Impressed by lead free .25 pellets

[Calson]

I have been using lead and then lead free .22 pellets to take down squirrels and it always took a head shot. A body shot was never effective and only resulted in the squirrel running off to die in its den. With my new .25 Air Arms Ultimate Shooter I took a chance on a squirrel where only a torso shot was available. The Predator GTO 16.54 gr steel pellet took the squirrel down with one shot to the torso. Within an hour a red shouldered hawk was busy devouring the squirrel (which is why I only use lead-free pellets for hunting).

The 16.54 gr steel pellet provided a much greater kill impact than the JSB Jumbo Exact heavy 18.1 gr lead pellets. The only downside is that I needed to add a 1/4" steel backing plate and a ballistic rubber front to my target backstop with the steel pellets. Much greater penetration with the steel pellets as compared to the lead ones.

 

[lbc_PSI]

Pretty sure they aren't steel... if they were, barrel wear would be excessive and they'd probably be impossible to feed..steel does not compress well..like lead.

Probably a Zinc Alloy.

 

[qball]

Majority of lead free pellets are made from Tin alloy which performs quite well. Due to lower weight/mass they do lose energy much quicker than heavier lead pellets which in certain situations is a plus. The .25 leadfree pellets are actually quite good. 

 

[SqrlHntr]

GTO’s do in fact have a lot of zinc in them, lbc_psi is correct. Remember the penny/copper/zinc experiment from grade school when you dissolved the zinc in acid and left the copper on the outside? Try it on a GTO! (many of our homeschool lessons are airgun-centric, this was one) 


I like lead free in my 10m pistols but have not tried them above .177 so no comment on .25’s, sorry...I do expect the demand for lead-free will continue to increase as the EU is trying hard to ban lead and some clubs and associations are already using lead-free as a standard. 

 

[SDellinger]

I have shot the GTO 25 cal pellets out of my FX500 a good bit. I find the added velocity let's me use the same trajectory chart as the 25.4 grain. I got more fly offs because the lighter pellets don't have the energy the heavier pellets have. That's my theory anyway. It's like shooting a standard velocity 22 LR flight time wise. Very accurate in m 500.