What are pellets made of?
Here’s a dumb question, what are pellets made of? Are they made of lead like a firearm? How hard are they? Just curious
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😯 Nice ‘pistola’ you got there!!! 😆
You maybe right JW. It’s funny how it showed up on one side, but not the other?
I would bet that Ti is from the gold colored coating, same color as the Ti drill bits at home depot…
😯 Nice ‘pistola’ you got there!!! 😆
Photo, you da man!
That thing is cool. It is so Star Trek. I am surprised that there is iron and titanium in the raptors. The other elements, tin, copper, and nickel, don’t surprise me as much. It certainly explains the hardness of these projectiles. Very cool post. Thanks for the high tech analysis.
So, has anyone had good accuracy with the Raptors? And if so, out of which guns?
GAMO RAPTOR’s are made out of a (Tin and Nickel Base Alloy).
INNOV-X ALLOY ANALYZER. Its a ALPHA series X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer that works on Ionizing Radiation. I have access to one at work. This thing is very expensive, and we have one.Info. on the analyzer can be seen at http://www.innov-xsys.com
Tried to blast off as much plating a possible
When I did the first test it was almost right. The analyzer was not calibrated. Also I sand blasted the gold plating off and smashed the pellet flat to get a better reading and to test both sides….asper my chemist is instructions.
After more test of the Gamo Raptor PBA and the help of my Chemist at work. The insides are made of:
Chemical Elements of PBA RAPTOR:
Test #1 one side
Sn= 80.90%
Cu= 5.100%
Ni= 13.45%
Fe= .53%
Test #2 the other side
Sn= 72.52% (Tin)
Cu= 6.900% (Copper)
Ni= 16.25% (Nickel)
Fe= 1.300% (Iron)
Ti= 3.033% (Titanium)
Majority of today’s air gun pellets are made with a majority of Lead
Normally around 98-99%
Pax has also made them out of Tin the Dynmic range
And with other metals with Plastic base/skirts
Prometheuus range
http://www.airgunpellets.com
Yes lead has nearly tripled in price in the last couple of years
As it main use these day’s is in vehicle Batteries
Which seemed to have doubled around the world in the last
Five years or so
BOB/R
While we are on the subject…the Gamo Raptor .177 caliber pellets are made of a mostly zinc alloy. This makes them very light and hard. I have been told by spring gun experts that this light pellet does not provide enough cushion for the piston as it slams home and consequently breaks springs. That sounds bad for spring guns.
However, standard pnuematics and PCP guns can take advantage of this greater velocity without hurting anything. Before I bought my SS, I thought about buying a Benjamin 397 just to be able to take advantage of this zinc alloy ammunition. This faster projectile thing is exactly what Roy Weatherby built his reputation on.
Is there anyone here who has a Talon, or Condor in .177 caliber who has experimented with Gamo’s PBA Raptors who could post the velocities and accuracy results for us?
The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook has good information on lead metallurgy, including a phase diagram, (I have the third edition). They discuss the effects of different elements on hardness. There are recipes for making your own alloys; like what to add to soft wheel-weight lead to make it harder. There is also a discussion of how to heat treat lead to make it harder.
So basically they’re made of the same metal as say, a rimfire?
It sure does seem like they are.
Just curious… Am I to understand that CP’s are much harder than most other pellets?
Pellets are made out of lead/lead alloy. Their hardness is measured on the brinell scale. Of course, the hardness depends on the alloy, and tends to be inversly proportional to the percentage of lead in the alloy. I think* that the brinnel hardness of a pellet is around 2-5, and of cast bullets is around 5-15. If you cast your own bullets, the lead that you buy lists the hardness of its alloy, so that would be a good reference.
You can buy a lead hardness test kit from Midway shooters supply if you are really interested the hardness of different pellets. You may have to melt down twenty or so pellets and recast them in a shape that better lends itself to the testing process.
Yep, they are made of lead and some have antimony as well in them.
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That thing is cool. It is so Star Trek. I am surprised that there is iron and titanium in the raptors. The other elements, tin, copper, and nickel, don’t surprise me as much. It certainly explains the hardness of these projectiles. Very cool post. Thanks for the high tech analysis.
So, has anyone had good accuracy with the Raptors? And if so, out of which guns?
Thank you Steve. I can tell you one thing, the Rator pellets are crap in all my .177 spring guns. That crap will go supersonic and you need a good backstop or it will go through things very easy.