Why do pellets look the way they do?

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The skirt acts as a drag parachute keeping the pellet from tumbling.
Many of the big bore air rifles shoot bullets or slugs, like you would expect but they are able to handle the higher grain weight the "bullet" shape adds
Most small caliber i.e .177 up to .25 doesn't have a lot of mass so the skirts helps keep the pellets head first at slower speeds and increases accuracy at longer ranges.
 
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It's like a shuttlecock in badminton. The pellets are spin stabilized but they shed speed quickly because of the skirt. It acts like a second drag surface after the face of the pellet. There are bullets available for .22 and up calibers. But they tend to be slower out of the gate because they weigh more but are faster down range because they don't slow down so much. This is why people associate airguns with shorter effective ranges. Pellets slow down very quickly. Shooting bullets though, things change a bit. Since it still isn't as fast as most firearms the slug drops more over a shorter distance but that is a reproducible outcome so you can plan for that and make longer shots. You still need a gun with enough guts to hurl the lead though. 
 
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I would add that pellets are available in a variety of shapes in both head and tail design. It's usually based in part on what the pellet will be used for. 

Target shooters want pellets that will leave neat straight round holes in paper and ones that are accurate with lower power / speed. Hunters want pellets that will compress on impact or break apart for maximum damage to the prey. Take a look at the Eun Jin 43gr and Predator Polymags for examples of pellets designs to cause max damage from a higher power hunting rifle. 

Also, look at the range sold by PA. Some have small round heads with wide skirts. Some are more dome shaped. Some have pointed heads and some look more like bullets. Plus, you can actually use regular slugs in an air gun. They just aren't as accurate usually.

Firearm barrels are usually made with faster twist rates which, when combined with their extra speed, is usually enough to stabilize ammo without a skirt. The skirt plays a similar role to the feathers on an arrow in stabilizing a pellet along with the slower twist from the barrel. 

No matter what the design, damage to the rear of the projectile can be a problem for accuracy. When people say "skirt damage" they generically mean damage to the back of the projectile as that is the part that gets pushed by the probe when it goes into the lead. 
 
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Thank you for the detailed info guys...

Now that I know why pellets look the way they do, it makes me wonder why airguns are the way they are? How come 95% (I am taking a guess here) of all airguns are operating somewhat the same? Regulator set to around 140 bar, fill pressure around 220 - 250 bar, little bit of a twist in the barrel, 40 - 70 shots on full power... I am sure there are a few more similarities, but those are all I can think of. Anyhow, my point is, why do they not make airgun more like rifles?

I guess the first "limitation" is that you cannot propel a pellet to the speed of a bullet, right?
But why not go at least up in pressure?
Why not make a barrel with a higher twist rate, as to give a pellet more stability? It sounds like that if the overall pellet speed increases, the pellet doesn't have to look like a "typical" pellet anymore, and as such, wont need a "skirt" anymore, which in return makes it impossible to "damage" it, if there is none to begin with?!

Don't get me wrong, I love my FX Bobcat Mk2 in .25, and I feel like it is plenty accurate. However, I would probably prefer 10 full power shots over 60, if that would mean I can have a way "better" pellet I am shooting?

Hope what I am saying makes sense!? (English not my first language you know... : ) )

Thanks,

Kmd
 
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The main reason pellet guns don't push pellets over about 1000fps is that the speed of sound is about 1120fps, and you start to get buffeting as you approach the speed of sound, which destabilizes the pellet/bullet. Also the faster you go the more likely you are going start getting lead build up in the barrel, taking your easy to clean airgun to something that you'll have to clean like a PB often.

There is also the traditional market behind BB/pellet guns. A low power tool that is safer in urban environments than say a 22lr, quieter and less likely to pass through hitting unintended things behind.

I really don't think there is any technical reason that airgun makers couldn't switch to bullets and all that involves. If you look at the big bore class of air guns, those guys are pushing the PB world hard, shooting bullets/slugs at supersonic speeds with long range impact power. 

As a benchrest shooter... at short range (25m/50y) I want a pellet that will buck the wind well and have repeatable accuracy that allows me to place (75) shoots on a 0.200" bull. I couldn't care less if its shooting a pellet at 400fps or a bullet/slug at 4000fps as long as its consistent and very accurate. At long range (75y/100m) I would love to have a slug/bullet that I could sling downrange at 1200-2000fps and consistently shoot (60+) shots at 1/2 MOA or less. But I have to settle for a pellet at 870fps that will drift over a foot in typical winds I shoot in. On a windless/calm day the pellets will shoot sub MOA at 100m, I have no problem printing 1/2"ish size groups if the wind will corporate lol.
 
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Im not sure what you want, If you want an airgun more like a rimfire...get a rimfire. I like my air rifles because thats what they are. Air rifles. Sometimes I think we need to be careful what we wish for. Because someday soon we won't be able to order them on the internet and have fedex deliver them to our doors. I kind of like the anonymity. Too much power draws attention. Just my 2 cents.
 
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"crittahitta"Im not sure what you want, If you want an airgun more like a rimfire...get a rimfire. I like my air rifles because thats what they are. Air rifles. Sometimes I think we need to be careful what we wish for. Because someday soon we won't be able to order them on the internet and have fedex deliver them to our doors. I kind of like the anonymity. Too much power draws attention. Just my 2 cents.
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I love responses like that.

"Why do they charge this much for that...?"

"Well, if you don't like it, don't buy it...!"

Seriously though. I don't see a problem with air rifles getting more powerful. If they would ever build an air rifle as strong as a rim-fire, they would simple require the same paperwork to get one, as they do for "real" guns. Just like that. They would probably do the same they do in, e.g. Germany:

Air Rifles under 7.5 Joule muzzle energy = No permit. 
Air Rifles over 7.5 J muzzle energy = Permit.

Thanks,

Kmd
 
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"kmd1984"
"Birdo"Light weight and terrible aerodynamics makes them much safer than bullets. The 22LR can retain energy and cause much more damage down range.

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Is that why they are designing pellets the way they do? I doubt that. : )
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You would be wrong. :) I shoot pellets in all my air rifles, even the ones that are powerful enough to shoot bullets. I do that because I don't want my pellets traveling several hundred yards down range and going through someone's window after I whack a squirrel on the back forty. Now I could take out one of my PB varmit rifles and blow that squirrel to kingdom come. No doubt the bullet fragments wouldn't travel very far down range, even if I missed and hit a limb... 

They design pellets the way they do because we buy them. We buy them because we want them to shoot like pellets not like bullets. That said, I take no issue with the guy that wants his pellet guns to shoot like my K-Hornet. They never will but he is welcome to give it his best shot.
 
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"kmd1984"eriously though. I don't see a problem with air rifles getting more powerful. If they would ever build an air rifle as strong as a rim-fire, they would simple require the same paperwork to get one, as they do for "real" guns. Just like that. They would probably do the same they do in, e.g. Germany:
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Here is what is wrong with that logic. The government doesn't handle things reasonably. Germany is a perfect example 7.5 joules is 5.5 foot pounds. So in your world they are going to license 5 foot pound rifles. When a government decides to regulate something they usually regulate the thing, and anything like it, some things which are similar and a few arbitrary things just because it feels good.

That said, the Second Amendment says "shall not be infringed" not "may be licensed".
 
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"The government doesn’t handle things reasonably". I agree. : )

"Germany is a perfect example 7.5 joules is 5.5 foot pounds. So in your world they are going to license 5 foot pound rifles. " Correct and not correct. I tried to find out how I can lower my 45 ft/lbs Bobcat, down to 5.5 ft/lbs, in order for me to take it with me to Germany. Two problems with that. A. Just because something has less than 5.5 ft/lbs, doesn't mean I can just import it. There are import regulations in place. Duh?! B. Germany simply made all FX Air Guns "illegal". By illegal I mean that you need a permit for them, regardless how much power they have...

thanks,

Kmd
 
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