.177 Dome or Wadcutter design?

[zb bb]

Hello All: For paper targets at short ranges, say 10 meters, do domed design pellets offer an advantage over a flat wadcutter type? At longer ranges I understand that domes show better accuracy. Has this been your experience?

 

[pan60]

welcome to HAM

 

[BenjeneerJohn]

Welcome!

Wadcutters cut a nice clean hole in paper that makes them easier to score. Domes rip as they go through the paper.

I don't know if one is more accurate than the other at 10m depending on velocity. Wadcutters like to run a little slower. 400-800fps.

I can say that all of the 10m JROTC matches are shot with Wadcutters.

John

 

[Roamin Greco 1]

For paper punching wadcutters are better because they cut clean holes in target paper. For accuracy, it depends on the gun. Each gun could have a favorite pellet, even at 10 yards.

If the most accurate pellets for your gun are domes, and you decided to use them for target practice at 10 yards, take a ping pong ball size piece of duct seal and flatten it into a thin pancake, like 1/16" thick and press it into the back of your target paper behind your bullseye. Then the dome will make a wadcutter like hole.

 

[Solo1]

10 m wad cutters for sure if domes were better they would use them in the olympics.

 

[BanjomanMI76]

A head shot on a squirrel with a Wadcutter is like a Flying Frying Pan at 50 feet or less. DRT

 

[Billm]

My experience: wadcutters are more accurate at 20yds or less. Wadcutters are deadly on squirrels with some velocity at short range. A lot of the accuracy with wadcutters is due to its match pedigree. True match quality pellets are almost always .177 wadcutters and it’s the consistency and tight tolerances that make them accurate, not the form factor. It would’ve been sacrilegious to put a domed pellet in my Feinwerkbau 300s back in the day.

 

[zb bb]

Thanks for all the great prompt replies.
I am intrigued by the fact that on the H&N website under their Target Shooting pellets, the flat designs have 10 meters shown as max distance while the dome types show 50 meters.
Are longer distances where the dome designs show an advantage?

 

[Solo1]

Thanks for all the great prompt replies.
I am intrigued by the fact that on the H&N website under their Target Shooting pellets, the flat designs have 10 meters shown as max distance while the dome types show 50 meters.
Are longer distances where the dome designs show an advantage?

Indeed. Domed pellets are designed just for distance. Slugs work better at extreme distances.

 

[Danman]

Thanks for all the great prompt replies.
I am intrigued by the fact that on the H&N website under their Target Shooting pellets, the flat designs have 10 meters shown as max distance while the dome types show 50 meters.
Are longer distances where the dome designs show an advantage?

Welcome to Ham! I have shot RWS Super Mag (9.0gr wadcutters) out of my TX200 and they hit the paper sideways Not just one either, ever single pellet iirc. Distance was 40Y, and speed would have been in the low 800fps, maybe high 700s. I now wish I had tried them at 10 or 20Y! I would not recommend them past 20Y myself, go with domes then. I have a gorgeous HW50s on its way to my house.... I may just have to try it out with some med weight wadcutters @ 20Y vs some good domed pellets. Hmmm this could be a really fun experiment!

 

[Dogowski]

Hello All: For paper targets at short ranges, say 10 meters, do domed design pellets offer an advantage over a flat wadcutter type? At longer ranges I understand that domes show better accuracy. Has this been your experience?

Welcome to the forum! Enjoy your time here.

 

[Jaabaa]

My opinion doesn't matter, but I almost always use wadcutters for 15 yards IN. And Rounds for everything else.
At least my groupings seam to tell me that works best for me.
Good luck

 

[jps2486]

In my FWB300SU, domes are better.

 

[Billm]

Thanks for all the great prompt replies.
I am intrigued by the fact that on the H&N website under their Target Shooting pellets, the flat designs have 10 meters shown as max distance while the dome types show 50 meters.
Are longer distances where the dome designs show an advantage?

In my FWB300SU, domes are better.
View attachment 17485

It’s hard to argue with those results.

 

[zb bb]

Thanks again for the great thoughtful responses. I am a very casual air gun shooter; iron sights and short backyard distances. For now at least, I will concentrate on finding the best light flat point pellet for my old 760.
In my opinion, for what it is it has already been impressive with Crosman wadcutters but Im open to improvement and Im now trying some Excite Plinking which so far seem a touch better. I don't know if I would be able to see the benefit of even higher grade ammo with such a crude rifle and my old eyes.
zb

 

[Roamin Greco 1]

A head shot on a squirrel with a Wadcutter is like a Flying Frying Pan at 50 feet or less. DRT

I like that comparison. Now when I shoot a squirrel, I will imagine the last thing it hears is a gong-like sound that fades to silence....

 

[Roamin Greco 1]

In my FWB300SU, domes are better.
View attachment 17485

You are a sniper, all right. What range? What position?

 

[Roamin Greco 1]

Thanks again for the great thoughtful responses. I am a very casual air gun shooter; iron sights and short backyard distances. For now at least, I will concentrate on finding the best light flat point pellet for my old 760.
In my opinion, for what it is it has already been impressive with Crosman wadcutters but Im open to improvement and Im now trying some Excite Plinking which so far seem a touch better. I don't know if I would be able to see the benefit of even higher grade ammo with such a crude rifle and my old eyes.
zb

You just never know. Experimenting is half the fun. I love it when the cheaper pellets turn out to work best in my air rifles.

 

[PapaT]

You just never know. Experimenting is half the fun. I love it when the cheaper pellets turn out to work best in my air rifles.

So does my wallet

 

[Roamin Greco 1]

I have a HW30 and her favorite is .177 JSB RS domed pellets. But HN Econ II wadcutters are almost as accurate. Which do you suppose I normally shoot? The ones that are a penny per shot!