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H & N Pellets

H & N Pellets

Since 1825 Haendler and Natermann (H&N) have been producing pellets for the airgun industry. They have a worldwide reputation for excellent quality and consistency and best of all unerring accuracy. Their range spans the needs of the target fraternity, club level shooters and serious hunters and are always well made and competitively priced.

To the maxx

The new H&N Finale Maxx pellet is a hand-sorted, packed individually, Match grade wadcutter available in .177 and light or heavy weights. They are packed in Styrofoam upper and lower trays, with individual pellet compartments that stop any damage occurring to the skirt or head. The outer plastic case has two clips to secure the lid and the container holds 200.

They were designed to compete and win the 10m ISSF shooting events and as such each batch is range tested at 10m for quality control. A total of 40 pellets are tested at 10m and have to pass the maximum diameter grouping of 7mm for all shot and with an average score of 10.7 or better. You also have a choice of head size diameter of 4.49 or 4.50mm to suit your rifle’s or pistol’s particular rifling groove diameter. Each pellet is weight sorted and there must be no more than 0.25% variation. Priced at 12.99 per 200 box, either light or heavy weight.

Spec

I had the 4.50mm size but in both Light and Heavy configurations. The Lights weigh 7.87-grains in either head sizing, whilst the Heavy versions are 8.18-grains with same sizings and both are for a minimum energy of 5.5 ft/lbs and intended for 10m use.

Me being me, I had to weigh and measure a selection to just see. The two catches on the plastic containers are not that tight and the delivered boxes had opened via the postal service, so I had to weigh most of them anyway, as the top layer were all over the place, just a cautionary note. Other than that, what utterly superbly made and finished pellets they are.

The individual packaging keeps the pellets from distorting and so the skirts are perfectly round. Lots of other makes in tins are deformed due to the weight of the other pellets on them. Also, they are incredibly clean and well finished, with zero swarf in the box as you would expect. Each one can be individually lifted out of the box via the skirt as it sticks out from the closed-ended pocket it sits in easily. Each layer has 100 pellets per tray and a side cut away allows the top tray to lift and access the second.

Averaging out

The H&N Light averaged out at 7.865-grains per 20 pellets weighed. With their typical wadcutter design with flat head they will either cut a nice circular hole on target or hit hard and release energy in a hunting situation.

The 4.50 head size was 0.1770” or 4.50mm for 20 pellets measured with a Mitutoyo micrometer. The skirt was an average of 4.65mm, whilst overall length was dead on 5.50mm and you also have a typically short head section with a welldefined waist and long tapering skirt. The skirt was very well defined and circular in form with a reasonably thin wall, so as the lower powered Match air rifles could ensure a positive and uniform expansion of this section into the lands of the rifling and aid in an accurate directional axis down the bore.

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Next were the H&N Heavy that had an average weight of 8.165-grains per 20 weighed. The 4.50 head size was again exactly 0.1770” or 4.50mm for 20 pellets measured and the skirt was an average of 4.68mm, whilst overall length had increased to 5.64mm due to the heavier weight.

Test results

I wanted to see how these pellets would perform in three differing rifles, I did not have a target pre-charged gun to hand, but I did have a superbly accurate Walther LGR pneumatic rifle, V-Mach Custom HW80 and Feinwerkbau Mod 65 Pistol.

I set up some targets at six, 10 and 20 yards as per gun requirements and used an indoor LED attachment to the Chrony chronograph to record velocities.

Walther LGR pneumatic:-

Light 533fps, 5.0 ft/lbs Heavy 545 fps, 5.5 ft/lbs Accuracy at 10 yards rested, for three x 5-shot groups was for the Maxx light at 6.01, 7.99, 6.98mm, average 6.99mm and the Maxx heavy was 8.12, 7.81 and 7.65mm for an average of 7.86mm

V-Mach custom HW80:-

Light 815 fps, 11.6 ft/lbs Heavy 804 fps, 11.7 ft/lbs Accuracy at 20 yards rested for three x 5-five shot groups was for the Maxx light 7.48, 7.73 and 9.01mm, average 8.1mm. The Maxx heavy were 9.74mm, 10.59 and 9.75mm, average 10.0mm.

Feinwerkbau MOD 65 pistol:-

Light 400 fps, 2.8 ft/lbs Heavy 388 fps, 2.7 ft/lbs Accuracy at 6 yards rested for three x 5-shot groups was for the Maxx Light 9.5mm an Maxx heavy 12.4mm

Conclusions

The Walther LGR, despite its age, shot some lovely groups and averaged five shot groups printing an impressive 6.99mm and 7.86mm for Maxx light and heavy respectively at 10 yards. With a modern pre-charge, sub 7mm would be a doddle. The V-Mach custom is a hunting springer with V-Glide internals, so is smooth as silk and I tested the groupings this time at 20 yards. I had an average of 8.1mm for the Maxx light and 10.0mm for the heavy versions, excellent for a spring gun and good velocities too. The Feinwerkbau Mod 65 pistol was a little under powered, but still managed six yard groups for the Maxx Light of 9.5mm and Maxx heavy 12.4mm with a scope fitted.

H&N never fail to amaze me with the quality of their pellets on offer and they can be relied on to make a superbly crafted product. If you are a Match shooter that requires perfection, then these new Maxx pellets in the two weight and head size diameters will certainly help you achieve high scores. For me, I use wadcutters a lot for hunting and the Maxx offerings are equally good for certain situations were ranges are short to medium.

Contact John Rothery Wholesale Ltd; 023 9224 5350, they are distributors so order from your local gunsmiths

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