I have the Power! (He-man reference anyone?)

I've got to have that Power:
You've been waiting on it so here it is. Pellet guns typically don't have quite the power that a 22lr has. Haha! You've finally got me right! My argument is now completely invalid! Right? ....right? Well, NO my argument still stands quite strong thank you very much. In my personal findings a 22lr will produce between 42 ft lbs (cci quit ammo 40g at 685fps) and 117 ft lbs (cci maxi mag 40g at 1150fps) of energy in a rifle. Thats quite a bit of energy and is ample plenty to easily take anything from about 25lbs on down with decent placement (lets not get into the self incriminating discussion of what we have and haven't killed with 22s, proper placement has let me take game quite a bit bigger than 25lbs as well but any reasonable individual will agree that perfect placement every time isn't what you should be counting on in a survival situation.)

How does the pellet rifle compare? Well a decent 22 cal like an RWS 48 is going to lay 14.3g pellets into a target at about 23ft lbs (14.3g Benjamin Discovery pellet at 855 fps) a Gamo rifle I have slings 7.5g Barracuda pellets at 1200 fps for 24ft lbs. So the pellet rifle is looking pretty dismal at this point, discussion over.... Not so fast. Now if the US military determined that 51ft/ lbs is what is needed for lethality against a human being do you need 107 to hunt squirrel? I should hope not. I will grant you that you gain some points for versatility in that department for the 22 since now you have a round capable of defending yourself with (sweet baby Jesus lets not go down this rabbit hole either, I agree, its not a good defense round, if you think it is thats fine, its your funeral not mine, be my guest, BUT the fact remains there is enough energy for a kill with a 22 so I have to note that in order to be fair and reasonable).

The fact of the matter is that you really don't need more that about 20ft lbs of energy to hunt small game. Truth be known, for most small game 5 to 6 ft. lbs. and a head shot is perfectly adequate. There are a number of individuals who hunt with Crosman 1377s quite successfully. That particular pistol if heavily modded can produce about 8.1 ft. lbs. safely at 10 pumps (7.5g at 650fps) but is still one of the go to small game hunting pistols in the air gun world. If you have the capacity to consistently put 14.3 grains of lead into a squirrels noggin at 850fps trust me, you will consistently eat. I have taken raccoons with pellet rifles as well as other things we will not go into, lets suffice it to say that EVERY animal I have taken with a 22lr I have already taken again with a pellet gun. Thats all we need to talk about that. Seriously...

I also feel its important to note the distance that each projectile travels. I don't know how many times I was told 2 miles on a 22lr as a child but it was a ton! I think this number may be quite exaggerated but as stated before I know for a fact the 22lr remains lethal at 450 yards. I cannot see whats down range at 450 yards and one thing I was always taught was to ALWAYS know where the bullet is going to stop before you pull the trigger. The pellet gun gives you some wiggle room here. I can kill a squirrel at 100 yards with the energy my 22 cal has at that distance, but Im not going to cause a human being very serious injury at that distance. Im a major proponent of not making a bad situation worse and shooting a friendly you didn't see 400 yards away is pretty high on my list of things that make a bad situation worse. If nothing else, handing a pellet gun to someone you may not "trust" with a 30-06 may not be a bad idea, they can still put food in the pot but irresponsible behavior doesn't bare quite the same consequences.

I will openly admit that the 22lr has much much much more power than a typical pellet gun, but I have left out the not so typical pellet guns for the sake of my overall argument. I have left out pellet guns like the 357 caliber recluse that puts down 155 ft lbs (72g at 985fps), the 45 caliber big bore that puts down 237ft lbs (200g at 730fps), and the 50 caliber dragon claw that throw lead at 230ft lbs (225g at 679fps). All of those rifles by the way put down more energy than any 22lr and they are ALL semi automatic. However, with price tags in the 700 dollar frame they don't really fit into my overall argument here.

Power category goes to the 22lr but I don't feel that is a defeat for me, more than anything it just shows the 22lr is overkill for most small game hunting and I am ok with that.