not the least bit interested in shooting magpies or squirrels. (I like magpies and I can't eat the squirrels.)

There aren't any starlings or English sparrows in this neck of the woods. (I kill those two species whenever and wherever I see them.)

There are no pigeons. Too dang cold for them anywhere but in the 'big city'. (There are pigeons in Los Anchorage, but that's a non-starter for several reasons that I would think are obvious.)

My grandsons aren't old enough to shoot yet, and they don't live anywhere near.

That leaves me with wascally wabbits and arctic ground squirrels. I'd rather use the .22 Hornet or 10/22 on the rabbits.

I could stalk arctic ground squirrels with an air gun. The pellet would be less destructive to the pelt than the Hornet or the RF.

There is no way on God's green earth that I would EVER consider competitive shooting.

So, as you can see, I don't have a pressing 'need' for an air gun. Dudn't mean I don't WANT one though.

Paul

Do I WANT it?? YES !! Do I really NEED it ............. well, er.........., NO.

8-)

I have tried all my life not to let 'need' get in the way of procuring a new firearm!

Paul

Well the reason I would like an air pistol is when the days are shirt and cold in the middle of winter I could shoot at my own indoor range in the basement. There you go why we all should have one.

That would be idea........and fun.