This week's learning exercise was to test the .177 Predator GTO lead free 6.79 Gr Pellets across a 6 rifle platform, including 5 "classic" spring rifles and a precharged pneumatic.
General observations - as one would expect, due to their lightweight, they really flatten out the trajectory curve. Not shown within the test results, at the conclusion of indoor range testing, I shot the better of the performing combinations at my 40mm spinners at 50 yards. Very little holdover was required at that distance, and there was no issue with hitting the 40 mm spinners.
With a cross breeze of 7 to 10 mph, the GTO's did move significantly in terms of windage at 50 yards.
The good news, across the 120 shots tested, there were no significant fliers, something I found to be rather remarkable.
Don't expect any expansion out of these pellets. When hitting my steel RX targets, these pellets exhibited no tendency to mushroom. My guess is that they would likely shoot straight through any vermin.
Only one of my rifles really liked them, and for the price difference, I won't likely be going over to them permanently with any of my rifles as the accuracy gain over lead just isn't there, even with the best combinations, but they do provide a reasonable alternative to lead pellets and I would have no hesitancy to shoot them.
The test results can be seen below.
DZ
General observations - as one would expect, due to their lightweight, they really flatten out the trajectory curve. Not shown within the test results, at the conclusion of indoor range testing, I shot the better of the performing combinations at my 40mm spinners at 50 yards. Very little holdover was required at that distance, and there was no issue with hitting the 40 mm spinners.
With a cross breeze of 7 to 10 mph, the GTO's did move significantly in terms of windage at 50 yards.
The good news, across the 120 shots tested, there were no significant fliers, something I found to be rather remarkable.
Don't expect any expansion out of these pellets. When hitting my steel RX targets, these pellets exhibited no tendency to mushroom. My guess is that they would likely shoot straight through any vermin.
Only one of my rifles really liked them, and for the price difference, I won't likely be going over to them permanently with any of my rifles as the accuracy gain over lead just isn't there, even with the best combinations, but they do provide a reasonable alternative to lead pellets and I would have no hesitancy to shoot them.
The test results can be seen below.
DZ
