Question: What would this be gun be good to hunt for?

[Hawg]

I think it's a lousy idea and probably not legal in most states. It wont take a deer down on the spot unless you make a brain or spinal cord shot, both very small targets. The ball wont pass thru and you will have to do some serious tracking. Your remark about a shot scaring game away for weeks is rubbish. I've taken deer with more than one in the field and after the shot the others run to the woods but some come back to see what happened.

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

An aside in this thread: an arrow kills by hemorrage while a bullet kills by energy. Your comparing apples to oranges.

I love that argument.

If I shoot a deer through the lungs with an arrow and it runs 150 yards before collapsing and I shoot one through the lungs with a 7mm-08 and it runs 150 yards before collapsing, did it die for two different reasons? No it did not.

Bullets cause nerve shock that can cause an animal to fall immediately on impact. "Falling" is not "killing".

Bullets and arrows kill by disrupting blood flow to the brain.

Blood loss is blood loss.

 

[Old Grump]

What you would have is a 8 pound single shot accurate to 30 yards rifle with around 250 ft lbs of oomph at the target.

You can do better with a black powder gun but if you are content with target shooting and blowing up bricks and cans of tomato juice with an air rifle go for it.

Just me but I wish I had gone with 22 instead of 17 caliber when I bought my Gamo but it is still good enough for squirrel and rabbits under 25 yards and feral cats at 50' or less so I am an air gun fan but I think PCP has more developing to do yet.

 

[hogdogs]

Just me but I wish I had gone with 22 instead of 17 caliber when I bought my Gamo but it is still good enough for squirrel and rabbits under 25 yards and feral cats at 50' or less so I am an air gun fan but I think PCP has more developing to do yet.

Your 1,000fps .177 Gamo is quite adequate for squirrel killin' far beyond the 25 yards you mention... My personal best is 63-65 yards laterally with the bugger in the top of a VERY TALL tree (at least 75' tall).

My personal best on rabbits and feral cats is 50+ yards... Your ability to make these shots or lack of confidence in the weapon does not limit the actual ability of the weapon.

Brent

 

[Skans]

An aside in this thread: an arrow kills by hemorrage while a bullet kills by energy. Your comparing apples to oranges.

The Kinetic energy of a 300 grain arrow at 300 FPS is somewhere around 60 ft. lbs. Although that is certainly not exclusively what takes down a large animal, the shock factor is not insignificant either.

The kinetic energy of delivered by a .50 caliber Quackenbush airgun is about 300 foot lbs. This is quite adequate for hunting sizable game at obviously shorter distances than with a traditional rifle.

 

[BUTCHER45]

The .45caliber SamYang 909. or 909S (with a power tune) is a much better choice for deer hunting than the DS .50, which is a bit underpowered in stock form, and has less potential to be tuned for power. It shoots .45ACP/.45Colt lead boolits, and will put a 200grain slug in one side of that deer and out the other when shot broadside@50 yards. These bigbore airguns are intended to be used at bow/shotgun/handgun-type ranges....I limit myself to about 50-60 yards with mine when hunting coyotes and bobcats.

Use hunting tactics and shot placement as you would with a medium power bigbore handgun and you will be fine. There are a few states where hunting deer with an airgun is legal in muzzleloader form, and they are legal in any form in Missouri so long as they are shooting a projectile .40caliber or larger. Deer shot thru the lungs with an airgun consistantly run about 15-50 yards and tip-over.

I have killed a corsican ram, a small (about 80lbs) wild boar, a couple of coyotes, a bobcat, along with some smaller critters with my SamYang 909 .45caliber. These guns get the job done at short range.

Here is the best thing running in bigbore air rifles today......the .58caliber version will capably kill anything (yes ANYTHING) in North America.

http://xp-airguns.com/

 

[Old Grump]

Just me but I wish I had gone with 22 instead of 17 caliber when I bought my Gamo but it is still good enough for squirrel and rabbits under 25 yards and feral cats at 50' or less so I am an air gun fan but I think PCP has more developing to do yet.

Your 1,000fps .177 Gamo is quite adequate for squirrel killin' far beyond the 25 yards you mention... My personal best is 63-65 yards laterally with the bugger in the top of a VERY TALL tree (at least 75' tall).

My personal best on rabbits and feral cats is 50+ yards... Your ability to make these shots or lack of confidence in the weapon does not limit the actual ability of the weapon.

Brent

I practice regularly at 50 yards and its rabbit hunting accurate with some pellets at that range but I screwed up about 6 months after I bought and started shooting it. I bought a .17 caliber brass brush and cleaned it. My one hole groups at 20 yards disappeared and I used to get them just using the cheap hunters pellets. Now I have to use the heavier pellets to stay in the black at that range. Fellers, never run a brass bore brush down an air rifle barrel, it is bad juju. It is beginning to tighten up again but I don't know if it will ever get back to the accuracy it had when I first bought it. What hurts is having to spend twice as much or more for pellets. I weep but it is still cheaper than shooting a 22 so I can live with it.