Thursday 2 April 2009

Hollowpoint Ammo - a big hit?

Hollowpoint airgun ammo - is there any, er..., 'point' to it? Well, that's the question I begged in a recent test session I undertook on behalf of Air Gunner magazine - and my answer's now a resounding 'yes'!

Specifically, I was testing out the .22 calibre version of RWS's Super-H-Point. It's a 14.4 grain hollow-nose version of their Superpoint pellet (only with its nose sliced off and a hole bored into it).

I've assumed hollowpoints are a bit limited in range due to their un-aerodynamic shape - but my test proved quite the contrary. Broadly speaking, they moved only a tad more in the wind by comparison with my usual roundhead brand - but that was probably because the SHP's are much longer (and over a grain lighter).

They had identical trajectories and grouped very well - in a moderate wind - right out to 40 metres. What's more, at this distance they retained over 50 per cent of their muzzle energy.

Impact tests proved their hollow-nosed design did make them 'mushroom' on impact - so with excellent accuracy and good energy retention, the Super-H-Points are certainly a fine all-round field pellet that needn't be confined to close-range ratting work and the like.
Read my much more detailed review in June's Air Gunner magazine, on sale from the first Thursday of May.

2 comments:

  1. Great review! For .177 cal. I'd recommend Crosman Hollowpoint 7,5 grains pellet. It has great accuracy and on impact it deals a lot of damage. There's also some hints using it - to reach high accuracy you need to use it on high speed, like 1000-1050 FPS.
    Regards.

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  2. These seem to "mushroom" and expand pretty reliably for me on actual quarry and also in several ballstic gelatin tests I've run. Not all pellets that are sold as expanding hollowpoints actually expand in soft tissue at modest velocities--and these certainly have for me. So long as they are accurate in your rifle, as these are in almost all of mine, I recommend giving them a try.

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