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[Air Rifle Hunter]

For those of you who are airgun enthusiasts, there is a new pellet out from H & N Sport. It is the Baracuda Hunter Extreme.

 HNBHE.jpg   7.38K   1 downloads

The pellet has was looks like an "X" or philips screw pattern on the head of the pellet. The pellet weighs 28.4 grains and is supposed to "mushroom" upon impact for a greater damage path. I ordered (4) tins of them to try them out. At Pyramyd Air they run $11.45 per tin with a 200 count per tin. Pyramyd Air just got them in so I ordered them in .25 caliber to try in my .25 M-Rod and my .25 EunJin Sumatra 2500 Carbine. I'm hoping they are accurate so that I'll have another good hunting pellet.

Anyone else going to try these out?

[Brant]

I have way over 20,000 (or is it 30,000) pellets in inventory I'll order up a tin to try with my next pellet order. I tend to be a JSB guy but have a lot of Cudas on hand in .22 and .25 as well. I am pretty happy with .25 Predator performance for hunting but they still cant hold a candle to domed JSBs for tip top accuracy. The perfect hunting pellet still eludes... Maybe these are it.

http://www.hn-sport....er-extreme.html

[Air Rifle Hunter]

Wow! Brant you have A LOT of pellets! Well, a lot compared to my quantities.

For the 10 air guns I own I have maybe 5,000 pellets and out of those there are only a few main types I use.

.25 Marauder - JSB 25.4 Exact King
.25 EunJin Sumatra 2500 Carbine - EunJin 35.8 grain
.22 Marauder Rifle - JSB 18.1 Exact Jumbo Heavy
.22 Discovery - JSB 15.9 Exact Jumbo
.22 P-Rod - H&N FTT 14.66.
2240 Modified Carbine - H&N FTT 14.66
1322 Carbine - Discovery Hollow Points 14.3
1322 Modified Carbine (daughter's) - CPHP 14.3
1322 Pistol - CPHP 14.3
.177 Ruger AirHawk - CPHP 7.9

I just received my order of 2,000 of the JSB Exact 15.9 pellets, so before I got those I had about 1,500 pellets that I normally use.

About 1,500 to 2,000 of the 5,000 pellets are pellets I may never use. They were pellets than came with used air rifles I purchased (.25 H&N Crow Magnum (500 pellets), .25 H&N Field Target Trophy (300 pellets), .25 Gamo Rocket (150 pellets), .25 Benjamin (500 pellets), .25 Skenko Ultramags (50 pellets) and some miscellaneous others). One of these days when I take out the EunJin Sumatra I may try some of these pellets in it to see how they shoot out of it.

I also have about 300 pellets of the H&N Baracudas in .25 and around 300 pellets of the Predator Polymags in .25 that I could and will probably use one of these days, but the JSB's are just so accurate in my .25 M-Rod that I'm reluctant to switch. However, if these H&N pellets are accurate, I may have to switch over for the sheer devastation and take down power.

[Brant]

I just glanced in there and for bulk have 7000 .25 JSB Kings (20 - 350 tins), 2000 .25 Predators, 1800 .25 Cudas, and another 1500 in other misc. .25 calibers. Most of the 22 tins are 500 so there are a lot more of those than the .25s. There are .177s and .20s of course in lessor numbers. I have most of the Eun Jin in .22 and .25 (only 1 tin each). There is something like 8 different .25 pellets and twice that in .22. I really need to do a more recent count since I bought a lot more .25s. Except for the P-Rod all of my PCPs are setup as .25 now. I also have an assortment of .25 cast slugs for the Condor including different sizes of Surefires but limited numbers.

VarmintAir has the most I have ever seen outside of a store like Pyramyd and tops my collection by quite a leap.

[Air Rifle Hunter]

You aren't kidding. I've seen photos on the blog he does and it looks like he has shelves of pellets! Now I only try to purchase the ones I know are accurate in my guns, but with this new pellet I'm hoping for a possible back up pellet.

[ShooterJohn]

What will they come up with next. Pellets with a Phillips screwdriver head. I guess whatever you hit with them would be screwed.

[Air Rifle Hunter]

What will they come up with next. Pellets with a Phillips screwdriver head. I guess whatever you hit with them would be screwed.

[rws fan]

I would like to see how these pellets fly in the air through the scope cam. I shot some .22 Predators out of my Marauder with .630 LW barrel at 50 yards and they would cork screw pretty bad...

Henry

[Air Rifle Hunter]

Henry,

I'll let you know what kind of accuracy I get with them out of my .25 Marauder when the pellets arrive next week.

[screwwork]

ARH,
Any word of the Baracuda Hunter Extreme pellets yet, how do they shoot and at what distance do they start to lose accuracy?

Thx, Randy

[Brant]

Geez - I just got 8 tins of JSB 18.1s b4 they went out of stock from PA and forgot all about ordering one of these new BHEs.

[Air Rifle Hunter]

ARH,
Any word of the Baracuda Hunter Extreme pellets yet, how do they shoot and at what distance do they start to lose accuracy?

Thx, Randy

Hi Screwwork,

I haven't tested them out just yet. I was hoping that Chairgun would update and have them in the catalog of pellets, or somewhere someone would have the Ballistic Coeficient so that I could plug it into the application and get some zeroing results without waisting a ton of pellets.

Maybe the next time I'm at the relative place I'll bring some and do some initial testing.

Geez - I just got 8 tins of JSB 18.1s b4 they went out of stock from PA and forgot all about ordering one of these new BHEs.

So you are one of the guys who ordered them all up before I got a chance to order any . I went to order some the other day and they were out again, so all I got to order were (3) tins of H&N FTT 5.53 diameter pellets for the P-Rods and (1) tin of JSB Kings for the .25 M-Rod (I still have two full tins of Kings and I usually only use them when hunting or to re-zero the scope, so they last me a while). Thankfully I have (2) full tins of the 18.1 JSB's to last me a little while for the .22 M-Rod and (4) tins of 15.9 JSB's for my .22 Discovery. I usually only use the .22 M-Rod for exterminating ground squirrels or hunting rabbits, quail and Eurasian Doves and I use the .22 Discovery for hunting rabbits, jack rabbits and quail when loudness is not an issue.

[Brant]

I am afraid I am guilty as charged on pellets. I call PA sometimes and ask them how many they have left and have been known to say send them all. JSB must have quite an operation on Jumbo Heavys and Kings are gaining in demand since .25 is becoming so popular.

[Air Rifle Hunter]

I would have to agree that since the .22 Marauder and .25 Marauder have gained quite the popularity in the last few years since production began, JSB must be really pumping out the 18.1 Jumbo Exact Heavy's and the 25.4 Jumbo Exact Kings. It seems like whenever I go to order both types of pellets at the same time that one or the other is out of stock at PA. Next time they are available I'll have to make sure to order at least 4 tins of the 18.1's at the same time along with whatever else I need at the moment.

It sounds like you shoot allot of pellets. I, for the most part, only shoot when I'm out hunting now unless I'm re-zeroing or sighting in a scope so most of my pellets last a bit longer than they used to. Of course, when I'm helping my daughter to learn to shoot we do use quite a few pellets.

[Brant]

I probably average 100-200 pellels per week - year round. My son and his friends sometime have shooting competitions and went through about 2000 Cudas the last one over a weekend. Dont ask me how many bricks of .22s I have. Thank goodness for Shoebox compressors.

[Stan]

What do you think of the Shoebox compressors I'm toying with the thought of a 25 cal I think you call them PCP?

[ShooterJohn]

What do you think of the Shoebox compressors I'm toying with the thought of a 25 cal I think you call them PCP?

The search feature is your friend. http://www.californi...31

[Stan]

Thanks SJ

[Air Rifle Hunter]

What do you think of the Shoebox compressors I'm toying with the thought of a 25 cal I think you call them PCP?

I know that all of the guys that have the Shoebox Compressors really like the convenience of filling their own tanks and it allows them to use tanks that may still be safe to use, but can't be hydro'ed anymore. I want to get one eventually too. The newest models have belt drives instead of chain drives, so they are quieter than the original Shoebox compressors were. I think they run right around $550 or somewhere in that range.

The .25 caliber PCP is a great caliber of airgun to start with. Plenty of knock down power for small to medium (the smaller of the medium sized) game animals. If you are thinking of a .25 Benjamin Marauder, that is probably the best of the three calibers that the Marauder comes in. The barrels are less finicky when it comes to pellet types and they are very accurate (as long as you do your part to keep the rifle still when shooting). Let us know what you end up with.

[Brant]

The Shoebox compressor has basically made PCP airguns viable anywhere without worrying about getting air w/o adding a whole lot to the money factor. Being independent on fills, though, is priceless even though my local firehouse is willing to fill it any time I need it. Capacity wise the Shoebox is perfect for one heavy user unless you shoot a lot of big bore guns - then maybe two would suffice. They do require some occasional minor maintenance mainly for o-rings.

It takes about 3 hours to top off one of my 44 cu ft SCBA carbon fiber 4500 psi tanks to 4500 from 3000 psi. For a Marauder pistol that is 125 fills or about 3000 shots. Even if you figure 100 fills with some line loss, etc. it is a lot of shots. For a .25 Marauder rifle I figure about 38 fills or 600 shots but it doesn't really matter since you can top it right back off.

I bought my two 44 CF SCBA tanks used with 11 years left for $200 each. As AGH says the Shoebox is about $600 depending on options. Small used commerical paintball compressors start around $1500 and are over $3k new for the cheap ones putting the Shoebox in a different niche.

[Air Rifle Hunter]

I'm wondering if anybody knows the ballistic coefficient of these H&N Baracuda Hunter Extreme .25 caliber pellets? I want to plug the information into ChairGun Pro without firing an entire tin of these pellets in the process. Thanks.

[ShooterJohn]

Couldn't find anything on this particular pellet. You might ask H&N and see if they can give you an answer?

[ShooterJohn]

I did find this on the Yellow forum.

http://www.network54... for the Masses

[Brant]

The ballistic coefficients for these diablo pellets are interesting. They really vary a lot with the large velocity changes. A guy spent some time measuring some common ones last year. Too fast is a bad thing for pellets.

25.4 King:
125 yd. 585 fps (BC 0.033)
100 yd. 644 fps (BC 0.039)
75 yd. 698 fps (BC 0.034)
50 yd. 766 fps (BC 0.030)
25 yd. 851 fps (BC 0.024)

15.9 gr. Exact:
611 fps : BC 0.030
749 fps : BC 0.038
862 fps : BC 0.030
955 fps : BC 0.024
1024 fps : BC 0.018

18.1 gr. Heavy:
566 fps : BC 0.030
710 fps : BC 0.036
819 fps : BC 0.039
899 fps : BC 0.032
967 fps : BC 0.027
1014 fps : BC 0.020

A 13.4 gr. Exact RS driven at 1101 fps had a BC of only 0.010 (11.3% energy loss).... A 11.9 gr RWS Hobby at 1131 fps had a BC of just 0.007 (16.3% energy loss).... both over just 5 yards....

[Air Rifle Hunter]

Couldn't find anything on this particular pellet. You might ask H&N and see if they can give you an answer?

Thanks for this suggestion. I have actually already sent H&N Sport a message first thing this morning concerning this to see if I get a response from them. If I do I'll post any information I get here for others to find.

[Air Rifle Hunter]

Well I got a reply from H&N Sport. They said that they don't have or know the BC for the Baracuda Hunter Extreme pellets. Rats! I suppose I'll have to do some testing to see about yardages.

[screwwork]

ARH,

I found this on the GTA forum.

Quoting (rsterne)
(I did one extra data point for the H&N Baracudas with the gun set for maximum power, with the data collected over just 10 yards, to see if the BC rolled over at about 900 fps, and in fact it did, dropping from 0.039 down to 0.033.... Here is a plot of that data, including that additional data point...)

http://www.gatewayto...p?topic=29256.0

[Bennie]

When you shoot these at pest let us know how they perform. I have been watching this post with interest. I am curious how accurate these pellets will be for one?? I am also wondering if their design will allow them to mushroom more on soft tissue. It seems to me through my experience that pellets shot in to the body at pest do not mushroom or expand enough. That makes me go for more head shots to anchor the pest in their tracks. I am wondering if these pellets are designed to open up better at pellet rifle velocities. That is what the cross in the top is for it looks like to me???

[Brant]

Well I had enough Bullseye Bucks to order 3 tins of pellets I needed and the 4th of the H&N Hunter Extreme. Any reports yet?

[Air Rifle Hunter]

No reports yet. I haven't gotten a chance to get back out and shoot my rifle. I've been too busy with work right now.