Hard Air Magazine Has Started Reviewing Pellets. Here's What and How...

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hardairmag

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Jan 5, 2016
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I thought you may be interested to see how Hard Air Magazine is reviewing pellets.

We have just started publishing pellet test reviews. I believe that these are unprecedented in the level of “hard data” used and the rigor of analysis. We'll be aiming to add two more reviews every month going forward in Hard Air Magazine.

The first two reviews cover 14.3 Grain Crosman Premier Hollow Point pellets in .22 cal and .177 Cal 8.44 Grain JSB Exact Premium Diabolos.
http://hardairmagazine.com/reviews/crosman-premier-hollowpoint-14-3-grain-pellet-test-review/
http://hardairmagazine.com/reviews/jsb-exact-premium-diabolo-8-44-grain-177-cal-pellet-test-review/

The background to our testing - the how and why - is given in this post.
http://hardairmagazine.com/reviews/introducing-hard-air-magazine-pellet-test-reviews/

Once we have a sufficient body of tests to draw statistically-significant conclusions, we’ll start grading pellets with percentage scores and HAM Awards.

We have decided to "test pellets as pellets", not as part of an overall shooting system. Although this may be controversial, it is clear from the 50+ Hard Air Magazine air rifle test reviews already published, there is no one pellet that is accurate in every air rifle. Of course, accuracy is not a function of the pellet alone - it depends on the gun, the pellet, the scope, the shooter and the weather. So accuracy is NOT measured in our tests. But pretty well everything else is measure - including the weight of the lead dust in the tin!

I welcome any thoughts or comments you have on our test methodology and results.

Stephen Archer
Hard Air Magazine
www.hardairmagazine.com
 
Awesome!

I recently started a spreadsheet (located at the top of this section) in an effort to collect the most common ballistic coefficients. Perhaps your pellet testing can help fill in the blanks.

I'm also interested in gaining knowledge of how the BC changes at distance (as the velocity changes). I believe you either need multiple chronographs or a LabRadar.

Looking forward to your series.
 
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Thanks for the support!

We'll be making some additions to the reviews - primarily scoring and conclusions - but the format will stay basically the same. And we'll update early reviews as we go.

I'll post links here as the new pellet test reviews are published in Hard Air Magazine. Over time, I believe this will build-up into a valuable source of pellet data.

Stephen Archer
Hard Air Magazine
http://www.hardairmagazine.com
 
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I wonder if the "hardness" of pellets can be tested? I have done a few simple tests on that and for me most of my rifles like softer lead. But skirt thickness (the lighter pellets have thinner skirts in same brand in the ones I've tested) makes some seem soft? And in some like the copper clad I have used them in a rifle that liked 5.52 size and had to run the copper thru a 5.53 (very tight) and then thru a 5.52 pellet sizer. I'm looking forward to your tests on various pellets since at times I feel its voodoo. ;)
 
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Goodtogo, pellet hardness can be tested. There are many portable hardness testers available for a price. Hardness has a major impact on penetration and the amount of energy delivered to the target. My Air Arms TX200 loves the .22, 12.65 grain H&N Baracuda Green pellets. These pellets are made of tin and are considerably harder than lead pellets. I've used them to take quarry such as armadillo, crow, ground hog and fox, penetration has never been a problem. When shooting smaller game such as squirrels the pellet frequently passes through the animal which means that all of the potential energy was not delivered to the quarry. This pass through is offset by outstanding accuracy when used with my TX200.

“Crosman Premier Hollowpoint 14.3 Grain pellets are manufactured from a fairly hard lead alloy. They certainly seem perceptibly harder than many other types of lead pellet.”

I appreciate the effort, however, statements such as these are very subjective and lack supporting data. What would you think if the reviewer wrote: They certainly seem perceptibly faster than many other types of lead pellet. The statement looses it value. I would suggest that you use a portable hardness tester if you're going to comment on hardness. 
 
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My 22 use to stack the premiers 14.3, but the new ones, are very shiny looking not like the ones shown in the article. Accuracy, in my gun, with new ones has been inconsistent, whereas the Falcon 13.43 pellets are super accurate.

Can't figure out why they don't shoot like they use to, i have used these pellets for 7 years, switched to Falcon (jsb?) 13.43 pellets.
 
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Gamyrick,

Thanks for your comments:)

The aim with our HAM pellet testing is to provide the maximum amount of hard data possible in pellet testing, together with a minimum of subjectivity. We mentioned the apparent hardness of the Crosman pellets in passing. Frankly we had not thought to test pellet hardness before - that's why it's not in our current pellet test protocol. But we'll certainly look into testing pellet hardness - as you say, there's plenty of hardness testers out there.

We'll also think about how hardness plays into pellet performance and the degree to which variability of hardness is another meaningful variable to be measured.

Stephen Archer
Hard Air Magazine
http://www.hardairmagazine.com
 
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"hardairmag"

We'll also think about how hardness plays into pellet performance and the degree to which variability of hardness is another meaningful variable to be measured.




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I have also observed over the last twenty five years? :( That Crossman Premier pellets are harder alloy than many other pellets. That is subjective and only an observation based upon handling. I also observed that pellet is less sensitive to skirt damage than many pellets and have often wondered how much that contributes to the reputation of CPs. Anyway I think hardness would definitely be something you would want to document.
 
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Thanks for the reviews. As a new air gunner I appreciate the information. After looking off and on for a few years for a decent air rifle I purchased a RWS model 48 in .22. For a guy who's never shot or been around air rifles the learning curve has been pretty steep. All that being said when I ordered my rifle I also ordered two tins of H&N Field Target Trophy 14.66 gr round nose. While waiting on my rifle I was looking at pellets and discovered the Crosman Premier 14.3gr hollow points reviewed above and ordered a tin of them thinking they may be better for bird and pest control. 

After sighting in the scope and working on my hold for 400 rounds or so I decided to shoot the H&N and Crosman hollow points in a book to check penetration and expansion. At 20 and 40 yards the lighter Crosman penetrated through about 30 more pages than the H&N pellet did. But what surprised me the most was that very little expansion with the hollow point. I didn't expect the round nose the expand much but I thought the hollow point would. I thought maybe the pellets needed to be run at a higher velocity but now I'm thinking the hollow point is a gimmick.
 
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Thanks everyone for the comments. The next HAM pellet test will be H&N Field Target Trophy pellets in .177 caliber.

We're still investigating how we would test hardness. However, hardness testing usually requires a solid surface that's flat to the test point. This is difficult to achieve with pellets, unless we were to slice them in some way. We'll keep looking...

Stephen Archer
Hard Air magazine
http://www.hardairmagazine.com
 
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"hardairmag"Thanks everyone for the comments. The next HAM pellet test will be H&N Field Target Trophy pellets in .177 caliber.

We're still investigating how we would test hardness. However, hardness testing usually requires a solid surface that's flat to the test point. This is difficult to achieve with pellets, unless we were to slice them in some way. We'll keep looking...

Stephen Archer
Hard Air magazine
http://www.hardairmagazine.com

I think to test a pellet hardness i think it would be better to have it in a radius. I take a piece of aluminum bar stock and drill the correct size hole in it and then saw it in half. That way half the pellet is supported when you use something to push against it to test hardness?
Click to expand...
 
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