VALUE FOR MONEY
At a selling price of $19.99 for a tin of 200, Benjamin Match Grade 25 Caliber 27.9 Grain pellets are fairly expensive at 10 Cents each.
Of course that price falls to 7.5 Cents each if you order four tins from Pyramyd. However HAM Awards are “value” awards that are based on a relationship between price and performance. So our rating is based on the 10 Cents price.
As with the other Benjamin Match Grade pellets tested by HAM, these .25 caliber demonstrated an outstanding Ballistic Coefficient. Indeed, the BC value of 0.049 was the best result ever recorded by HAM in this caliber.
Many shooters will be happy to know that these Benjamin pellets are currently manufactured in the USA, at Benjamin’s Bloomfield, NY facility.
BUY FROM PYRAMYD
Benjamin Single Die Pellets .25 Cal, 27.8 Grain, Domed, 200ct 0.25
TEST DATA SUMMARY
| Price per Pellet | 10.00 cents |
| Most Common Weight | 27.76 Grains |
| Pellets at That Common Weight | 10% |
| Variation in Pellet Weight (Smallest to Largest) | 1.88% |
| Most Common Head Diameter | 6.39 mm |
| Pellets at That Common Diameter | 46% |
| Variation in Diameter (Smallest to Largest) | 0.47% |
| Most Common Length | 9.37 mm |
| Pellets at That Common Length | 32% |
| Variation in Length (Smallest to Largest) | 0.42% |
COMPARISON TO MAKERS CLAIMS
The manufacturer claims that Benjamin Match Grade 25 caliber pellets have a weight of 27.8 Grains. The average weight found in HAM testing was 27.89 Grains. That’s a difference of just 0.3%. Excellent!
The number of pellets per tin is 200. In fact, there were 202 pellets in the tin of .25 caliber Match Grade pellets tested by HAM.
CONSISTENCY
Manufacturing consistency is critically important for downrange accuracy. That’s why HAM Tester Doug Wall spends so much time weighing and measuring each individual pellet!
A key component of airgun pellet manufacturing consistency is head diameter. Here the Benjamin Match Grade 25 caliber pellets gave excellent results!
46% of the tested pellets had a head size of 6.39mm. The remaining 53% were all within 0.01 mm of that number, as can be seen from the chart below. That means that the larger pellets had a head diameter of just 0.047% greater than those of the smallest.
Variability of weight was a rather different thing, however. While the average weight of the pellets tested by HAM was – indeed – very close to the specification, the weight of individual pellets was unfortunately less consistent.
The most common weight per pellet was 27.76 Grains, with just 10% of the pellets tested having that weight.
The variation between the lightest and heaviest Benjamin Match Grade pellets tested was 1.88%. Surprisingly, this is rather better than average, based on HAM’s highly standardized, precise test protocol.
However there is no real sign of the expected “normal distribution” (bell curve) of weights, such as we see with the head diameter and length data shown here. Based on the tests of the other Benjamin Match Grade pellets, the HAM Team had hoped for better.
Conversely again, length consistency was excellent!
Normally in HAM testing, we find that pellet lengths are the least consistent of the measurements we make. However, the Benjamin Match Grade 25 caliber pellets showed outstanding length consistency. As many as 32% of the tested pellets had a length of 9.37 mm.
The difference between the shortest and longest pellets tested by HAM was just 0.42%. This is about the best length consistency that we have ever seen over many years of pellet testing!
As always, we need to be explicit that good manufacturing consistency does NOT guarantee that a particular barrel will “like” a certain pellet. However, it does mean that – if compatible with the barrel – the shot-to-shot accuracy on target will be better with consistently-manufactured pellets than those with less consistency.
DIRTINESS
As every airgunner knows, lead pellets are usually dirty. That dirt is lead dust and other small particles of lead that are inherent in the production process.
The Benjamin Match Grade 25 caliber pellets were pretty clean. There was just 0.633 Grains of lead dust washed-off from the tin tested by HAM.
That’s 0.316 Grains per 100 pellets. While that’s a higher figure than the .177 and .22 caliber Match Grade pellets tested by HAM, it’s still better than average.
Note that the batch number is shown on a label attached to the underside of the lid. Like this…
DOWNRANGE PERFORMANCE
The outstandingly high Ballistic Coefficient of 0.049 – determined from HAM testing – gives Benjamin Match Grade 25 caliber pellets an effectively “flat” shooting range of between 10 and 50 Yards when fired with a Muzzle Velocity of 923 FPS.
The Chairgun chart shows that no less than 57% of the pellet’s original kinetic energy is retained out to 100 Yards.
This clearly benefits the hunter who – of course – is the customer primarily interested in .25 (and larger) calibers.
Interestingly, Ed Schultz from Crosman/Benjamin shared some internal Ballistic Coefficient test results with HAM. They’re in the graph below.
Ed’s testing found the same BC value of 0.049 at a Muzzle Velocity of around 960 FPS. However he then generated some additional tests at higher velocities to see how the calculated BC varied with increasing FPS.
HUNTING USE
WOW! Benjamin Match Grade 25 caliber pellets produced – by far – the deepest penetration ever in HAM’s ballistic soap test when fired using an FX Impact air rifle.
As can be seen from the photograph, the pellet penetrated no less than 175 mm into the soap block. The “entry wound” was 13 mm in diameter.
The pellet retrieved from this test was somewhat shortened. However it was not hugely deformed from the impact.
BUYING AND OWNING
Benjamin Match Grade 25 caliber pellets have proven to be a popular choice since their introduction earlier this year. However – probably due to the changes in ownership of Crosman and Benjamin – availability has been somewhat spotty.
If and when you find these pellets in stock at a dealer, the best plan would be to buy them!
As with other Benjamin and Crosman pellets, these are packaged in a large screw cap tin that’s generally easy to open and is good for repeated use. Although, from experience, the HAM team knows that some can be very tightly closed when you try to open them for the first time…
These .25 caliber pellets are the latest evolution of the Benjamin Match Grade program. So these pellets have now been introduced in .177, .22 and .25 calibers: the most popular ones, of course.
TEST DATA
For background details on HAM’s Pellet Test Review methodology, check out this link.
Chairgun is a product of Hawke Sports Optics LLC and is used with permission. Check out http://www.hawkeoptics.com
BUY FROM PYRAMYD
Benjamin Single Die Pellets .25 Cal, 27.8 Grain, Domed, 200ct 0.25
Understanding HAM Pellet Awards
HAM Pellet Awards come from the most rigorous, professional and comprehensive pellet testing by any independent publication. They are the result of much precise measurement and analysis using high precision measuring devices and highly-experienced testers.
Note that accuracy is a product of the complete “system” of airgun, scope, atmospheric conditions and shooter ability – not the pellet alone.
This means that no pellet test review can predict the accuracy of a particular pellet with YOUR individual air rifle. That’s why we do not measure accuracy in these pellet tests.
What HAM Pellet Awards do recognize is manufacturing consistency. Inconsistent pellets definitely will be inaccurate, consistent pellets are much more likely to be accurate.
HAM Awards also recognize value. There’s considerable variation in the price of airgun pellets. This means that an 8 cent pellet needs to score higher than a 2 cent pellet to achieve an award.
For full details of the HAM Pellet Award scoring methodology, please check out our Pellet Testing page.
For a full listing of HAM-tested Ballistic Coefficients, please see our Ballistic Coefficients page.
This entire article including scoring, data etc is Copyright Hard Air Magazine and may NOT in part or in whole be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the publisher.
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