JSB Hades 15.89 Grain .22 Caliber Pellet Test Review

VALUE FOR MONEY

JSB Hades 15.89 Grain .22 caliber pellets are a dedicated hunting pellet. Although new to the market this year, they already have a great reputation with airgun hunters.

The domed head has three very deep indentations molded into it. In a way, it’s a type of hollow point design. However you describe the design, Hades pellets mushroom on impact in a devastating fashion! That’s why it’s so good for hunting.

In spite of this pedigree, JSB Hades 15.89 Grain .22 caliber pellets are not expensive. When purchased in a 500 count tin, they’re 4.0 cents each. This is exactly the mean (or average) price of pellets being sold today in the US market. That makes them great value for money!

BUY FROM PYRAMYD AIR
JSB Match Diabolo Hades .22 Cal, 15.89 Grain, Hollowpoint, 500 Count 0.22

BUY FROM AIRGUN DEPOT
JSB Hades Pellets .22 Cal 15.89 Grain, 500 Count

TEST DATA SUMMARY

COMPARISON TO MAKERS CLAIMS

500 JSB Hades 15.89 Grain .22 caliber pellets were in the tin tested by Hard Air Magazine. Just as claimed.

The manufacturer highlights the extreme expansion in the target as a key feature of these pellets. That’s also exactly true.

As for caliber, the pellets are for .22 cal, that’s 5.50 mm in diameter. The average diameter of the pellets tested by HAM was 5.50 mm and that was also the most common head diameter among the pellets measured.

Only the average weight was slightly out of spec. Compared to the 15.89 Grains claimed pellet weight, the average of the Hades pellets tested by HAM was 15.84 Grains. But as that’s only 0.3% different from the specification, it would be really unfair to complain about it!

CONSISTENCY

The JSB Hades 15.89 Grain .22 caliber pellets tested by HAM demonstrated above average consistency of head diameter. A full 68% of the pellets measured by HAM had a head diameter of precisely 5.50 mm – that’s 0.22 Inches. These measurements were made, as usual, using an industry-standard Pelletgage go/no-go gauge. This gives us results in 0.01 mm (ten micron) increments – amazing precision!

The variation between the smallest and largest head diameters measured was just 0.42%.

Variability of weight among the pellets tested by HAM was somewhat less consistent. Unusually so by JSB standards – it must be reported.

However, it’s important to note that the variation between the lightest and heaviest pellets weighted for this HAM test review was just 5.41%.

As always, all pellets were weighed using HAM’s incredibly-precise, laboratory-grade, milligram balance. This ensures precise, accurate and consistent measurements.

The average weight of the pellets tested by HAM was 15.84 Grains. This is very close to the 15.89 Grain specified weight, although it has to be said that no individual pellet actually weighed 15.89 Grains…

In contrast, length control of the Hades pellets tested was much better than average. But for one solitary pellet (the 7.18 mm outlier), it would have been VERY much better than average, as we can see from the graph below.

In fact, 28% of the JSB Hades 15.89 Grain .22 caliber pellets measured had a length of 7.12 mm. The variation in length between the shortest and longest was just 1.55% – even including that pesky outlier.

There were no damaged or malformed pellets in the tin of JSB Hades 15.89 Grain .22 caliber pellets tested by HAM.

DIRTINESS

Using the standard HAM washing protocol, just 0.089 Grains of lead dust and junk was found per 100 pellets.

This is an extremely low figure for un-coated lead pellets. These Hades pellets were very clean indeed, as the photograph of the residue shows below.

DOWNRANGE PERFORMANCE

This devastating wound-creation capability is bought, however, at the expense of a relatively low Ballistic Coefficient.

In standardized HAM testing, we recorded a BC of 0.018. This gave effectively flat shooting between 9 to 32 Yards using our Beeman Model 1074.

As we can see from the Chairgun chart below, 40% of the initial Muzzle Energy has already been lost at 40 Yards. That drop had increased to 50% a little further on at 54 Yards.

From this chart, it’s clear that more power would be useful – both in achieving a flatter trajectory across a longer range, as well as greater terminal ballistics – as indicated in the “Hunting Use” section below.

HUNTING USE

As with our testing of .25 caliber Hades pellets, HAM found that JSB Hades 15.89 Grain .22 caliber pellets expanded into a “petal” form on impact in our ballistic soap block.

The penetration depth when fired from our standard Beeman Model 1074 “1,000 FPS” break barrel air rifle was limited at 48 mm. This, of course, is good. It indicates that there’s massive energy transfer from the pellet into the target, inflicting major soft-tissue damage. That’s exactly what is required for a humane, one-shot kill when hunting.

The wound channel seen below was 8.00 mm diameter at the surface and the pellet expanded to an irregular 6.87 mm diameter inside the soap block.

In addition, we fired a JSB Hades 15.89 Grain .22 caliber pellet into the soap block using a much higher-powered air rifle. This was a RTI Prophet set to about 60 Ft/Lbs Muzzle Energy. At 10 Yards range, the pellet turned almost completely “inside out”, making a huge 8.31 mm diameter, almost flat disk.

Yes it’s true! That’s it below…

That’s pellet expansion, if we ever saw it…

BUYING AND OWNING

JSB Hades 15.89 Grain .22 caliber pellets are readily available online from your favorite vendors such as Pyramyd Air and Airgun Depot.

A disk of foam protected the pellets from shipping damage while their cleanliness made them easy to handle.

TEST DATA

BUY FROM PYRAMYD AIR
JSB Match Diabolo Hades .22 Cal, 15.89 Grain, Hollowpoint, 500 Count 0.22

BUY FROM AIRGUN DEPOT
JSB Hades Pellets .22 Cal 15.89 Grain, 500 Count

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

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.