Best hunting pellet?

[dr_nick]

So do you have a favorite pellet for hunting?

 

My stealth loves RWS pellets for accuracy, the super dome seems to be the best at getting to where I am pointing though I have real doubts about its penetration properties. I have been very surprised about how little damage it does to bunnies.

 

I like the non lead pellets but they don't fly so well out of the stealth but should give better penetration. I kind of want to give the new logun penetrator round a try though they seem a little heavy for a stock gun at 16 grains since I am still useless at judging my tradjectory.

 

BTW last night I got another 3 bunnies, 2 with the stealth and one with a 2 tonne white volvo estate, still the farmer was just as happy with the "road kill" :wacko:

[BOLTA]

Hi,

 

Yes, I have. Actually, Bisley Pest Control for maximum kill power - works fine up to around 60 yards in my gun. I also use Beeman Kodiak pellets for longer range shots or if the wind is too strong for the Bisley Pest Control pellets.

 

Cheers - Bolta

[Paul in North Lincs.]

Acupel

 

 

Paul in North Lincs

[roblade]

find air arms work well in my trusty stealth, but mine is a very unusual stealth ITS ACCURATE!!!! :wacko:

 

the best hunting pellt is the pellet that gives you the most consistant grouping. Remember you only need 3F/lbs of energy to cleanly dispatch vermin. A head shot is a dead rabbit every time regardless of the amount of damage it does.

 

as for teh trajectory its just a matter of practise and experiance, as i said in another post have recently upgraded to a white stail classic 6.5-20x50 AO from a bushnell trophy 3-9x40 and my aim points on the scope (both 30/30 reticles) are now totaly different due to the different mag. Im still not happy enough with it to take it to the field

 

though my stealth with the 3-9x40 trophy is very nice

 

still not sure which rifle is worthy of the WTC might have to try it out on a nice little hornet as soon as it gets here

 

enjoy the practise

 

ROB

 

PS nothing beats a decent road kill stew

[dr_nick]

find air arms work well in my trusty stealth, but mine is a very unusual stealth ITS ACCURATE!!!!

Ha,

I found a good site about how to improve accuracy on the stealth. It seems to all focus on the hammer. I good deal of problems seem to stem from it being plastic instead of metal. Problem is if you change it you end up getting more power out of it which will be great when I get my FAC :wacko:

[BOLTA]

the best hunting pellt is the pellet that gives you the most consistant grouping. Remember you only need 3F/lbs of energy to cleanly dispatch vermin. A head shot is a dead rabbit every time regardless of the amount of damage it does.

Hi,

 

The 3 to 4 ft/lbs of energy you are talking about is absolutely the lowest energy for killing but I would never rely on only that in killing. I would always want more energy at the quarry for a better performance plus a more decent clean kill. In my opinion, you can not use that energy border for anything regarding killing power and if people really rely on that fact I can easy understand that people not always get as clean kills as they could.

 

A head shot is not always a clean kill. Sorry, but if things really were so easy we would all be very happy. Most head shots will kill the quarry but as we want to get better we have to make more damage inside to get the best and most cleanest kill we can get. Then I am out hunting / pest control I want that quarry to drop on the same spot where it was hit with as little kicking or flapping with wings as I can get. I want a quick and clean kill of the quarry.

 

Cheers - Bolta

[roblade]

A head shot is not always a clean kill. Sorry, but if things really were so easy we would all be very happy. Most head shots will kill the quarry but as we want to get better we have to make more damage inside to get the best and most cleanest kill we can get. Then I am out hunting / pest control I want that quarry to drop on the same spot where it was hit with as little kicking or flapping with wings as I can get. I want a quick and clean kill of the quarry.

the hardest thing about getting head shots is HITTING THE HEAD! hitting a 1" target every time is just plain not possible (just look at HFT results and count how many clean rounds are shot, using basic PCP rifle setups)

 

if you dont wnat them jumping all over the place and bolting off you must hit them when they are relaxed (mostly when munching some nice grub). one well placed head shot no running no jumping about and not much mess.

 

The more alert the rabbit is the faster its heart is beating and if shot at this time there will be pleanty of mess and lots of excess energy being used as the adrenalin kicks into the rabbits system, hence the back flips and a good bit of running.

 

just rember about the headless chicken running about the back yard. its very very DEAD but still running around because its body hasnt realised there is no brain to tell it to lay down and stop being silly about it, its not suffering its not feeling anything.

 

Its nothing to do with the amount of energy used or the amount of damage that energy does. the more relaxed the quarry is the quicker and cleaner the hit will be.

 

ROB :wacko:

[BOLTA]

Dear roblade,

 

Even then a rabbit is relaxed it will have nerve reaction and the end result will be some sort of kicking or jumping - you can not get around that fact. Most of the time shooting rabbits with a high power FAC gun you will get alot less kicking and jumping sometimes it will just bolt on the spot than if you only are using a non-FAC gun to kill with.

 

I can clearly see the difference between my .22 non-FAC gun and my 56 fpe .25 airgun then shooting rabbits. There is no doubt about that the FAC gun has ALOT more killing power than the non-FAC one resulting in much more cleaner kills. And open up the quarry afterwards shows clearly that the FAC gun has done alot more damage inside the quarry than the non-FAC airgun.

So yes, the hitting energy has something to do with killing power - but it is not the energy that kills a quarry, but the damages inside that does the job and that is caused by the pellet entering, expanding and maybe exit the quarry giving a long wound channel that leads to rapid blood loss and quickly death.

 

Another thing, I would not compare a chicken with a rabbit - they do not have the same anatomy. But I can follow you anyway.

 

Cheers - Bolta

[roblade]

bolta are you in the states? as the beeman kodiaks are a differnt brand name here in the UK.

 

should also point out that yes i find air arms field (jsb/daystate/webly) pellets to be very good in my rifle (12F/lbs) they are only rated up to 30F/Lbs above this power level they might deform on exiting the barrel.

 

accupels from what i gather are crossman premiers that dont quiet make the quality control of premiers.

 

ROB :wacko:

[baldy]

id like to join this convo if i may,

iv just brought a lightning ,what pellets would you lads recomend

for shooting rabbits

thanks .22

[roblade]

hi baldy, welcome to the board mate

 

how much experiance have you got in shooting as the best pelet for hunting is the pellet that you are most accurate with. And what works well in one rifle may not nessessarily work well in yours.

 

there is a company out there called pellpax (www.pelpax.com?:wacko: if that dosnt work google the word pellpax) they offer sample packs of 30 ish brands of pellets with about 10 pellets in each pack. works out a lot cheaper than buying tins and tins of teh ruddy things LOL

 

but top of the list should be Air Arms Field/Hunter, Daystate ft, webley lazadomes or jsb (they are all basically the same pellet just under different names apart from the Hunter!) or accupels though H&N should get a mention as well.

But i would say that practise is the most important things before going to the fields.

 

there is some really good advice on this forum and if what your after is not to be found just ask about it we are mostly a friendly bunch

 

hope this helps you out a little

 

ROB

 

PS could you please fill out a little bit about yourself in the profile never knwo if you put your location down you may find there is soemone local who would be willing to give you a bit of hands on help

[donkeymagic]

the best hunting pellt is the pellet that gives you the most consistant grouping.

Seconded

 

Non FAC. A well placed head shot (just behind the eye) puts them to sleep no matter what the pellet. End of

[Steveo]

Cant fault the Air Arms Field it worked excellent in my TX200HC (16fpe) and is going well in my S410E (30fpe). It doesnt over penetrate but deforms well and will flatten out well. Seems to be good quality with the odd one or two in the tin being squashed and oval and wont even fit in the magazine.

 

Would like to try a heavier pellet like the Bisley Magnum but cant think of any advantages of the heavy pellet. Any one got any?:wacko:

Does the heavier pellet do more damage or what? I understand the heavier pellet will change the trajectory a lot im happy with AA Fields but would like to know of any advantages heavier pellets would give!!

Edited April 27, 2005 by Steveo

[roblade]

HI steveo,

 

dont think the bis mags would be any good in the tx but i dont think it would harm to try some in the s410 you have, not sure about the advantages but at that power level i dont think there is much of a trajectory change though they are an awful lot heavier.

 

personaly though if your getting good results with the AA pels i wouldnt change anything.

 

have heard that air arms are a little concerend about the quality of thier pellets so if you do have any bad ones take a picture of them and send them in an email or even (which is probably better) by post. but contact them by phone first and see what thier reaction is. If you dont get any result with them, you could do a lot worse than contacting www.airammo.com but you have to buy in quanities of 5000 .177 and 2500 .22 (10 tins or 1 sleave) (£32.50 including delivery) i have been through about 300 tins personaly and if i had 10 deformed pellets in the whole lot i would be suprised.

 

The JSB pellets are practically the same as AA field and are identical to daystate FT and webley lazadomes, they are all made by JSB only relabeld for sale in this country. im not sure where air arms are going wrong but they need to sort things out the quality has been slippiung for a long time now strange how the .177 AA field though are almost always perfect! could be something to do with the reopackagoing that air arms do on thier .22?:wacko:

 

oh well lets hope they can sort things out

 

all the best

 

ROB

[Steveo]

For sure i am getting good results from the AA Fields, getting head shot kills out around 60 yards :wacko:

and flat enough trajectory to shoot inside five yards at rats. Everyone says the more power your gun then the heavier the pellet you can use but i didnt see the advantages.

 

As for the quality of the AA pellets, in the last two tins i got ive had about 10 deformed pellets and one AA hunter (name?) will e-mail them a few pics!!

 

Thanks for the info

 

Cheers

[roblade]

personaly mate i dont think there are any advantages unless you going up into the silly power ranges (above 40) only yhen do the bis mags come into thier own as the AA WILL deform at these power levels.

 

but my motto when it comes to anything about the air rifles "if it aint broke dont fix it!"

 

all the best

 

ROB :wacko:

[Steveo]

Have some pictures here of the pellets but dont know how to get them on the forum

[dr_nick]

Go to photobucket.com and follow the instructions.

[Pigeon_decoyer]

The air arms pellets on the right is the best pellets I have ever came across for my air arms S410! They are very accurate! I havn't tried these just as yet in my HW95 as I stick with the pellets I first started using with that gun which are the milbro one's on the left!

 

[Steveo]

Just gotten round to trying out a couple of different pellets in my S410. I have tried Bisley Magnums and H&N Match. First of all, the H&N's didnt suit my barrel and after 15 yards they grouped like a shotgun and caused me to lose an o-ring in the breech because i have been told my gun doesnt like flat head pellets!? But for rats inside 15 yards they were unbelievable, very instantly dead rats!!! Then the bisley mags, Gave decent groups, but still not as good as my AA Fields, noticeably slower and pack a hefty punch out to 40-50 yards but dont have the accuracy i need to have to have confidence in 70 yard plus shots.

 

VERDICT - Stick with what you know and what works best, in my case Air Arms Fields all the way!!!!

 

Just thought you might want to know!!!

[roblade]

The air arms pellets on the right is the best pellets I have ever came across for my air arms S410! They are very accurate! I havn't tried these just as yet in my HW95 as I stick with the pellets I first started using with that gun which are the milbro one's on the left!

 

cooorr that a funny look AA field LOL is it .177 or .22??LOL

 

let this be a warning to one and all if you put link up to sites holding pics for you make sure its a you call the picture somehting else dont just swap pics and keep the same name (i.e pic1.jpg for a rifle then change the pic and have pic1.jpg of a fast car though might be an idea to start up a readers rifles page )

 

ROB

[lord_seagrave]

Chaps,

 

Do Air Arms/JSB do a .20 yet?

 

LS

[henry d]

It`s funny but air rifle users seem to know that guns can be selective with ammo,where as shotgun users seem to just use cheap ammo for high volume use and for a days driven birds seem to feel they have to use an expensive cartridge....why??

Any how my HW 35 likes superdomes for distance and hobby for knock down up to 25-30yds.

[dunganick]

i use hobby 500's for ratting, they are very accurate, very humaine but not very good long distance

 

i use accupels on the odd occasion i do anything else, they arnt quite as accurate short range, but hold their accuracy over the longer ranges and are quite humaine

 

ive also used rws hollow point, they are heavy, so pack a punch and expand quite well, but they have the trojectory of a morta

[BountyHunter]

I know I am reletivly new to this marlarkey but I have been experimenting with different pells in my S200.

 

I found:

 

BSA Hornets to be OK, the odd mishapen one could be tracked as it entered orbit but on the whole they were OK with several nice clean bunny kills to their credit.

 

I then tried some PowerPells, they didn't work for me - I missed every bloomin time. (could of course be me but I don't think I could go from consistantly able to hit a wabbit behind the eye to missing completely and then back again with a change of pellets)

 

Which brings me to:

 

BSA Storm - I have been out today and shot a fair few of these and they appear to be the one for me! I had my biggest bag to date including (which isn't saying a lot) with a couple of bunnies and half a dozen crows.

 

When I got home I couldn't believe my luck so I decided to check the zero on the scope. I placed an apple on a stake with a white board behind it, I fired about 30 shots at the apple from sitting so that I was able to hold the rifle steady and basicly made a big hole through the apple about an inch across with one or two strays which considering the wind we have at the moment was pretty damn good!

 

The kills were totally clean, I shot the first crow when a pair of them were stalking along about a foot apart, I took the first one out shooting below the breastbone, the second bird didn't even notice that his mate had just bought the farm and carried on walking for a few seconds before he saw his dead comrade and shouted.

 

Now I know you experienced guys will roll your eyes at this but I was blown away by what happened next, about thirty crows appeared from nowhere, landede and started cawing, I have never seen anything like it, anyway that is where the other kills came in!

 

BSA Storm!

 

BH