Domed pellets for small game

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DougH.

DougH.

Member
Feb 12, 2018
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Virginia, United States
I know there is some skepticism out there about domed pellets at slower speeds for small game, especially for squirrel. Some swear by the Hades pellets and won’t use anything else. Nothing wrong with that. They are great pellets. This is an example of a 15.89 jsb dome pellet out of my P-Rod (602fps avg, 12.79fpe). Shot was 30 yds with a Bushnell Trophy red dot sight, heart/lung shot. I have an AGT small moderator with a custom threaded Donny adapter threaded M14x1.25 by my gunsmith. The impact smack was louder than the shot report and he was planted right there. I found the pellet lodged in the backbone. He was slightly quartering to me. Goes to show that a domed pellet is very capable with the right shot placement, even at slower speeds.

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DougH. said:
I know there is a lot of skepticism out there about domed pellets at slower speeds for small game, especially for squirrel. Some swear by the Hades pellets and won’t use anything else. Nothing wrong with that. They are great pellets. This is an example of a 15.89 jsb dome pellet out of my P-Rod (602fps avg, 12.79fpe). Shot was 30 yds with a Bushnell Trophy red dot sight, heart/lung shot. I have an AGT small moderator with a custom threaded Donny adapter threaded M14x1.25 by my gunsmith. The impact smack was louder than the shot report and he was planted right there. I found the pellet lodged in the backbone. He was slightly quartering to me. Goes to show that a domed pellet is very capable with the right shot placement, even at slower speeds.

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Killed lots of small game with domed “regular “ weight.22 & .177 pellets as the newer style pellets are new to the show. Wadcutters very accurate & acceptable for hunting as well. 1 shot kills with my prod as well w/ 14.39 gr. Pellets domed
kent
 
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I just took a Grey that was about to raid the garden with a heart and lung shot from 50y with my stock Notos with an AEA 18.1gr dome, this past weekend.

It's the very first Grey I've ever taken that just laid down. No dance, no tail twitch. Very Impressive!

I'm a fan of domes too.

*Now for the rest of the story...
I grabbed the stock Notos by mistake. I'd meant to grab the FrankenNotos. I grabbed a mag with AEA 18.1gr pellets that I doped for the FN so when I shot my first pellet, it dropped into the grass ahead of the squirrel and stopped shy of a hit.
The squirrel jumped up a few inches, looked around, shrugged it off and went back to eating.
The second pellet was the DRT.
Now you know the rest of the story.
 
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Over the years I've been pesting and hunting with airguns, I'd say a solid 80% of those have been taken with some form of domed/diabolo pellet. Usually a jsb or as of late, jts pellets.

Cphp, hades, and polymags fill up the other 20% with the occasional baracuda or baracuda hunter in there to spice things up a bit.
 
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i really cant justify all the hype about the JTS/AEA pellets.
in my type of shooting...hunting/pesting, not paper.
the Jsb rules at my sea level which is sometimes 10-14ft here on the farm.
2.2 miles from the Gulf of mexico.
i can see push-boats on the intercoastal canal from my tripod stand overlook'n our families large produce garden
that feeds us daily. lots of critters go to heaven there.... and some to the freezer🤘
 
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I often comment these days about the awesomeness of the Hades pellets. They've been my go-to since soon after they came out, mostly due to their accuracy in my guns. But I would certainly never knock the killing power of domes. I used them exclusively for years and sent hundreds of critters to their maker with domes. They get the job done, no doubt about that.

But so do BBs. Probably 90% of my lifetime bag total would come from chucking BBs out of my Pumpmaster from age 6-16. Simpler times ;)
 
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gendoc said:
could be your rifle and its characteristics.....
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Here's a funny thing with that. My krals usually love hades and jsb in 25 barrels. My new mini tac 25 HATES jsb, loves the JTS.

The last 11" 25 cal kral barrel i had loved both.

So odd how each gun and even same make and barrel size etc can have completely different tastes.
 
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Dr. Kralenstein said:
Here's a funny thing with that. My krals usually love hades and jsb in 25 barrels. My new mini tac 25 HATES jsb, loves the JTS.

The last 11" 25 cal kral barrel i had loved both.

So odd how each gun and even same make and barrel size etc can have completely different tastes.
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Only pellets I’ve had no luck with were a brown box of crosman premiers in .22. I tried em in several guns finally threw into my lead pot & made bullets out of em.🤔😁
kent
 
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Regarding the OP's initial statement about the skepticism of domed pellets I can't recall ever seeing such statements. People may say there could be other options but my reading here seems to lead to the vast majority using domed pellets quite successfully.
I've shot more squirrels, rabbits, raccoons with domed than I can count. All died quite efficiently.
I've also used slugs and Hades. They all worked.
 
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dens228 said:
Regarding the OP's initial statement about the skepticism of domed pellets I can't recall ever seeing such statements. People may say there could be other options but my reading here seems to lead to the vast majority using domed pellets quite successfully.
I've shot more squirrels, rabbits, raccoons with domed than I can count. All died quite efficiently.
I've also used slugs and Hades. They all worked.
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I have occasionally seen on forums/FB pages of posters asking what set ups other airgunners were using because they had a less than stellar recovery rate with domed pellets. And there are also posts or comments I have run across about Hades and nothing but Hades. Again, they are a great choice and are also included in my arsenal. And there are some who swear by more fpe and so on. My main purpose of this post was to emphasize shot placement. Honestly, any projectile on the market is lethal, as long as the shooter/rifle is accurate enough to result in a humane dispatch.
 
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DougH. said:
I have occasionally seen on forums/FB pages of posters asking what set ups other airgunners were using because they had a less than stellar recovery rate with domed pellets. And there are also posts or comments I have run across about Hades and nothing but Hades. Again, they are a great choice and are also included in my arsenal. And there are some who swear by more fpe and so on. My main purpose of this post was to emphasize shot placement. Honestly, any projectile on the market is lethal, as long as the shooter/rifle is accurate enough to result in a humane dispatch.
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Totally agree, and remember your range estimate, I’m pretty sure Crosman, Benjamin, etal tested domed pellets way back when.. probably before some of you were born.
kent
 
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Renman said:
Only pellets I’ve had no luck with were a brown box of crosman premiers in .22. I tried em in several guns finally threw into my lead pot & made bullets out of em.🤔😁
kent
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I got the bottom of one of those boxes a bunch of years ago and they were horrible!

I hesitated buying tins of them when I came back to airguns due to those issues.

The "new" ones are fantastic!
 
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