Ideal calibre for (subsonic) culling?

[Ds J]

Hi Folks, which calibre/s would you recommend for culling on an eco estate? (Apologies if I have asked this before).

At times, subsonic shots out to 25m would be a requirement, and no shots over 100m. Shooting could also occur at night with appropriate lights etc.

Target species: antilope up to kudu and BlueWB.

[Againstthegrains]

A lot depends on what you have available, and what you can adapt for sub-sonic shooting. The easiest is .22LR as most people have one, and you can buy ammo over the shelf. At 25m max you should be ok, as long as you can place that bullet with pin point accuracy.

Remember sub sonic is very low energy, so a 200gr 308 sub sonic has less energy than a 40gr 22 cal bullet going at 2800ft/sec. A bigger caliber is less of a win than speed. Essentially the formula for energy is the mass x speed squared, so the bullet speed is has an exponential relationship with energy, or to put it simply. Speed kills.