Do/can copper pellets damage the rifling on barrels?

No

but how do you know those are what it will shoot the best?

Don't have the Excite Copper but I do have a tin of the H&N FTT Power copper coated. Copper is softer than your steel barrel so No, they won't hurt it. They're also only copper coated, not full copper pellets and I even sliced one in half. Pics of tin and sliced pellet are below. At least the rifles I tested mine in, the copper coating made no real difference in either fps or accuracy vs the standard FTT's and they ended up, again at least in my few .177's, not being the most accurate pellet in mine.
Might help fellow members if you explained why you want the copper coated vs just the lead version.

SteveP-52 said:

Don't have the Excite Copper but I do have a tin of the H&N FTT Power copper coated. Copper is softer than your steel barrel so No, they won't hurt it. They're also only copper coated, not full copper pellets and I even sliced one in half. Pics of tin and sliced pellet are below. At least the rifles I tested mine in, the copper coating made no real difference in either fps or accuracy vs the standard FTT's and they ended up, again at least in my few .177's, not being the most accurate pellet in mine.
Might help fellow members if you explained why you want the copper coated vs just the lead version.
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Is it a true plating or a "wash" of copper like on some 22LR ammo?

@badger5th Don't honestly know, sir. My father has a .22LR, but I haven't shot it or PB's in more years than I can count. I got back into airguns 7 years ago when I needed something quiet to remove a raccoon wandering in the yard during the day.

SteveP-52 said:

@badger5th Don't honestly know, sir. My father has a .22LR, but I haven't shot it or PB's in more years than I can count. I got back into airguns 7 years ago when I needed something quiet to remove a raccoon wandering in the yard during the day.

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That's fine. I think the way they plate the PB bullets is electroplating. I know if you dip a polished iron nail in copper sulfate solution it will come out with a copper plate that looks the same as that on a 22LR round. The copper on the pellets looks like a higher polish however.. Regards.

The Lords Hand said:

They both are copper coated. Ill mainly be shooting at 35'-50'. Plinking more than target. The main reason is that i shoot many times daily and dont want to be constantly washing my hands. Also i dont want lead all over. At my current range all my guns shoot both well. I just wanted to make sure that i wouldnt be damaging such a nice rifle.

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I wonder how much lead is on the outside of those copper coated pellets. An easy way to find out would be with a lead paint testing kit.

I too get tired of cleaning my hands and worse, forgetting that my fingers are covered in lead and touching all kinds of stuff like my phone, door knobs....FOOD...etc. My friends dad got lead poisoning that put him in the hospital from casting fishing sinkers on his lunch hour at work. I am guessing he was a bit more careless than some folks. The doctor had no idea what was wrong with him but he as very sick. The doc told him to write down a detailed list of what he did during the day each week, and as soon as he read the words LEAD sinkers and LUNCH in the same sentence, he knew what it was. Fortunately they fixed him up and he was fine after.

Powder coating might be just the ticket for what you want to accomplish. You could find a pellet that shoots well in the gun, then powder coat them and see if they still shoot the same, better or possibly worse.

This quote is from ZAN here in AGN in reference to his testing with powder coating on slugs, which might not port over to pellets since there is very little contact with a pellet on the bore: "We made many tests, but there is only potential to make them worse, then they are original."

I haven't shot powder coated ammo in my airguns but have in an old Webley revolver with no lube on the bullets at well under 800 fps, and the lead fouling is reduced to almost nothing. Very easy to do with minimal tools. I use a toaster oven from the thrift store that I got for $5. Just search the web for powder coating bullets. There are several threads here on AGN as well.

I just ordered some 21gr pellets for my .22 first time to try that weight, and saw these H&N Baracuda Power - copper coated pellets.
Strelok says 0.044 BC, that is pretty much higher then anything in .22 I have seen so far, other then MRD's (0.053 BC) but those full body pellets my liners don't like at all.
ETA probably early next week, we getting a long weekend now.
These all 21grainers will be tested with Leshiy2 .22 FX 600mm liners, 60-100 meters shooting rings.
I will be back with that copper coating.

I agree with the input that copper coated pellets will not damage your barrel. My Prod really likes the H&N FTTs that are copper coated. Doesn't much care for the uncoated FTTs. So I shoot the copper coated ones unless I decide to be cheap and shoot up a tin of Crosman domed or HP. The Crosmans don't shoot as small a group but they work OK. I thought my P35-177 liked the copper coated Baracuda Power pellets but then I noticed they are .450 head diameter and the Baracuda Match it did not like were .452. So I bought a tin of the .450 Baracuda Match and they shoot great a little better than the Power ones. But Crosman 10.5s shoot very very similarly - and are cheaper. So now I have a few tins of all three types but may just standardize on the Crosmans.

If you gun likes the copper coated or at least tolerates them well and you want to use them to keep your hands cleaner I see no problem with using them. My big criteria is accuracy, then I want to see adequate penetration, and then I look at cost. Lead toxicity is not one of my criteria but if it is important to you I would much rather shoot copper coated lead than I would tin.