Air rifle darts

[Rogelio]

Hi: I have been getting really interested in regaining my air rifle hunting (mostly pigeons at 10-15 yards) with my ol' trusty unknown maker that shoots about 180 m/s...I almost always used pointed pellets, but now I see this options on the market so...Which do you guys think is best for pigeons and noisy cats (same range)


http://www.armaq.com/images/mark1110.JPG

http://www.armaq.com/images/mark1130.JPG

http://www.armaq.com/images/nor45125.JPG

The last ones look really cool with the plastic skirt...does it make any improvements to the lethality??

Also, I was planning to shoot GAMO HUNTER pellets....

Does any one of you have any info on what pellet to use on what game??Are those darts and bolts good? (they are actually expensive!! USD 12.99!!!)

Thanks everyone

 

[GM7RQK]

Hi
The plastic skirt is to seal the pellet to the barrel, needed as these pellets (called prometeus over here) are steel not lead, have a few here and have used them now and again (not too often cause as you say they are not cheap) and they do have better penetration than lead pellets.

No experiance I'm afraid of the first two types.

Hope this helps

Stephen.

 

[AJ Dual]

The darts and bolts from Marksman are rather useless. They're really just toys for low velocity indoor shooting into a cork dartboard.

They were normally packaged with a Marksman air pistol that usually sold as a set with a dartboard for only $12-20 USD. I'd barely call it an airgun, more almost a toy. (I guess it's now more like $25-30, inflation)

http://gideongunsales.com/Marksmn1300DBkit.JPG

If you're still interested in the darts, here's a place that still sells the set, and extra darts for much cheaper, although I don't know how expensive shipping to South America would be.

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/pentagondefense/marshootdark.html

The gun is a very cheap zinc-potmetal pneumatic that looked somewhat like a 1911 and the "slide" would be retracted to cock it. The dart, a pellet, or bb's could be loaded into a very cheap tip-up plastic barrel block at the very front of the gun. Even a cheap $25 Airsoft pistol would be much better made IMO.

The last picture of the three you posted look the best for hunting. But your GAMO hunter pellets should be fine.

180m/s is about what, 550 fps? At about 10-5 yards that sounds about right for vermin with pointed lead pellets..

 

[cordex]

Heh ... I found some plated hollow point pellets. Need to try taking them hunting sometime.

Edit:
To answer your question ...
Andrew is right. Those little darts and bolts are toys. Fun toys, maybe, but toys. Fired out of an airgun of any real power, the bolts will break up on impact and the darts won't last too long either. Especially if you hit a tree or something.

 

[Rogelio]

Thanks for all the imput you guys!

GM7RQK, they are also called prometeus down here...I think I will get a box of them just to try....I am really looking forward to try this test

http://pyramydair.com/site/articles/pellets-vs-round-balls/

with my GAMO HUNTER, the crosmann pointed, and those expensive prometeus pellets...which one will win??

P.S: Now the thing is that down here a Neutrogena bar is around USD 12.50, so if any of you guys does the trick, I will be glad to look at your results!

 

[P95Carry]

Been out half the day so late to this thread!

Well - I think you have most answers here but I'll add my own thoughts.

Darts and bolts? Yeah - ''toys'' and certainly not for serious shooting or vermin control. The ones I used to see and use (as a kid) I only used in a smoothbore pistol ... they were steel too and i wouldn't want to marr rifling with em. Forget those!

Those Promethius pellets . I tried them long ago .. ''seemed like a good idea'' ........ but to be honest they were disappointing . accuracy was poor for me and that was in a gun capable of over 700 fps ...... my current ''hot'' one does 950 and will only really perform with something like a good domed pellet .... tho gotta say - I am gonna HAVE to experiment with ball now!!!

When I used Silver Jet or my ''Hustlers'' in a .22 . they were very good killers .. did much ''ratting'' ..... and a good hit left no result other than total termination! haven't tried .177 versions of those.

 

[timbo]

I have some of those exact bolts that I would shoot out of my old air pistol. They would break on impact on a dartboard from the pistol that was marketed as shooting at 200 fps. The accuracy was crummy for me, but I attribute that to the short smoothbore barrel of my pistol. These bolts would be in a group all over a standard dart board at about 15 feet. Maybe accuracy will change from a longer rifled barrel, but I don't see them surviving past the first shot at higher speeds.

I don't have any experience with the others there.

 

[444]

I was kind of surprised that they didn't get any expansion in the bar of soap. Maybe the soap was too hard for the thin pellet to move it ? I would have expected the pellet to flatten out or possibly even come apart when it hit anything substantial (anything other than air).
It also surprised me that they didn't get more penetration, but I guess that is more than enough penetration than it takes to shoot clear through a small to medium sized bird. And the bird probably wouldn't slow the pellet down as much as the soap.
When I was a kid, we used to have a problem killing pigeons with a Benjamin pellet rifle in .22 caliber. We assumed that the pellet lacked sufficent penetration, so we dripped candle wax in the base of the pellets to give them more weight. For some reason these modified pellets always dropped them right now. Looking back on it, I would say we were probably drilling a hole straight through the pigeon with the regular pellets. We almost always used Benjamin pellets that came in a tin with a screw on lid that was green in color. We killed enough chipmunks and birds to sink a battleship with that rifle. We actually shot that rifle until it was ruined. We didn't abuse it, ever, but the finish was all off of the metal and the stock broke at the wrist after carrying it and shooting it about 300 days a year for like five years.
I currently have a couple Beeman pellet guns that seem to perform great on animals. I had a jack rabbit out if the road in front of my house that had been hit by a car and it's back leg was broken. I walked out with my Beeman P1 pistol and dropped it in it's tracks with one shot. I would have never thought that was possible. I think I was using Beeman Silver Crow Magnum pellets.
I had my cousin shoot me in the back of the hand with one of those Marksman pistols and a dart when I was a kid. I pretended that it didn't bother me at all. Maintained a poker face. Then when it was my turn I shot him in the stomach with one.