pellet penetration through tin?

[feralbuster]

Hi airgunners,
Finally got my hands on my Airarms 410S carbine .
While I have ordered some JSB exacts from Potters, I grabbed some Barracuda 21grn & some RWS hobbys from my LGS just to get out shooting.
The barracudas shoot nice groups, but the hobbys aren't anything to get excited about. After sighting in I took to some pigeons under a bridge at my uncle's farm & took out 10 of the 12 birds there with 11 shots did notice that the barracudas were passing through (based on the noise of the pellets hitting the bridgework).

so the next day I did a tin penetration test at 30 yards: shooting both pellets on high power they both passed punched through the tin, but on low power they both bounced off. So the question I have is: if I'm shooting in sheds I obviously want to be using low power for the low noise and lack of penetration, but will I still have enough velocity/energy to knock the birds down? Do i need to fiddle with the fine adjustment, as so far I've just been using the main knurled silver knob to switch back and forth?
I want to get this sorted as a I've got a couple of business' lined up with sheds full of pigeons, but only on condition I don't turn their sheds into colanders!

Thanks fellas once again

[Yrrah]

Can I suggest you get a tin of Predator Polymag .22 pellets from Rob Potter. They are the best expanding pellet made. You may not even get pass through at full power but try them on pigeons under the bridge first. They certainly will not penetrate as far as Baracudas or JSB Exacts but will kill with authority. Yes they are expensive and not for plinking away at tins. In .22 they are devastating ............ Kind regards, Harry.

[feralbuster]

Thanks Harry,
I actually asked the grumble bum at potters who answered the phone "I need some JSB exact pellets for shooting pigeons, unless you'd like to recommend anything else". Unfortunately the option of the predators wasn't forthcoming!
I'll give them a go to. wish some of the LGS in adelaide would stock some of these better brands
tim

[stinkitup]

Mate Harry is spot on (as per usual) I use the predators in .20 in my T9 they really knock mynahs about

[JD]

The predators do work good but aren't cheap. I've popped sparrows at full power with my S400 and made a right mess at less than 10m .

I think you'll find the RWS hobbies don't like being blasted at full power, I think they are just going too fast and they wont shoot in my rifle either. However turned down they aren't too bad and being a light pellet they will shoot a little flatter. They might be worth trying at lower power levels and because they are a lighter pellet they may be less inclined to punch straight through (the bird and the tin).

I've found the power settings plenty repeatable on my rifle using just the white line marks and often switch power from full, to half, to low depending on what I'm doing. Doesn't take much to get used to the difference in impact especially with a mildot scope and if you use the same pellet consistently.

I probably wouldn't shoot pigeons on the lowest power as my guess would be they are only doing between 500-600fps and it seems incredibly weak-great fun for doping the wind when plinking but doesn't seem like enough to be fair on pigeons. You'll have to try it out for your situation but I'd maybe look at using 1/4 to 1/2 power as a good compromise and probably more humane but you can be the judge for that.

Have fun.