Zan .30 lead free pellets quick review

[weevil]

I’ve been looking for a lighter .30 pellet to quell the bark from my sidewinder mini. I was therefore excited to try the new Zan lead free option which is 37 grains. To be clear, I’d be very happy to use a lighter lead pellet but there simply aren’t any available. So let’s not have this devolve into politics - it’s simply a review of a lightweight .30 option, in case you want to shoot .30 more quietly or out of something that lacks the juice for 45 grain pellets. For example, a 350mm Leshiy Classic .30, which can only manage 780fps with 45 grains. I might try that later…

Anyway, regarding the mini Sidewinder, these pellets sucked. I expected them to be good because GTOs work very well in Hubens, which are a similar (shoot from mag into barrel) platform. However, I was getting 2-3 inch groups at 50y at around 875fps, compared to 1/2in with JSB 44.75. The SW and these pellets just don’t get along.

Having paid a princely sum for these Zan .30, I decided to give them a shot in my Wildcat BT, so I popped on the .30 shorty barrel last night (500mm - standard STX liner). At 120bar, they hit the knee at 875fps and were shooting very well. I then dropped the reg to shoot them at 835, because I don’t need that much juice and would appreciate having a compact and quiet .30. Considering that it’s putting out 58fpe, this is indeed a very quiet, stealthy rig, with only a small 0dB mod.

Unlike with the Sidewinder, these lead free Zans are shooting just as well, if not better, than the JSBs out of this wildcat. Here’s 8 shots at 50 yards:

So, if you have the right use case for these, they are certainly worth trying.

 

[weevil]

The quiet little hammer:

 

[JaceSpace1369]

The quiet little hammer:

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View attachment 492952

Great to hear from you again! Glad to see these were good on your wildcat. I can see these being a really good option for those that want a budget .30 like the Airacuda max or the brawn that does about 70fpe

 

[weevil]

Retuned to shoot at 900fps to test at 80yards. A friend predicted that they would “fall apart” after 50. Not so. 6 shots at 80y at 900fps:

The pellet shown was recovered from the tree that the duct seal was stuck on. It is relatively unscathed. Don’t expect any expansion, but they will blow a neat hole through a 1/2in thick piece of ceramic tile. Perfect for pests with body armor.

Now going back to the 835fps tune. It’s won a place in my “active duty” line up as the nightvision-equipped rig.

 

[JaceSpace1369]

Retuned to shoot at 900fps to test at 80yards. A friend predicted that they would “fall apart” after 50. Not so. 6 shots at 80y at 900fps:
View attachment 493048

The pellet shown was recovered from the tree that the duct seal was stuck on. It is relatively unscathed. Don’t expect any expansion, but they will blow a neat hole through a 1/2in thick piece of ceramic tile. Perfect for pests with body armor.

Now going back to the 835fps tune. It’s won a place in my “active duty” line up as the nightvision-equipped rig.

So there's a possibility of reusing if retrieved from an animals, interesting.

 

[weevil]

So there's a possibility of reusing if retrieved from an animals, interesting.

It would need to be pretty large for them not to pass through!

 

[JaceSpace1369]

It would need to be pretty large for them not to pass through!

I wonder how effective they would be against a coyote headshot at a bad angle. I've heard a lot of people say that pellets usually bounce off their skulls of not a perfect shot.

 

[subscriber]

There is a risk of pellets misbehaving after 50 yards, if you shoot them "too fast". While what is "too fast" depends on the caliber, pellet design and barrel twist rate, "too fast" is more likely with light weight pellets, because they tend to shoot faster at a given tune.

In the case of Ted Bier shooting a .177 cal HW100 (video below), "too fast" was around 1050 FPS. So, 900 FPS is much less likely to be a problem. The root cause for the stability problem is actually the fact that rifling induced pellet spin speed decays much more slowly than the forward velocity. So, pellets being "overspun" at extended range is the real problem; as contrary as that sounds.

However, light alloy pellets would not have as much angular momentum at a given spin speed due to the less dense material "in the rim of the flywheel", So, they may in fact be less likely to spiral than lead pellets of the same weight, at extended ranges:


Summary of problem and solution:

More detail about spiraling pellets shot "too fast" from HW100 :