A good hunting pellet?

[GoodOlRWS45]

Hello all...
Last night I was digging through some old boxes in the shed that used to belong to my dad, and found these...


How are they for hunting?  I Found a bag of them unlabeled, and had mistaken them for Silver Arrows, which are too heavy for my 45.  Do they even make these anymore?

Thanks

[miked6762]

I've never used those pellets, but I have found that the only pointed pellets that seem to work consistantly for me are predators. I usually use rws domes or hollows. A pointed pellet offers more penetration; which may or may not be good for whatever you're hunting. Some of them will go right through some game-causing minimal damage, and the possibility of the critter getting away from you and dying slowly somewhere else. Domes and hollow points offer more impact/knockdown and with hollow points--more internal damage.
This being said: give em a try and see what you think.

[longislandhunter]

I agree,,, give em a try and see how they fly.  

The only pointed pellet that ever worked well for me was the GAMO Magnum pellets and the only guns I have that like em are my cheap chinese shooters.

As for the rest of my hunting rifles I've stayed away from the pointed pellets as they never flew well for me.   But hey,,,,, ya never know...... they didn't cost ya nothin so give em a try......  

Let us know how they perfrom.....

Jeff

[Benny]

The Beeman Silver Jets had a great reputation but they were very hard to come by and not always offered. I do believe they actually came from Japan instead of Europe like most of Beeman's pellets. At the time they were made to very tight tolerances and were pretty pricey... I think that's why Beeman eventually dropped them. Give them a try.

[bassethound423]

I'm not an expert by any means, but they look alot like the Beeman Silver Arrow. If the Silver Jet is no longer made it may be that what we know as Beeman Silver Arrows are the same mold. I don't know what weapon your using but if it is 1000fps or greater, I'd go for it. It will slow your velecity but the punch at the other end will be devestating. Which would hurt worse getting hit with a grain of sand at 12 mph or a brick at 6 mph?

[daveshoot]

It would be interesting to hear how they group at hunting ranges. I never have much luck with pointy pellets over 20m. But if your rifle likes 'em, why not?

[only1harry]

These are GREAT pellets!  And you bet they were considered very expensive years ago.  But you get what you pay for.  

I used them in the early 80's (from '82-84) for about 2-3yrs.  I think the last box I threw out a couple of years ago said $3.29 on it which was a lot for pellets back then.  I could get a box of 100ct .22LR WIN XXX bullets for about $1 less back then!  If your dad paid $6.75 they are probably from the very late 80's or early '90's and no doubt the local sporting goods store added a hefty profit.  These pellets are accurate and just as deadly as most pellets if you shoot the critter in the right spot which is what airgunning is all about anyway.  I don't care if you have a 30 or 70fpe gun.  If your shot placement sucks you 're not going to recover your quarry most of the time.  

I used the Silver Jets on my Crosman 760 pump & later 66 pumper which was slightly more powerful.  I preferred them over the wadcutters (flat) pellets because of their penetration.  These guns I used had advertised velocities of 560-575fps with pellets (625-640 w/BB's) which were very realistic #'s back then.  Since my pumpers were just under 6fpe, I did most of my hunting at 15yds or less when it came to fur.  I have taken a dozen or more cottontails and grey squirrels with those low-powered pumpers and Silver jets.  I aimed and shot them mostly in the neck between 12-15yds and tried to avoid hitting bone.  These pellets penetrated very well and I rarely needed a follow up shot if I hit them in the right spot but I did shoot one or two in the head/brain area and they went down just as quick because all you really need is about 4ft-lbs on impact to bring them down.
 
They are definitely not 11gr pellets.  They are around 9gr. I would say.  I still have 1 left and it's not any bigger than a Beeman FTS which is 8.8gr.  They are definitely smaller than Kodiak 10.6gr.  So these are not the same as Silver Arrows which are pretty heavy (11gr I think?). Just a slightly smaller version maybe.  I don't know why I kept that 1 Silver Jet.  I guess for memorabilia..  It's now in a older plastic Crosman square box with some copperhead BB's.
 
I don't know anything about Japan.  All the Silver Jets I bought said "made in Germany" on the baox.  Check the side of the box or the back.  It should say it somewhere. If it doesn't, then it's possible they are not made in Germany and could be a different version of Silver Jets.  You can always call Beeman or write to them and ask what this pellet weighs and where they were manufactured.  I doubt they are Japanese because they would cost less I would think.  The dollar was very strong then and anything Japanese was cheap.  You could get a new Honda nicely loaded for $6-7K 20+yrs ago.

[Benny]

I went and dug out some old Beeman catalogues just to see what they give for a weight. Like I said they were not always available. Edition 18 and 22 had the Silver Jets  but edition 20 and 21 did not (I don't have edition 19). The Silver Jets are Japanese and 8.39gr the Silver Arrows are German, 11.5 gr and have always been available. One claim made by Beeman in edition 22 is that if you look at the Silver Jet under a microscope you can see that they have been " lathe-turned" to remove irregularities. If someone went through all that trouble to get a perfect pellet they better fly straight!

[gunsup0331]

"lathe turned?!?"thats hilarious.


i want some

[only1harry]

Wow, who would 've thought?  It's amazing that a box of pellets back then costs as much as a tin of .22 Kodiaks today.  I can see why if they put all that much work into them.  The new tins of Kodiaks I got are not as good as the ones I got 1yr ago.  They have plenty of imperfections in the skirt area and some are not consistent in size.  I also noticed yesterday they don't all go into 1 hole from my Condor like the older Kodiaks did.  Everyone is trying to save $ and putting out a crappy product.  

Ok ~8.3-84gr makes a lot more sense.  I just looked at the Silver Jet pellet I had saved again and it's pretty identical in size to the Superdome which is 8.3gr.  These were the most accurate pellets in my pumpers back then.  Maybe they didn't say made in Germany.  Probably confused them with other Blue boxes of pellets that I had tried from Beeman.  
It is correct they were hard to get.  Sometimes I 'd wait 3-4mos until the local gun shop had them in stock.

[GoodOlRWS45]

That's correct, they are much lighter than silver arrows and are made in Japan to "exacting tolerances".  On the back of the box they really toot their own horn, claiming extreme accuracy, increased velocity, and superior penetration.  I must say however that they ARE accurate.  Too bad I only have about 50 left, as the box was nearly empty when I found it.