hades vs slugs at short range at low power- are they effective?

[rangur1]

we all know both of these are very effective at power settings. I'm just trying to ascertain if either of these will undergo proper expansion at low power settings . like inside a barn where you don't want to put holes in the walls. Iff you set your guns power way down will both of these projectiles act basically like a standard pellet with minimal expansion? I left out polymags because they can be too long for a good number of guns. So , would either the hades or slug have their usual great impact results at a low power setting? By low power figure 15-20 FPE with a 25 cal gun. or 570-600 FPS velocity

 

[Pistonjohn]

If punching holes is a concern you should definitely stick with pellets,100%.

 

[M63Ural]

My experience with the Hades pellets is they do not often exit at low power, dumping energy into the target. Also the Hades seem to be softer lead. This alone would make them my choice inside a barn.

Jim

 

[Eaglehorn]

Pellets lose their punch much more quickly than slugs. I'd use the hades for this purpose.

 

[JimNM]

I shoot hades at about 22 FPE through the Kral PB @ min power. I get 50-55 shots of usable power with minute of pest accuracy and am 100% comfortable at up to 65 yards with them. I would have to open the gun to de-tune any lower. I get some pass through on the ground squirrels - usually on the head shots. There just is not enough mush mass stop the pellet. Vitals shots sound like a watermelon thump. Distinctly more thump than round nose.

 

[brawler1588]

I am kind of in the same boat currently setting up a crown mk2 at 15fpe for closer range back yard pesting, I am looking to try the hades and the h&n barracuda extremes but mine is .22 once I get it tuned in I was going to get a ham are some sort of meat and have it backed by a piece of wood and see how they do, most slugs may require more to mushroom but have heard the varmint knockers and the griffin slugs are softer and can open at slower speeds.

 

[Metalmaniac]

For inside barns I use wadcutters or paper punching pellets. I turn the gun down to 5 to 10 ft pounds this will still dent metal badly. Head and neck shots work best. Breasts on some birds like pigeons are tough. MM

 

[Guest]

I don't consider Hades an expanding pellet. At full power, they will make a mess of small game, but recovered pellets are always intact and ready for another flight.

For in barn work, they ricochet if contact is made with a hard surface. 

 

[nervoustrig]

The Hades I’ve recovered showed no appreciable expansion, even at much higher velocity. Apparently if your quarry is jugs of water or blocks of gel, they expand. But in a live squirrel they don’t and I don’t know how it would be any different with a pigeon, especially at such a low velocity. Granted the head profile is slightly blunted so they wouldn’t be as apt to punch through tin as a dome, but still more than a wadcutter. 

Like Metalmaniac said, a wadcutter is really the best answer for this scenario. The rub in this case is the caliber. I’m not aware of any commercially available ones in .25. Pyramyd’s parametric search returns none. That being the case, a semi-wadcutter like the Hades or Baracuda Hunter Extreme is probably the closest you’ll get. Their characteristics seem to land about halfway in between a dome and wadcutter. 

Personally I would reach for a .22 or even a .177. At least 4 benefits:
1. less air consumption means more opportunity to get the noise level down and work in relative stealth
2. wadcutters produce more tissue damage (closes the gap with a larger caliber)
3. wadcutters present less risk of penetrating the tin
4. cheaper

 

[Guest]

I would reconsider the polymags and just cut the tip to fit. When fired, the plastic tip breaks off on impact, and you will have a blunt pellet smashing through with no expansion. 

 

[mwils111]

I too have recovered hades that impacted pest birds at around 17 fpe and observed minimal expansion. However, they do seem to do more damage than normal domed pellets.

 

[M63Ural]

I have not tried to recover a Hades or any other pellet yet from a live target. I can say that the noise on impact of the Hades ((as well as the PolyMags) is different and louder. The starlings, squirrels and rabbits I have tried them on seemed to have fewer pellets exit as compared to round nosed pellets. It is just my observation and memory that the animals seemed to kick less or flap wings less after the shot. If it works that's good enough for me.

Jim

 

[bandg]

I have not tried to recover a Hades or any other pellet yet from a live target. I can say that the noise on impact of the Hades ((as well as the PolyMags) is different and louder. The starlings, squirrels and rabbits I have tried them on seemed to have fewer pellets exit as compared to round nosed pellets. It is just my observation and memory that the animals seemed to kick less or flap wings less after the shot. If it works that's good enough for me.

Jim

"good enough for me". All that matters for each shooter.

 

[Kevin23]

Hades really need a lot of inertia behind them to make them expand on soft targets. Slugs will definitely expand better at slower speeds, just due to the fact that they have a big hollow point with very soft lead. There is so little strength holding the nose of a slug up, that even throwing it at a wall would cause it to expand if it hit nose first... thats why hollow point bullets have been used for years. 

I think a lot of people have great success with hades at low power because its already way more damage than they need. Starlings for example, you can kill them stone dead with a BB pistol.. they die if you just look at them harshly, so yeah anything you hit them with will do the job very well... we used to kill them as kids by hiding in a bush by the feeder and shooting them with folded up pieces of paper launched from a rubber band between your fingers. 
Rabbits are another, their fur and skin are very soft so it takes little to penetrate and kill a rabbit. Hit them in the vitals and you'll kill them stone dead with a 7gr 177 pellet. 

 

[M63Ural]

I know this is an apples to oranges thing. My .22 with NSA 17.5s whips right through everything, it's running about 25fpe. My .25 doesn't always exit with a Hades. The .25 is dialed down yet making 49 fpe and change. Before I got into the PCP guns we were using some springers. I was often not happy with the accuracy of the higher powered springers and used the HW 55. Body shots were out with any pellet in the cabinet. However an ear hit did the trick every time. My fave was to wait for a quartering away shot. Of course your results may vary.

Jim

 

[Guest]

The flutes in the nose of the hades defendant produce a large permanent cavity. But expansion is not what it's doing on soft targets. I prefer their penetration in certain situations, like drilling a hole through a coyote's chest at 25 meters.

 

[Kevin23]

I know this is an apples to oranges thing. My .22 with NSA 17.5s whips right through everything, it's running about 25fpe. My .25 doesn't always exit with a Hades. The .25 is dialed down yet making 49 fpe and change. Before I got into the PCP guns we were using some springers. I was often not happy with the accuracy of the higher powered springers and used the HW 55. Body shots were out with any pellet in the cabinet. However an ear hit did the trick every time. My fave was to wait for a quartering away shot. Of course your results may vary.

Jim

Really? I'm using those slugs in my gauntlet at 24fpe and they stay in a squirrels head at 15-50 yards. Absolutely lights out the squirrels and makes jelly of their head, but hardly ever comes out the back side. 

 

[Deallad]

I bought a tin of Hades pellets and they work fine at air gun velocity in my Kalibrgun Argus 60

The JSB jumbo heavy are the most accurate pellet but the Hades were almost as good and fantastic on pigeons 



Regards

Michael