Whatever happened to the Predator Polymag?

[ctshooter]

When I joined up here 7-8 years ago the Predator Polymag was a big favorite for hunters/pesters. Now you don't even hear a peep about that projectile.

Is anyone still using them? Or, have they been pretty much replaced with hollow-point slugs in their application?

 

[MushroomPsyche]

If I wasn't already happy with the Hades at the relatively short distances I shoot at, I would give them a try. They are however much more expensive and I believe don't fit all magazines like a standard shape/length pellet would.

 

[Florida_Man]

Hades took a good deal of the market. They are usually a better performer, accuracy wise, to the pellet design that the polymag is

 

[ctshooter]

Very true with the Hades.

I recall folks saying they .22 Polymag (same weight as the Hades) were very accurate for them to 50yards and more.

 

[Florida_Man]

My P35 25 cal was the last rifle I tested them with, not bad, but not the best. I usually take head shots so the pests down leave my yard, so a tight group is higher priority for me.

 

[Gerry52]

Imho as airguns become more & more accurate at longer ranges the Polymags deficiency at longer distances becomes more obvious & less desirable. I really liked them as a hunting pellet when my abilities only left me comfortable staying within a 50-60 yard range. As my abilities grew and shots of 100 yards + became more commonplace the Polymags just didn't DELIVER accuracy-wise. As said above, when Hades came out everything changed for me personally. My .25 Royale shoots them more accurately than any other pellet & they're always "minute of squirrel head" in my .30 Boss too. The terminal performance is equally devastating at ALL distances as the Polymags were at their limited distance so the choice, for me, was obvious. On a side note, from day one, no matter what gun I owned at the time, Polymags would not fit in my magazines so I just clipped enough of the polymer tip off so they WOULD fit. Never affected their performance.

 

[Vetmx]

I still brag about them every chance I get. Early fall squirrel hunting in a forest is my favorite time to use them. It’s mandatory for me to have a gun in every caliber that is capable of shooting them. They are safe and way more devastating than a Hades. Hades aren’t bad but they are still a dome. Liner guns are popular and they generally don’t like Polymags.

 

[Ezana4CE]

When I joined up here 7-8 years ago the Predator Polymag was a big favorite for hunters/pesters. Now you don't even hear a peep about that projectile.

Is anyone still using them? Or, have they been pretty much replaced with hollow-point slugs in their application?

I don’t think they went anywhere. I was never a big fan of polymags or Hades. Domed diabolos have been sufficient for me.

 

[Struckat]

I have tin I bought many years ago when all I had was a crappy springer.
My guns don’t hate them, and none have liked them enough to use up the tin.

 

[Dairyboy]

I've had a few really love them. .177 BSA R10 and a Taipan Veteran Standard .25. I've had .22s that liked them also. Just hard for me to give up any accuracy over a standard diabolo. But I'd say 50yds and in they are fantastic and really pack a punch. I know lots of people love Hades but I never noticed any difference between them and regular diabolos to think they were worth it. Polymags you can really tell vs Hades in my experience.

 

[JungleShooter]

To the OP:
Sean, thank you for posing the question. I want to affirm I have seen the same, just didn't notice it. You've put the finger on it.


Frank and Dillon,
I appreciate your cheers for the Polymag.
And I agree: The Hades can't do the same damage the Polymag can do — just look at the different design.


I do agree that precision at longer ranges probably would go to the Hades, but then.... — at such long ranges the impact velocity is so low that neither Polymag nor Hades will expand their hollow point by much anyway.... So, in that case I might as well use domes that are so much better in their resistance to wind drift....


I wanted the Polymag to be my pigeon destroyer — but aside from larger holes and deader pigeons — I did not get any spectacular kills — at least not with .25cal at 994fps MV (57FPE).
Now, an AGN member is planning to visit me in Peru and is so kind to bring me a .30cal barrel in his suitcase — so, the Polymag has one more chance to prove itself as the most destructive pellet in the airgun arsenal.
We'll see.... — the local feral pigeon is a tough son of a bird!


Matthias

 

[PumaCarl]

Southern Gunner's videos used to feature these pellets a lot! No doubt, under 50y, and you don't want/ can't have pass through, these would rock. I have never had that exact need so I have passed on them, but if I was ever going to take a shot in a barn I would definitely use these or something like them. Fixing roofs really sucks!

 

[dgeesaman]

Some years ago when I had a groundhog population to maintain on my horse farm (pop.: 0) I was a fan of Predator Metalmags. Polymags were a reasonably good substitute. Domed head pellets were nowhere near as good on groundhogs in my experience.

Ultimately I found that it was better to humane trap them and ‘prepare’ them for the manure pile from up close using a 22LR or high power airgun pellet of any type. Fresh carrot shavings worked very very well as bait.

 

[Vetmx]

To the OP:
Sean, thank you for posing the question. I want to affirm I have seen the same, just didn't notice it. You've put the finger on it.


Frank and Dillon,
I appreciate your cheers for the Polymag.
And I agree: The Hades can't do the same damage the Polymag can do — just look at the different design.


I do agree that precision at longer ranges probably would go to the Hades, but then.... — at such long ranges the impact velocity is so low that neither Polymag nor Hades will expand their hollow point by much anyway.... So, in that case I might as well use domes that are so much better in their resistance to wind drift....


I wanted the Polymag to be my pigeon destroyer — but aside from larger holes and deader pigeons — I did not get any spectacular kills — at least not with .25cal at 994fps MV (57FPE).
Now, an AGN member is so planning to visit me in Peru and is so kind to bring a .30cal barrel in his suitcase — so, the Polymag has one more chance to prove itself as the most destructive pellet in the airgun arsenal. We'll see.... — the local feral pigeon is a tough sons of a bird!

Matthias

If he’s bringing a .30 LW for a RTI, you should be in business. I just checked my notes and I didn’t write down the speed but I did have the reg set close to 115b. That’s with a P2. So that means the speed was 900 ish FPS. Squirrels fell, chipmunks exploded.

 

[rangur1]

Polymags definitely have their place, high damage with low penetration which has its ideal applications. To me, polymags for 40 yards and less, hades 10-80 yards, slugs past 50 yards. But opinions vary, lol!

 

[JungleShooter]

If he’s bringing a .30 LW for a RTI, you should be in business. I just checked my notes and I didn’t write down the speed but I did have the reg set close to 115b. That’s with a P2. So that means the speed was 900 ish FPS. Squirrels fell, chipmunks exploded.

Nice of you to remember, Frank!
And nice of you to check for me!

Yupp, LW for RTI P2.
115bar for 900-ish — there is even room for more with that reg....

I still might need to get a longer shroud as mine is a compact.


The "exploding" chipmunk is what I'm after. But as the regional fauna in my neck of the tropical desert is different than in the U of A ➠ Let's see if the pigeons can outdo them chipmunks.

After all, it IS a competition:
All to see which animal species the Polymag sends to Hades in a more spectacular way.

Matthias

 

[Gerry52]

Southern Gunner's videos used to feature these pellets a lot! No doubt, under 50y, and you don't want/ can't have pass through, these would rock. I have never had that exact need so I have passed on them, but if I was ever going to take a shot in a barn I would definitely use these or something like them. Fixing roofs really sucks!

Southern Gunner is the one I got the "clip the tip" on Polymags helpful hint from years ago. Miss his videos & info.

 

[Vetmx]

I clip the tip of all Polymags except for my Taipan. The pellet doesn’t care. Been clipping them for many many years.

 

[Vetmx]

What’s interesting about a Poly is some of my guns will easily let me go well beyond 50 yards. But if a gun won’t let me shoot nickels at 50, I won’t use them. Another thing is they hate wind. A pellet doesn’t like wind but you can deal with it. A Poly is a little worse.

I have a M3 .25. It’s one of my primary squirrel guns. Last year I hunted squirrel using H&N hollow points. It just didn’t do the job that my other .25 did with Polys. So I built a LW barrel for the M3 and focused on making the barrel shoot a Poly and a slug. I did it and I can’t wait for fall. I will start off with Polys and as the season wears on and the pursuit of larger animals at longer distances starts to happen, I’ll switch to slugs.

@JungleShooter, I would post a Poly chipmunk pic but I don’t want to offend any unsuspecting victim in this topic.