I haven't used these, and really see no need to. They seem to me to be a solution to a non-problem and they aren't particularly novel, as it seems to me that there was another pellet marketed in the past -about two decades ago- that was essentially the same type of deal, being a pellet with a steel BB inserted at the tip.
In the Shadow I had and the one my wife still has, (both .177) Kodiaks and CPHs gave the best accuracy. The Copperhead Pointed pellets are only slightly looser grouping but at 7.9 grains and with a BC of .028, the fly fast and hit very hard at all ranges.
I personally do not agree with the "energy transfer" arguments that I see proffered on BBS forums like this. I want complete pass through penetration if I can get it. The math often used in support of "energy transfer" is simplistic when applied to the take of game and has little bearing on reality. It isn't just energy transfer that matters, but where in the critter the energy is transferred.
If I shoot a jackrabbit in the noggin at 50 yards with my wife's Shadow and hit that magic spot behind the eye and below the ear, the result is predictable and no different than if I hit a jackrabbit in the noggin in the same place with my CZ 452-2E .22LR. Likewise, if I do a heart/lung shot on a 2 lbs cottontail with my .20 R-9 at 30 yards, the result is predictable and no different than if I hit the bunny in the same place with my .22 LR. However, if I gut-shoot a rabbit too far back with any of the three, the results are equally predictable but definitely not as humane or effective.
My sister, on the other hand, armed with her Marlin 1894 in .218 Bee, CAN hit them anywhere and rely on hydrostatic shock and energy transfer to kill. But all she has left is a spot of goo on the ground and smoking fur -certainly nothing left that's edible.
With air rifles and small game, I am not looking for energy tranfer to kill, but I know that I need a certain level of energy on impact to ensure enough penetration to reach the vitals, pierce them, and thus take them out, along with the rest of the critter. I want all the penetration I can get because "stuff happens" and sometimes that first shot doesn't work out because a gust of wind, a twig, a blade of grass, or the nut behind the trigger jerks the shot off the intended mark. When that happens, I am usually left with the worst case scenario for shot placement, rather than the best case. In that sort of situation, where the quarry doesn't drop at the shot, I am not comfortable with assuming a clean miss and instead assume a cruel wound. The next move then is to anchor the animal. In the case of cottontails, for example, that means breaking the near-side shoulder, penetrating the heart / lung region, and breaking the off-side shoulder as well. In my expereince, a cottontail with two busted front shoulders can't run very far, and thus the next move is to try that head shot again. When stuff doesn't work out right, too much penetration trumps too little, every time.
Perhaps I am a victim of my powderburner and big game experience, but I see taking a bunny with an air rifle the same as I see taking a Cape buffalo with a .375 H&H as in either case, the critter is capable of fully absorbing all of the energy the appropriate rifle can thump it with. In both cases, the killing is done with placement and penetration. This is why you don't see too many people shooting Cape buffalo with expanding bullets, and why most African hunting is done with non-expanding solids. You might set out with the idea of shooting a "tommy" for the pot with a light rifle but might be faced with a charging something or other that is *_*_*_*_*_*ed off and capable of killing you. With solids, even a wimpy little .30-'06 can kill a charging Cape buffalo very dead.
Another way to look at this is best explained thus:
If I shoot Copperheads out of my wife's Shadow, their high BC of.028 allows them to thump the target with over 9 ft/lbs at 50 yards. At 30 yards, they'll drill right through a cottontail's noggin. Now, I could use a flat point pellet with a BC of .009 at the same range and note that the pellet doesn't pass through. I could assume that the reason for this is purely due to the shape of the points, and further assume that the flat point pellet dumped more energy into the target, but if I did that, I'd be ignoring the very likely possiblity that the flat point pellet at 30 yards didn't have as much energy to dump as the Copperhead did. At thirty yards, the Copperhead might be hitting with as much as 2 times the energy as a flat-point pellet will, so it can afford to waste some in the atmosphere on pass through.
If you think of terminal ballistics as being a product of placement and penetration, that will lead you to using round-nosed lead pellets with a relatively high BC of .020 or higher, and choosing among them the one that gives the best accuracy in your rifle. Then you will use the rifle and ammo with confidence, knowing that if you place the pellet where it needs to go, the desired end result will happen, and you won't need to wonder if you've got enough ooomp-pa-pa to reach something vital that the critter you seek to kill can't live without.
In the end, I'm not saying that these BB-headed Gamo wonderpellets won't kill game, but I doubt if you'll be able to do anything with them that I couldn't do with my wife's .177 Shadow stoked with a good, old fashioned, boring, Kodiak, CPH, CPL, or Copperhead. I'm not so sure that the thing would go the other way 'round.
JP
