Thank you very much

Are these wounding shots in the head or body?

I have good luck with the Crossman and JSB pellets in general. At energy levels above 20 ft*lbs, head shots out at 30 - 35 yards have been lethal to say the least.

Buy some pointed pellets and try them but I suspect you'll find that they don't perform well. Every gun is different but I don't believe I've ever talked to anyone or read comments from anyone who said that their gun loved pointed pellets. Personally, I never mess with them.

I'm not a hunter but my understanding is that humane airgun hunting requires head shots. If you can't do that, you're shooting too far for either your gun's capabilities or your abilities.

To address your question, I was referring to accuracy. My understanding is that, in regards to lethality, the pointed pellets offer increased penetration but decreased energy transfer. But, again, I'm not a hunter so take that for what it's worth . . .

Try some Gamo Raptor pellets.  I think you will be impressed.

Dome to the dome works good for me, but my max is usually 25 to maybe 30 yards

In many airguns pointed pellets tend to spiral, and thus do not have the accuracy required for taking game at a bit of distance.  Domed pellets actually work better in terms of both accuracy and terminal ballistics.

I've always viewed hollow points, and polymer tipped pellets as little more than gimmicks.  The domed pellets actually penetrate as well if not better than pointed.  Wadcutters, if they were as heavy, and could be driven as fast (which is their downside---they don't like velocities over 625 ft/s) would penetrate even better.

Domed pellets hit the hardest. 22 air rifles don't shoot as flat as 177 which is why I went with 177. My Nitro Venom kills Grey's just fine through the heart and lungs. I suspect at the farther range your pellet isn't shooting quite where you aim it. I would try to stick with head shots at 25 yards if that is your max range. Squirrels are tough to kill unless you put the shot where it belongs.

Predator Metalmag  shoot good in my RWS 460

http://www.pyramydair.com/s/p/Predator_Metalmag_Pellets_22_Cal_17_Grains_Pointed_200ct/1165

In my misspent youth, I killed a truckload of small game with a Crosman 1377 pump-up pistol. The best pellets I ever used were Beeman Superdomes. I could count on them to shoot through a quail out to 12 yards or so, with 10 pumps.

I recently caved to nostalgia and bought  a new 1377. I added a steel breech and a Barska red dot sight, and tried killing some quail that were rustling my grass seed. Crosman 7.9 gr hollow points were iffy, even on dove, and the 7.4 gr Crosman Destroyers only destroyed my faith in my new pistol. Happily, I found a local source for Superdomes and learned that some things never change- the Superdomes still kill quail better than any HP pellet I can find.

I believe that at 500 FPS, no HP pellet is going to expand reliably, or have the ability to penetrate deeply enough to do proper damage to anything much tougher than a sparrow. The Superdomes hit hard, penetrate deeply, and are wonderfully accurate. For serious airgun hunting, I will always reach for a rifle, but using the right pellet and placing it correctly can make a good pistol punch above its weight.

In .177 and .22, I have had the best luck with Crossman Premiere and JSB, hunting and/or targets.

In FT, we have a 20 ft*lb limit, so most of my work has been at that level, but at times I have sent them much harder.

Serious folks end up with even larger bore designs, but I live far from where I was raised and able to hunt, so I am not ready for all the .25 and up rigs yet.

In FT, the dividing line from where you would call an average difficulty is about 1" at 40 yards in low or no wind. You can do much better with tuned rigs, good optics, and lots of trigger time. More than good enough for head shots on squirrel and rabbit using 20 ft*lb with accurate pellets.

I don't recommend body shots if you are collecting the animal, so it is all about head shots when hunting for the table, for me that is... Nothing wrong with a well placed body shot, but to be well placed it is just as tight as a head shot in my opinion, and then the uncertainty of the lethality comes into play.

Good Hunting in any case!

When I shoot a springer at game I take head and shoulder shots.

PCP is different, 50 plus ft lbs I will take frontal and spine shots to.

Same here, I either miss the squirrel, or my Shepherd catches it in the air.

Other than the photo, anyone have any experience with these?

Edit: Wow! Just looked those Umarex Havox up and they want $14-$16 for 25 pellets!?! Yikes!