Kind of a ‘lead surprise’…

[Ex.Magnum]

Borrowed these photos from a post on one of the Dutch airgun fora.

Luchtbuks.net - Hét forum en informatiebron voor luchtschietend Nederland

Libs Analyse Van Legering O.a. H&n, Jsb (Slug En Pellet):

www.luchtbuks.net

In a post from a guy (together with some other shooting expert) having examined the exact compostion of both JSB and H&N pellets and slugs.

At least one big surprise for me. And i guess for some other amongst you too.
Everyone knows JSB to be of the ‘softest lead’ around. Even softer than H&N pellets. Figures confirming this much.

JSB Exact 99,89 % lead, 0,1 % antimony and 0,01% tin.
HN Baracuda 99,8 % lood, 0,2 % antimony.


However….
Imagine my surprise... at seeing the analysis of H&N slugs…
In the past often asked myself “do (commercially manufactured) 100% lead slugs exist ?”
The answer is ‘YES’. And it s not JSB slugs.
But the H&N slugs which indeed appear to be the softest of them all, with one 100% pure lead.

Who d ever thought that when compared to the already soft lead JSB slugs, the H&N slugs are the “softer ones” ?

JSB Knockout 99,91 % lead, 0,09 % antimony.
H&N Slug HP 100 % lead


----------
Pb = Lead.
Sn = Tin.
Sb = Antimony
----------

Here ’s the tool used : Hitachi Vulcan Expert+

New Hitachi Vulcan Expert+ Handheld LIBS analyzers - SALE !!

Ready Stock New Hitachi Vulcan Expert+ Handheld LIBS analyzers , Original and Warranty , Best Price , Visit our store now .

www.nusahendheld3d.com

Hitachi Vulcan Smart Handheld LIBS LASER Analyzer | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Hitachi Vulcan Smart Handheld LIBS LASER Analyzer at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

 

[JungleShooter]

Now THIS is extremely helpful information —
far beyond our opinions and (somewhat) educated guesses that fill our threads!!

Thank you!!

Matthias

 

[Revoman]

Not much difference between the pellet lead content, so really, not much harder. Really, the same goes for the slugs, but it is surprising that the H&N's are softer.
Thanks for the interesting information.
mike

 

[N2 Shooter]

The reason we want softer lead is because we want better expansion. Expansion is not only dependent on the material used, but it's also very dependent on ammo design. I bet the FX Hybrid Slugs are probably even harder than the JSB Knockouts, but I believe the Hybrids will beat the Knockouts in the expansion department.

 

[Ex.Magnum]

Expansion is not only dependent on the material used, but it's also very dependent on ammo design.

Indeed very rightly pointed out, estarkey7 .

Both

1. very slight changes in bullet head design can make enormous differences in outcome as to impact and expansion;
2. very sligth changes in lead composition will also always have enormous consequences, both in terms of 'barrel acceptance', as to degree of expansion.

Even the slightest differences in lead composition, can result in massive behaviour changes of the slug, both during its trajectory through the barrel as well as at impact.
Even the slightest change in slug design, will also result in massive behaviour changes of the slug at impact.

The 2 above combined in the most optimal way, make for 'super expanding' airgun heavy slug ammo.

That's but a common and well-known fact getting regular confirmation through shooting tests and trials of various kinds;
for instance only recently very emphatically reaffirmed by Airgun Hunter Gerhard, shooting newly designed H&N heavy slugs for hunting purposes.
Since i m not a hunter myself, I won t be using those slugs. But hunters will no doubt see the benefits.

@everyone
Since I 'm rather quite fond of broader information than merely coming from yt, I d be very much interested to hear about any of your hunting results with those heavy soft lead slugs.

This below screenshot perfectly illustrates that also a specific design contributes heavily to reaching maximum slug expansion.

In the above example :

• the new expansion+ induced design (with the red dot)

compared to

• the classic H&N slug design (without red dot)

In both cases H&N slugs, thus 100% lead.
Which in fact clearly confirms estarkey7 ’s point.

 

[N2 Shooter]

I've shared this photo a number of times already, but the results are so fantastic, I'm gonna share it again!

Here is the .30 cal FX Hybrid Slug on the left, a .30 cal FX Hybrid Slug recovered after a full passthrough on a groundhog 66 yards away, and a .357 FX Hybrid Slug for size comparison. The Hybrid Slug was traveling 930 fps at the muzzle, and still had absolutely devastating performance on game. The video of the shot is here.

 

[JCup]

Borrowed these photos from a post on one of the Dutch airgun fora.

Luchtbuks.net - Hét forum en informatiebron voor luchtschietend Nederland

Libs Analyse Van Legering O.a. H&n, Jsb (Slug En Pellet):

www.luchtbuks.net

In a post from a guy (together with some other shooting expert) having examined the exact compostion of both JSB and H&N pellets and slugs.

View attachment 290556

At least one big surprise for me. And i guess for some other amongst you too.
Everyone knows JSB to be of the ‘softest lead’ around. Even softer than H&N pellets. Figures confirming this much.

View attachment 290557
JSB Exact 99,89 % lead, 0,1 % antimony and 0,01% tin.
HN Baracuda 99,8 % lood, 0,2 % antimony.


However….
Imagine my surprise... at seeing the analysis of H&N slugs…
In the past often asked myself “do (commercially manufactured) 100% lead slugs exist ?”
The answer is ‘YES’. And it s not JSB slugs.
But the H&N slugs which indeed appear to be the softest of them all, with one 100% pure lead.

View attachment 290558

Who d ever thought that when compared to the already soft lead JSB slugs, the H&N slugs are the “softer ones” ?

View attachment 290559
JSB Knockout 99,91 % lead, 0,09 % antimony.
H&N Slug HP 100 % lead


----------
Pb = Lead.
Sn = Tin.
Sb = Antimony
----------

Here ’s the tool used : Hitachi Vulcan Expert+

View attachment 290560

New Hitachi Vulcan Expert+ Handheld LIBS analyzers - SALE !!

Ready Stock New Hitachi Vulcan Expert+ Handheld LIBS analyzers , Original and Warranty , Best Price , Visit our store now .

www.nusahendheld3d.com

Hitachi Vulcan Smart Handheld LIBS LASER Analyzer | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Hitachi Vulcan Smart Handheld LIBS LASER Analyzer at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

That is interesting. The method of analysis was a handheld XRF (X-ray fluorescence) instrument.

Last year, I took three new tins of pellets, removed the requested sample weight, and sent them to an accredited lab in Pennsylvania for metallurgical analysis. I maintain that if you want "exact composition" the results of this testing (at least on the samples submitted) are a lot closer than a handheld XRF - more or less a quick way to get a pretty good analysis.

In my career, I regularly had analysis of solder pots submitted to find the alloy and contaminant levels, which changed in usage due to the solder becoming contaminated with dissolved metals from the material being soldered. We would add tin, and at periods the entire solder bath would be recycled and replaced with fresh solder bars from our metal suppliers.

Crosman Premier HP 5.5, H&N Barracuda 18 5.52, and JSB Jumbo Heavy 18.13 5.5 were the specific brands/type, taken from new, unopened tins. This testing was done with a much more accurate method - optical emission spectroscopy. The results are in weight percent, and the attachments show full detail. Trace amounts are not included in the following summary:

Crosman pellets were 98.71 lead, 1.26 antimony, bismuth 0.01
H&N were 99.56 lead, antimony 0.38, bismuth 0.04
JSB were 99.75 lead, antimony 0.20, silver 0.02, bismuth 0.01

All of them appear to start with high purity lead with additions of antimony. The Sb is added to improve machinability in swaging. I think it's notable that only the Crosman had antimony above the solid solubility limit, they are probably somewhat harder. IMHO, the addition of Sb above the solid solubility limit (0.04% w/w) is not desirable.

The attachments are clips from the lab reports dated 05/24/2021

“It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.” Arthur Conan Doyle

View attachment CPHP_analysis.pdf

View attachment H&N pellet analysis.pdf

View attachment JSB pellet analysis.pdf

 

[qball]

@Ex.Magnum: can you please check metal content of NSA slugs? Thank you

 

[EdinGa]

Nice write up and thank you for making the effort. I've always maintained that Crosman pellets were too hard for my tastes.