RWS Pellets – Are they any good? What about their Ballistic Coefficient?
I just came across a signature of a forum poster that said among other things: “If you havent tried RWS pellets in a while give them a try. RWS pellets rock.”
Well, now that made me I wonder. I’m working in .22 cal, and I hadn’t considered RWS pellets – so this signature made me go back and check why!
Well, it is what is is... –– Their ballistic coefficient reaches the far bottom of the BC barrel.
(For that I won’t be looking at the Superpoint (0.013 BC) or the many wadcutters that RWS produces for the 10-meter target shooters.)
• Hollow Point: Super-H-Point, 14.5gr –– 0.012 BC
Of course, this is a hollow point and thus does not have such a high BC. But compare RWS’s BC of 0.012 to the BC of its fellow hollow points:
0.017 H&N Crow Magnum
0.020 H&N Terminator
0.021 H&N Hornet
0.023 Crosman Premier Hollowpoint
0.024 JSB Predator Polymag
0.025 H&N Baracuda Hunter
0.026 H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme
• Flat Domed: Superdome, 14.5gr –– 0.016 BC (HardAirMagazine has it at 0.012 BC)
For a domed pellet this is just a lousy BC. Look at these domed pellets of similar weight:
0.023 H&N Baracuda Green (12.35gr)
0.023 JSB RS (13.43gr)
0.024 Crosman Premiere Domed (14.3gr)
0.030 JSB Express (14.35gr)
• Round Domed: Superfield, Version 1, 15.9gr –– 0.028 BC (BC is hard to find; this number is from a 2010 video)
The Superfield I have a hard time finding! And there must have been a change in this pellet sometime before 2014 that RWS did not care to announce to its customers. Cf. the following post:
“The situation with RWS Superfields appears thus: Some years ago RWS introduced their Superfield pellet in .177; which many suspected was a re-branded JSB Exact. As many will concur, the Exact is an excellent pellet and the Superfield rightly won a lot of fans based on its excellent performance. | Some time later the Superfield pellet design changed and many abandoned the pellet; citing a lack of performance compared to the old variant, poor product consistency / continuity and perhaps a slight feeling of betrayal towards RWS for continuing to sell what appeared to be a completely different pellet in the same packaging with no explanation to the customer. | Like many others I'm a fan of JSB pellets and with no local supplies of Superfields, never bothered trying them out. Recently I blagged a few to test and earlier in the week got up the club with the chronos to assess the performance of the "new" Superfields against the JSB Exact.”
Source: http://www.airgunforum.co.uk/community/index.php?threads/new-177-rws-superfields-versus-jsb-exacts-a-velocity-decay-test.183328/
Link to video that contains the BC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8-m0MGybAA
The BC of this pellet is actually pretty good, but this seems to be a hard to find pellet....
• Extremely Heavy: Power Bolt, 24.7gr –– and in an extensive search I haven’t found any BC.... Anybody got a number for me?
It’s torpedo-shaped, 9.1mm long, and looks like it could do some “good” damage. Could it be a competition for the JSB Monster?
Here’re a couple of links to German websites with photos of this pellet:
https://www.4komma5.de/RWS-Power-Bolt-55-mm-fuer-Luftgewehre
https://www.versandhaus-schneider.de/product_info.php/cPath/49_242_0_40_95_157_1330/products_id/34797
––––––––––––––––––––––
What do you make of this?
● Why are the BCs so low in comparison to other manufacturers?
● Or are the other manufacturers simply lying to us about the performance of their pellets, and RWS is truthful about it?
● Could it be that RWS does (or does not) use a ballistic calculator that takes into effect atmospheric conditions and the GA drag curve instead of some fixed drag value?
––––––––––––––––––––––
For a comprehensive list of BC numbers in .22 cal, cf.
https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/bc-table-22cal-comprehensive-internet-wide-collection-of-ballistic-coeff-data/
.
I just came across a signature of a forum poster that said among other things: “If you havent tried RWS pellets in a while give them a try. RWS pellets rock.”
Well, now that made me I wonder. I’m working in .22 cal, and I hadn’t considered RWS pellets – so this signature made me go back and check why!
Well, it is what is is... –– Their ballistic coefficient reaches the far bottom of the BC barrel.
(For that I won’t be looking at the Superpoint (0.013 BC) or the many wadcutters that RWS produces for the 10-meter target shooters.)
• Hollow Point: Super-H-Point, 14.5gr –– 0.012 BC
Of course, this is a hollow point and thus does not have such a high BC. But compare RWS’s BC of 0.012 to the BC of its fellow hollow points:
0.017 H&N Crow Magnum
0.020 H&N Terminator
0.021 H&N Hornet
0.023 Crosman Premier Hollowpoint
0.024 JSB Predator Polymag
0.025 H&N Baracuda Hunter
0.026 H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme
• Flat Domed: Superdome, 14.5gr –– 0.016 BC (HardAirMagazine has it at 0.012 BC)
For a domed pellet this is just a lousy BC. Look at these domed pellets of similar weight:
0.023 H&N Baracuda Green (12.35gr)
0.023 JSB RS (13.43gr)
0.024 Crosman Premiere Domed (14.3gr)
0.030 JSB Express (14.35gr)
• Round Domed: Superfield, Version 1, 15.9gr –– 0.028 BC (BC is hard to find; this number is from a 2010 video)
The Superfield I have a hard time finding! And there must have been a change in this pellet sometime before 2014 that RWS did not care to announce to its customers. Cf. the following post:
“The situation with RWS Superfields appears thus: Some years ago RWS introduced their Superfield pellet in .177; which many suspected was a re-branded JSB Exact. As many will concur, the Exact is an excellent pellet and the Superfield rightly won a lot of fans based on its excellent performance. | Some time later the Superfield pellet design changed and many abandoned the pellet; citing a lack of performance compared to the old variant, poor product consistency / continuity and perhaps a slight feeling of betrayal towards RWS for continuing to sell what appeared to be a completely different pellet in the same packaging with no explanation to the customer. | Like many others I'm a fan of JSB pellets and with no local supplies of Superfields, never bothered trying them out. Recently I blagged a few to test and earlier in the week got up the club with the chronos to assess the performance of the "new" Superfields against the JSB Exact.”
Source: http://www.airgunforum.co.uk/community/index.php?threads/new-177-rws-superfields-versus-jsb-exacts-a-velocity-decay-test.183328/
Link to video that contains the BC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8-m0MGybAA
The BC of this pellet is actually pretty good, but this seems to be a hard to find pellet....
• Extremely Heavy: Power Bolt, 24.7gr –– and in an extensive search I haven’t found any BC.... Anybody got a number for me?
It’s torpedo-shaped, 9.1mm long, and looks like it could do some “good” damage. Could it be a competition for the JSB Monster?
Here’re a couple of links to German websites with photos of this pellet:
https://www.4komma5.de/RWS-Power-Bolt-55-mm-fuer-Luftgewehre
https://www.versandhaus-schneider.de/product_info.php/cPath/49_242_0_40_95_157_1330/products_id/34797
––––––––––––––––––––––
What do you make of this?
● Why are the BCs so low in comparison to other manufacturers?
● Or are the other manufacturers simply lying to us about the performance of their pellets, and RWS is truthful about it?
● Could it be that RWS does (or does not) use a ballistic calculator that takes into effect atmospheric conditions and the GA drag curve instead of some fixed drag value?
––––––––––––––––––––––
For a comprehensive list of BC numbers in .22 cal, cf.
https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/bc-table-22cal-comprehensive-internet-wide-collection-of-ballistic-coeff-data/
.