Lead free pellets

[Daveo]

I've seen quite a bit online about lead free pellets and I understand JSB now offer a lead free option.
Has anyone had any results with PB free ?
I've not seen any that perform well in tests on YouTube.

[Martin(rockape)]

Lead free I understand, PB free I do not please explain.

Regards

Martin

[Jonjon79]

I'm not convinced that lead free pellets will ever perform very well - I've tried FTT Green in .177.
They actually did ok to 35yrds but, after that, they went awry very quickly. They do give a satisfying hit on a target and, the velocity readings are fun but, that's about it.

Maybe they'll improve and develop over time, maybe not.

[Daveo]

it's Latin for lead
Plumbum
Shortened to PB as it appears on the periodic table of elements

[Muskett]

Lead is a chemical element with symbol Pb.

Quite good quantities of Pb occur in the soil naturally. There are small quantities everywhere, though there few places there are high enough quantities to matter.
Birds ingesting lead from pellets is of no consequence as wild birds do not live long enough to have any real detrimental effect. Other chemicals are far more dangerous.
For humans then drinking and eating from items made of pure Pb can cause health/mental issues. Takes a long time but it is thought the Roman's with their PB plumbing and water catchment did show signs of lead poisoning. Very high levels of Pb can effect the nervous and brain function. High doses over a very long time. (Swallow a pellet and it will go through with no harm at all.) Industrial Pb, used as in petrol additives (thousands of tons), can accumulate and best not done. Other industrial processes have a history of dumping large quantities of Pb into the system, though much of that has been stopped.

As a pellet few substances are plastic enough to form in the barrel at low velocities that air rifles have, or even high power rifles achieve. Nor does much have the density to be ballistically efficient. Copper too light, and gold too expensive. Pb is just fantastic and well understood.
So I can't see the need to change anything. The Pb over wetlands argument was spurious at best, and made on poor science. The whole thing is a con and done humane kill no favours. As for target shooting then expect lighter weigh, ballistcally less efficient, lead substitutes to play havoc. Either velocities have to increase sunstancially or wind calls need to be larger.

[YorkshireDave]

My experience of lead-free was one bouncing off the back of a pellet catcher. I recommend you wear safety glasses!

[ballisticboy]

How any manufacturer thinks that they can produce a successful lead free pellet by taking a lead pellet design and simply making it out of another material beggars belief and shows a fairly alarming lack of knowledge of basic ballistic principles. Yes, you may be lucky and find some which just happen to match your barrel but the odds are against you as many have found out.
Can successful lead free pellets be designed? Yes, but it requires a very different approach to the lead based designs.

[Geezer]

Lead is a chemical element with symbol Pb.

Quite good quantities of Pb occur in the soil naturally. There are small quantities everywhere, though there few places there are high enough quantities to matter.
Birds ingesting lead from pellets is of no consequence as wild birds do not live long enough to have any real detrimental effect. Other chemicals are far more dangerous.
For humans then drinking and eating from items made of pure Pb can cause health/mental issues. Takes a long time but it is thought the Roman's with their PB plumbing and water catchment did show signs of lead poisoning. Very high levels of Pb can effect the nervous and brain function. High doses over a very long time. (Swallow a pellet and it will go through with no harm at all.) Industrial Pb, used as in petrol additives (thousands of tons), can accumulate and best not done. Other industrial processes have a history of dumping large quantities of Pb into the system, though much of that has been stopped.

As a pellet few substances are plastic enough to form in the barrel at low velocities that air rifles have, or even high power rifles achieve. Nor does much have the density to be ballistically efficient. Copper too light, and gold too expensive. Pb is just fantastic and well understood.
So I can't see the need to change anything. The Pb over wetlands argument was spurious at best, and made on poor science. The whole thing is a con and done humane kill no favours. As for target shooting then expect lighter weigh, ballistcally less efficient, lead substitutes to play havoc. Either velocities have to increase sunstancially or wind calls need to be larger.

What he said.

How any manufacturer thinks that they can produce a successful lead free pellet by taking a lead pellet design and simply making it out of another material beggars belief and shows a fairly alarming lack of knowledge of basic ballistic principles. Yes, you may be lucky and find some which just happen to match your barrel but the odds are against you as many have found out.
Can successful lead free pellets be designed? Yes, but it requires a very different approach to the lead based designs.

What he said.

[greenwayjames]

How any manufacturer thinks that they can produce a successful lead free pellet by taking a lead pellet design and simply making it out of another material beggars belief and shows a fairly alarming lack of knowledge of basic ballistic principles. Yes, you may be lucky and find some which just happen to match your barrel but the odds are against you as many have found out.
Can successful lead free pellets be designed? Yes, but it requires a very different approach to the lead based designs.

I suggest you try the JSB King lead free .25" pellet in a sub 12 ft/lbs rifle. The same shape and size as the lead version. At just over 16 grains they could have been made for the job. Superb accuracy and they hit like a .25" pellet should. My Hatsan boinger loves them. The only downside at the mo is cost

[lensman57]

I suggest you try the JSB King lead free .25" pellet in a sub 12 ft/lbs rifle. The same shape and size as the lead version. At just over 16 grains they could have been made for the job. Superb accuracy and they hit like a .25" pellet should. My Hatsan boinger loves them. The only downside at the mo is cost

I am no expert but my understanding of the ballistics of the .25 diabolo shaped pellets leads me to believe that they actually perform worse than a comparable .22 pellet and on the par with a .177 with good BC. I really can not understand what the term ' hits like a .25 ' mean. Anyhow I have tried a couple of these lead free pellets and in my rilfes .22 AA TX 200 and .177 HW 100 they have been very poor performers. I thhink that the hard alloy used is the main culprit.

A.G

[SuffolkRifle]

I've ony tried one type of lead-free, through both pre-charged and springer guns, results were pants - plus both springers I tried them through broke the springs- expensive experiment!

[aris]

What are they made from?

[Daveo]

Most seem to be made of a tin alloy.
Pellets are slightly longer to get the weight up but still very very light

[Geezer]

From what I have read, the best of the bunch are H&N match green, and Baracuda Green.

Best meaning they are as good or nearly as good as lead, at the ranges at which they are used (short, and medium, respectively). But twice the price of lead.

Non-lead projectiles have a long history. The Germans made loads of sintered iron 7.92mm in late WW2. The allies initially thought that was to pierce armour. It wasn’t. It was to reduce their dependence on lead. We tried the same with the early .280” loads for the EM-2, for the same reason. The Belgians then re-engineered the .280” for the lead core 7mm Mauser round. It worked better.

Back when I shot waterfowl, I used a variety of Bismuth and Titanium shot. Again, best ones close to lead, but not quite, and much more expensive.

In the medium game rifle business, Barnes bronze bullets are as good as lead. But much more expensive.

There is a pattern here. Across the piece, the very best non-lead rounds are nearly as good as the good lead ones. But more or much more expensive.

The bad non-lead rounds, from Prometheus in the early 80s to Skenco now, are awful.

If you really want to make non-lead work in an air rifle, and there will still be issues around SD, you have to change the pressure curve in the rifle, the projectile design, and the rifling twist. And so on.

Problem in the U.K., do all that, stick Biz Mags in it, and it will be over 12ft-lbs if set to make 11 or even 10 with non-lead. Because lead is efficient and tin/zinc/plastic/whatever isn’t, but scores high in a chrono at one metre, even if it carries less energy at 25 metres.

[ballisticboy]

The move away from lead in military bullets has been going on for some time. In these cases the change from lead to steel cores gave longer bullets to maintain the weight. The designers, in almost all the cases I have seen, retained the same nose and boat tail shapes as the lead core bullets, just extending the cylindrical portion of the bullet, which in turn reduced the gyroscopic stability factors when used in the same guns as the lead cored bullets.
In tests I have seen problems with steel core and solid copper bullets, so pellets and their designers are not the only ones with problems replacing lead.