Quote Originally Posted by alanl View Post
> Which springer....
..... Another thing to consider is calibre - .22 shoots better in springers than .177 - less felt recoil etc. Bear this in mind if you only try out .22, but want a .177 - the .177 will kick just a little more.
Alan
This is correct. Even at 12 ft/lb the energy required to get a .177 to 12ft/lb produces a level of recoil which adversely effects accuracy. However the .22 has a terrible trajectory at 12ft/lb (the .22 calibre is best left to rimfire rifles). As for .25, well, what can you say! It has such a crap trajectory that it is even a minority calibre in rimfire! You might as well throw a brick.

So what do you do if you want a springer but don't want to suffer either a kicking recoil or a terrible trajectory?

.20 is the answer. As air rifle users we should have a large choice of .177 and .20 to choose from with .22 coming in third place. But we don't, we have .177 and .22 to choose from with .20 in third place . Why is this?

There is so much subjective and legacy opinion and vested interest in "nay saying" .20 that it is not moving forward, in terms of guns sold, as fast as it otherwise would. A user or a manufacturer with their investment in .17 and .22, and maybe even pellet making equipment in .177 and .22, might not want to see .20 gain popularity for purely selfish reasons.

I am a bit of a luddite myself where change and technology advancements bring as much on the negative side as the positive. However, that does not apply to .20 which is definitely an advancement well worth having. The trials I have read show its trajectory is nearly as flat as .177, it has better energy retention, wind resistance and and energy transfer on impact.

It appears to be a far superior calibre for sub 12ft/lb springers and FAC pcp, especially where hunting is involved.

.20 is progressing inexorably and at some point it will reach critical mass and the pellet ranges will increase etc. and the existing decline of .22 will accelerate.

I find H&N FTT .20 pellets (about 11.5grn) to be consistently accurate with very few flyers. I think that a 10.5 grain version would be well worth looking at but I can't find one in a standard dome shape.

I haven't got time to find links to all the information which made me decide to go with progress and get a .20 springer instead of going down the illogical .22 route, but if you check the Whiscombe web site there are some very interesting accuracy test results, and you could use Chairgun to make your own trajectory comparisons.

Theoben and Falcon do a range of .20 but I think that Falcon only do pcp. Weihrauch might do .20 but I am not sure whether they do walnut stocks (which are well worth paying the extra for).

Good luck with whatever you buy.