Hunting pellet opinions

As long as grouping is tight, I'd opt for the faster one. Less time for game to react or move. Less drop. My .22 also shoots right at 50fpe, and I plan to use 25 gr slugs. I have been using 21gr slugs with excellent results.

[Edited:] Punching the numbers into ChairGun, assuming a killzone of 0.5"....



The Monster for that kill zone and power setting has a point blank range (PBR) from 14y to 42y — zeroed at 38y.

The Beast has a PBR from 12y to 38y — zeroed at 34y.

➔ Not much of a difference.



Monster: At 50y a ranging error of 3y moves your POI by 0.4".

Beast: At 50y a 3-yard ranging error moves your POI by 0.5".

➔ Not much of a difference.



Monster: Impact velocity at 50y (your max. range) is 770fps. Impact energy = 33FPE.

Beast: Impact velocity @50y = 700fps. Impact energy = 37FPE.

➔ You mention head shots: Peter (aka subscriber on GTA) explained on GTA that to break the skull bone the projectile must have a minimum velocity, the "threshold velocity" — at which the bone will break instead of flexing and flattening the lead projectile. Without testing I wouldn't know but both 700 and 770fps seem sufficient to accomplish that. Once you're inside the skull the brain has no chance, not with the momentum both of these pellets make their entrance!

The Beast does have 4FPE more energy, that's a good thing!



Monster vs. Beast: The Monsters are cheaper, but you aren't plinking with them, so maybe not much of a factor.  



(Note: Results vary a bit depending on the BC used.)



Nice, if you got the power and the precision!

Matthias

+1 on both of the guys up top. With your specifications either one of these pellets should do an equal job. Obviously your accuracy is on point so no concern there. If it was me I would go with the faster shooting round just in case your in need of a little longer range trajectory, but given the 50 yard limit, six to one half a dozen to the other.

I'm a little opposite at 50 yards and under and like the pellet or slug to not blow right through the intended game and dial the power down a lot so the lead stays inside the critters and birds upon impact seems to instantly drop them better for me so they don't go dying over at the next door neighbors property.

Just compensate for loopieer trajectory and use the most accurate pellet and gun combo at low power.

When shooting 100 yards 200 yards and 300+ yards is a whole different story here.

I like the momentum that a heavier pellet provides down range and going into and through game. A light projectile will hit hard, but looses energy fast after that. Whereas a heavier projectile may move a bit slower, when it gets to the game and starts it's way through it doesn't loose it's momentum as fast.

I've been a powder burner, so ... new to the air gun game. To be honest, I was initially shocked at how little energy is used to hunt furbearers. For example, a (standard velocity) .22 short launches a 29 grain bullet at 1,045 fps with 70 ft. lbs. of energy. That is a decent bit more than what the OP mentions, and on RF & CF hunting forums no one would advise using so little and would even scorn you for it. After seeing the pin-point accuracy of air guns, I now understand how/why pellets are successful.

That said, in the ''powder world" If it is a one-shot stop, on "food'' game (deer, hog, rabbit)that you want, you would go with an expanding projectile that destroys the vitals, then exits, so the animal is certain to bleed-out. Few hunters go for headshots, or at least few will admit it. When hunting for fur, one would use either a small diameter, solid bullet that punches thru the animal's vitals with only very small entry & exit wounds. It's then a simple stitch job, but also a strong likelihood of the creature running afar ... Or, a hollow point that expands quickly after entry, mutilating heart/lungs, but not exiting. This can be a gamble because a "no" exit is by no means guaranteed. If it does that means the bullet expansion will cause a much larger exit, and fur damage. Even fur hunters will all but stay away from headshots. 

To the OP ... you obviously have confidence in your gun's accuracy and distance limitations ... that either will do and Rocky Raccoon will never know the difference. Use them both to see which you feel more comfortable with. Neither would be a wrong choice.

At those distances take the 34 grain, for sure. 

Either would be fine. Whichever one groups the tightest would be best. 

Bigger is Better.....unless your traveling 3,000 FPS

I would go with the Nelson slugs for sure. The Jsb pellet does expand at all. Yeah they work but the hollow point slug is way better for a humane kill. 

And add-on (edited in my previous post):



Monster: Impact velocity at 50y (your max. range) is 770fps.

Beast: Impact velocity @50y = 700fps.

➔ You mention head shots: Peter (aka subscriber on GTA) explained on GTA that to break the skull bone the projectile must have a minimum velocity, the "threshold velocity" — at which the bone will break instead of flexing and flattening the lead projectile.

Without testing I wouldn't know but both 700fps and 770fps at impact appear to me to be sufficient to accomplish that.

Once you're inside the skull the brain has no chance, not with the momentum both of these pellets make their entrance!


Maybe somone else can chime in with some bone penetration test results!

Matthias

If your rifle will do slugs then I d go that route. Id get some 24gr-26gr hp slugs. That will be a very hard hitting slug and do maximum damage for sure. If you realy want to saty with pellets though then go with the lighter pellet and fast speed. Or check out what your rifle will do with H&N hunter extremes or Hades. Those a good option for maximum damage with a pellet.

I would caution against using those lighter pellets....

At the power that the OP's gun is producing (50FPE) the Hunter Extremes would scream out of the barrel at 1100fps, and the Hades at 1200fps = far past the speed of sound.  



Besides the loud noise that would accompany the shot, diabolo shaped pellets loose their precision at such high velocities.



And if these hollow points ever did find their target at the OP's max. range of 50y, due to their comparativley low BC they would have far less impact energy than their domed counterparts: 22FPE and 26FPE, vs. 33FPE and 37FPE.



➔ Understand me correctly: I am all in favor of using hollow points, I just posted a 4-part series on that topic two weekends ago!  

But the OP's shooting scenario calls for cracking tough skulls of medium sized quarry, not making larger wounds in soft tissue of typically small airgun quarry....



Matthias

I like the momentum that a heavier pellet provides down range and going into and through game. A light projectile will hit hard, but looses energy fast after that. Whereas a heavier projectile may move a bit slower, when it gets to the game and starts it's way through it doesn't loose it's momentum as fast.

Click to expand...

I'm with Airgun-hobbyist. When I got my first .25 cal. in the FX Wildcat MK1 I thought it would be devastating on groundhogs using the JSB 25 grains. I had come from shooting a air rifle producing about 24 fpe and it was lights out on groundhogs under 40 yards but I had to go with the H&N Barracuda's because of its harder lead allowed it to penetrate the skull compared to pellets with softer lead. When I got my .25 I thought the JSB .25 grain would do the job but the softer lead and increased surface area of the head did not allow for good reliable penetration. When I went to the heavier .34 grain JSB's the increase weight and momentum made all the difference. Also another thing to consider is shooting the JSB 34's at about 820 fps to 860 places it in best accuracy fps for pellets and the heavier pellet will retain energy as mentioned and will be less affected by wind. Now it you want to reach out and retain more fpe slugs are a good route. Now if we are still talking head shots where you want penetration I would use the Nielsen's because in my testing they are the less likely to expand compared to Varmint Knockers and Griffin slugs with the poly nose cores. Bill

You have plenty of power to take out those critters at the ranges you mention. My suggestion is to use the pellet that groups the best. I used to own a Watts-tuned .22 HW80K that ran 14.3 grain domes at about 750 FPS. We had raccoons attacking our main bird feeder at night, 25 yards out from my shooting window. I would wait for the raccoon to present a side of the head shot, and I was confident of my ability to keep the pellet in a half-inch circle at that range from a rested position. I killed LOTS of raccoons using this set-up, and never had one go more than 5 yards after dropping off the feeder. It's all about the accuracy, less about the FPE, in my opinion.