I ran an experiment tonight so as to better understand the performance of a few of my favorite hunting loads and the results were pretty awesome! I took two popular pellet manufacturers and ran a straight up and down comparison of expansion with a couple of loads that I use often. I used my unregulated Puncher Breaker topped off at about 200 bar for each test. I fired each load into a block of modeling clay. I was at a range of 15 yards and these were all in .177 caliber. I used the H&N Barracuda Hunter Extreme 9.57 grain pellets versus the Crosman Premier Piranha 10.5 grain pellets and then the H&N Terminator 7.25 grain pellets versus the Crosman Premier Destroyer 7.4 grain pellets. And then for good measure I tossed in a pellet that I would like to see made and I'll get to that later. I tried to use pellets with similar shaped heads and as similar weight as possible so as to keep things as equal across the board as I could and again this test was only for expansion -- I wasn't going for FPE or accuracy or any of that other data -- all I was looking to measure was expansion. This is the first time I've done any testing like this and I'm just getting started as a reviewer/tester/presenter so go ahead and lay the comments and suggestions on me -- I welcome all criticism because I want to improve and make this more than a hobby. So here we go...
In the smaller weight pellets there really wasn't a clear better performer and what these pellets did inside the clay was no surprise. Penetration between the two was as near to identical as to make no difference and both pellets came apart leaving just the main pointy center mass somewhat intact. Due to the design of the head of these pellets these really can't be said to expand so much as come apart and end up sending tiny little pieces of lead in all directions like a frangible firearm projectile. That's a pretty cool result as the frangible nature of the loads can add to the lethality and thus aid in humanely dispatching your target. There was some expansion of the center pointy section though not enough so as to make it impossible to determine what it was and not enough to drastically effect the penetration. The H&N Terminator 7.25 grain pellet came out of the clay at a diameter of 5.1 mm for a total of 0.6 mm of expansion. Not bad. The Crosman had very similar performance and came out of the clay at 5.3 mm for a total of 0.8 mm of expansion. If you'd like to know how much weight each shed just let me know I will update this post with that data.
The real shockers for me were the heavier pellets and it's not for the reason you might think. Penetration was surprisingly similar to that of the lighter weight pellets. That was a very interesting result as I would have thought the extra mass would be harder to stop and therefore would penetrate deeper but this was almost not the case at all. The difference in penetration from the lighter loads was negligible. My first real surprise was the H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme as it did not perform at all as I had anticipated. This load came out of the clay at a mere 4.7 mm for a total of 0.2 mm of expansion. It also has a similar shape to the lighter loads and so it appears as though it behaved like a frangible projectile as well and not so much like a hollow point. My next surprise was more of a shock. The Crosman Premier Piranha came out of the clay at a whopping 7.1 mm for a total of 2.6 mm of expansion. That is nearly the size of a .30 caliber round. That was a truly stunning result. The penetration of the Piranha was a bit less than the other three loads so by all accounts this massive expansion does indeed lend itself to stopping the projectile rapidly therefore quickly expending all of its energy inside the target. In either case both of these loads expended all of their energy inside the target very quickly and given the frangible nature of the one and the massive expansion of the other it seems that they too would make humanely dispatching your quarry possible.
Overall, in terms of dumping their energy, all four projectiles had very similar penetration depth and three of them had similar expansion. If you're looking for something more frangible then perhaps the Crosman Premier Destroyer, the H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme and Terminators would be the desirable load. If you're looking for something that has dramatic expansion and stays together well then the Crosman Premier Piranha seems to be a good option. All four rounds, whether they fragmented well or stayed together well, appear to expend all of their energy fairly rapidly inside the target and so any one of the four would make a humane load for small game.
And now for the final load -- one I would like to see produced -- and how it performed. I'll start by explaining that I made this load myself from a H&N Piledriver 21 grain pellet and I'll also say that I don't recommend anyone do this at all. It's not a practice in which I engage often as it can be unsafe. In short -- Don't Try This At Home! I planed down a scrap piece of wood and then drilled a hole through it so that these long pellets would just stick above the wood by a millimeter or two. Maybe even less, I'm not sure I just went by feel and winged it. I then took my flat Exacto knife and gave the meplat a bit of a larger flat than it had before. I then marked the center of the pellet and took a 1/16th drill bit to it giving it a deep hollow point cavity. I then used a larger spur wood bit to increase the opening size of the hollow point and round off any flat meplat left. Since I had used my flat Exacto knife to mark the center of the pellet I went ahead and used it again to cut those marks into the lead as deep grooves kind of like what you see on the H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme. I then smoothed any rough edges on a very fine sanding block. I topped off the reservoir or the Puncher Breaker to make sure that it was at about 200 bar like the other tests and then sent the thing down range. The expansion was tremendous and the devastation inside the clay was conspicuous. It didn't expand quite as symmetrically as the previous tests so I eyeballed it and put my calipers on what appeared to be the two points farthest apart and it came out to be exactly 9 mm or 35.caliber. Expanding to twice its original size notwithstanding it did penetrate deeper than the previous tests and its wake down the entire length of the channel created in the clay was utter devastation. The amount of energy expended by this load into the clay was prodigious. Even if only for my own use I would like to see this load manufactured. So if that means that I reach a point that I'm swaging them only for myself then so be it. I'm not completely done with my design and I have a lot of saving to do to be able to order a die and swaging press but I'll get there. If anyone else would like to see this load created please let me know and I'll try to keep interested parties informed of the progress.
Thank you all for taking the time to read this and now please do send me your replies, suggestions, critique and criticism. I need all the input I can get so as to improve and move forward toward making this passion less of a hobby.
Always be safe, stay free.
The Broke-ass Airgunner.
In the smaller weight pellets there really wasn't a clear better performer and what these pellets did inside the clay was no surprise. Penetration between the two was as near to identical as to make no difference and both pellets came apart leaving just the main pointy center mass somewhat intact. Due to the design of the head of these pellets these really can't be said to expand so much as come apart and end up sending tiny little pieces of lead in all directions like a frangible firearm projectile. That's a pretty cool result as the frangible nature of the loads can add to the lethality and thus aid in humanely dispatching your target. There was some expansion of the center pointy section though not enough so as to make it impossible to determine what it was and not enough to drastically effect the penetration. The H&N Terminator 7.25 grain pellet came out of the clay at a diameter of 5.1 mm for a total of 0.6 mm of expansion. Not bad. The Crosman had very similar performance and came out of the clay at 5.3 mm for a total of 0.8 mm of expansion. If you'd like to know how much weight each shed just let me know I will update this post with that data.
The real shockers for me were the heavier pellets and it's not for the reason you might think. Penetration was surprisingly similar to that of the lighter weight pellets. That was a very interesting result as I would have thought the extra mass would be harder to stop and therefore would penetrate deeper but this was almost not the case at all. The difference in penetration from the lighter loads was negligible. My first real surprise was the H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme as it did not perform at all as I had anticipated. This load came out of the clay at a mere 4.7 mm for a total of 0.2 mm of expansion. It also has a similar shape to the lighter loads and so it appears as though it behaved like a frangible projectile as well and not so much like a hollow point. My next surprise was more of a shock. The Crosman Premier Piranha came out of the clay at a whopping 7.1 mm for a total of 2.6 mm of expansion. That is nearly the size of a .30 caliber round. That was a truly stunning result. The penetration of the Piranha was a bit less than the other three loads so by all accounts this massive expansion does indeed lend itself to stopping the projectile rapidly therefore quickly expending all of its energy inside the target. In either case both of these loads expended all of their energy inside the target very quickly and given the frangible nature of the one and the massive expansion of the other it seems that they too would make humanely dispatching your quarry possible.
Overall, in terms of dumping their energy, all four projectiles had very similar penetration depth and three of them had similar expansion. If you're looking for something more frangible then perhaps the Crosman Premier Destroyer, the H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme and Terminators would be the desirable load. If you're looking for something that has dramatic expansion and stays together well then the Crosman Premier Piranha seems to be a good option. All four rounds, whether they fragmented well or stayed together well, appear to expend all of their energy fairly rapidly inside the target and so any one of the four would make a humane load for small game.
And now for the final load -- one I would like to see produced -- and how it performed. I'll start by explaining that I made this load myself from a H&N Piledriver 21 grain pellet and I'll also say that I don't recommend anyone do this at all. It's not a practice in which I engage often as it can be unsafe. In short -- Don't Try This At Home! I planed down a scrap piece of wood and then drilled a hole through it so that these long pellets would just stick above the wood by a millimeter or two. Maybe even less, I'm not sure I just went by feel and winged it. I then took my flat Exacto knife and gave the meplat a bit of a larger flat than it had before. I then marked the center of the pellet and took a 1/16th drill bit to it giving it a deep hollow point cavity. I then used a larger spur wood bit to increase the opening size of the hollow point and round off any flat meplat left. Since I had used my flat Exacto knife to mark the center of the pellet I went ahead and used it again to cut those marks into the lead as deep grooves kind of like what you see on the H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme. I then smoothed any rough edges on a very fine sanding block. I topped off the reservoir or the Puncher Breaker to make sure that it was at about 200 bar like the other tests and then sent the thing down range. The expansion was tremendous and the devastation inside the clay was conspicuous. It didn't expand quite as symmetrically as the previous tests so I eyeballed it and put my calipers on what appeared to be the two points farthest apart and it came out to be exactly 9 mm or 35.caliber. Expanding to twice its original size notwithstanding it did penetrate deeper than the previous tests and its wake down the entire length of the channel created in the clay was utter devastation. The amount of energy expended by this load into the clay was prodigious. Even if only for my own use I would like to see this load manufactured. So if that means that I reach a point that I'm swaging them only for myself then so be it. I'm not completely done with my design and I have a lot of saving to do to be able to order a die and swaging press but I'll get there. If anyone else would like to see this load created please let me know and I'll try to keep interested parties informed of the progress.
Thank you all for taking the time to read this and now please do send me your replies, suggestions, critique and criticism. I need all the input I can get so as to improve and move forward toward making this passion less of a hobby.
Always be safe, stay free.
The Broke-ass Airgunner.
