I have two .177's a Air ArmsTX200 and AZ Styer I currently shoot and like. But I have been toying with the idea of looking at a .22 to add to the collection. The question always comes up which is better and why.

Opinions?

I like the 177 for silhouette for few reasons...First, there is a wider variety of pellets available to handle different wind conditions and rifle designs.
Second, we are not concerned with humane kills on metal animals, so 22 is overkill (pun intended) and may cause target damage.

And while we are on the subject...does anyone else think the larger pellet diameter of a 22 gives an unfair advantage since the target size and distance are the same ??

I agree that allowing more calibers for competition could bring more shooters into the sport, but where do you draw the line ? What about 25s ? 30s ?

I use .177 but I have a Harrier in .22 with a really nice trigger on it that I want to try out. Our clubs resetables are stout but I agree rinky dink targets would get destroyed fast. The fact that it gives a larger diameter pellet to hit the animal has also crossed my mind but thats really so marginal compared to my abilities

The .22 does buck the wind better and a good PCP spitting them out at 900 fps would seem on paper to be the better choice for that concern. The drift of my .177 target rifle shooting 600 fps @ 45 yards in a 10 mph wind is substantial but my AA S400 @ 900 fps does well.

If anyone shows up with a .308 Quackenbush we might need a rule check

Dee

Airpistol shooting is difficult enough, silhouet shooting is even harder; the .177 has the flatter trajectory thus giving an important advantage over the .22.