Not so much 'Target talk' more 'Pellet talk'...

Decided to force myself to sit down and try out some of the .22 H&N's in a Condor, see how well they perform.

Started with those "philips head" Baracuda Hunter Extreme. Without re-sighting in, they shot about the same as Crosman domed Field Target pellets (the brown box units)- which I thought was pretty impressive as the price on the works out to about the same per pellet (slightly less actually)- and they are not labeled as "Field Target" units but were designed specifically for hunting. Group size was about 1.5" at 100 feet.

Next came the Baracuda Power pellets (copper coated lead). These guys were pretty heavy at 21.14 grains and you could feel it picking them up (almost 50% heavier than an average .22 pellet). What happens? These things need power to shoot- they were shooting low about 3 inches at 100 feet vs. the Hunter Extreme (which is a bit odd as the weight difference is only about 10% between the two) - but the "thunk" when they hit was quite noticeably different, more of a 'thump' than a typical 'whap' if you understand Batman lingo. I didn't bother re-sighting in the rifle as I found them a bit less consistent than the Hunter Extremes and I did not come out to shove big power through the rifle to optimize for any specific pellet, just get an overall view of things. Group size was about 2.5" at 100 feet.

Lastly for today was the Spitzkugel (pointed, more of a point than many other 'pointed' pellets I might add, with a lined skirt). They were alot closer to an average pellet weight at 15.74gr. They were shooting a bit low and to the right, so I resighted the rifle and shot away. These things were impressive- shot better than the hollow points or the power or the Crosman FT's. I had figured they would likely be the ones to shoot the poorest of the bunch as rarely have I gotten good results in any of my rifles with pointed pellets. Group size was about 1" at 100 feet.

Of course, this was a specific rifle and other people's results may vary greatly, but overall they all shot well, the 'Power' likely would have shot better had I wanted to up the output on the rifle and re-sight it properly.

Anyone know if you're allowed to shoot pointed pellets in FT competitions?

:apple:

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Originally Posted by AirGunEric

Anyone know if you're allowed to shoot pointed pellets in FT competitions?

:apple:

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As long as they are only lead, any pellet shape is allowed, no .25cal though:ambivalence::icon_mrgreen:


I am interested to try out some those new Baracuda Hunter Extreme's in .25cal...Slo-Mo pop can shots and maybe some starlings :glee:

Nice!
I've never liked pointed pellets either, but may give them (Spitzkugel) a try now.

What power level/fps was your Condor set at?

While looking through H&N's catalog, one thing that struck me as a little odd was their "recommended muzzle energy" calculations. For example, the Baracuda Hunter's (18.21 gr) supposedly require >18.5 ft.lbs, while the heavier Hunter Extreme's (19.09 gr) only require >12 ft.lbs. What's up with that? Same thing with the domed Baracuda line (all the same weight - 21.14 gr)
"plain" Baracuda > 18.5 ft.lbs
Baracuda Match > 12 ft.lbs
Baracuda Power > 18.5 ft.lbs
I can understand the Power needing a bit more giddy-up (I'm assuming that's because the copper is a bit harder than lead and causes more friction with the rifling?) Not that it really matters, just a curious observation is all...

Todd

It's possible that the market has a lot to do with that mysterious 12ft/pds

I'm thinking Great Britain. They are capped at 12 and they run their FT to comply with that.

The Baracuda Power are, I believe, made of a harder lead alloy as well as plated.... That may have something to do with the higher FPE rating.... or it could just be marketing....

Bob

I think that they have the energy minimums as a "would work best" with at least this much energy for things like satisfactory expansion etc. For others it might be that they shoot better at certain FPS/energy levels.

Edit: Bob beat me to it by seconds :highly_amused:

I think just about any pellet will fly truer over longer distances the more power is behind it- assuming it isn't coming too close to the speed of sound at any point.

I suspect alot of this is just a comparison of sorts- for example, the Spitzkugel at 15.74gr- only slightly above a "standard" 14.3gr pellet, but "12ft-lbs" is the recommendation for them. Meanwhile, how many people are shooting 14.3 grains accurately out of non-PAL airguns?

In my case with the Condor, I didn't take chrony readings when doing this, but based on previous experiments with readings, I would suggest it was putting out about 17fpe at the start, closer to 7 or 8 near the end when I change tanks.

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Originally Posted by AirGunEric

In my case with the Condor, I didn't take chrony readings when doing this, but based on previous experiments with readings, I would suggest it was putting out about 17fpe at the start, closer to 7 or 8 near the end when I change tanks.

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17FPE? with a Condor? are you running a 800PSI output bottle on it?(or Co2?) short barrel?

You can adjust the output pressure on the valve on the tank and crank down the hammerspring- that particular tank was set-up for use with a lower power .177 barrel.