Common Questions on Hunting with Airguns
Can you use an air rifle to hunt?
Many states allow hunting with air rifles. As long as it's legal in your area, you can absolutely hunt with an air rifle. In fact, air rifle hunting is nothing new. It's been going on for hundreds of years. Lewis and Clark (1804) carried a .46 caliber air rifle on their expedition to discover the Oregon Trail and they were hunting and trapping as they went.
Which airgun caliber is best for hunting?
Depending on your prey, you can use anything from .177 to .50 caliber. If you're shooting small game you could use .177 to .22, for medium game you could use .25 to .30, and for large game, you could use a .357 or larger. What determines the ability of each caliber to be effective in a hunting capacity is the foot-pounds of energy (fpe) in the air rifle. A .22 caliber pellet coming out of a 10 fpe air rifle will be very different than a .22 caliber pellet coming out of a 200 fpe air rifle. When you're choosing an air rifle for hunting you want to match the properly powered air rifle to the game. We have more information on how to match caliber and game size for hunting.
What is the most powerful hunting air rifle?
The most powerful production air rifle is the AirForce Texan. There are several variations to choose from. Some are available in .25 to .50 caliber, while others are available in .45 and .50 only. It shoots slugs at 1000 feet per second and produces over 600 foot-pounds of energy. It could easily take any large game in North America.
