How far is an ethical shot

[Chief55]

I see this question being asked quite a bit on some forums. The answer is more about your own personal ability to shoot than it is about the equipment being able to do its job, if you have chosen the right caliber and ammo for the hunt. It's all good when you are clamped into a tripod or using sand bags, but it is another story when you have to shoot standing offhand. You can always ask the wind to stop blowing, but real hunting doesn't work that way. After you have chosen your gun and ammo and done all the sighting in. Practice shooting the way you would for hunting be it offhand, with shooting sticks, bracing against a tree, whatever then you can decide what range you should limit yourself too as an individual. Chances are the gun will be way more capable than you are without the tripod or sand bags and oh today the wind isn't blowing. For one guy, it might be 100 yards. For the next guy, maybe 10 feet. You might be great on a bench and awful shooting offhand. Knowing your own personal limitations can go a long way.

 

[PasadenaMike]

My comfortable hunting range is about. 35 yards where I know the pellet is still in the cross hair at least in elevation.

 

[Solo1]

This is why i don’t understand why so many people say slugs are only for long range, 100 +. If im shooting at a squirrel at 50 and its windy if im shooting slugs ill only have half the wind drift of a pellet which in many cases is the difference between hit and miss or worse

 

[Danman]

I'll wade into this murky water. I Crushed my long range record (60Y prev) on Sunday with a 98 Yard shot with my ghost. As for FPE the Mrd passed through chest and exited cleanly out the back. Bird dropped like a stone. It was 99% the gun, ammo, scope and 1% me. To be clear it was a pest animal and I would NOT take a shot on any large animal (game or pest) if I doubted myself/ gun. 10 minutes before that I dumped a bird at 28ish Yards with my TX. Both were ethical ranges for the gun I was using. If I wound something (super rare) I will do everything in my power to finish it off quickly. Both guns are comfortable offhand shooters but absolutely I will steady my shot with anything available! Good question indeed...

 

[Chief55]

You should find what groups the best in your gun, pellet or slug, then only use that in your gun for everything. Target shooting and hunting. Most rifling will not stabilize pellets and slugs well, and most of these guns are made for pellets. The larger big bores .457, .50 are made for slugs. That way when you practice and just shoot for fun, everything is constant, and you learn what you can do almost like muscle memory. Don't try to make it complicated, (the old saying keep it simple, stupid), was a thing for a good reason. The most important thing is shot placement. Those slugs aren't good for anything if you can't make a good shot with them. Bullet's stabilizing is more about the length of the bullet, matching that rifling. This is true with powder burners as well, even with those you have to try different weight bullets to find what groups the best in your gun, but it is really about the length of the bullet/slug not the weight. Hollow points that are the same weight as a solid bullet will be longer, that is why you can't go by weight, it is the length that engages the rifling that matters and yes speed is also a factor. There is a good reason why the manufacturers don't tell you what slugs group well in what guns and why so many people have full boxes of slugs gathering dust. It's not because they don't know the answer. I have a .25 pellet that has mushroomed to .451 it will kill.

 

[Starling Stalker]

There are so many variables ( shooter,gun,caliber,etc) that you can’t answer that question for anyone else. I’m a 40-50 yard guy. My largest is .22. Can easily get starlings at that distance.

 

[FL22]

I personally am of the simple belief that “If you don’t feel 100% with yourself and your gun simply don’t make the shot”.
With that said my current max distance is 50 yards.
Though I haven’t actually made or attempted it, I know I can. So far it’s 45 yards.

 

[Solo1]

And with my above statement yes you have to do your dues and be sure the slug your shooting is at least as accurate as the pellet you use. With 177-22 the little slugs quite often shoot as well as pellets but again the resistance to movement caused by wind is usually double that of a pellet.

 

[Bladebum]

And here..we..go...

This topic is a can of worms on every forum and always turns into a mess. Ill give my input and background here though.

I am a hunter in all aspects, specifically a western hunter. Use airguns, archery, shotgun, large rifle you name it to hunt everything from sparrows to Elk. I have killed ALOT of things in my life, from a red ryder up to a 338. Hunting in the west is very different from hunting the dense woods of the east. Your shots are alot of times much farther and you either have the equipment and capabilities or you do not.

My personal range is drastically different based on what I'm shooting. For example, all of my guns for elk hunting are capable of well over 600 yards for both accuracy and power, and my skills can match that. But I refuse to shoot over 400, period. Would have no issue being with someone with the same parameters that felt comfortable on a 600 yard shot.

In the airgun world, there are two types of hunting. There is game hunting and pest hunting. When hunting game for meat, I want headshots at close ranges, and for me that is 50 yards or less. If im pest hunting, thats a whole different story. I have and do regularly take shots in excess of 100 yards, since I am not concerned about meat or the ethicality of possibly wounding pests. Usually in those scenarios though, its a clean miss or dead hit either way, wind usually being the big factor.

If we're talking the "ethics" of killing power, its a moot point. Very simple numbers there. Takes only a couple ft lbs on target to kill a pigeon or ground squirrel with a head or vitals shot. Your standard 30 ft lb .22 18 grain pellet shooter technically has the power to do that at 100s of yards. Hitting would be very difficult but the power is there. At 100 yards though, that little 18 grain pellet is both still accurate and powerful, would still be making around 17 ft lbs. To put that In perspective, that is a good and powerful spring piston gun at the muzzle.

To sum up my lengthy rant, there is no set numbers on ethicality. There is only your consciousness on your capabilities and equipment used for specific game which you set the boundaries on.

 

[Starling Stalker]

I haven’t tried slugs so I can’t comment on their accuracy. My problem with slugs is that they are bullets. Pellet guns are exempt from ATF. If we keep trying to make PELLET guns comparable to powder burners the ATF will get involved and we will only be able to shoot .177 like some European countries.

 

[Solo1]

I haven’t tried slugs so I can’t comment on their accuracy. My problem with slugs is that they are bullets. Pellet guns are exempt from ATF. If we keep trying to make PELLET guns comparable to powder burners the ATF will get involved and we will only be able to shoot .177 like some European countries.

Well European field target allows slugs but only to 12 fpe. And i have to believe that any reasonable person can see that a pellet is a chunk of lead and so is a slug is there a difference in their performance in wind , yes, is there enough difference for 1 to be that much more harmful than another i really don’t think so at least in normal calibers

 

[Starling Stalker]

I have nothing against slugs in general. It is the perception that they are bullets. The first time someone gets shot with a big bore airgun shooting “slugs”it will be all over. There are groups just waiting to pounce on any kind of shooting.

 

[Starling Stalker]

Well European field target allows slugs but only to 12 fpe. And i have to believe that any reasonable person can see that a pellet is a chunk of lead and so is a slug is there a difference in their performance in wind , yes, is there enough difference for 1 to be that much more harmful than another i really don’t think so at least in normal calibers

The key word here is “reasonable “. The anti’s and haters are not reasonable.

 

[pan60]

most of my shots are in the 50 yard range but i have taken a few tree rats and closer to a 100 and a fair number close to 20 yards.
i have not gone down the slug path for the most part what i have tried as shown not to be so consistent in my gun.

 

[Starling Stalker]

Sorry didn’t mean to stray from the topic. Just very leery of the public perception of slugs. Just one mistake could ruin the pastime we all love. Call me paranoid if you want. Just my opinion

 

[Starling Stalker]

most of my shots are in the 50 yard range but i have taken a few tree rats and closer to a 100 and a fair number close to 20 yards.
i have not gone down the slug path for the most part what i have tried as shown not to be so consistent in my gun.

Most of my shots are 27(bird feeder) to 45 yards. When you can put 5 pellets in basically the same hole at this distance what’s to improve?

 

[pan60]

Most of my shots are 27(bird feeder) to 45 yards. When you can put 5 pellets in basically the same hole at this distance what’s to improve?

yea same here as for the acuracy on the pellets i wanted to try slugs for the better BC but if i cant get them on the same era of the target i am not going to try and hit a tree rat.

 

[Danman]

I have nothing against slugs in general. It is the perception that they are bullets. The first time someone gets shot with a big bore airgun shooting “slugs”it will be all over. There are groups just waiting to pounce on any kind of shooting.

I hear you sir but waste zero time worrying about that crap. 5 minutes from my work some dude shot his dad with a pcp arrow gun and killed him last month. Dude was messed, very sad. I rolled my eyes thinking greeaaatt here comes the restrictions, regulations, etc that comes with all that. Cops didn't even know what it was "a long gun that shoots arrows" they called it. Shoot safety no matter what you doing target/plinking,hunting, etc. Slugs are amazing, and serve a great purpose. I always  TRY to set up my guns like this: shoot paper at various ranges, figure out what ammo for distance. Verify with plinking small objects. (Also great fun!!) Then ultimately hunt/pest with them.

 

[GHairgunner]

Well I don't get to do much pesting or hunting myself but do a lot of paper punching so will make comments based on that. This month going to match were we will shoot targets at 200 yards. Personally a bit disturb by that as it is like shooting at a squirrel on a house, the far side of the second street away. EBR started just 12 years ago and 75 was far and now big comps are all at 100. I have a 36x scope and can't always see if I hit paper at 200 yards let alone if I hit the target. Here in the US its always WDB and not necessarily precision. I wouldn't mind power limits and shorter distances for comps, but that's my opinion.

 

[Danman]

Well I don't get to do much pesting or hunting myself but do a lot of paper punching so will make comments based on that. This month going to match were we will shoot targets at 200 yards. Personally a bit disturb by that as it is like shooting at a squirrel on a house, the far side of the second street away. EBR started just 12 years ago and 75 was far and now big comps are all at 100. I have a 36x scope and can't always see if I hit paper at 200 yards let alone if I hit the target. Here in the US its always WDB and not necessarily precision. I wouldn't mind power limits and shorter distances for comps, but that's my opinion.

If I can ask....you find it disturbing as in the place the competition is isn't really safe or you more mean you can't see where your lead is hitting down range, or you just preferred the shorter distances? I have short and long range air rifles, and with the onslaught of technology the distances are definitely going out. I still plan to map out my Ghost to 100Yards and stop (for hunting anyways). It can go further but I see no real value in it. Most hunting scenarios around here I can get within 50 Yards of my quarry without chasing them off. For any paper punching or plinking I would think a nice solid backstop should do the trick. And a slug should slow down much quicker than a pellet with that expansion going on!