Devestating.

“Devestating.”

Written on: 22/04/2012 by Kimm742 (56 reviews written)

Thought I'd give these a try after one of my friends (does a lot of hunting) recommended them.
First comment- when you open the tin you haven't been swindled, Crosman use the same tin for .22 and .177. This means there's a fair bit of emptiness with the .177s. This then gives the potential for pellet damage as they rattle around in the tin, but having said that I haven't found any.
They are quite short chunky pellets, with a hollow nose from which protrudes a "spike". Clearly designed to penetrate then expand, but unlike Predator Polymags the spike is less pronounced and integral, and the whole pellet is lead.

So what are they like?
Cost: fairly "everyday"
Appearance: very uniform, well made and consistent.
Accuracy: 1/2 inch groups at 25 yards without having to try that hard.
Penetration/expansion:
Here's where it goes into a different league, and it's all down to hydrostatic shock.
Drop a pebble into a pond and you get ripples, because the water is being displaced by the pebble and it has nowhere to go but sideways.
Living tissue is largely similar, containing a lot of water. And when a projectile hits, the ripples spread outward through the liquid- carrying tissue with great force.

I didn't have the chance to test these on quarry, so I went back to my favourite substitutes- fruit and veg.
On a tangerine, the skin split wide open at the back and the insides puffed out in a fine mist, essentially leaving an empty shell of peel. On a raw potato, results were even more spectacular: at 15 yards, i would normally get a neat entry hole and a larger exit hole. With the destroyers, the potato exploded into fragments. At 25 yards not so explosive, but still a much bigger exit hole and a visibly- bigger wound channel (permanent cavity).

There is no doubt that these pellets are hugely destructive, and I can't wait to introduce them to Messrs Rabbit, Crow and Magpie just as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

A big thumbs-up.