I decided to try my hand at testing an assortment of pellets I have on hand in some ballistic gelatin. I always wondered to the validity of statements made by different pellet manufacturers about "penetration", or "expansion", or "hyper velocity" and decided the only way to get conclusive facts is to test on my own.
So, last night I whipped up some homemade ballistic gelatin in preparation for today's festivities. I used a velveeta container top as my mold, and left it in the fridge for 16 hours. I did not calibrate the gel, as I do not have a variable pump bb rifle. Anyways, it should be good enough for this test. What I ended up with was a block 8.5"x3"x2.5".
I was not able to chrony every pellet, as I returned my Chrony over a month ago to Amazon. What I do have is a baseline for a couple of pellets fired through 2 different rifles.
The first rifle is my Diana 34 Meistershutze Pro Compact in .177. I chronied it using Crosman Premier HP 7.9g pellets at an average of 897 fps.
Next up is my modded QB78 in .22. I was able to get 2 baselines out of it before returning my Chrony. The first was the RWS Meisterkuglen 14.0g at an average of 812fps. The second was the H&N Barracuda Match 21.14g at an average of 699fps.
Testing was done at point blank range (around 6 inches) due to the small target I had. Unfortunately my medium didnt come out that clear, but I was able to get some decent pictures after cross sectioning it.
Results in .22
The H&N Barracuda Match 21.14g was the first pellet fired into the block. It made a full passthrough and lodged itself into the ballistic clay in my backstop. I fired a second time with the same results. This had me worried that my mixture was off, or that I didnt have a large enough block.
The RWS Meisterkuglen 14.0g was next, and it obtained exactly 6" of penetration with very little pellet deformity.
Next was the Crosman Premier HP 14.3g with a complete passthrough. I did not fire a second time because I had limited space in my small ballistic gel to shoot. In my opinion this pellet penetrated so well due to the fact it is made from harder lead than the other pellets.
Fourth up was the H&N Field Target (also known as the Beeman Ram Jet) coming in at 16.36g. This pellet did well in penetration and stopped at 7.25" with slight deformation.
The last of the .22 cal pellets tested was the H&N Terminators, touted as having "high expansion" on the container. If thats true, its certainly got to be above 700fps impact speed, because this wasnt very impressive. It stopped at exactly 5" in the gel.
Now for the .177 tests.
First up is the most worthless pellet ever to hit the market in my opinion. The Crosman SSP. I bought these on a whim at Wal Mart because they were cheap and looked like a good hunting pellet.What they are is an ultra-lightweight alloy piece of shit that makes my air rifle sound like a .17HMR. It has no penetration to speak of, and very little expansion, and terrible accuracy. I digress. Penetration was 2.5" and expansion is shown in the pic below.
Next up was the Crosman Devastator EX 7.4g purchased at Wal Mart for under $3. In my opinion these would make some of the best pellets for hunting birds or squirrels. They shoot on par with the RWS Meisterkuglen's out to 15 yards in my Diana 34, but are so much more destructive. This pellet had the most impressive wound cavity of all pellets tested.
At approx 1" into the gel the pellet exploded, shedding its hollow point rim. The remaining mass traveled 6 7/8".
Third pellet was my baseline pellet, and the one that performs with the best of them. The Crosman Premier HP 7.9g. Penetration was 7 3/4 and had some expansion. Interestingly enough, I shot this same pellet through the same rifle at 10 meters last week at a large ball of play-dough and got perfect expansion with a completely flattened tip. I was somewhat disappointed with the expansion here, but it will remain my "go to" pellet due to its accuracy and consistency.
Last up was a pellet that I have a love-hate relationship with. The JSB Diabolo Exact Heavy 10.3g. This pellet is capable of stacking pellets on Wednesdays, but Friday shoots no better than the Crosman Destroyers. As suspected, this pellet had the most penetration of .177 pellets tested at 8.5" and slight deformation.
So, there it is, my half-assed attempt to test some pellets at home, with homemade ballistics gel. Although not very scientific, nor conclusive, it certainly cuts through the BS.