The Gamo Hunter is one of the best pellets in my .22 HW35. I've tried Crosman, H&N, JSB, Eley, RWS and on and on but it just seems to like the Gamos. I've killed pigeons, crows and hundreds of ground squirrels with them.
Most round nose pellets don't seem to expand very much in squirrels and birds. You might get a little deformation. My HW35 isn't a real fire breather as it only puts out about 11.4 ft/lbs so you may have different results with a high power PCP. I do find that the Gamo Hunters seem to do a little more damage and leave a bigger exit wound. Often they pull some of the guts out the other side. I'm shooting richardson ground squirrels mostly and I don't think they are as tough as tree rats.
If you have the Gamo Hunter 890 S .22 cal I have had better luck with Walmart Daisy wadcutters (flat nose) for killing Full grown Gray squirrels. The gamo hunter pellet I used to use, I had to chase them all over the woods after I shot them. But on a fluke I shot one with one of these Daisys and stoped him dead in his tracks. And it was a gut shot. So that told me all the energy that pellet had was transfered into the squirrel. And it did make a bigger visual mess of the game also.
Gamo Hunter pellets are made of very soft lead, and have hollow heads, so they tend to flatten out in flesh and not penetrate as far as pellets with solid heads and harder alloys.
I guess I just discovered a really great target round.
So far the next best in accuracy are the Kodiaks. I like being the idea of being accurate and “loaded for bear” at the same time
Wadcutters for hunting are designed to transfer the maximum amount of energy into the game. Those that over-penetrate and don't hit vitals for an immediate kill are less efficient. I think that, at airgun velocities, you really can't expect a lot of expansion unless you strick bone such as a skull. If that's the case, expansion and over-pentration aren't an issue.
