Silicone tipped pellets, where are they!

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heath

Member
Aug 24, 2019
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8
Pennsylvania, United States
In my mind the speed in most of our higher powered PCP rifles are similar to the speeds of the slower pistol cartridges out there. One of my favorite personal defense rounds is the Hornady FTX. It has a soft rubber/silicone tip that is designed to hydraulically expand the hollow point more quickly than tissue will and at the same time ensure that it won’t get clogged by hair or clothing’s that could cause it to act like a solid or full metal jacket and just pass straight through without opening up and imparting the bullets full potential energy. 
The pellet manufactures currently make several tipped pellets with materials from brass to plastic. How hard would it be for them to make a pellet that in my opinion would be more effective at opening a hollow pellet and lessening the chance of passthrough but also putting the full energy of that round on and in the game or pest. I have been kicking this idea around the airgun community for a little while now, and most will buy them right now if available. So I have brought it here for the pros and cons of this idea and maybe in the hopes that someone out there can make this pellet available to all Hunter and pest controllers.

Please, I would love to hear your thoughts about this, and if the pros are in favor of the cons, see about getting manufactures behind it too.
 
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Well, in my humble opinion, it comes down to velocity. I own a number of powder burning pistols, from .380 ACP to .45 ACP, and any JHP obviously needs enough velocity to properly expand in either ballistic gel or human/animal tissue...this, I am sure you already know all about.

I have watched a number of tests, and done some myself, with pellets, and sometimes I get expansion or sometimes not. Most of the time it seems that most of my "expanding" pellets seem to, more or less, just kinda "mash" out and not really expand.

I don't know nearly as much about air gun shooting, as I do shooting firearms, but a flying projectile is a flying projectile, no matter how it is launched. I am sure there has to be some decent "expanding" pellets out there, even ones that will properly expand at 800 FPS or so, but none the less, without enough velocity, a bullet or pellet will not do it's magic on every shot. JMHO.
 
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Something like these? Not perfected yet but really close to his goal of long range accuracy.

The above are Griffin .25 RBT slugs that are almost 50 grains with ballistic tips. Mike has 4-4.5mm perfectly round Delrin hollow spheres that can displace 5-7 grains of lead as they weigh 0.9 grains and act as pistons. He’s gotten reports of high power slugs being stopped by an apple at 60 yards with full disintegration & full energy dump.

My Sumatra with Rocker1 on her timed 0.1” off bottomed out with a Delrin washer is STUPID accurate with any pellets I tune it for. Slugs, it prefers any CD or RBT like above in 50 grain or less. 

The Griffins shown above are promising. He’s starting in ballistic tips with .25’s but will offer in .22 & all calibers eventually. I personally have focused slugs to .22 and .177

I’m VERY curious to see if anyone with a stock AF spec, Lothar Walther made .22 24” choked or 23” no choke (professionally cut & crowned) barrel that has NOT been altered in any other way, reaming inleade deeper, etc. would get my results. Being shorter .22 slugs are way more accurate at all ranges. 
 
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My thinking behind the “SOFT” tip of a silicone tipped pellet is more for Hydraulic Expansion rather than higher BCs. The polymer tip is hard and in my mind does not cause expansion unless it meets with something like bone or something as equally hard. The silicone is so very soft and flexible and being of a more fluid state than a hard piece of plastic, tends to provide a easier force to manipulate the soft lead hollow point to expand at lower speeds and not to clog up with hair or feathers. I didn’t make these sort silicone tipped pellets for longer distances because I don’t shoot that far when hunting or doing pest control. It was an fun idea that has helped pass the time on cold winter days when I would much rather be out shooting and not stuck in the house. They work well for pesting and hunting and I just wanted to share the idea with y’all. I emailed JSB and some other pellet manufactures about the idea hoping they would professionally make them as another pellet option for all shooters. Wether they do or not is up in the air. I think they assume I am after money...I’m not. I just want more and better options for pellets selection which is why most of the airguns I own are in .22 caliber. Pellet choice particularly a large pellet choice is nice and gives us lots of options. That’s what it all boils down to. I sent some of my pellets out to Orion the iguana Hunter in FL for his .25 cal Priest2 and .22 caliber Liberty. The .25 had to be drilled with a 9/64 drill bit 1/8” deep and filled with blue RTV, the .22, I just used stock Daisy Hollow Points and filled them with RTV...simple and anyone can do it. Nobody will pay for an idea that everyone can do themselves. As I said earlier, it isn’t about making money. It’s about a broader choice of projectiles and having fun. After all that’s why we shoot airguns right...to have fun and relax. If airgunning for me turned into work, I wouldn’t want to do it as much and that for me would suck big time to give up something I have a deep passion for. As far as using wax...it may work and maybe even better...I don’t know, never tried it because I think the wax would get gouged or damaged, and if I would use a harder form it would be like the super soft and pliable silicone. Plastic for me is too hard for the speed I shoot i think and won’t perform the same or as good as the RTV silcone.
 
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Hey Heath, I don’t know if you’re even still on this forum but I wanted to thank you. Your idea to fill the cavities of hunting pellets/slugs is absolutely awesome. I never even thought about it until I saw Erlis’ (Orion: Iguana Hunter) video on it based on your idea. I fill everything from Barracuda Hunters to various slugs to the Hades (and several others) with the blue RTV. Not only did accuracy improve (albeit slightly), but I could literally HEAR how much harder they were hitting my target. And the effect on live pest quarry is undeniable. Squirrels, magpies and pigeons just drop dead like a stone with little to no twitching……….I’m with you, here it is 2 1/2 years after this post and still NO production silicon hollow points from ANY airgun ammo manufacturers. It’s absolutely baffling!………anyway, thanks for the fantastic tip, hope all is well.
 
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