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Alloy pellets vs lead
https://www.airgunforum.ca/forums/topic85757.html
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Author:  Jbanel [ Tue May 12, 2020 9:51 am ]
Post subject:  Alloy pellets vs lead

What's your experience with alloy pellets?
Do they tend to jam more?
Can they damage the rifling?
They're certainly more expensive, but I'd like to avoid handling lead if possible.
What is a good brand?
Thanks,
Joe

PS. I'm new to this. Just got a Gamo PT85, Dan Wesson 4 inch, and a Ruger 10/22 rifle.

Author:  Dukemeister [ Tue May 12, 2020 10:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Alloy pellets vs lead

Alloy pellets are a farce, IMO.
Most guns are designed to shoot lead pellets, but manufacturers list speeds with alloy pellets to make them seem "more powerful" because of inflated speed numbers. If you want to avoid lead, consider BBs instead. My wife says iron is good for you and zinc improves libido, so its a good combination. Just avoid the copper coated ones. :drinkers:

Author:  Daryl [ Tue May 12, 2020 12:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Alloy pellets vs lead

I would suggest alloy pellets are a no/no for springers - hard on the spring due to the light weight - which gives increases speed as Duke noted.

Not sure why to avoid copper (wash) plating, however all alloy pellets are included in the above.

I've never shot any alloy pellets and never intend to.

I used to carry pellets in my mouth, when I was a kid & yes, I did swallow some - we all did. Maybe that's why I am the "way" I am today, however

I have 'read' that particulate lead is not harmful to us if ingested - being shot with it is, but not due to the them being lead or lead particles.

Lead fumes are bad, ie: from molten lead. I've been casting bullets, loading & shooting them since I was about 8 years old and up until 3 days ago.
I have some more casting to do this week, running out of 14 bore balls for my big rifle. I do have a 12 bore rifle, but have plenty for it.

Turning 70 this month and am in quite good health - so, if handling lead pellets is verboten to you, wear latex gloves when you shoot. They are quite inexpensive.

Author:  YepYep [ Tue May 12, 2020 12:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Alloy pellets vs lead

I started using alloy pellets at the beginning of my airgun hobby life with the expensive RWS Hyper Speed which says can increase 30% of your muzzle speed because I was shooting the low power (below 400fps, usually 300ish replicas)... Then I tried some else like the H&N green, Crosman Power Shot etc... What I found is just as you can heard the alloy pellets are not as accurate as the lead pellets...

Maybe due to many reasons like less choices on calibers, you won't find 4.48/4.49/4.51/4.52/4.53 for a best fit on your guns. Or they are harder than lead, so if your barrel 's rifling is not good / deep enough, they would probably not spinning well when leaving the muzzle, and the weights too light... Etc etc...

So far the only alloy pellet with most of good reviews is only the H&N green. I have a few tins however it looks I would never use them as I always have other lead pellets in the house....

Below is a RWS Hyper Speed from a German gun, I am not sure which one now... The pellet just had been cut by the rifling very well...

However, I do found something good, very good, on alloy pellets. As It's much harder than lead, so you got ultimate penetrating power on it than lead pellets... It won't deform even after going through multiple cans... Image

Sent from my S9 via Tapatalk

Author:  ricksplace [ Tue May 12, 2020 1:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Alloy pellets vs lead

My experience with alloy pellets is not good. Poor accuracy and far too expensive. If you are worried about lead exposure, Beeman sells a line of Chinese made lead pellets that are coated so your hands never directly touch lead. I find the light hollow points (7.2gr) very accurate in more than one of my springers. Cheap too. Check out Pyramid or Airgun Depot.

IMHO, just wash your hands after shooting. We all should be getting used to washing hands by now...

Edit: I notice that your guns are all low velocity. The abovementioned coated lead pellets really perform well at the lower velocities. Accuracy starts to fall off around 800 fps in my guns.

Author:  YepYep [ Tue May 12, 2020 1:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Alloy pellets vs lead

Wash hands with soap can't remove lead on your hand from touching pellets...

If I shoot heavy that day, after finish, I would use the Lead-Off wipes clean my hand before washing hands with soap... It looks expensive, but my last purchase from Amazon.ca (also the first time) was more than a year ago and it still more than half remained as you only need to use it on finger tips etc and I will insert it back into the bottle and close the lip tightly then reuse again next time, until that wipe feels dry... Image

Sent from my S9 via Tapatalk

Author:  Jbanel [ Tue May 12, 2020 4:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Alloy pellets vs lead

[quote="Dukemeister"]Alloy pellets are a farce, IMO.
Most guns are designed to shoot lead pellets, but manufacturers list speeds with alloy pellets to make them seem "more powerful" because of inflated speed numbers. If you want to avoid lead, consider BBs instead. My wife says iron is good for you and zinc improves libido, so its a good combination. Just avoid the copper coated ones. :drinkers:[/quote

Thanks Duke. I wish you had told me about zinc years ago

Author:  Jbanel [ Tue May 12, 2020 4:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Alloy pellets vs lead

Daryl wrote:
I would suggest alloy pellets are a no/no for springers - hard on the spring due to the light weight - which gives increases speed as Duke noted.

Not sure why to avoid copper (wash) plating, however all alloy pellets are included in the above.

I've never shot any alloy pellets and never intend to.

I used to carry pellets in my mouth, when I was a kid & yes, I did swallow some - we all did. Maybe that's why I am the "way" I am today, however

I have 'read' that particulate lead is not harmful to us if ingested - being shot with it is, but not due to the them being lead or lead particles.

Lead fumes are bad, ie: from molten lead. I've been casting bullets, loading & shooting them since I was about 8 years old and up until 3 days ago.
I have some more casting to do this week, running out of 14 bore balls for my big rifle. I do have a 12 bore rifle, but have plenty for it.

Turning 70 this month and am in quite good health - so, if handling lead pellets is verboten to you, wear latex gloves when you shoot. They are quite inexpensive.


Thanks Daryl. I happen to have lots of boxes of rubber gloves I bought to protect the populace from my potentially tainted hands, I will give it a try. Also I will try to stay out of the way of stray lead ( I live within shooting distance of Toronto.)

Author:  Jbanel [ Tue May 12, 2020 6:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Alloy pellets vs lead

YepYep wrote:
Wash hands with soap can't remove lead on your hand from touching pellets...

If I shoot heavy that day, after finish, I would use the Lead-Off wipes clean my hand before washing hands with soap... It looks expensive, but my last purchase from Amazon.ca (also the first time) was more than a year ago and it still more than half remained as you only need to use it on finger tips etc and I will insert it back into the bottle and close the lip tightly then reuse again next time, until that wipe feels dry... Image

Sent from my S9 via Tapatalk


Leadoff wipes and similar products are still available on Amazon.ca. A really good idea - thanks Yep Yep

Author:  Jbanel [ Tue May 12, 2020 8:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Alloy pellets vs lead

ricksplace wrote:
My experience with alloy pellets is not good. Poor accuracy and far too expensive. If you are worried about lead exposure, Beeman sells a line of Chinese made lead pellets that are coated so your hands never directly touch lead. I find the light hollow points (7.2gr) very accurate in more than one of my springers. Cheap too. Check out Pyramid or Airgun Depot.

IMHO, just wash your hands after shooting. We all should be getting used to washing hands by now...

Edit: I notice that your guns are all low velocity. The abovementioned coated lead pellets really perform well at the lower velocities. Accuracy starts to fall off around 800 fps in my guns.


Thanks for the tip, Ricksplace. The Beemans seem to be out of stock everywhere but I bought some H&N Greens to try.

Author:  ricksplace [ Wed May 13, 2020 4:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Alloy pellets vs lead

https://www.amazon.ca/Beeman-Grains-Wad ... 221&sr=8-1

Author:  Jbanel [ Wed May 13, 2020 8:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Alloy pellets vs lead

YepYep wrote:
I started using alloy pellets at the beginning of my airgun hobby life with the expensive RWS Hyper Speed which says can increase 30% of your muzzle speed because I was shooting the low power (below 400fps, usually 300ish replicas)... Then I tried some else like the H&N green, Crosman Power Shot etc... What I found is just as you can heard the alloy pellets are not as accurate as the lead pellets...

Maybe due to many reasons like less choices on calibers, you won't find 4.48/4.49/4.51/4.52/4.53 for a best fit on your guns. Or they are harder than lead, so if your barrel 's rifling is not good / deep enough, they would probably not spinning well when leaving the muzzle, and the weights too light... Etc etc...

So far the only alloy pellet with most of good reviews is only the H&N green. I have a few tins however it looks I would never use them as I always have other lead pellets in the house....

Below is a RWS Hyper Speed from a German gun, I am not sure which one now... The pellet just had been cut by the rifling very well...

However, I do found something good, very good, on alloy pellets. As It's much harder than lead, so you got ultimate penetrating power on it than lead pellets... It won't deform even after going through multiple cans... Image

Sent from my S9 via Tapatalk


Do the grooves in the pellet in your photo suggest that they would wear down the rifling as opposed to lead?
I bought a tin of H&R Greens to try out.

Author:  Jbanel [ Wed May 13, 2020 8:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Alloy pellets vs lead

Jbanel wrote:
Daryl wrote:
I would suggest alloy pellets are a no/no for springers - hard on the spring due to the light weight - which gives increases speed as Duke noted.

Not sure why to avoid copper (wash) plating, however all alloy pellets are included in the above.

I've never shot any alloy pellets and never intend to.

I used to carry pellets in my mouth, when I was a kid & yes, I did swallow some - we all did. Maybe that's why I am the "way" I am today, however

I have 'read' that particulate lead is not harmful to us if ingested - being shot with it is, but not due to the them being lead or lead particles.

Lead fumes are bad, ie: from molten lead. I've been casting bullets, loading & shooting them since I was about 8 years old and up until 3 days ago.
I have some more casting to do this week, running out of 14 bore balls for my big rifle. I do have a 12 bore rifle, but have plenty for it.

Turning 70 this month and am in quite good health - so, if handling lead pellets is verboten to you, wear latex gloves when you shoot. They are quite inexpensive.


Thanks Daryl. I happen to have lots of boxes of rubber gloves I bought to protect the populace from my potentially tainted hands, I will give it a try. Also I will try to stay out of the way of stray lead ( I live within shooting distance of Toronto.)


I forgot to ask - what is a springer? Is that different from CO2 guns like the ones I just got: the Gamo PT85 etc.?

Author:  YepYep [ Wed May 13, 2020 9:05 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Alloy pellets vs lead

Jbanel wrote:
Do the grooves in the pellet in your photo suggest that they would wear down the rifling as opposed to lead?
I bought a tin of H&R Greens to try out.


Nope~ alloy pellets are harder than lead (lead is just such a soft metal), but still way softer than steel.

Although airgun barrels are not as tough as the powder burner barrel, but we also have much weaker power and no heat-up with powder burning in shooting... So no need to worry about the alloy pellets will wear out the rifling sooner than lead...

Of course a better, expensive airgun will have better barrel, deeper rifling, etc...

Sent from my S9 via Tapatalk

Author:  YepYep [ Wed May 13, 2020 9:13 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Alloy pellets vs lead

Jbanel wrote:
I forgot to ask - what is a springer? Is that different from CO2 guns like the ones I just got: the Gamo PT85 etc.?


You are right, just like the co2 capsule in your PT85 which is a different power plant style in your gun.

Springer is the air guns which uses spring as the power plant. You compress the spring in cocking the gun, pull the trigger to release it. And the spring pushes the seals to compress the air in the air tube to 'blow' it through the breech to push the pellet out... It's a super simple but effective design and can produce very high power too.

For a pistol, the HW45 is a very good example as a springer.

There are also other guns use compressed air as power. Like PCP (PP700SA, HW44), SSP (HW40, P17) and pumpers (ie. Crosman 1322/1377)...


Sent from my S9 via Tapatalk

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