I was gonna suggest this moved to H3, but it’s gone nowThis is France, it’s more of a guideline!
I asked a gun shop this once, as airguns, garden guns,.22lr etc are advertised as for vermin. You need a different licence to legally shoot any animal in France with anything. I was told that strictly speaking it is against the law, but no one has ever been prosecuted for vermin control in their own garden
Watching quiet a lot of Americans use 177 air rifles which are mostly what we would class as fac due the power and then hunting animals very successfully with the 177 I would say there's definitely a place for them if you have a slot on your ticket
I don’t know, if you had a break barrel in .177 that could manage 20 ft/lb pushing a 10 gn slug at 950 ft/sec then I think that would be something, I think an HW90 might be able to achieve this.
Rifle weight aside ( comparing an HW 90 & 95), with a 95, about 14 # is all you want in .177. They shoot plenty flat, but really tend to " ice pick" quarry - all the energy is absorbed by the dirt/ tree/ rock behind what you just shot...reason I like .20 & .22 in FAC - that little extra frontal area makes a difference
FWIW, 10 gr. slugs didn't work in my 95 worth a hoot, for a few reasons.That’s a shame about your 95, I’ve read that the h&n 10gn slug performed the best just slightly ahead of the JSB and Weihrauch barrels are quit good with slugs due to the fast twist rate and the slight choking they have.Rifle weight aside ( comparing an HW 90 & 95), with a 95, about 14 # is all you want in .177. They shoot plenty flat, but really tend to " ice pick" quarry - all the energy is absorbed by the dirt/ tree/ rock behind what you just shot...reason I like .20 & .22 in FAC - that little extra frontal area makes a difference
popular in 50m bench rest but tend to be most accurate at 860-890fps / 17-18 fpe.
Not exclusive to FAC velocities I get headshot pass through on rabbits with JSB Heavies in sub-12 at 45yds,
Personal opinion here only - w/o benefit of hydraulic or hydrostatic shock from a pellet rifle, I lean more toward blunt force trauma &/or wider wound channel from a larger caliber. Longer shots are for rimfires & if you've the ticket, why not take advantage ?
Low/Mid 700s, Shot cycle sucked, spring on protest... not much advantage. A faster flatter 8.4 JSB or 8.6 FTT was much better. FAC springers perform way nicer in the larger calibers.
Totally agree a .177 at subsonic speeds become unstable and even with added weight or slugs still over 900-950 fps it just doesn't add up as a hunter... .22 or .25 at fac would be better and more humane take down even out at 80 yards plus...
That’s ok with pellets but I don’t think a springer in .22 shooting a slug would attain the optimum velocity required for decent accuracy.
Had a .22 rimfire, found that FAC air covered 90% of the use and with my shooting now in a relatively narrow 800 acre 1.5 mile strip with footpaths, paddocks and the like there is little chance of a damaging ricochet.
At the risk of sounding like a right nitwit, I thought that was one of the benefits of using a 17HMR in that if it hits anything the bullet just disintegrates so ricochets aren’t a problem, even if you miss and it hits a twig the round will just vaporise.
