Kill distances?

[slips]

With a rifle set at 11.5 ft lbs what would be the max distance to enable a clean kill, ie a bird (subject to hitting it in the kill zone) a rough estimate would give me some idea, i'll be using a hw100 with .22 h&n FTT,

 

or is this an unanswerable stupid question, even to estimate?

[beatingisbest]

With a rifle set at 11.5 ft lbs what would be the max distance to enable a clean kill, ie a bird (subject to hitting it in the kill zone) a rough estimate would give me some idea, i'll be using a hw100 with .22 h&n FTT,

 

or is this an unanswerable stupid question, even to estimate?

 

 

it depends entirely on your ability, provided you can hit the spot about 55 yards

[Tarka]

zero at 30 yards with .22

 

anything up to 50 yrds, but with considerable practice.

 

but usually andthing from 20 - 40yrds

[slips]

With a rifle set at 11.5 ft lbs what would be the max distance to enable a clean kill, ie a bird (subject to hitting it in the kill zone) a rough estimate would give me some idea, i'll be using a hw100 with .22 h&n FTT,

 

or is this an unanswerable stupid question, even to estimate?

 

 

it depends entirely on your ability, provided you can hit the spot about 55 yards

 

 

B) That seems a hell of a long way, i'v only been shooting the length of the garden, which is about 90ft and hitting the target spot on every time, but 55yards is about my garden length again, you must be spot on if you can take a head shot at that distance? i suppose until i get access to some private land im not gonna be able to test it at that distance,

[Lord Geordie]

With a rifle set at 11.5 ft lbs what would be the max distance to enable a clean kill, ie a bird (subject to hitting it in the kill zone) a rough estimate would give me some idea, i'll be using a hw100 with .22 h&n FTT,

 

or is this an unanswerable stupid question, even to estimate?

 

 

it depends entirely on your ability, provided you can hit the spot about 55 yards

 

 

B) That seems a hell of a long way, i'v only been shooting the length of the garden, which is about 90ft and hitting the target spot on every time, but 55yards is about my garden length again, you must be spot on if you can take a head shot at that distance? i suppose until i get access to some private land im not gonna be able to test it at that distance,

 

 

Of course at 50 yards you will have to take into consideration pellet drop AND and side winds that will make your pellet deviate from it's path

 

Also each time you take your gun out take a few shots at a target forst to make sure your POI hasn't shifted.

 

I tend to stick to the 40s

 

LG

[henry d]

If you can hit at 90feet........do it at that distance.If you believe you can put 90% in the kill zone at,as some seem to imply,55 yds(and I can`t do that with a .22 rf),then do it also but please let us come and watch

[slips]

If you can hit at 90feet........do it at that distance.If you believe you can put 90% in the kill zone at,as some seem to imply,55 yds(and I can`t do that with a .22 rf),then do it also but please let us come and watch B)

 

If you could hit the target at any distance, with the rifle i have described (the hw100) roughly at 11.5 ft lbs what rough distance would be the kill chances via a head shot to a pigeon, ie before the pellet lost its clean kill power? obviously not wanting to just cause a stun injury, ie the ideal hunting distance for a clean take out.

[henry d]

No idea......I keep my shots with my HW35 to less than 25 m because I can put the pellet in the right place at that distance.If I want to shoot any further I have shotguns/rf`s/cf`s.

 

IMO - it aint about the power as that comes to nothing if you can`t put it in the right place.

[njc110381]

Your effective range is the limiting factor, not the power of the gun. I couldn't put a number on the distance a 12ft-lbs rifle will kill at, as I've never pushed my boundries. I can clean kill, in still conditions, at 45m. Whatever range you can group 99% of your shots (everyone has a flyer now and again) in the conditions on the day, that is it. At 45m a .22 pellet is dropping rapidly, so range judgement will have to be absolutely spot on to hit a target in the field. We're not talking range marked metal things here, animals vary in size and are never in the same place twice. All these factors make it harder to be right. I wouldn't attempt 45m shots with a .22, as I don't believe I'm good enough. I shoot .177 for that reason, the trajectory is much flatter so the odd yard of range misjudgement is less important.

[Reeco]

HI All, I found this the other day and you may find it useful,

I think this was for an air rifle shooting at 11.5 ftlbs. ATB. Reeco

[stubby]

the above picture was from one of the airgun mags, testing the difference between pellet sizes, which has got absolutly nothing to do with what this poster was asking,

 

90ft = 30yds is really where you wanna be shooting mate, if your practising in ya back yard at this range, and hitting the mark constantly, why then go into the field and expect to go further, as others have stated, alot can differ between yard and field shooting, if you asking for the maxium distance because your quarry is running/flying before you can get near it, then its your fieldcraft skills that need work on, not the distance

[slips]

the above picture was from one of the airgun mags, testing the difference between pellet sizes, which has got absolutly nothing to do with what this poster was asking,

 

90ft = 30yds is really where you wanna be shooting mate, if your practising in ya back yard at this range, and hitting the mark constantly, why then go into the field and expect to go further, as others have stated, alot can differ between yard and field shooting, if you asking for the maxium distance because your quarry is running/flying before you can get near it, then its your fieldcraft skills that need work on, not the distance

 

my main concern is the pellet loosing power over a certain distance and only wounding/injuring the prey, obviously i want a take out shot, iv never gauged a pellet at the end of its life span and would'nt know how it hits just before the pellet power dies out, ie if i fire at a pice of wood at close distance its gonna enter the wood, but not if the wood was much further away, it will literaly plink off, now if the piece of wood was a bird then surely the outcome is the same, so if it plinked off a birds head then surely it will only wounded,

 

that was my main question, with the metioned hw100 .22 what range should i be shooting at to ascertain a clean kill, assuming that i will hit the prey everytime, (wishfull thinking, lol. but you know what im getting at)

[Conygree]

One aspect with hunting is the shooting position and gun weight. I have never taken a hunting shot laying down, most of my hunting is slow stalking squirrels and the odd pigeon. So for free standing +high shots I limit it to 20 m kneeling with no tree 25-30m using a tree for support 30-35m =one pellet one kill. I have taken +40 m shots mainly on practice including one head shot at 60 m, on reflection it was luck.

 

By limiting range I feel more in control of my hunting, for last year it was squirrel =170, pigeon 70ish, corvid say 80 and a few bunnies. Using the lighter evolution in 177 I free stand shots but with the heavy HW90K 22 I mainly use supported shots, I find it hard to look for squirrel and pigeon at the same time with out falling over.

[1 of 5]

An 11.5 ft/lb .22 will have enough energy for a clean kill well beyond any range you can shoot accurately at so the question is moot. Only by using flatheads or hollowpoints will the pellet have lost enough energy to worry over the longer distances. Any good roundhead such as Fields / accupells or FTT will retain sufficient energy well over 55 yds.

Shooting over a known and fixed distance is frankly a doddle and without wishing to deflate your ego it bears no resemblance to hunting in the field where you have to rely on judgement to get the range correct. A .22 has a very loopy trajectory and this combined with shooter skill is the limiting factor in max range shooting. A typical .22 shooter needs to be limiting themselves to 35 yds as getting the range correct above that is just too critical for all but the best people to consider. When .22 shooters come off many 45 yd max HFT courses they have often hit less than 50% of the kills and they are 40mm ones above 35 yds. No quarry has a 40mm killzone.

[slips]

An 11.5 ft/lb .22 will have enough energy for a clean kill well beyond any range you can shoot accurately at so the question is moot. Only by using flatheads or hollowpoints will the pellet have lost enough energy to worry over the longer distances. Any good roundhead such as Fields / accupells or FTT will retain sufficient energy well over 55 yds.

Shooting over a known and fixed distance is frankly a doddle and without wishing to deflate your ego it bears no resemblance to hunting in the field where you have to rely on judgement to get the range correct. A .22 has a very loopy trajectory and this combined with shooter skill is the limiting factor in max range shooting. A typical .22 shooter needs to be limiting themselves to 35 yds as getting the range correct above that is just too critical for all but the best people to consider. When .22 shooters come off many 45 yd max HFT courses they have often hit less than 50% of the kills and they are 40mm ones above 35 yds. No quarry has a 40mm killzone.

 

cheers for that chaps, putting all the info together has answered my question.