Penetration and Expansion Testing

[rsterne]

Here is the photo of the recovered pellets from the High Power tests.... Only the pellets showing noticable expansion or distortion are shown.... the others looked like they could literally be reused....

Top row is .22 cal, from left to right:
Predator Polymag - 7 pieces
Hunter Extreme - crosscut nose in 3 parts, plus skirt
Baracuda Hunter - nose nearly peeled off
Crow Magnum - nose completely folded over, center punched out



Middle row is .25 cal, from left to right:
Predator Polymag - 8 pieces
Hunter Extreme - mushroomed with 4 jagged edges from crosscut
Mr. HollowPoint 58.8 gr. - nearly completely mushroomed
Crow Magnum - nose section inverted and separated, but was sitting over the skirt

Bottom row, also .25 cal, left to right:
EunJin Dome - some shortening, slight expansion
Mr. HollowPoint 50.0 gr. - completely mushroomed
H&N Ram Point - some shortening, lip at base of point forced back

Note: the H&N Ram Point had a small horizontal lip at the base of the point which acted a bit like a wadcutter and that is what caused the larger entry hole and wider cone shape of the wound channel.... The thin rim around the plastic tip on the Polymags blew apart into many small pieces at these velocities (950-1000 fps).... IMO they are at their best at a lower speed.... and in fact that may apply to all of the hollowpoint pellets, they are starting to come apart.... The Mr. Hollowpoint bullets, on the other hand look very interesting, they are behaving like a PB bullet (not surprising).... It will be interesting to see how they perform at higher velocities and energies....

Bob

[rsterne]

I finally got around to testing some .177 pellets.... With the .22 cal results being so predictable, basically if it doesn't expand, the heavier the pellet the deeper it penetrates for a given FPE level, I only tested the hollowpoints in .177.... I did test one JSB Exact Express 7.8 gr. Round Nosed pellet at several velocities, and it far outpenetrated all the hollowpoints at each power level tested.... I started at 12 FPE, went to 15 FPE, and then tested the two heaviest pellets at 18 FPE.... Here is the photo of those tests....



From the bottom, shot at 15 FPE, left to right:
RWS Super HollowPoint 7.1 gr.
H&N Terminator 7.1 gr.
Crosman Destroyer 8.0 gr.
Crosman Premier HP 8.0 gr.
JSB Predator Polymag 8.2 gr.
H&N Crow Magnum 8.8 gr.
H&N Baracuda Hunter 10.2 gr.
Benjamin Discovery HP 10.5 gr.

From the top, shot at 12 FPE, same order, but right to left....

At 18 FPE; from the left Benjamin Discovery HP 10.5 gr.; from the right H&N Baracuda Hunter 10.2 gr.

I then used another block, and tested the lighter hollowpoints at 7 FPE and 9 FPE, as follows:



From the bottom, shot at 9 FPE, left to right:

RWS Super HollowPoint 7.1 gr.
H&N Terminator 7.1 gr.
Crosman Destroyer 8.0 gr.
JSB Predator Polymag 8.2 gr.
H&N Crow Magnum 8.8 gr.
JSB Exact Express 7.8 gr. (for comparison)

From the top, shot at 7 FPE, same order, but right to left....

Here is a photo of the recovered pellets at 12 FPE (top row), 15 FPE (middle row) and 18 FPE (the two in the bottom row)....



Again, same order, left to right by columns:
RWS Super HollowPoint 7.1 gr. (nose peeled off)
H&N Terminator 7.1 gr. (nose peels off at 15 FPE)
Crosman Destroyer 8.0 gr. (nose peels off at 15 FPE)
Crosman Premier HP 8.0 gr. (starting to mushroom at 15 FPE)
JSB Predator Polymag 8.2 gr. (nose rolled back over body, tip left behind)
H&N Crow Magnum 8.8 gr. (nose peels off at 15 FPE)
H&N Baracuda Hunter 10.2 gr. (starting to mushroom at 15 FPE, more at 18 FPE)
Benjamin Discovery HP 10.5 gr. (just starting to shorten at 18 FPE)

Here is a photo of the pellets I tested at 7 FPE (top row) and 9 FPE (bottom row):



Again from left to right:
RWS Super HollowPoint 7.1 gr. (nose peels off at 9 FPE)
H&N Terminator 7.1 gr. (nicely mushroomed)
Crosman Destroyer 8.0 gr. (nose rolled over at 9 FPE)
JSB Predator Polymag 8.2 gr. (just starting to open at 7 FPE)
H&N Crow Magnum 8.8 gr. (nicely mushroomed)

Careful examination of how the expansion of these hollowpoints progresses as the FPE increases will allow you to pick one that performs well in your gun.... Don't forget that these are the IMPACT energies, not at the muzzle, so you have to allow for that.... All five of the pellets in the second set look like they will expand reliably at 7 to 12 FPE, although the RWS SuperHollowPoint sheds the nose portion at 9 FPE or over.... By the time you get to 15 FPE, most of the pellets that work well at low speeds are coming apart, with the nose portion peeling over the base and being left behind.... That's not all bad, as the base continues to penetrate, however.... At that energy, the Crosman Premier HollowPoint is finally starting to expand, as is the H&N Baracuda Hunter.... The Benjamin Discovery HP looks like it might start expanding at ~20 FPE impact energy .... but there aren't many guns that can launch it hard enough to have it arrive at over 900 fps, and I would question the accuracy if they did.... Don't expect it to expand....

Bob