Benjamin Discovery .177 or .22?

From Arizona, USA, 183 posts

I am going to get a Benjamin Discovery soon, hopefully sooner than later... I've mostly been shooting pigeons.... so would it be worth it to me to get a .22? I already have a .177 springer, so would it be worth it to stick with .177, or get new pellets? I'm in the U. S. so the trajectory of the .22 isn't as much a concern.

From West Wales, 2444 posts

.22

From Mankato, MN, 4110 posts

Lately, I've been only using .22 cal. for everything.

From Sweden, 992 posts

.22 Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From Ipswich, 3298 posts

I'm gonna go with .22 for anything over 12 ft/lbs. At 12 I think a .22 is a littlee loopy.

From Mankato, MN, 4110 posts

Well my daisy pump .22 runs about 12 ftbs. Rated 625 ftps. It is so quiet. I got a little stonger spring and can knock the power up a bit with 12 pumps instead of original 10, but it brings the trigger pull back up to 6 lbs. Any more pumps and it doesn't increase anymore power. Probably would have to get a different valve or reshape the air passage ways for more power. But, It's fine at 12 pumps. Not as much lag, just pull the trigger and it hits a lot faster.

Nice thing is It does have half the noise of my .22 springer that's rated 800 fps or perhaps 20 ftlbs max.

I'm still waiting for my Dicovery 22. looking beginning of May. They had massive orders for the .22 pump combo. That alone should say that people want a .22 pcp with power. At around 26 ftlbs at 900 fps and it can hit .625 at 65 yards...the .22 ohhhh yeah....if you are going to hunt (any prey)...definately. It's old school, but way cool. A 100 more fps in a .177 isn't really going to sell me on .177 today.

I'd say .177 for Target / FT........22 for everything else. FT only a handful of groups in the US. As for Targets .177 is standard most likely. If your into target shooting you'll probably want to buy a target gun set up for that and with a good set of open sights. As for 10 meters they run less power in .177 for more accuracy.


This is just my opinion. Everyone has their favorite airgun and caliber. If you need some speed get some 11gr .22 pellets. That will teach the birds if you need to.

From Mankato, MN, 4110 posts

Well I finally bought my first pcp. I went with both calibers, but for shot count and less noise I may leave it set up as is. Here's the link to the Modified Benjamin Discovery ad:

Benjamin Discovery

From Eugene, OR, 331 posts

I have a .177 Mendoza that I love. But I've been harassed, humiliated, berated et., for not having a .22.

By all means avoid this problem. Go .22
wabbit