What´s your preferred hunting pellet and what was your longest kill shot?

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Pope_on_Dope

Pope_on_Dope

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Aug 17, 2016
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Královéhradecký kraj
I just wanted to ask you guys what´s your favorite hunting pellet? What caliber(s) are you shooting and what pellet diameter fits your guns best? I just did some chrony and ballistic gel tests and the Predator Polymags are by far the most devastating of the 6 pellets I tried. 

The shooting of critters seems to confirm this finding, the internal damage is incredible. The only problem is that the Polymags are accurate only up to about 40 yards, at least in my gun. I made a 63 yard kill with it but there is still no reliable consistency, at least fired from my gun. But this is my preferred short to medium range pellet.

For long range hunting, I use the JSB Jumbo 15.89 grain and sometimes the JSB Jumbo Heavy 18.13 grains. The 5.51 mm seems to work best in my .22 Walther MaximaThor and several people I know also found the 5.51 to be the most accurate. My longest kill was about 1,5 years ago - a 131 meter (143 yard) shot at a dove with a Daystate Air Ranger in .22 and a Bisley Magnum pellet (rebranded H+N Baracuda).

What do you guys prefer (for which gun) and what diameter works best for you? And what was your longest killshot with an airgun?
 
Polymags offer a lot of expansion, I tried all 3 in .22. I don't think sacrificing accuracy is a fair trade off for the expansion. For the sake of experimentation I shot 2 .25's from a Sumatra on full power at raccoons at 18-20 yds the pellet did not exit on quartering body shots. They went super sonic the shot that hit the front shoulder did not kill quickly. I'm guessing the pellet fragmented, while the same shot with a 44 Eungin is usually a stopped animal with a quick death. Best distance shots done with Cricket and JSB's
 
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H&N Hunter Extremes in .25 in a Cricket. They are accurate and lethal. 

I shot a squirrel out of a tree at 110yards and when I found it, it's intestines were out in a string 10 inches behind the body. 

I have other pellets which can do more damage at closer range but none with that combo of long range accuracy and awesome expansion. They are so much more consistent than Eun Jin pellets. Sometimes when I open a tin of Eun Jin's, they look like they've been in a car accident with chips and dents in almost every one. H&N are almost as good as JSBs for quality control. 
 
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.177 Crosman premier 7.9gr in the cardboard box from my pre gamo BSA SS. 97 yards Grey Squirrel.

.22 jsb monster 25gr from a custom Mrod. 125 yards Grey Squirrel.

.25 jsb kings sized to the barrel of a custom Mrod. 186 yards Starling.

.30 jsb 44gr from a custom bottled Mrod. 152 yards Fox Squirrel.

.357 jsb 81gr from a Bulldog. 92 yards Starling.

Those are my personal best.
 
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H&N Baracuda Green .22, 12.65 grains, 5.50 head diameter. Dimensionally, it is the most consistent .22 caliber pellet that I've ever tested and it is incredibly accurate with my TX200. These tin pellets are considerably harder than lead and provide excellent penetration; however, there is little or no deformation to the pellet upon impact so less kinetic energy is transferred to the quarry. This is the only pellet that I use in my TX200 and I've taken armadillo, chipmunks, crow, grey squirrel, grey fox, mice, raccoon, rat, skunk, possum, turkey and other birds. 

 
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Wow, that´s the first time I hear that somebody´s gun prefers a lead-free pellet - 12.65 gr... that´s incredibly light for a .22 pellet. What speed did those pellets fly at or what energy does your TX200 develop? And what is your usual hunting distance? They must lose energy quite fast at this weight (although they would still be sufficient for small game even with just a few fpe with a very long shot).

These pellets would go supersonic out of my Walther MaximaThor so I won´t even try them in this gun - the 14.3 gr CPHP are just barely below supersonic with 1.080 fps. I´ve had no luck with the 21 gr Bisley Magnums (which are rebranded Baracudas) , they group terribly in my rifle. But I made my longest kill with this pellet with a Daystate Air Ranger so its certainly not the pellets fault.
 
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My first TX200 MkIII which was stolen, in Phoenix: 833 fps, 19.5 ft/lbs with a Standard Deviation of 3. My first TX200 with this pellet was incredibly accurate. My second TX200 MkIII started at 907 fps, 23.1 ft/lbs with a Standard Deviation of 9. This proved to be too powerful and my accuracy suffered beyond 12-15 yards. So, I cocked the rifle for 1 week which brought it down to 786 fps, 17.3 ft/lbs with a Standard Deviation of 2. I chrono at multiple distances to determine the Ballistic Coefficient which was 0.0137 during my last test in May of this year. Considering its' weight, the retained energy is very good. These figures are actual from my testing in May. 25 yards = 11.245 ft/lbs, 35 yards = 9.515 ft/lbs, and 50 yards = 7.958 ft/lbs. Remember that the TX200 is not a PCP, I like to keep my shots within 35 yards whenever possible. I have taken crow and dove out to 75 yards in DEAD-CALM conditions. If you use the 5 ft/lbs rule, there is no reason I should not be able to take small game humanely at 35 yards with 9-1/2 ft/lbs delivered accurately at that distance. One last point, these pellets are hard and they penetrate very well even out to 50 yards.
 
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My longest kill was on a squirrel with my .30 BT65 at 60ish yards if I remember right with 44gr JSB's. However, my preferred pellet of choice for hunting is usually predator polymags since they group fairly well out of my M-Rods and P-rod. For those I keep distances at 40 yards or less since I'm usually shooting off hand and still haven't gotten use to using a shooting stick.
 
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"JDShapp"My longest kill was on a squirrel with my .30 BT65 at 60ish yards if I remember right with 44gr JSB's. However, my preferred pellet of choice for hunting is usually predator polymags since they group fairly well out of my M-Rods and P-rod. For those I keep distances at 40 yards or less since I'm usually shooting off hand and still haven't gotten use to using a shooting stick.
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Polymags don't have the best ballistic coefficient either, so I would be they bleed energy quickly as the distance increases.
 
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I didn´t determine the Polymags BC myself as I don´t have a second Chrony but if I believe Hawke Chairgun Pro which is usually quite accurate, they have a BC of 0.022. (in .22 caliber but that should be similar to the larger .30) so at about 110 yards they still retain half their velocity and a quarter of their energy. When you fire that thing at 40 footpounds, it will hit with 10 footpounds at 110 yards - that´s still more than enough for an absolutely devastating hit on small critters. So... energy isn´t really an issue with the Polymag, their long range accuracy is the real limit. 
 
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