Non lead pellets

[dodo bird]

I was at bass pro recently and was looking at the pellets. I know their prices aren't cheap, however I was very surprised at how much the non lead pellets cost. I have never used them. Are they most accurate? Any positives? School me if you know. I like lead because they can be saved in a pellet trap to someday melt down to make bullets.

 

[rcmodel]

I don't see the point.

They start out faster because they don't weigh nearly as much.

But they slow down faster because they don't weigh nearly as much.

It does provide a way for the manufactures to nearly reach the advertised muzzle velocity of their air-rifles advertising though!

rc

 

[Ohen Cepel]

I didn't have good luck with them and after many tries I won't buy more which are made for speed.

There are some lead free pellets which I found to work OK but they were about the same weight as the lead ones.

I had issues (more so with the alloy "fast" ones) not seating right in the air gun so they didn't fire. Not good for the gun. Also, didn't find the accuracy of the light/fast ones to be nearly as good as a std lead pellet.

Only reason I would mess with them again was if I was shooting some with young kids and didn't want the lead to worry with for a short shooting event. Otherwise, I have no use for them.

 

[ldsgeek]

Another problem with non-lead is with a spring piston or nitro piston design. Without enough weight for resistance the guns actually incurs damage. The pellet helps slow the piston down, too light a pellet allows the piston to slam into the end of the chamber.

 

[gspn]

I bet they sell a lot of them because they make a pellet gun sound like a .22 LR.

I shot one or two from a sample pack and then gave the rest away…I don't want my pellet gun to bother the whole neighborhood.

 

[mdauben]

I
It does provide a way for the manufactures to nearly reach the advertised muzzle velocity of their air-rifles advertising though!

This.

Other than inflating the effective velocity of an air gun, I see no point to them.

Stick with lead.

 

[JohnKSa]

In situations where extreme penetration is required, some of the non-lead pellets can provide a bit of an advantage since they tend to be harder and less apt to deform on impact.

Accuracy is usually not as good as with lead pellets and you have to be sure you're not tearing up your rifle if it's a spring piston/gas piston design.