Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Ro
Jeff,
Other than your dislike of handling the tiny .177 pellets, any other reason why you chose the Webley in .22 cal?
TIA
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No, not really. They are equally accurate and, having the same powerplant, equal in power. The .177 gets a good deal more velocity with its far lighter pellet; 430 fps or so vs. 350 or so, but even that really doesn't matter for the kind of shooting for which it is intended. It really just boils down to personal preference. Most guys like the .177's better. Ammo is cheaper for the .177, if that means anything.
Funny, since having purchased this pistol I have been kind of surfing the local Craigslist and other sites looking for old airguns. I found an exact match for the old Benjamin shown above, even made in the same year, in .177 caliber. The guy was less than ten miles away, the price was right, so the deal was made in a local supermarket parking lot (that evil supermarket parking lot airgun loophole at play - no background checks, paid in cash... shhhh... don't tell anyone...). So, now I have a .177 pistol after all. If someone was loading them and handing them to me to shoot, I honestly could not tell you which was which.
When I was a kid and first bought the Benjamin, I also had a Sheridan rifle in 5mm (.20) caliber (I still own that rifle, too). We were using them for plinking, of course, but also to go after squirrels, possums, starlings, crows, rats, and other critters. The Sheridan hit very noticably harder than my various buddies' Benjamin, Crossman, and Daisy .177's. When I decided to get a pistol as "backup" (quite the romantic visions of "big game" hunting with this young lad), bigger seemed better, so I got the .22.
I soon discovered that even in .22 caliber, the pistol had nowhere near the power as the Sheridan, and was no match for even a small squirrel. So much for the "big bore" sidearm. Now, as an adult, I realize it's pretty irresponsible to even try to kill small game with an air pistol, so caliber really is moot. In the end, then, it just boiled down to ease of handling for my big ol' sausage fingers.
Air rifles are another story. Powerful pneumatics like the Sheridan and Benjamin, powerful springers like the RWS Diana 34 I just bought (there is another thread floating around here on that one), or the new pre-charged pneumatics can be very effective against small game. With these, I feel caliber makes a real difference. I'll go 5mm if it's available in the rifle I'm buying, or .22 if it's not. Not many 5mm's available outside of the Sheridan (still in production) and a few select Beemans, so I wound up with the RWS in .22 caliber to serve as the new backyard pest gun.