Crossman HPs

Hi Flock,
Which JSB’s did you test, did they also have a hollow point?
Pete.

👍🏻
I’ve often wondered about this…
What is required to get a hunting pellet to expand and turn into a “mushroom”???
Obviously this is only relevant to “hunting pellets”, wad cutters for paper target shooting and pellets just for plinking don’t need to dump energy, mushroom and deliver devastating terminal perform, they just need to be accurate and hit what u were aiming at.
I think there are 3 factors that contribute to how easily a pellet will mushroom (ie dump energy and create a bigger wound Chanel):
1- hardness/softness of the lead. - softer lead will deform easier.
2- shape of the pellet. - a hollow point will require less energy to expand then a pointed pellet.
3- velocity/fpe at impact. - the faster it’s going the more energy it will be carrying to help it deform.

I think most hunting pellets are made from lead that is too hard, I.e. they don’t mushroom at practical velocities.
Imagine if pellet manufacturers made specific pellets for different energy guns!
For example a JSB Hades in .177, 8gr that is designed to mushroom and expand to twice its bore diameter, at 10.5fpe.
And another JSB Hades also in .177, 8gr, but made from slightly harder lead designed to expand to twice its bore diameter, but at 20fpe.

I guess that’s how things progressed to slugs… use a softer lead, make a deeper “hollow point” cavity, and push it faster!

Sure would be great if we had pellets that mushroomed at lower velocitys!

I've not had much luck with hollow point pellets achieving any mushrooming. I shot multiple 22 hades in my Gamo magnum and never found one that had achieved any form of expansion when I dug them out of bunnies. I've found Crosman HP can give good accuracy and I'd buy them for that reason but not because I think they're any better for hunting. 

kuzzaroad is correct on this one you need velocity to make a soft lead hollow point bullet or pellet to expand reliably,accurracy is the key wih airguns,its generally accepted by lead bullet shooters using firearms with hard cast bullets or soft lead swaged bullets that it takes close to 1000fps on target to get any lead projectile to expand reliably in flesh,they may doso if they hit bone but not allways,a pcp rifle firing soft lead hollow point bullets at over 1500 fps at the muzzle is a very differnt thing to a pellet gun firing pellets at under 1000fps,and most accurate airguns are under 1000fps,i have been shooting all sorts of lead bullets out of firearms for lot years and done lot hunting using lead bullets in firearms and pcp airguns,and i can pretty much garrentee hollow point pellets except for polymag type pellets never expand in small game at airgun velocitys a domed pellet hitting small game animals at anything over 700fps will do a lot of damage evan in 177 cal with a head shot its instant lights out on rabbits possums etc,having tryed most hollow point pellets in 177/22 cal none ever expanded until they hit the ground behind the target except for polymags at airgun velocitys but surprisingly sometimes hollow point pellets can more accurrate than domed pellets,so you pays your money and takes your choices eh,just find the most accurrate pellets for your guns is allways the best choice for hunting or pest shooting.