A big* waste of money and time.
Let me start by
saying that if your enjoyment from shooting air rifles comes solely
from making a small piece of metal go very fast, and that enjoyment
would be mesurably increased by anything that will make the small piece
of metal go faster, then you should stop reading this page. If muzzle
velocity is all you care about, go out and by as many GAMO Raptor
pellets as you can afford, right now. They will go faster. However, if
you actually want to hit the things at which you aim, steer
clear
of the GAMO Raptor.
I bought a pack of Gamo Raptor Power Pellets made of "Performance Ballistic Alloy." The pellets are plated with gold and supposedly give you a 20% greater muzzle velocity than lead pellets The pellet weighs in at 9.9 grains according to Gamo and this much lighter weight, versus the 14.3 grains of the Crosman Premier accounts for the obviously faster muzzle velocity.
I own an .22 Cal. RWS 54 that I primarily use to shoot Starlings and House Sparrows that attempt to nest in my Purple Martin boxes each spring. When I ordered this gun, I ordered it in .177 cal., but was sent the .22 cal. and after shooting it a few times, decided to keep it. I have a few Squirrels and Rabbits in my neck of the woods and figured I'd maybe use it for a little hunting too. In any event, after trying out a few different pellets, I settled on Crosman Premiers because of their accuracy. For little and/or far-off birds, accuracy is everything. This past spring, I hit every house sparrow that I shot at and killed quite a few Starlings as far away as 50 yards. I had very few misses and the ones I missed were likely my fault. I had no real complaint with the Crosman Premiers, but I saw the Gamo Raptor ammo at Cabelas and it started me thinking that a flatter trajectory might help with the more distant shots. So, after thinking about it for a while, and seeing a YouTube video in which a wild hog was killed with PBA Raptor ammo, I broke down and ordered 100 rounds from Cabela's online store. The store nearest my home only had Raptor pellets in .177 cal.
On Thanksgiving Day, 2008, I finally got the chance to adjust my scope to the new pellets. I went out to my barn, quickly attached a scrap piece of 3/4 inch plywood to a scrap piece of treated lumber, stuck on a few target stickers, paced off 20 yards and set up my impromptu shooting range. I pulled out my rice-filled shooting bags, put them on a very solid workbench and fired away. The picture below shows the results. The groups were shot in the following order: C-D-E-B-A. Groups D and C were shot with crosshairs on the bottom target. Group B was shot with crosshairs on second target from bottom. Groups A and E hit where aimed.
I bought a pack of Gamo Raptor Power Pellets made of "Performance Ballistic Alloy." The pellets are plated with gold and supposedly give you a 20% greater muzzle velocity than lead pellets The pellet weighs in at 9.9 grains according to Gamo and this much lighter weight, versus the 14.3 grains of the Crosman Premier accounts for the obviously faster muzzle velocity.
I own an .22 Cal. RWS 54 that I primarily use to shoot Starlings and House Sparrows that attempt to nest in my Purple Martin boxes each spring. When I ordered this gun, I ordered it in .177 cal., but was sent the .22 cal. and after shooting it a few times, decided to keep it. I have a few Squirrels and Rabbits in my neck of the woods and figured I'd maybe use it for a little hunting too. In any event, after trying out a few different pellets, I settled on Crosman Premiers because of their accuracy. For little and/or far-off birds, accuracy is everything. This past spring, I hit every house sparrow that I shot at and killed quite a few Starlings as far away as 50 yards. I had very few misses and the ones I missed were likely my fault. I had no real complaint with the Crosman Premiers, but I saw the Gamo Raptor ammo at Cabelas and it started me thinking that a flatter trajectory might help with the more distant shots. So, after thinking about it for a while, and seeing a YouTube video in which a wild hog was killed with PBA Raptor ammo, I broke down and ordered 100 rounds from Cabela's online store. The store nearest my home only had Raptor pellets in .177 cal.
On Thanksgiving Day, 2008, I finally got the chance to adjust my scope to the new pellets. I went out to my barn, quickly attached a scrap piece of 3/4 inch plywood to a scrap piece of treated lumber, stuck on a few target stickers, paced off 20 yards and set up my impromptu shooting range. I pulled out my rice-filled shooting bags, put them on a very solid workbench and fired away. The picture below shows the results. The groups were shot in the following order: C-D-E-B-A. Groups D and C were shot with crosshairs on the bottom target. Group B was shot with crosshairs on second target from bottom. Groups A and E hit where aimed.
I first shot about 7
shots with the Raptor pellets to see what kind of group I was going to
get before trying to adjust my scope. I had intended to shoot a 10 shot
group, but stopped after 7 shots. Disappointment quickly began to set
in. I walked out to the target and it was worse than I initially
thought. Only seeing 5 holes from the bench, I though that some had hit
the same holes. On inspection, I realized that two shots had missed the
backstop completely.
Just to make sure it wasn't me, I shot a 5 shot group of Crosman Premiers. Group "D," above, shows the typical results with one "flyer" that is touching the other holes.
Next, I decided to follow through with a 10-shot group of the Raptors. I decided not to bother with adjusting the scope since this was probably going to be the last 10 Gamo Raptors that ever travel through that barrel again. Group "B" is the result. I can only charitably call Group "B" a 3.5 inch group since 3 out of 10 shots missed the plywood altogether.
After walking out to the target after shooting Group "B" it dawned on me that none of the Raptor pellets had penetrated the plywood. Just for comparison, and since all the Crosman Premiers had hit the center of the target where they could not go all the way through because of the strip of treated lumber was attached directly behind that point, I shot a Crosman Premier at a part of the plywood that had nothing behind it and another at the support made of treated lumber. The shot a the plywood is labeled Group "A" above. The shot at the support is labeled as Group "E." Below is a photo of the back of the target that shows where the Group "A" shot exited. You will note that the Group "E" shot penetrated the strip of treated lumber. The sole Group "B" Raptor pellet that came closest to the edge did manage to crack the back layer of wood, but it did not go through.
Just to make sure it wasn't me, I shot a 5 shot group of Crosman Premiers. Group "D," above, shows the typical results with one "flyer" that is touching the other holes.
Next, I decided to follow through with a 10-shot group of the Raptors. I decided not to bother with adjusting the scope since this was probably going to be the last 10 Gamo Raptors that ever travel through that barrel again. Group "B" is the result. I can only charitably call Group "B" a 3.5 inch group since 3 out of 10 shots missed the plywood altogether.
After walking out to the target after shooting Group "B" it dawned on me that none of the Raptor pellets had penetrated the plywood. Just for comparison, and since all the Crosman Premiers had hit the center of the target where they could not go all the way through because of the strip of treated lumber was attached directly behind that point, I shot a Crosman Premier at a part of the plywood that had nothing behind it and another at the support made of treated lumber. The shot a the plywood is labeled Group "A" above. The shot at the support is labeled as Group "E." Below is a photo of the back of the target that shows where the Group "A" shot exited. You will note that the Group "E" shot penetrated the strip of treated lumber. The sole Group "B" Raptor pellet that came closest to the edge did manage to crack the back layer of wood, but it did not go through.
Please keep in
mind that all the above shots were taken at 20 yards. The most
appalling characteristic of the Raptor ammo is it's horrible
inaccuracy.
But my results also make me seriously question the
supposed
penetration power of these pellets. Maybe they would penetrate further
into flesh, but they clearly do not have the same energy at 20 yds as
the Crosman Premiers. Anyway, even if the trajectory is flatter, it
won't do me any
good if I can't hit what I am shooting at.
I must note that all the Raptor pellets fit very loosely when I tried to seat them in the my RWS 54. All the Crosman Premier pellets fit very snugly. Though both .22 cal, the Raptor and Premier pellets were clearly not the same diameter. I have shot many different pellets from many different manufacturers through my 54, the Raptors are the only ones to fit as loosely as they do.
I don't claim that this test was scientific. But, my experience with Raptor PBA ammo is that any gain in muzzle velociy is more than compensated for by the loss of accuracy and power (because the lighter PBA pellet apparently loses energy to drag much faster than the heavier, lead one).
I thought about subtitling this page a lot of things like PBA Raptor vs. Crosman Premier, or "Raptor rip-off." I have seen the YouTube video where the hog was killed with PBA ammo, but now I seriously doubt that, if the video is real, the fact that the pellets were made of PBA had anything to do with the outcome. I now think that the outcome might have come despite the inferior pellets! Anyway, if you ende up here researching whether to try some of the very expensive Raptor pellets, save yourself some money and get some good ol' lead ones. The Raptor pellets cost 20 cents each! The clearly superior Crosman Premier pellets are only 1.6 cents each.
Below is the rifle and pellets used in this test. After looking at the results with the Crosman Premiers and later firing about 5 more shots, I decided not to adjust the scope at all.
*In the grand scheme of things this might not be a BIG waste of money, but you will certainly waste your time with PBA ammo.
I must note that all the Raptor pellets fit very loosely when I tried to seat them in the my RWS 54. All the Crosman Premier pellets fit very snugly. Though both .22 cal, the Raptor and Premier pellets were clearly not the same diameter. I have shot many different pellets from many different manufacturers through my 54, the Raptors are the only ones to fit as loosely as they do.
I don't claim that this test was scientific. But, my experience with Raptor PBA ammo is that any gain in muzzle velociy is more than compensated for by the loss of accuracy and power (because the lighter PBA pellet apparently loses energy to drag much faster than the heavier, lead one).
I thought about subtitling this page a lot of things like PBA Raptor vs. Crosman Premier, or "Raptor rip-off." I have seen the YouTube video where the hog was killed with PBA ammo, but now I seriously doubt that, if the video is real, the fact that the pellets were made of PBA had anything to do with the outcome. I now think that the outcome might have come despite the inferior pellets! Anyway, if you ende up here researching whether to try some of the very expensive Raptor pellets, save yourself some money and get some good ol' lead ones. The Raptor pellets cost 20 cents each! The clearly superior Crosman Premier pellets are only 1.6 cents each.
| Pellet | Weight/grains | Number per package | Price | Price per pellet |
| Crosman Premier .22 cal | 14.3 | 500 | 7.99 | .016 |
| GAMO Raptor Pellets .22 cal | 9.9 | 50 | 9.99 | .20 |
Below is the rifle and pellets used in this test. After looking at the results with the Crosman Premiers and later firing about 5 more shots, I decided not to adjust the scope at all.
*In the grand scheme of things this might not be a BIG waste of money, but you will certainly waste your time with PBA ammo.