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videos >Lead Free Pellet round -up
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- Last updated: 22/12/2016
Comments
There are varying degrees of pressure being applied to shooters all over the world to abandon lead-based ammunition. Depending on your discipline, this may or may not be feasible, either now or in the future. However, some manufacturers are investing time, effort and resources in order to produce lead-free alternatives, so I thought I’d try a few pellets that are applicable to both Field Target and Hunter Field Target (FT & HFT) use and see what kind of results I get, compared to the more usual fare.
There are two things that strike me immediately about lead-free /green pellets, first is the price, which can be up to twice that of the traditional product and the second is the weight, or lack thereof. I predict that both of these facts are major factors in why it is currently rare to find anyone using this sort of projectile. That said, there must be a market and people must be buying them, otherwise manufacturers would not make them and distributors would not stock them.
When choosing pellets to test, I decided to try and get the closest equivalents to lead products that are already used, or at least applicable to FT and HFT. That ended up being a pretty short list and getting hold of them looked like it was going to be difficult, as most of the mail order suppliers had some, but not all of the pellets I had chosen. In the end a local dealer came to the rescue. H&N Field Target Trophy green, Baracuda Match green and Excite Dynamic, RWS Hyperdomes and SMK Thunder Bolt.
The FTT and Barracuda Match have direct equivalents available in lead, the Hyperdomes are very similar to Superdomes and the last two are both a similar design to H&N Snipers.
For a start, not as many pellets as would usually greet the eye, with one exception. The tins contain respectively. H&N FTT - 300, Baracuda - 200 Excite - 300, Hyperdomes - 200, Thunder Bolt – 500.
All the pellets are bright silver and are clearly not made of lead; they are also all much lighter than their lead equivalents. FTT - 5.56-grains, Baracuda - 6.5, Excite 8, Hyperdomes 5.5 and Thunder Bolt 5.
Looking at the individual pellets, they are all well made with sharp clean edges and good uniformity pellet-to-pellet. Some brands were brighter than others and when I opened the tin, it was apparent that the Excites were more akin to Sniper Magnums than Mediums, which was my mistake but what the heck I have them here, so let’s give ‘em a go.
I am using two rifles for the test, both .177; my RAW TM1000 and BSA Gold Star SE. The reason for this choice is because they are both unfussy about what I put through them, producing good accuracy with a wide range of pellets. So, time to chrono. I will fire a 5-shot string of control lead pellets through both rifles to get a baseline.
Later I will use them to set an accuracy baseline. Some surprising results were gained in the initial chrono testing. Obviously the light weight of most of the pellets has a bearing on both velocity and energy, but the fact that they all struggled to reach 11 ft/lbs had me a little worried about their ability to not reach the target but to knock it down once it got there.
I have used in the past have performed poorly, but the new generation designs were remarkably good with both rifles. The BSA really didn’t seem to mind what it used, they were a little left of my usual zero but I was able to put 5 to 6mm groups together using a 10 mag scope. The TM1000 was a little fussier, some of the Thunder Bolts were a little tight and these did not group well, however with those that fitted the barrel well I was able to place pellet on pellet. The TM also liked the Excites a lot and I managed to put 5-shots through the same hole, exactly as I would expect to do with lead pellets
Proper accuracy testing was done at regular ranges between 25 and 55 yards with the baseline set using lead pellets and with strings of five shots taken from the FT sitting position (sorry UKHFTA). The groups were shot at the same time of day, over three days (August 16th, 17th and 18th) in the same location and in almost identical conditions.
As a final test, I took the TM1000 and the H&N Baracuda green’s to my FT club, and on a breezy afternoon I managed to drop a tricky 50 yard target five times out of five, not only proving consistent accuracy, but also that the H&N’s actually have the power to do the job at that range!
Let’s start out being fair here; it is early days in the world of quality lead-free pellets. Several manufacturers added the caveat that their pellets are suitable for up to 30m/27 yards, so expecting them to perform beyond that is a bit of an ask, but if you don’t try you won’t know!
I will let the figures speak for themselves, but almost universally the lead-free pellets perform just as well as their traditional counterparts at close range. Out to around 35 yards some of them can hold their own, BUT, most of them are easily taken off track by the wind, and not very much wind can make what looked to be a good group into a disaster in the time it takes to reload the rifle.
The obvious winner was the H&N Baracuda green, as they were the only pellets that held a reliable group beyond 45 yards. This was an interesting exercise, but for now I would say that pellet weight, or lack of it and the price will restrict the use of these pellets to those that are compelled to by legislation and those who control vermin at close ranges in environments where lead is unacceptable.
My thanks to Damian at Pull the Trigger in Plymouth, as he was able to supply all but one tin of pellets from stock: www.pullthetrigger.co.uk Tel: 01752 257384
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Comments
There are varying degrees of pressure being applied to shooters all over the world to abandon lead-based ammunition. Depending on your discipline, this may or may not be feasible, either now or in the future. However, some manufacturers are investing time, effort and resources in order to produce lead-free alternatives, so I thought I’d try a few pellets that are applicable to both Field Target and Hunter Field Target (FT & HFT) use and see what kind of results I get, compared to the more usual fare.
There are two things that strike me immediately about lead-free /green pellets, first is the price, which can be up to twice that of the traditional product and the second is the weight, or lack thereof. I predict that both of these facts are major factors in why it is currently rare to find anyone using this sort of projectile. That said, there must be a market and people must be buying them, otherwise manufacturers would not make them and distributors would not stock them.
When choosing pellets to test, I decided to try and get the closest equivalents to lead products that are already used, or at least applicable to FT and HFT. That ended up being a pretty short list and getting hold of them looked like it was going to be difficult, as most of the mail order suppliers had some, but not all of the pellets I had chosen. In the end a local dealer came to the rescue. H&N Field Target Trophy green, Baracuda Match green and Excite Dynamic, RWS Hyperdomes and SMK Thunder Bolt.
The FTT and Barracuda Match have direct equivalents available in lead, the Hyperdomes are very similar to Superdomes and the last two are both a similar design to H&N Snipers.
For a start, not as many pellets as would usually greet the eye, with one exception. The tins contain respectively. H&N FTT - 300, Baracuda - 200 Excite - 300, Hyperdomes - 200, Thunder Bolt – 500.
All the pellets are bright silver and are clearly not made of lead; they are also all much lighter than their lead equivalents. FTT - 5.56-grains, Baracuda - 6.5, Excite 8, Hyperdomes 5.5 and Thunder Bolt 5.
Looking at the individual pellets, they are all well made with sharp clean edges and good uniformity pellet-to-pellet. Some brands were brighter than others and when I opened the tin, it was apparent that the Excites were more akin to Sniper Magnums than Mediums, which was my mistake but what the heck I have them here, so let’s give ‘em a go.
I am using two rifles for the test, both .177; my RAW TM1000 and BSA Gold Star SE. The reason for this choice is because they are both unfussy about what I put through them, producing good accuracy with a wide range of pellets. So, time to chrono. I will fire a 5-shot string of control lead pellets through both rifles to get a baseline.
Later I will use them to set an accuracy baseline. Some surprising results were gained in the initial chrono testing. Obviously the light weight of most of the pellets has a bearing on both velocity and energy, but the fact that they all struggled to reach 11 ft/lbs had me a little worried about their ability to not reach the target but to knock it down once it got there.
I have used in the past have performed poorly, but the new generation designs were remarkably good with both rifles. The BSA really didn’t seem to mind what it used, they were a little left of my usual zero but I was able to put 5 to 6mm groups together using a 10 mag scope. The TM1000 was a little fussier, some of the Thunder Bolts were a little tight and these did not group well, however with those that fitted the barrel well I was able to place pellet on pellet. The TM also liked the Excites a lot and I managed to put 5-shots through the same hole, exactly as I would expect to do with lead pellets
Proper accuracy testing was done at regular ranges between 25 and 55 yards with the baseline set using lead pellets and with strings of five shots taken from the FT sitting position (sorry UKHFTA). The groups were shot at the same time of day, over three days (August 16th, 17th and 18th) in the same location and in almost identical conditions.
As a final test, I took the TM1000 and the H&N Baracuda green’s to my FT club, and on a breezy afternoon I managed to drop a tricky 50 yard target five times out of five, not only proving consistent accuracy, but also that the H&N’s actually have the power to do the job at that range!
Let’s start out being fair here; it is early days in the world of quality lead-free pellets. Several manufacturers added the caveat that their pellets are suitable for up to 30m/27 yards, so expecting them to perform beyond that is a bit of an ask, but if you don’t try you won’t know!
I will let the figures speak for themselves, but almost universally the lead-free pellets perform just as well as their traditional counterparts at close range. Out to around 35 yards some of them can hold their own, BUT, most of them are easily taken off track by the wind, and not very much wind can make what looked to be a good group into a disaster in the time it takes to reload the rifle.
The obvious winner was the H&N Baracuda green, as they were the only pellets that held a reliable group beyond 45 yards. This was an interesting exercise, but for now I would say that pellet weight, or lack of it and the price will restrict the use of these pellets to those that are compelled to by legislation and those who control vermin at close ranges in environments where lead is unacceptable.
My thanks to Damian at Pull the Trigger in Plymouth, as he was able to supply all but one tin of pellets from stock: www.pullthetrigger.co.uk Tel: 01752 257384
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