Do hollowpoints still make a difference on big game with the slower speeds (relative to their powder pushed cousins) of airguns?

I know even a 22HP longs out of my rifle will make a big impact difference, but I haven't noticed any difference on the shots out of my airguns. Does it make more of a impact as the calibers get bigger in airguns? I see the same (usually better) expansion from the flat nose (hourglass shaped)pellets as the hollowpoint ones when testing on a phone book. The round-nose even have good flattening - but it is a phone book and not game.

Please exuse my ignorance of this.

Thanks, Will

....but the harder alloys won't deform much. I still have the .457 425 grain slug I took out of an impala I shot at 50 yards. You could pretty much load it up and shoot it again, it just didn't deform. Those were Hunter's Supply bullets, and a harder allow than the hand-cast soft lead bullets we have started using.

The hard cast bullets can be very accurate, but for game taking, I like soft lead.

In smaller bores, you need to get the velocity up there before much deformation will occur....that, or hit a bone in the animal you shot.

Randy

http://www.adventuresinairguns.com

shoot round nose bullets or pellets vs HP's. The HP's have more shock. I do like LIGHTER HP's in the big bores.

Thanks - that makes a sense.
Will

For small bore I like Kodiak's.
Round nose with good B.C.
I'm a lot less concerned with a blood trail on small game.
I have used Crow mags at close range and consider them a close range specialty pellet.

For big bores a round nose slips in and slips out.
Good penetration but a smaller entry and exit hole.
I like a big flat nose bullet.
Entry and exit is going to be big whether it expands or not.
If I were to use a hollow I would want a heavy one.
When it expands you need the weight behind it to push it on through.

Just my .02 cents.

with cavities that comprise about 2/3's of the NOSE of the slug (like the Devastator round). Excessively deep cavities don't readily produce a flat face (meplat) upon expansion, and take longer to open up (if they open at all). Penetration suffers quite a bit from excessive cavity depth from what I have seen, and that was with minimal expansion/deformation.

This is what a hollowpoint is supposed to look like after it has expanded. No hole left.

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I like the idea of using a HP for small stuff where lots of penetration isn't wanted, or of any concern. The intrinsic accuracy of the hollowpoint also make for a nice target round.

For big game, nothing performs more reliably, and consistently than a WFN. It reliably travels a straight line (big advantage over a hollowpoint), often producing the highest wound channel volume. A WFN does the same thing pretty much every time, and leaves little to chance.

I think a hollowpoint used on big game needs to be a heavy one to assist penetration, with a cavity that isn't to deep.

Also, I see a lot of people showing pictures of slugs of all types shot into hard mediums that produce a lot of expansion, then people respond by saying "that will do a number on a deer/hog/what have you".

Hollowpoints shot into hard mediums like water (yes water is VERY hard on projectiles), dry books, steel plates, and rocks look impressive afterwards, but those mediums do a very poor job of replicating performance on an actual animal.

Completely (and I mean COMPLETELY) saturated phonebooks/newsprint is a universally available medium that gives one somewhat of an idea how a slug performs in flesh, though there are better mediums available for a $price$.

A friend suggested then to me last week when I was searching for a suitable medium to test the HP's at distance. I have some soaking now and will shoot into them this weekend, weather permitting.
Cheers
Neil

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I have several of these.
The only bad thing is that in really hot weather 90-100 degrees it gets softer than it should be.
I haven't had to deal with extreme cold.
There is a ideal internal temp I believe it's around 70-78 degrees.
The tube will hold that temp for a good while unless temps are extreme.
After use you melt them down in a slow cooker and fill another tube.

using sticks. That helps the phonebook get completely saturated all the way thru a lot faster.

It is amazing just how swelled-up those things get when truly waterlogged. Gotta add a lot of water to the bucket quite often.

.