Lead Free Pellets

airguns | lead-free
Going
Green
The Air Arms Propsport
in .177 cal was 50/50 in
its lead-free likings
Bruce Potts puts a selection of lead-free pellets to the test…
I
Air Arms Prosport in .177 and a Venom tuned HW77 in .22 were used in the tests
The .177 pellet line up, left to right: FTT Lead, FTT Green, Baracuda Green, HyperDome, HyperMax, RWS
Hyper Velocity, Gamo Power, Dynamic SN1, Promethus Z1
GM11.14/151a/r
t is certainly a sign of
the times. As with many
product lines for the
centrefire and shotgun
rifle industry the airgun world
has now an alternative to the
accursed toxic lead pellet!
The worry about toxicity may
be founded, but synthetic or
non-lead pellets are nothing
new –Prometheus have been
around for decades now.
Lead pellets were chosen
because they were the best
choice at the time, so let’s see
if the new breed of pellets
solve the ‘toxic issue’ and
can actually perform, and
not be the chocolate teapot
of the airgun industry.
88
november
2013
|
GUN MART
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lead-free | airguns
Choice
Most non-toxic pellets are either
a single component and profile
as its lead pellet brother, i.e.
H&N Field Target Trophys (FTT)
but made from a Zinc alloy,
or they are made in two parts
from a compressible synthetic
body with an alloy head section
like Paragon and Prometheus
types. What is common to both
is that the weight for the size
of each calibre is lighter than
its lead counterpart, i.e. FTT
lead weighs 8.6gr in.177 and
14.8 gr in .22 but only 5.6 gr
in .177 and 9.4gr in .22 for
their non-lead equivalents. True
you can achieve some higher
velocities with these lighter
lead free pellets but velocity
is not everything, whereas
accuracy and consistency are.
I sourced most of the
available pellets from Mark
at C H Weston`s of Brighton
(01273 326338) and the
rest from www.uttings.com. I
The Venom HW77 in .22 cal really loved the lead-free pellets
weighed each calibre per brand
(an average from five pellets)
then measured the head and
skirt dimensions as well as
length. I then checked velocity,
energy and finally accuracy.
The brands
First up were the H&N FTT
Green. The Field Target Trophies
are a great pellet that in lead
weight 8.6gr in .177 and
14.8gr in.22 respectively. In
the H&N FTT Green lead-free
configuration they weigh 5.6gr
in .177 and 9.4 grains in .22.
Overall length is 6.02mm
in .177 and 6.52mm in
.22 but their domed classic
waisted design is the same.
The H&N Barracuda is
another classic H&N design,
heavier than the FTT`s with
.177 at 6.4gr and 12.4gr in
22 cal. Overall length is 6.62
and 8.63mm respectively.
RWS too have now bought
out two lead-free variants, the
Hyperdome and Hyper Max.
The Hyperdome is a classic
domed waisted pellet (like the
RWS Superdome) now weighing
5.4gr in .177 and 10.8gr in .22.
The Hyper Max has a pointed
design (like the RWS Superpoint)
and weighs 5.6 grains in .177
and 10.8 grains in .22. Overall
length for both are 6.94mm in
.177 and 8.24mm in .22 cal.
A couple of extras were the
GAMO Power pellets, these are
gold-plated lead-free designs
and were the lightest tested. I
only had .177 to test and these
weighed only 5.0gr with an
overall length of 6.43mm.
The Dynamic SN1 from
Prometheus in .177 and SN2
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GM11.14/151b/ra
.177 lead free pellet
selection on test
GUN MART
| november
2013
▲
.22 lead free pellet
selection on test
89
airguns | lead-free
▲
in .22 weighed 8.0gr and 12.8gr
respectively, so more like the lead
counterparts. They have an all
alloy body and domed profiled
point with splayed out skirt.
The next were synthetic
pellets, the RWS Hyper, again
I only had .177 cal and these
weighted 5.8gr but were
made of a compressible
rear section topped off with
a pointed alloy head.
The other synthetic pellets
that made up the test were
the Paragon and Prometheus,
both made by Prometheus. The
Prometheus Z1 in .177 and the
Paragon Z2 in .22 had synthetic
base and separate alloy domed
head. In .177 weighing 6.6gr and
in .22 12.0gr. I used a control
sample of good old lead FFT
pellets in both pellet calibres
to give a comparison between
lead and non-lead pellets.
.22 pellet line up, left to right: FTT Lead, FTT Green, Baracuda Green, Hyperdome, Hyper Max, Dynamic
SN2, Promethus Z2
SPECIFICATION TABLE
Pellet
Weight Grains Head diameter Skirt diameter Overall length
mm
mm
mm
H&N FFT Lead .177
8.6
4.43
4.57
5.89
H&N FFT Lead .22
14.8
5.52
5.67
6.85
H&N FTT Green .177
5.6
4.48
4.61
6.02
H&N FTT Green .22
9.4
5.50
5.70
6.52
H&N Barracuda Green .177 6.4
4.49
4.62
6.62
H&N Barracuda Green .22 12.4
5.49
5.59
8.63
RWS Hyper Dome .177
5.4
4.45
4.60
6.15
RWS Hyper Dome .22
10.8
5.47
5.65
7.70
RWS HyperMax .177
5.6
4.49
4.65
6.94
RWS HyperMax .22
10.8
5.46
5.68
8.24
Dynamic SN1 .177
8.0
4.43
4.75
7.32
Dynamic SN2 .22
12.8
5.52
5.75
8.01
Prometheus Z1 .177
6.6
4.44
4.69
8.68
Paragon Z2 .22
12.0
5.50
5.45
9.53
Gamo Power .177
5.0
4.46
4.60
6.43
RWS Hyper .177
5.8
4.45
4.53
9.18
Results
PERFORMANCE TABLE
I used an Air Arms ProSport
rifle in .177 and a Venom
HW77 in .22 Calibre.
See Specification and
Performance tables.
Pro/Cons
Lead is used for airgun pellets
for a reason; it grips the
rifling and deforms into the
barrel dimensions and has
enough weight for continued
momentum. It`s interesting to
see from the results that there
is a complete spread of what
works and what does not!
The control FTT`s lead, shot
0.62- and 0.39-inch five shot
groups at 25 yards from the
.177 ProSport and Venom HW77
respectively. From then on in it
was obvious the .22 non-lead
were far more accurate than the
.177 equivalents. The control
.22 FTT`s lead shot 591fps
for a healthy 11.48ft/lbs as
expected from the Venom.
Best .22 non lead pellets for
accuracy were the RWS Hyper
Domes with a lovely tight 0.45inch cluster of five pellets although
power was 649fps for 10.10ft/
lbs. Second best were the RWS
Hyper Max at 702fps for 10.84ft/
lbs and 0.51-inch groups. Third
were the H&N FTT Green with
90
november
2013
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Pellet
H&N FFT Lead .177
H&N FFT Lead .22
H&N FTT Green .177
H&N FTT Green .22
H&N Barracuda Green .177
H&N Barracuda Green .22
RWS Hyper Dome .177
RWS Hyper Dome .22
RWS HyperMax .177
RWS HyperMax .22
Dynamic SN1 .177
Dynamic SN2 .22
Prometheus Z1 .177
Paragon Z2 .22
Gamo Power .177
RWS Hyper .177
0.58-inch 25 yard groups at a
velocity of 727fps for 11.03ft/lbs.
In fact the largest group from
the .22 non-lead pellets was only
0.71-inch which is still very good,
that Venom really shoots! The
.177 pellets did not fare so well,
in fact they were very erratic.
The control FTT`s lead
pellets shot 0.62-inch groups
at 25 yards from the Pro
Sport which is normal for this
pellet from this rifle. Velocity
was typical at 791fps and
generated 11.95ft/lbs energy.
Best .177 non-lead pellet
were the H&N FTT Green at a
GUN MART
Velocity fps
791
591
980
727
874
632
978
649
916
702
828
630
839
660
1004
950
Energy ft/lbs
11.95
11.48
11.95
11.03
10.86
11.0
11.47
10.10
10.44
10.84
12.18
11.28
10.32
11.61
11.19
11.63
velocity of 980fps and 11.95ft/
lbs and nice 0.53-inch five shot
groups. Now the tests go pear
shaped as the second best were
the Dynamic SN1 that although
gave 0.58-inch groups shot too
high a velocity of 828fps for
12.18ft/lbs not good. So check
them over a chrono before taking
them out with your own rifle.
Third up were the H&N
Barracuda Green at 874fps and
10.86ft/lbs but 0.87-inch groups.
All other pellets did not work
in the Prosport. See the chart
as the groups were very erratic
from 0.92- to 2.7-inch groups!
Accuracy at 25 yards
0.62
0.39
0.53
0.58
0.87
0.69
1.11
0.45
2.03
0.51
0.58
0.67
1.31
0.71
0.92
2.7
Conclusions
Well, there are the results.
Personally I am sticking to the lead
pellets until some bureaucrat tells
me not to! But in these tests the
.22 non-lead pellets seem far more
accurate than the .177 versions.
Best accuracy went to the control
group .22 lead FTT pellet at 0.39,
but the .22 RWS Hyper Domes
were not far behind at 0.45.
Next time I will check downrange performance in ballistic
putty and zero at differing ranges
to see if some of those higher
velocities can compensate
for accuracy issues. GM
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