Monster .22cal 30 gr Piledrivers by H&N Ballistic Pellet test..PCP ONLY.

[americanpatriot10]

What are your guy's experiences with these piledivers from H&N sports?

[Motorhead]

To shoot them with an acceptable trajectory takes a STRONG high output PCP that generally is 40+ ft lbs power with 18 or 21 grain pellets.
Unless your barrel likes them it really don't matter unless your shooting really close and busting threw skull bone etc ...

Have shot them in my WARP using a 23 1/2" LW barrel along with a JSA SS valve at 60+ ft lbs !! .... accuracy at 50 yards was still 1 to 1 1/2" which to me is lousy accuracy.

Just one opinion 

FYI: https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=143027.msg1448481#msg1448481

[USAFANG6799]

Would be interesting to shoot them backwards using the same test.

[cootertwo]

Not very accurate in any of my PCP's

[Ribbonstone]

Still have some, they just didn't test out well in the PCP's I've tried them in so far.  Really not the weight/length,some of those rifles shoot the even heavier (and longer) JSB's, so I really can't fault the barrel twist in the rifles....perhaps just haven't found the right fit.

That hollow skirt on a traditional styled pellet serves several functions, not the least of which is being OVERSIZED but easily swaged by the act of chambering....pretty much coveres up at least part of the fit issue.

(Also...why did they use a picture of the long skinny .177 Piledriver on the .22 Piledriver tins (those .22's look more like stumpy beer barrels in real life).

[Back_Roads]

 I have some Pile drivers in the various calibers, I plan on doing a test comparison with NSA swaged slugs. BTW I have had them for 4 months and have not had the time to do a thoughiro tes yet, but I am buying a video cam for myself for B-day coming up way too soon, and my work load should decrease at the end of this month.

[Habanero69er]

I’ve shot them in both my .22 Gen-1 Marauder & .22 Rainstorm-I. They performed well in both rifles. Especially at 100m. They have an excellent BC & buck the wind exceptionally well.

[Ribbonstone]

Really have to blame "fit" over "twist". Found several PCP'sthat would shoot longer/heavier pellets or slugs that just won't shoot the shorter Piledrivers.

If twist werte the problem with the stumpy piledrivers,then the even longer/heavier pellets would have shot worse.

So barrel twist in the .22 Piledriver version isn't the accuracy issue.

Some (at least the ones I have left) of the .22 Heavy weights (had more that were uninspiring,but luckly found a way to use them up):


Something like 7 or 8 test rifles (more than 1/2 borrowed rather than onwned.

MIGHT BE that my stadards for "good shooting"are too high...they all shot...could pretty wellpredict what pattern they'dform on paper....just a judgement on my part that the pattern was too big?


A.  25.6gr. RatCatcher II. NOTHING loved them./...Nothing even really "liked" them...one unexpected rifle (as it is only a 28-30 foot pound .22) at least tolerated them into groups well enough to use.  I just haven't quite used all of them up.

B.  JSB 25.4gr.  Almost every test PCP,low or high power, shot them well.

C.  Piledriver .30gr.  HAven't found the right barrel for these...may never..who knows?

D.  JSB 34gr. ("old version"). Only two rifles that are fast enough tomake good use of them shoot them well.

E.  34gr Cast/sized slug. Not an accident that this version ended up about the same weight/length as "D".  Shot really well in one of the two rifles from "D",not so well in the other.

So the question really is about fit.  The solid (or nearly solid_ slug-tupe pellets are not going to be as forgiving of fit. The hollow based pellets are going to allow their hollow skirt endges to be compressed/swaged as chambered and fit the bore.  For the slug-tupes to shoot well, they have to be just-right in size to pre-fit the bore just right.


I just haven't found a bore that likes the Piledrivers.


Guess that also relates to the old versions of thew JSB Heavy Wights (the MK I rather than the MK II versions)….lots of folks didn't get good accuracy from them (which resulted in the redesigned MK. II's)...so evidently the fit of the old version was somehow "right" for my rifles, but not "right" for others.

[americanpatriot10]

They shoot okay in my gun, I agree with you all, they are "so so".   Also I just put a new hammer spring in my moded 2240 on hpa today. So I will have to revisit these pellets at some point! Thanks for all the responses! I will also show you guys my new gun setup soon!

[Ribbonstone]

Until this post about 30gr. Piledriver .22 "pellets"(although they are more like slugs),I'd not given one rifle enough of a chance with the picturted heavy weights in an above post.

Tonight,I gave them a quick test in the one rifle that did shoot the odd-ball RatCatcher II's  (also a close nephew of a "slug") a good showing,.



Although not agreeing in POI/POAfrom where I left the rifle...and is not that why they have those scope knobs that go "click"...  If I settle one one, wouldn't be a major effort to turn those knobs "click click" to get the "choosen one" on target.

Likely, will settle on the "orphan" Rabbit Mag II ellets,as I have enough of them one had to keepon going, and nothing else rea;u tolerates them. few scope clicks "up["should do it.

ANYWAY...the main thing here is that, at least in .22, it's not barrel twist.   Shortest to longest projectile, they shot pretty much the same (OK...a Ratt'sarse"of difference at best).   The Piledriver .22 shot almost unuseable in this rifle.

(OK...that'sBS...I'dcount the unprictiablity as "useless"in this PCP.  Got smooth borew that can manage better than 5-5./5MOA)

YOUR rifle can certainly vary....but it'snot twist rate...it'snot velocity/energy...it'[sjust the luck of the draw for barrel size/Piledriver fit.


B   U  T....in the avovce example,even though the BC is greater,and the down range energy is greater...does any of that make a "ratsrump" considering the accuracy?

[americanpatriot10]

Until this post about 30gr. Piledriver .22 "pellets"(although they are more like slugs),I'd not given one rifle enough of a chance with the picturted heavy weights in an above post.

Tonight,I gave them a quick test in the one rifle that did shoot the odd-ball RatCatcher II's  (also a close nephew of a "slug") a good showing,.



Although not agreeing in POI/POAfrom where I left the rifle...and is not that why they have those scope knobs that go "click"...  If I settle one one, wouldn't be a major effort to turn those knobs "click click" to get the "choosen one" on target.

Likely, will settle on the "orphan" Rabbit Mag II ellets,as I have enough of them one had to keepon going, and nothing else rea;u tolerates them. few scope clicks "up["should do it.

ANYWAY...the main thing here is that, at least in .22, it's not barrel twist.   Shortest to longest projectile, they shot pretty much the same (OK...a Ratt'sarse"of difference at best).   The Piledriver .22 shot almost unuseable in this rifle.

(OK...that'sBS...I'dcount the unprictiablity as "useless"in this PCP.  Got smooth borew that can manage better than 5-5./5MOA)

YOUR rifle can certainly vary....but it'snot twist rate...it'snot velocity/energy...it'[sjust the luck of the draw for barrel size/Piledriver fit.


B   U  T....in the avovce example,even though the BC is greater,and the down range energy is greater...does any of that make a "ratsrump" considering the accuracy?

Glad you did this test!!! I loved reading this haha! I think that the piledrivers vary in size, which makes fliers happen. Maybe if they we size sorted you could at least increase their consistency by a little. Beyond that I think they are just very interesting and a *(&^ of a lot of fun to pop eggs with hehe 

[americanpatriot10]

Really have to blame "fit" over "twist". Found several PCP'sthat would shoot longer/heavier pellets or slugs that just won't shoot the shorter Piledrivers.

If twist werte the problem with the stumpy piledrivers,then the even longer/heavier pellets would have shot worse.

So barrel twist in the .22 Piledriver version isn't the accuracy issue.

Some (at least the ones I have left) of the .22 Heavy weights (had more that were uninspiring,but luckly found a way to use them up):


Something like 7 or 8 test rifles (more than 1/2 borrowed rather than onwned.

MIGHT BE that my stadards for "good shooting"are too high...they all shot...could pretty wellpredict what pattern they'dform on paper....just a judgement on my part that the pattern was too big?


A.  25.6gr. RatCatcher II. NOTHING loved them./...Nothing even really "liked" them...one unexpected rifle (as it is only a 28-30 foot pound .22) at least tolerated them into groups well enough to use.  I just haven't quite used all of them up.

B.  JSB 25.4gr.  Almost every test PCP,low or high power, shot them well.

C.  Piledriver .30gr.  HAven't found the right barrel for these...may never..who knows?

D.  JSB 34gr. ("old version"). Only two rifles that are fast enough tomake good use of them shoot them well.

E.  34gr Cast/sized slug. Not an accident that this version ended up about the same weight/length as "D".  Shot really well in one of the two rifles from "D",not so well in the other.

So the question really is about fit.  The solid (or nearly solid_ slug-tupe pellets are not going to be as forgiving of fit. The hollow based pellets are going to allow their hollow skirt endges to be compressed/swaged as chambered and fit the bore.  For the slug-tupes to shoot well, they have to be just-right in size to pre-fit the bore just right.


I just haven't found a bore that likes the Piledrivers.


Guess that also relates to the old versions of thew JSB Heavy Wights (the MK I rather than the MK II versions)….lots of folks didn't get good accuracy from them (which resulted in the redesigned MK. II's)...so evidently the fit of the old version was somehow "right" for my rifles, but not "right" for others.

I would enjoy trying all of those slugs/pellets you showed!Ya Piledrivers seem to be the most inconsistent for people.

[Motorhead]

In the range of .22 heavy weights ... H&N barracuda 21.3's do very well at velocities approaching 1000 fps.  Which is above 45 ft lb energy while being very accurate in at least LW barrels.
It is my Go Too magnum .22 pellet shooting better than monster JSB's by a fair margin.

JMO tho ...

[americanpatriot10]

In the range of .22 heavy weights ... H&N barracuda 21.3's do very well at velocities approaching 1000 fps.  Which is above 45 ft lb energy while being very accurate in at least LW barrels.
It is my Go Too magnum .22 pellet shooting better than monster JSB's by a fair margin.

JMO tho ...

This is great to know! I am slowing Moding/pushing my 2400kt as close to 1000 fps as possible haha. So I was wondering what pellets would be stable at those speeds, and at range. Thanks!

[Ribbonstone]

Ignore the Rat Catcher...that one rifle  shooting them well definately seems to be a fluke.

As for the Piledrivers,  they can do better than that in some of the rifles tested, but even the best found so far averages about 2X larger groups than other pellets. 

If they don't shoot well enough for long range, a great BC isn't really going to help.

Still have hope....not that many rifles tested so far, and perhaps there is one that will impresse me. If I run out of pellets first, at least I had fun.

[VaporTrail]

I have a tin of those PDs in .22. I was hoping for a high energy projectile, but they wouldn't even fit in the barrel. So now they sit, collecting dust, waiting and hoping for redemption.

I have several PCPs that are on the radar; one of them will definitely be in the .22 flavor. It is my hope that the platform will work well together with them. I'm looking at either the Sumatra Carbine or perhaps the Flash. Also possibly the AirForce.

[KnifeMaker]

this is like reading a bad recap of the history of PD's. They Have been offered by several different companies over the years. Evan Daystate stepped into it for a while.


I was more than a little shocked when H&N stepped in. They have been mostly a miserable failure for everyone who has made/carried the design.




Sure there's the odd gun that will sorta shoot them. And that is, or should be, a long tome ago in my book. Simply that the odd gun can shoot them. But it is rare, and a waste of time and money for most shooters.


For new shooters, they look promising. for us old hats, well, we know better, or should. They were, and remain a gimmick to entice the unwary.


There are proven options galore out there. We don't really need a shotgun inspired rifled slug for our precision AirGuns.  Thankfully!   

[KnifeMaker]

On the other hand, if your AirGun shoots more like a ShotGun, Who knows, Right?