Originally Posted by
Geezer
Never seen definitive numbers.
In the US, Crosman in particular pushed the .22” heavily until the late 60s or early 70s. Their adverts strongly and misleadingly implied (“power without powder”) that their rifles were equivalent to a .22” RF, just quieter with cheaper ammo. When people like Bob Law and Bob Beeman created the “adult air gun” market over there from the early 70s, they stressed high velocity, and pushed the .177”.
In the U.K., .22” was the overwhelmingly chosen calibre for pest control until the early or mid 90s, influenced by the success of .177” in FT. That also affected things like plinking pistols. I’m sure that most Webley top-break pistols were in .22” (ditto BSA Scorpions), for example. I am not that old (50) but when I was growing up we all “knew” that .22” was more powerful, better, etc. Only 10M match guys used .177”, we thought. Or really cheap low power plinkers.
That’s why collectors will pay more for .177” examples of classic/vintage sporting springers. For example, I can’t recall the last time I saw a .177” Webley Vulcan for sale. They exist, but not many.
Meanwhile, over in Germany, the focus from the 50s was on close-range target shooting, so the .177” ruled the roost. About the only German-made guns in .22” from 1950-1990 were made for the U.K. market.