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Posted: 4/3/2016 9:55:42 PM EDT
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I am using a Benjamin Trail .22. When I purchased the rifle I picked up 2K Crosman Premier domed pellets. All is great out to 25yds. with the squirrels, one shot does very well. When they are out a bit further it usually wounds them and I have to shoot them again. Since its time to restock I have been looking into hollow points and pointed pellets. I assume, being an air rifle the hollow points would not have enough energy to actually penetrate and expand and that pointed pellets would be better. Yet I would also assume that the pointed pellets would be less accurate unless I purchased high quality ones due to the fact than any deviation on the tip will throw a flyer. Any experience with the two and what are you using? Thank you very much |
| 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. |
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Quoted:
The wounding shots have all been to the body in thelung-heart area. When you mentioned that pointed pellets do not perform is this accuracy orlethality? 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 . . . |
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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. |
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Predator Metalmag shoot good in my RWS 460
http://www.pyramydair.com/s/p/Predator_Metalmag_Pellets_22_Cal_17_Grains_Pointed_200ct/1165 
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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. |
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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! |
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