Animal Sizes & Foot Pounds of Energy
Most everyone knows how big a common bird is and the size of a typical deer. A BB gun will kill a bird but certainly not take down a deer. If you shoot a deer with a BB gun, a deer has thick fir and will probably not even feel the BB. On the other hand, if you shoot a bird with a .50 caliber air gun, there will be nothing left of the bird!
Let’s think of it as a spectrum of power levels from one to ten. Low power and pellet size being at level one such as a .177 caliber BB gun and a .50 caliber big bore air gun with high power and large pellet size being rated at level ten.
A .22 caliber air gun with the power output of 30fpe (foot pounds of energy) won’t put a pellet through a Douglas Fir 2×12 at ten meters, but a .22 caliber air gun with an output of 60fpe and above will.
Animal Sizes & Foot Pounds of Energy
Most everyone knows how big a common bird is and the size of a typical deer. A BB gun will kill a bird but certainly not take down a deer. If you shoot a deer with a BB gun, a deer has thick fir and will probably not even feel the BB. On the other hand, if you shoot a bird with a .50 caliber air gun, there will be nothing left of the bird!
Let’s think of it as a spectrum of power levels from one to ten. Low power and pellet size being at level one such as a .177 caliber BB gun and a .50 caliber big bore air gun with high power and large pellet size being rated at level ten.
A .22 caliber air gun with the power output of 30fpe (foot pounds of energy) won’t put a pellet through a Douglas Fir 2×12 at ten meters, but a .22 caliber air gun with an output of 60fpe and above will.
