Have you guys ever tried to modify some pellet? Or does anyone of you have a pellet mold? What results did you get?
I am a little obsessed with hollowpoints so I drilled a 2.5 mm (=1/10") hole in a JSB Straton Jumbo Monster until it came down from 25.39 gr to 22.5 gr and then shot it into ballistics gel from 10 yards at 896 fps. So... you have a quite heavy hollow point and the results were really impressive. It came to a stop within 4.3", very similar to Polymags but these HPs hit with much more ernergy as they are way heavier so they leave about 1/5th more energy in the critter while covering the same distance. Here are the pellets from left to right: Straton original - Straton modified - Straton modified after shooting.
I found a 2,5 mm cavity to be ideal for .177 as well as for a .22 . I don´t have a .25 but either 2.5, 2.75 or 3 mm must be working best.
I also found that the harder Crosman Premier Hollow Points simply will not expand properly, even when they hit the target at nearly 1.000 fps. When you do the same mod to the CPHPs and drill a little deeper than the original cavity (about to the depth of the waistband), the result is perfect - they also will expand like crazy but they are more for low powered rifles as they are too light for mine, anyway and after the modification, they will have only 13.4 gr but I can recommend this to anybody who is shooting springers as this can be done quite fast (10 secs a pellet). The cavity should only be about as deep as it is wide, maybe just a little bit deeper. You should have a digital scale to be consistant - here´s the simple CPHP mod - as you can see, this minor modification makes all the difference in the world: left upper: CPHP original, right upper - CPHP original expansion. Left lower: CPHP mod, right lower - CPHP mod expansion.
Most companies make the hollow point cavity either too deep or to small a hole or both... I don´t exactly understand, why - like for example the JSB ultra shock. They have a very deep cavity and the diameter is simply too small, they punch through and will not expand properly - this will be the next pellet I´m gonna try modifying.
As far as accuracy is concerned... well, they are hollowpoints. But up to about 25 yards, you should be able to hit well within 1", so these modified pellets are perfect backyard critter eliminators.
I also tried to make some of my own pellets by making a mold with a 5.5 mm and 2.5 mm drill and filling the 2.5 mm with a cut off nail to create the cavity but I made the same mistake - the cavity is too deep and the hollow point is not perfectly centered as I don´t have a drillpress. Also the rifling grabs the whole length of the pellet which slows it quite a bit but they still come flying at over 32 fpe so not really a problem in a high powered rifle. These are 25.5 gr hollows.
What experience do you guys have? Did your ever try to modify any pellet? If yes, what turned out of it? Or do you have a pellet mold, for example the Nomad pellet mold? I always wondered if you can really make high quality pellets yourself...
I am a little obsessed with hollowpoints so I drilled a 2.5 mm (=1/10") hole in a JSB Straton Jumbo Monster until it came down from 25.39 gr to 22.5 gr and then shot it into ballistics gel from 10 yards at 896 fps. So... you have a quite heavy hollow point and the results were really impressive. It came to a stop within 4.3", very similar to Polymags but these HPs hit with much more ernergy as they are way heavier so they leave about 1/5th more energy in the critter while covering the same distance. Here are the pellets from left to right: Straton original - Straton modified - Straton modified after shooting.
I found a 2,5 mm cavity to be ideal for .177 as well as for a .22 . I don´t have a .25 but either 2.5, 2.75 or 3 mm must be working best.
I also found that the harder Crosman Premier Hollow Points simply will not expand properly, even when they hit the target at nearly 1.000 fps. When you do the same mod to the CPHPs and drill a little deeper than the original cavity (about to the depth of the waistband), the result is perfect - they also will expand like crazy but they are more for low powered rifles as they are too light for mine, anyway and after the modification, they will have only 13.4 gr but I can recommend this to anybody who is shooting springers as this can be done quite fast (10 secs a pellet). The cavity should only be about as deep as it is wide, maybe just a little bit deeper. You should have a digital scale to be consistant - here´s the simple CPHP mod - as you can see, this minor modification makes all the difference in the world: left upper: CPHP original, right upper - CPHP original expansion. Left lower: CPHP mod, right lower - CPHP mod expansion.
Most companies make the hollow point cavity either too deep or to small a hole or both... I don´t exactly understand, why - like for example the JSB ultra shock. They have a very deep cavity and the diameter is simply too small, they punch through and will not expand properly - this will be the next pellet I´m gonna try modifying.
As far as accuracy is concerned... well, they are hollowpoints. But up to about 25 yards, you should be able to hit well within 1", so these modified pellets are perfect backyard critter eliminators.
I also tried to make some of my own pellets by making a mold with a 5.5 mm and 2.5 mm drill and filling the 2.5 mm with a cut off nail to create the cavity but I made the same mistake - the cavity is too deep and the hollow point is not perfectly centered as I don´t have a drillpress. Also the rifling grabs the whole length of the pellet which slows it quite a bit but they still come flying at over 32 fpe so not really a problem in a high powered rifle. These are 25.5 gr hollows.
What experience do you guys have? Did your ever try to modify any pellet? If yes, what turned out of it? Or do you have a pellet mold, for example the Nomad pellet mold? I always wondered if you can really make high quality pellets yourself...
