4.5 mm ca JSB Diabolo Exact Beast minimum speed with Snowpeak P35

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If minimizing risk of overpenetration/ricochet is an objective, I'd go with a lighter pellet, not heavier. I like a JSB 7.8gr pellet doing about 5-600 fps for 20 meter (or yard in my case) shooting. Even at that speed, a headshot is typically a pass through. A heavier pellet is slower to shed velocity than a heavier one. That said, I get good accuracy out of my Mrod with a LW barrel with the 16gr pellets going about 850 fps.
 
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For close shots consider a 7 grain wadcutter. Very deadly at close quarters and the light weight will shed velocity and help minimize any ricochets. Velocity should be in the 600 - 700 fps range. H&N Terminators are awesome, HOSP's pop when shot. RWS meisterklugen pellets seem to work very well also. Most vermin are very easy to dispatch as long as you use bait to make them stand still.

Edited speed.
 
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x2 on wadcutters...they are ideal for a task like this. They produce more tissue damage than a dome which means more dead-right-there (DRT) when the shot placement is slightly off.

Passthroughs are inevitable no matter what pellet you choose but a wadcutter will have shed more of its velocity, and its blunt nose will cause less collateral damage if and when passthroughs occur.

At a modest distance of just 20m or so, you may not have much difficulty finding a wadcutter with sufficient accuracy but if you will be ordering some to try, I can’t recommend the 9.3gr RWS Supermags strongly enough. They group well from practically every barrel I’ve tried, and at any velocity from 400fps - 900fps.

Another one to try is the 8.2gr Meisterkugeln. For a cheap-but-good wadcutter, Daisy surprised me. Years ago they were atrocious but since they switched production to Spain, they have been quite good.
 
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Regarding the question about a minimum speed to ensure the pellet is stable for the ~20m distance, there is no such thing in practice. For example if you were to incrementally reduce the velocity, there would come a point where the trajectory becomes so loopy that slight errors in estimating the range could become a problem and you start getting an objectionable number of shots that impact too high or too low. Fortunately, it would be likely to occur at velocities so low where sufficient penetration also becomes a problem. Probably in the ballpark of 350-400fps.
 
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Hi guys,

Thanks so much for the advice. Wadcutter is definitely a good idea.

I want to use the 16 gr because my shot placement isn't good. Lighter pellets with low velocity will produce low FPE, when I (often) hit non-vital parts, they took off, only to be found days later because of the smell of rotting carcasses. They could be in the attics or somewhere hard to reach.

My thinking is that with a 16-gr pellet and low velocity, I can still achieve a high FPE. If I miss, the pellet will not ricochet much or travel a long distance, which is important—I'm ratting in an urban area. If it hits non-vital parts of the rat, a heavy pellet at low velocity will get stuck inside the rat, and hopefully, it will die instantly or just a couple of meters away.

20 metres is about the farthest shot; normally, it's about 10 metres.

What do you think about the idea?
 
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bowopt said:
I want to use the 16 gr because my shot placement isn't good.
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All the more reason to favor a wadcutter. A dome like the 16gr Beast will icepick its way through and not produce as much tissue damage as a wadcutter. A wadcutter, even a lightweight one, will do a distinctly better job killing them despite less than ideal placement.
 
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The most important criteria for a pellet is accuracy in the rifle in question. My P35-177 is most accurate with H&N Baracuda Match pellets. It shoots them at about 900 fps. I clipped a coil off the hammer spring to give me more adjustment range on the hammer spring - it was plenty heavy. I'm not sure how much I could slow them down even with the shortened spring. It's easy to reduce the hammer spring force and not terribly difficult to reduce the regulator so I guess you could probably dial them down. You have to degass (there is a screw) and take the end off the air tube to get to the regulator. It's not hard and I can do it in 15 minutes now that I've done it several times.

It's fine to try wadcutters and heavier pellets but if they are not accurate in your gun you should pick a pellet that is accurate. Then reduce velocity and see if it is still accurate. My P35s are not very sensitive to pellet speed so my guess is you can go down and retain accuracy. I would start with something like the H&N Baracuda or Baracuda Match or the JSB 10.3 grain or Crossman 10.5 grain. I think you will likely find at least one is accurate. Then you can test wadcutters and others and see if they are as accurate. If not, go back to the simple domed and try reducing speed.

I do not think there is anything you can do that will make mis-placed shots work well. No pellet, no speed of pellet, nothing. That's why it is so important to use pellets your gun likes.
 
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