Anyone who has hunted with a rimfire knows how well hollow-point bullets work on game. They mushroom to many times caliber-size and leave as much of their energy in the animal as possible--up to all of it. A squirrel or cottontail hit with a hollow-point at 80 to 100 foot-pounds of energy doesn't just die, it moves sideways from the impact. The Acupuncture Effect In contrast, a .177 lead pellet is so small and travels so fast these days that, unless it hits some bone, it can pass through an animal with little affect, exiting with but a fraction of its energy imparted to the quarry. I call this the acupuncture effect, and I have lost animals to it! The target runs away, with a nasty wound that can fester for days before healing or causing a slow, painful death. No hunter wants this outcome. I switched to the .22 cal. pellet as a more reliable hunting projectile, but even then, shot placement is everything. Oh, what I wouldn't give for the hollow-point experience enjoyed by rimfire hunters. Hollow-Point Pellets Hollow-point pellets have been around for several decades, so what's the big deal? Well, for starters, there is a question of whether they actually work like you think they should. Just because they're hollow-points with holes in their noses doesn't mean squat if they don't open up! And, I mean really open up under field conditions-not some set-up test run for an advertisement. Any pellet will deform if pushed fast enough, and today's smallbore air rifles are certainly capable of doing that! With the AirForce Condor leading the pack at more than 1200 fps in .22 cal.,there are a host of powerful air rifles that easily exceed 1000 fps-at the muzzle. Unfortunately, very few game animals are shot at the muzzle; and, because airgun pellets slow down very rapidly in flight, the actual velocity at the target is what has to do the job. That will be a lot less than what came out the spout. Keeping Things Honest I thought it would be good to see what kind of performance hollow-point pellets give at realistic velocities, so I used a Daisy 22SG pneumatic air rifle to allow me to control the speed of impact. I recorded all velocities on an Oehler 35P chronograph. Daisy's 22SG is a powerful .22 pneumatic with a wood stock and a metal receiver. Rifle comes with 4X scope and mounts. A pneumatic airgun will provide consistent velocities ideal for testing. I also wanted to see any deformation of the pellet without having to dig it out of the target. A Neutrogena glycerine facial bar was used as the penetration medium. While I make no claim that it represents the density of animal flesh, it is transparent, easily obtainable and you can use it as soap when the test is over. Because all pellets were fired into the same brand of bar, the test is uniform. For safety, the bar was placed in front of an Outer's bullet trap, and I was wearing safety glasses. If I were testing .22 hollow-points, the bars would explode violently, leaving very little evidence to examine. But if the velocity is low enough, the bars will stop all pellets and display both them and the wound channel they made. All the different brands can be compared side by side. The Pellets I selected five .22 hollow-points for this test. Four are available today and one, while vintage, is a top performer from the recent past. Cont to pg2>>>>