"sharroff"For those that do not think the pellet type makes a big difference on a squirrel or other small game like rabbits and rats, pull up a chair and sit a while - I want to show you something.
I just took 4 different pellets and fired them from my 40 fpe .22 into layers of soaked compressed car towels covered with water in a 5 gallon bucket. It works similar to shooting into a cheap roast from your butcher, but is a lot cleaner and the towels can be washed, dried, and put back in the shooting closet, and reused over and over. - Don't try that with the butchers cheap roast.
And for you who are about to say 'Well that's not Ballistic Gelatin and it's not covered with X layer of denim!" Well, we aren't shooting at people - we're shooting at squirrels .
If someone doesn't believe me, well hey, Paypal me and I'd be happy to go to the butcher, get a roast, and shoot it up with .22s and post the pics here for everyone to see. Include return shipping, and I'll even send you back the used roast as a souvenir if you like.
The bottom row is what the pellet looked like originally and the top row is what it looked like after.
Check out the JSB 18.13 (1st pellet on left)- I could probably put it back into the gun and fire it again. It went though 6 inches medium and lodged in the bottom of the bucket. No way when shooting from a high (40 fpe) 22 that's not going to over penetrate on a squirrel and exit. Well, unless you shoot him in the rump with plans of it travelling the rest of the way through him though the heart/lungs to the brain (which it probably would). I would not want to clean that squirrel though. Overall from a head or heart/lung side shot, I don't think it's going to deliver as much energy as the other pellets. Second, I hope you aren't shooting tree rats in your neighborhood with this pellet as chances are it''s on its way to it's next backstop after it finishes it's visit with Mr. Squirrel. Yes, if you put it in the right spot (brain, heart, lungs) it's going to do it's job. No question. But compare that to your other .22 pellet choices below. The JSB expanded from .22 to .224. Pellet length went from .303 to .285 Great accuracy round, no doubt. Pellet on pellet hits with these in my gun. But as a damage inflicting hunting round? Yawn.
Next is the Crossman Premier Hollow point 14.13 (2nd from left). At least it shows signs of opening up, but again, it hasn't expanded or deformed alot. It lodged 5 inches into the medium so it delivered more energy than the JSB (if we were shooting squirrels and not a bucket of towels). You can really see how well it engaged the rifling in my barrel. No wonder it shoots so straight. It expanded from .22 to .224. Pellet length went from .259 to .251 Hunting round? Yawn.
Third from Left is H&N Terminator 16.36g. Lot's of pellet change which means energy being absorbed by our not so happy squirrel. They have a special metal in the middle that does not deform, and apparently forces the lead around it to expand. It made it about 3 inches into the medium. Sorry, no rifling marks left to show! It expanded from a .22 to a .27 round while doing it's job. Hey .22 guys, look!! You can actually do a .25 and better hole! Pellet length went from .317 to .296.
On the right is what I use on squirrels, a H&N Hunter Extreme 19.09g. Look at how that pellet expands!! The pellet has completely petaled out around the hard center. This only made it about an inch into the medium. This sometimes even stays in squirrel heads after the shot. That's delivering almost all the pellets energy while expanding from a .22 round into a .39 by .39 square. Pellet length went from .295 to to .187. Talk about getting smashed! That is a classic picture of how a powder burner should look!
And here is a 45 degree view
And here is a view from the bottom.
Yes, first you have to be accurate, and your gun has to be able to shoot the pellet accurately - BUT THEN - choosing the right pellet can make a lot of difference on the result. Your mileage may vary based on your guns FPE.
Final question, after seeing the above, if you were a friendly neighborly tree rat that was about to have an unexpected encounter with a .incoming .22 pellet, which would you least like to have hit you?
Can I have a +1 accuracy for my squirrel pellet review?