Soft Pellet

[RCO]

Which brand pellet are the softest? What I'm looking for are 177 and 22 cal pellets that will expand in rifles that shoot in the 15PFE range. More expansion and less penetration is what I'm looking for.

[AudiS4]

In so low Vo, you will have the best results with standard Wadcutters. No hollow points will expand at such low Vo. You will hunt at 30 yards or less anyway, so...

[Tommy]

I use destroyers in my backyard just for that reason. They keep the lead in my yard and they are real cheap $3 at WM
Tommy

[Big Bore Bart]

  The Winchester .177's are pretty soft.    My 766 launches them at 855 fps for a tad over 15 fpe, and the 2100PCP gets 890+ with them.   They pretty much disintegrate on impact with rocks or steel, even after passing through a GS's head.    I haven't had a chance to try the Winnie HP's yet, if they are as soft as the domes, they may come apart in the GS.   

   Here is a great test and write up on the subject. 

[TooJung2Die]

The softest pellets I've seen so far are Daisy wadcutters. They'll mushroom very easily. Trouble is, half the skirts in a tin are deformed to some degree because of the softness of the lead. They're jet black in color, must be coated with something. They are very inexpensive so give them a try. They might just do well enough in your airgun.

[Bullit]

The JSB Exact and H&N FTT pellets are soft and expand nicely.  Real Accurate pellets at 50yds.
The Beeman Crow Magnum Hollow Point really EXPANDS. Some to nearly double. Accurate at 25yd+/- range.
The Crosman pellets are harder, and not big for expansion.  But they're accurate.
I've compared these pellets using a 12FPE rifle and shoot these pellets.

[TooJung2Die]

   Here is a great test and write up on the subject. 

Bart, thanks for the link. Very interesting.

Here is another pellet penetration comparison.

Jon

[Steeb86]

Polymags WILL expand at 15fpe but as someone already stated, to get maximum impact and energy transfer wadcutters will likely be your best option, so long as your gun likes them, they wont expand at all if you cant hit it!

Wadcutters don't expand though, they merely flatten out and dump all their energy quickly since there's no real penetrating design to the head of them.  I have hunted with them and they WILL pass through if you are a tad too close to your quarry(depending on where you hit of course).  For example, I have shot squirrels at 20ish yards in the brain with my nitro venom(granted it is 18fpe and not 15fpe)  and it still passed through, it obliterated their head but still, a pass is a pass.  But on that same note, I have shot lung/heart shots on squirrels and rabbits even closer and had the pellets hit the ribs/shoulder and heart/lungs and merely stop and dump every ounce of energy to their bodies.  You will really need to see how YOUR gun performs with the ammo you choose, easiest way to do this(in my opinion) is go to the dollar store and buy quite a bit of the cheap modeling clay and mold it into a fairly large block and shoot it, then cut your pellet path in half and examine how the cavity is shaped and penetration depth, etc..

That's just my Lincoln's on it
And if it's helpful info, you're welcome, sir!

Steeb

[RCO]

Thanks Guys,

My Fury II 177 I tuned shoots destroyers at 960, that gets me 16 FPE. I don't want to go faster. I'm putting a 130 spring and vortex seal in my XS25 22cal. I'm hoping to get closer to 20FPE with it.

We will see. 

I have some Beeman wad cutters for the P17, they aren't marked for weight. I'll try them in the 177.

[Bullit]

RCO.  Check the weight of those wadcutters before you use them.  If they're too lite,(under 7.9g), can damage your piston seal (piston slam)quickly with them.

[TooJung2Die]

The Daisy .22 Precision Max wadcutters are 14.3 gr, the .177 are 7.8 gr. On the low end of "safe" pellet weight.

Jon

[RCO]

OK,

I checked on what I though were destroyers. They are not, they are Crosman pointed hunters. They are listed as 7.4 and shoot 960. The Crosman hollow points are 7.9 and shoot 920. I'll just use the wad cutters in the P17.