The ranges below are conservative and in some cases well beyond reasonable hunting ranges. Distances of 0 means the rifle/pellet/pump combination is not sufficiently capable for the game type. The distances given are the distance at which the pellet drops below the ability to penetrate the brain cavity with a extra margin of penetration.
We are concerned with penetration rather than energy and that will be discused later in the post.
- Vintage Daisy 880:
Pellet: H&N Barracuda
Pumps: 20 - SRB 35 yards, RBC 0 yards
- Current Model 880:
Pellet: H&N Barracuda
Pumps: 20 - SRB 40 yards, RBC 0 yards
- Current Model 880 PBL Mod:
Pellet: JSB Exact Beast
Pumps: 20 - SBR 143 yards, RBC 23 yards
- Winchester 1977:
Pellet: JSB Exact Beast
Pumps: 20 - SBR 158 yards, RBC 37 yards
- Daisy 822 PBL Mod:
Pellet: JSB Match Diabolo Exact Jumbo Heavy .22 Cal
Pumps: 20 - SBR 90 yards, RBC 0 yards
- Winchester 1922:
Pellet: JSB Match Diabolo Exact Jumbo Monster .22 Cal
Pumps: 20 - SBR 195 yards, RBC 42 yards
- Winchester 1925:
Pellet: H&N Baracuda .25 Cal 30.86 grain
Pumps: 20 - SBR 192 yards, RBC 22 yards
*SBR = Squirrels, Rabbits, Birds
*RBC = Raccoon, Bobcat, Coyote
What can I hunt with my Daisy is a loaded question. So it gets an appropriate answer which is "it depends". It depends on the pellets and the velocity they are traveling. They must be able to penetrate sufficiently and be of large enough cross section to do sufficient damage to dispatch the game quickly. We are talking about 25 caliber or less so cross section is going to limit us to rabbit size and below for vital shots, and head shots only on larger animals. So depending on the weight, caliber and speed of the pellet our range will also be affected. We must calculate the distance that our selected pellet and rifle will meet the minimum penetration value (PV). For rabbits, squirrels, and birds the value is 25.5. For larger animals it is 42.62. To understand where these numbers come from you can read the remainder of this post and it will explain. So to discover the range your rifle will fall below these numbers we will need a ballistic app, pellet weight with Ballistic Coefficient and the muzzle velocity. You can use the velocity calculator below to find the velocity for each PV value limit then use the ballistic app to find what range that velocity is associated with to find the range for a particular pellet and rifle for hunting. If your pellet rifle combination is not capable of the returned velocities then it is not sufficient to hunt. On the other hand you may find it is only effective to 10 yards or perhaps 200. It all depends on the pellet and rifle. Continue reading to see how these PV numbers were determined.
There are a lot of articles on hunting with air rifles floating around recommending certain calibers and foot-pounds-of-energy (FPE) to hunt different game. I have never really fully agreed with most of these articles. I've been hunting with pellet rifles for over 30 years so my experience tells me that many of these articles are way off base. With a Daisy we are not going to be hunting large game but I will go over what science and my experience tell me.
Lets start with a real world case that has played out more times than I can remember. I started pellet rifle hunting squirrels in the 80s with a Daisy 880. I killed many squirrels back then with pellets and BBs. I can safely say I shot many of those squirrels at and beyond 30 yards. Back then I didn't even know what a chronograph was, much less how much energy my 880 was producing. Also the pellets back then were of the light wadcutter variety. Now in our tech world we have the convenience of chronographs and ballistics applications such as Chairgun. Using the Chairgun app I can see that my 80s vintage 880 today makes 10 FPE (10 grain pellet) at the muzzle and a little over 7 FPE at 30 yards. More recently I have killed squirrels with that gun at 30 yards so I can safely say whether a head or vitals shot 7 FPE will humanely kill a squirrel.
Now that we have set a FPE for squirrels at 7 FPE what can we derive from that? In my experience squirrels are much tougher than rabbits and birds. Squirrels have a a tougher hide and a stronger will to survive than rabbits in my experience. You can almost just scare a rabbit to death LOL. In fact it often seems harder to kill doves than rabbits. Shot placement is very key with doves. I would say that 7 FPE is a good rule of thumb for a minimum FPE for squirrels, rabbits and birds. With that as our baseline it means for the vintage 880s the max range is right at 30 yards. Depending on your selection of pellets it could be less. That's were a ballistic app can help find the range where the FPE falls below our 7 FPE limit. Can birds or even squirrels be taken with less energy, yes but below 7 is getting very marginal. If the conditions are right pushing the old 880 to 35 yards (6.7 FPE) is ok.
Now that we have discussed some of the animals we can hunt and the minimum energy needed we can calculate the effective range of other guns. Lets look at a new 880 with the PBL power mod. They typically make 15 FPE (16 grain pellet) at the muzzle and do not drop below 7 FPE until beyond 87 yards. That is a tremendous difference compared to the older 880. The reason for this is because the new modified 880 is pushing a pellet with 60% more weight and a much higher ballistic coefficient at the same velocity. In fact the new modified 880 still has 11.35 FPE at 30 yards, That is more than the vintage 880 has at the barrel. So now we can see that a new modified 880 can humanely kill squirrels, rabbits and birds out to distances that are well beyond the ability to accurately shoot the intended target.
What has experience shown about larger animals? I have also taken many raccoons with air rifles. I have taken bobcats and coyotes with air rifles as well. I have had the opportunity to examine all of these animals and can say that there is not a tremendous difference in the thickness, density or size of their heads. I have killed raccoons at 25 yards with a 1977 making 18 FPE (16 grain pellet) with head shots. Leaning on our ballistic app again shows that the pellet had right at 14.25 FPE on impact. In all those cases the pellet completely passed through the skull. I have seen video where a 12 FPE pellet has penetrated well into the brain cavity of pigs at point blank range and even out to 20 yards (FPE would have dropped below 12). I believe it is safe to say that 12 FPE is sufficient for humane kills on raccoons, bobcats, and coyotes with a well placed head shot. I do not believe the small calibers available from Daisy air rifles are sufficient for humane vital shot kills on anything larger than rabbits. They certainly would result in the death of the animal but the small wound channel created by these small projectiles would not result in a quick death. A head shot would be dead-right-there (DRT) and completely humane. So with 12 FPE the minimum for racoons, bobcats, and coyotes, that means the vintage 880s are not capable even at the muzzle. The vintage 880s are powerful enough to kill, and possibly humanely, in very limited situations but there is not enough margin to make them practical for hunting these larger animals. The 18 FPE 1977 referenced above does not drop below 12 FPE until 45 yards. The 15 FPE modified 880 maintains 12 or more FPE until 23 yards. We can clearly see that there is not a linear relationship between muzzle FPE and range. Small increases in muzzle FPE have a significant impact on range.
Many people will say that these calibers and power levels are not sufficient for animals such as bobcats or coyotes but the fact is for head shots they are just as effective as any other weapon. Dead is dead, there are no levels of dead. I would venture to say that a 12 FPE pellet in 177 caliber is sufficient to kill most any medium size game with a head shot. The important thing is to make sure the gun and shooter can place the pellet in the brain. I do not advocate hunting animals with weapons that the law prohibits. I also do not advocate making shots beyond the confidence of the shooter to make the shot. With that being said people will argue how much gun is enough? The answer is the amount of gun that can kill in the right hands. I've seen deer get away wounded from someone who shot it with a 300 Winchester Magnum, and I've seen deer killed quickly in sight with arrows, and 22 caliber weapons. It all boils down to enough energy to penetrate and shot placement. We have covered the energy required for a 177 caliber pellet to penetrate sufficiently for squirrels to coyotes. Next we will examine how that translates to penetration values.
While energy or FPE is the term that gets used the most when discussing sufficient power to take certain game, I would argue that penetration is more important for small caliber air rifles. I believe FPE being the yard stick is due to a carryover from firearms where penetration is not an issue like it is with subsonic ultra light projectiles used with air guns. The wound channel even a 177 pellet makes in a squirrel is enormous relatively speaking. That would be like a human being shot by an Apache Helicopter cannon. Shot placement and penetration are the key factors. Here is an excellent reference on the subject over at Hard Air Magazine. So we can calculate a penetration value with the following equation:
Using our squirrel minimum FPE of 7 and the JSB Exact Heavy pellet used in the vintage 880 referenced above we can calculate the penetration value (PV) at the FPE limit. The pellet is traveling 546 FPS when it falls to 7 FPE (32 yards).
Using our racoon minimum FPE of 12 and the JSB Beast pellet used in the 1977 referenced above we can calculate the penetration value at the FPE limit. The pellet is traveling 579 FPS when it falls to 12 FPE (45 yards).
So now that we have FPE and PV values for the two types of game for the 177 caliber. Lets see what is required for a 22 caliber to achieve the same PV. A 822 with the PBL power mod and JSB Exact Heavy pellet (18.13 grain) making 17 FPE at the muzzle is traveling 547 FPS when it drops to 12 FPE (50 yards) and 418 FPS when it drops to 7 FPE (127 yards). That equates to PV values of 29.27 and 22.37, we can see the 22 caliber at the same FPE has less penetration. In fact the 22 cal in this example has a PV value of 34.78 at the muzzle. It is still less than the 177 at 12 FPE. The 822 maintains a PV above the 25.5 small game limit until 89 yards at which point it has 9.2 FPE. In this case the 822 is a better solution for squirrels because it has plenty of penetration and a larger wound channel within reasonable hunting range, but it is not a good solution for larger animals where head shots and high penetration are required. That means as far as head shots on larger game the 1977 is a better selection between these guns. Last but not least lets look at the 1922 (a 1977 converted to 22 cal) . My 1922 makes 25 FPE shooting JSB Monster pellets (25.39 grain). The 1922 is traveling 569 FPS (18.3 FPE) at 39 yards when it reaches the 42.62 PV limit for or larger animals. So the 1922 and 1977 are close to equal for hunting larger animals with head shots only and within about 40 yards. The selection should come down to which one is the most accurate.