When it comes to sneaky food harvesting, you can’t go wrong with a nice break barrel, springer air rifle.
The focus of this article is on the necessity for a decent, reliable best air rifle for squirrels in a survival situation.
Air rifles are available in two calibres (standards): 0.177 and 0.22. By law, they are likewise limited in terms of power output.
With a maximum weight of 12 ft/lb, they can still deliver a powerful punch and are suitable for small species like rabbit, squirrel, and pigeon.If you want a rifle that is more powerful than 12ft/lb, you’ll need an F.A.C (Fire Arms Certificate), which entails a process that includes personal searches and police checks to establish your suitability to purchase one.
An ‘off the shelf’ legal 0.177 air rifle, on the other hand, will fire a pellet at up to 800 feet per second, whilst a 0.22 rifle will fire at roughly 500 feet per second.
The biggest factor is, of course, the pellet size and weight, with the 0.177 weighing roughly 8.5 grams compared to the 0.22, which weighs almost twice as much at 16 grams.
Both calibres can knock down a rabbit of average size from a distance of up to 50 meters, depending on the conditions and your own ability.To successfully hunt for rabbits, you should be able to regularly hit a target group with a diameter of no more than 2 inches.
There are a slew of criteria that go into a successful small game hunt:
- Rifle selection
- The rifle’s caliber
- Pellet types
- Conditions
Your own skillset
However, to make things easier when picking the best break barrel rifle for rabbit hunting, you simply need to choose the pellet calibre you want; the rest is up to your degree of shooting skill and preferences.
Pellet Selection
Essentially, there are just two options
The smaller 0.177 pellet cannot create the same amount of kinetic energy as the larger 0.22 pellet.
However, because the 0.177 pellet has a faster speed and a flatter trajectory, it should provide greater accuracy across its range.
The larger 0.22 pellet has a higher kinetic energy, which means it will have more killing power, but because the velocity is lower, it will require more sight adjustments across longer distances than the 0.177 pellet.
Air Gun Maniac, a general guideline, always aim for a clean head shot, and any small game hit in the head, regardless of rifle calibre, is a kill shot if it’s within the rifle’s kill range (distance)
The Best Air Rifle For Rabbit Hunting
As always, I strongly advise hiring a professional gunsmith and purchasing your air rifle from them.
Without a doubt, you’ll benefit from their expertise, understanding, and experience when it comes to selecting the best weapon for your needs.
You’ll almost certainly receive a warranty, servicing options, and extras to keep your weapon in great shape and firing perfectly every time.
Which is better: a break barrel rifle or a PCP rifle?
I would recommend a broken barrel, spring powered air rifle over the far more sophisticated PCP air rifle for preppers or anyone active in survival, or for the ultimate situation, SHTF, where you actually need to hunt for your food in order to survive
Unfortunately, a spring-powered beak barrel air rifle creates greater recoil than a PCP, so you’ll need to be sure you can hit the target area first, every time. However, for preppers, it’s a long-term favorite over the PCP rifle, which has far too many parts that can break, leak, or go wrong. A PCP rifle is also significantly more expensive than a springer rifle, plain and simple.
Having said that, the PCP rifle should not be overlooked. There is a lot to choose from. I have both, but I’m confident that if one of them fails, I’ll have a backup.