Aluminum pellets

Hints and how to’s for coaches and junior shooters of all categories

Moderators: pilkguns, Marcus, m1963

Post Reply
bpnugen
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2018 3:47 pm

Aluminum pellets

Post by bpnugen »

Anybody have any experience with .177 H&N Sport, Match Green,5.25gr, lead free pellets? We received them in a grant for our 4H SS air rifle/pistol program. Will these do any damage to our equipment? Will they make a significant change in point of impact on the target? Thanks, Brian Nugent
Thomas Monto
Posts: 235
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2004 9:01 am
Location: Midland, MI

Re: Aluminum pellets

Post by Thomas Monto »

Have not been impressed with the non-lead pellets so far.

It is best to test the pellets in the rifle or pistol they will be used. We clamp the rifle in a solid base and shoot some five shot groups. This will give you an idea of how they perform.
TenMetrePeter
Posts: 603
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2016 10:59 am

Re: Aluminum pellets

Post by TenMetrePeter »

I would put them on Ebay. Use the money to buy some real pellets for the club.
User avatar
rfwhatley
Posts: 140
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2006 12:00 am
Location: Clarkesville, Georgia
Contact:

Re: Aluminum pellets

Post by rfwhatley »

I have never heard of or tried these but....

From a purely metals standpoint, I think you would experience accelerated barrel wear. Aluminum alloys oxidize very, very fast, and those oxides are as hard as diamond. Aluminum oxides are a major component in most grinding stones and emery cloths. This accounts for their dark gray color.
HectorMedina
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2019 4:46 pm

Re: Aluminum pellets

Post by HectorMedina »

Lead free pellets are NOT made of Aluminum.
They are made of Tin (Sn in the periodical table of elements and a common component of solders)
Pure tin is soft enough to be swaged in lead dies with minimal changes in the setup.
They will NOT erode your barrel, the hardest tin is much softer than the softest steel.
They will NOT oxidize.

SOME guns shoot non-lead pellets well, others don't. You need to test.

Stick to quality offerings (GTO's are made by JSB and H&N uses its own brand) and you'll be fine as long as your barrel likes them.
Because they tend to fly much faster, SOME barrels will shoot well pellets with a little lubricant, like T-9, KryTech FL, or Pledge.

Whether we like it or not, we're not far from becoming a lead-free world.

JMHO



HM
atomicgale
Posts: 818
Joined: Fri Mar 10, 2017 7:34 am
Location: Copperhill Tennessee USA (a registered CERCLA superfund site)

Re: Aluminum pellets

Post by atomicgale »

The best use for aluminum (or tin) pellets is to toss them directly into the garbage can.

When they reach the landfill, you know your investment didn't contaminate the ground water . . . or trash your barrel.
User avatar
gimgim
Posts: 241
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2008 2:13 pm
Location: Bay Area, CA

Re: Aluminum pellets

Post by gimgim »

Honest question: as long as the range is properly ventilated, the shot pellets are disposed properly, and the shooters wash their hands after shooting, what is exactly the big deal with lead?
User avatar
shawn706
Posts: 70
Joined: Sat Jan 10, 2015 2:02 pm
Location: Madison County, Georgia
Contact:

Re: Aluminum pellets

Post by shawn706 »

There isn't one unless you want there to be.
User avatar
rfwhatley
Posts: 140
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2006 12:00 am
Location: Clarkesville, Georgia
Contact:

Re: Aluminum pellets

Post by rfwhatley »

I think this is what you're asking...
The big deal is lead vapors and lead dust. These are usually the result of people shooting bullets with an exposed lead base in a firearm.

The act of igniting gun powder to propel a bullet down a barrel means the propellant, which is burning at ~1000°F, is melting the base of the bullet which it is pushing. That in turn vaporizes the base of the bullet. Those vapors then settle on every horizontal surface within the range, to be stirred up and inhaled by occupants. If you go into an older indoor shooting range you can usually swipe a finger on any horizontal surface and it will come up gray. That's lead dust.

BB's and pellets DO NOT use fire to propel the "bullet", and are therefore not a health concern.
Last edited by rfwhatley on Sat Jan 16, 2021 4:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ArTee
Posts: 99
Joined: Sat Mar 07, 2020 8:20 am
Location: Abell 520 Cluster

Re: Aluminum pellets

Post by ArTee »

I use H&N alloy and they work, but not as well.my choice

That said lead is lead and it is not a safe material to work with. As an artist in the past, a builder of race Karts, motorcycles and just general automotive stuff and a shooter all I can state is that lead is absorbed into the body by touch, inhalation and digestion (who would do that I don't know but I added it). Try this with clean hands:


Get a clove of garlic, squash it and rub it between your thumb and fingers. wait about 15+ minutes and then see what your taste buds seem to be telling you. It's an experiment that many art teachers suggest to beginning art students. In the past lead was everywhere in art paint and gasoline. Your body absorbs it. Anything you put on your body, makeup, cream shaving soap, no matter its absorbed into the body.

You have to make the decision but the stuff is dangerous to long term health.

My 2 Cents.
spektr
Posts: 887
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:53 pm

Re: Aluminum pellets

Post by spektr »

rfwhatley wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 10:56 am BB's and pellets DO NOT use fire to propel the "bullet", and are therefor not a health concern.
Respectfully, the impact of the pellet on most steel box style target carriers causes lead dust to be generated by the impact forces itself. Agreed it is a smaller issue, but it does exist.....
shakestheclown
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:19 pm
Location: Cincinnati, OH

Re: Aluminum pellets

Post by shakestheclown »

I agree that it is the lead dust that presents the most hazard with shooting pellets. The dust is created when the pellets hit a solid surface and deform. like when using metal pellet traps. I made a nice steel trap with angled deflection baffles and a collection tray. When cleaning out the tray, there was a fair amount of lead flakes and gray dust. Since this was near my furnace, I decided this was not a good idea. I replaced it with a trap filled with fabric scraps. Much quieter and no dust.
The lead accumulates and can affect the development of kids, so maybe lead-free pellets are good for a youth program. How many of the kids actually wash their hands after handling the pellets?
As a old guy, I will still shoot lead pellets as long as they are available.
Don Fine
Don F.

220, 221. Whatever it takes.
High Left
Posts: 107
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2017 12:58 am

Re: Aluminum pellets

Post by High Left »

Some of the airborne lead from firearms is from the primers. So even jacketed, or solid copper, bullets aren't eliminating it. And if you live near an airport, there's a chance it's raining down on you from light planes. The gas they use is loaded with lead. I heard somewhere the 'low lead' has 5x the amount of lead even the highest auto gas ever had.

Here's what it looks like on some cameras that were in a well in a Cessna. The guys working on these were somehow unaware of what it was. They quickly stocked up on cleaning supplies after I told them.
Canon_Pb.JPG
Pat McCoy
Posts: 806
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2004 1:34 pm
Location: White Sulphur Springs, MT, USA

Re: Aluminum pellets

Post by Pat McCoy »

I heard somewhere the 'low lead' has 5x the amount of lead even the highest auto gas ever had.
Aviation gas (100Low Lead) has .56 grams per liter.

In 1972 the regular gasoline for autos had 2 grams per gallon (or about 1 gram per Liter).

Keep pellets out of your mouth, and wash up after shooting, and the danger to airgun shooters from lead is extremely low.
Wile E Coyote
Posts: 72
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: Aluminum pellets

Post by Wile E Coyote »

Pat McCoy wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 9:33 pm
I heard somewhere the 'low lead' has 5x the amount of lead even the highest auto gas ever had.
Aviation gas (100Low Lead) has .56 grams per liter.

In 1972 the regular gasoline for autos had 2 grams per gallon (or about 1 gram per Liter).

Keep pellets out of your mouth, and wash up after shooting, and the danger to airgun shooters from lead is extremely low.
But you don't have photos of dirty cameras and he clearly heard it somewhere.
High Left
Posts: 107
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2017 12:58 am

Re: Aluminum pellets

Post by High Left »

LOL!

I'm more than happy to be wrong about that. I'm currently living across the street from the runway in an 'airpark'. I never got a license, but my dad flew for quite a few years. I remember him making up a special tool, for scraping the solid lead deposits that built up in the sparkplugs. Ugly. But at least part of that is the steady state, RPM and temperatures, they run at for extended periods.

But you gotta wonder ... my girlfriend built this house, and some of her kids seem to be developmentally impaired ... Or I'm just a grouchy old B' now.
User avatar
6string
Posts: 445
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 11:53 pm

Re: Aluminum pellets

Post by 6string »

So, these pellets are actually made of tin? That's awesome!
I save all my lead pellets and melt them down into lead ingots for bullet casting.
Tin is just what I need to alloy that stuff into harder bullets!
I just hope there's no zinc in there to spoil the party!
northpaw
Posts: 296
Joined: Fri Dec 13, 2013 12:15 pm
Location: Nordrhein-Westfalen

Re: Aluminum pellets

Post by northpaw »

Tin poisonous?
Googling: "Tin poisoning refers to the toxic effects of tin and its compounds. Cases of poisoning from tin metal, its oxides, and its salts are "almost unknown"; on the other hand, certain organotin compounds are almost as toxic as cyanide."
Firing tin pellets may not form organic tin compounds, i think.

On the other hand: Googling the term "lead free pellets":
"Lead-free airgun pellets are usually made from zinc alloy. Though harder than lead, this material is still fairly malleable and shouldn't cause any harm to the barrel of your air rifle".

Googling "zinc poisoning": "Zinc is an essential trace metal with very low toxicity in humans". Good news.

From the H&N website: https://www.hn-sport.de/en/air-gun-hunt ... -green-177
"H&N uses GreenLine raw materials-tin, zinc, iron, and plastic-thus avoiding lead".
https://www.amazon.com/Haendler-Naterma ... B07TZXKVQR says just: "Material: Composite".

About the composition of 8 pellets from (presumed) 6 different brands of "lead-free airgun pellets": A (semi)scientific approach her:
https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... un_Pellets

6 of the 8 pellets "investigated" were made of tin. One made of zinc and aluminium (Skenco), and one made of "Nickel with Gold detected" (!) (Gamo Gold Raptor that was).
AManWearingAHat
Posts: 29
Joined: Thu Mar 26, 2020 8:18 pm

Re: Aluminum pellets

Post by AManWearingAHat »

Zinc can be a problem when heating / casting with it. Be careful in that respect.

Hot working with Zinc or brass can produce zinc fumes and produce the Metal Fume Fever. Other metals can produce it too but Zinc is one of the most notorious because of its very low boiling point and high tendency to volatilize. Google "Zinc Shakes" or "Welding Fever". It's not fun. Its like having a bad flu with sore bones. 0/10 would not recommend.
Post Reply