VALUE FOR MONEY
Rifle Premium Flathead 8.18 grain .177 caliber pellets are a recent addition to the US market from a Brazilian manufacturer called INDUBRAC – Indústria Brasileira de Chumbos, Ltda. The company is based in the outskirts of Sao Paulo in the south of the country.
INDUBRAC manufactures a wide range of airgun pellets under the Rifle brand. “Premium Series” wadcutters are dedicated 10 Meter target pellets. In fact, the Rifle Premium Flathead 8.18 grain .177 caliber pellets are the “heavy” version.
There are also lighter versions available in Brazil, although maybe not in the USA at the present time.
Although largely unknown to US shooters, INDUBRAC claims competitive success for their Premium Flathead pellets in international competition. They are also very attractively priced in the US at 1.99 cents each – far below the mean price for .177 caliber lead pellets of 2.7 cents each.
That makes Rifle Premium Flathead 8.18 grain .177 caliber pellets outstanding value for money for a good quality 10 Meter pellet.
TEST DATA SUMMARY
| Price per Pellet | 1.99 cents |
| Most Common Weight | 8.26 Grains 8.27 Grains |
| Pellets at That Common Weight | 20% 20% |
| Variation in Pellet Weight (Smallest to Largest) | 2.09% |
| Most Common Head Diameter | 4.52 mm |
| Pellet at That Common Head Diameter | 48% |
| Variation in Head Diameter (Smallest to Largest) | 0.67% |
| Most Common Length | 5.58 mm 5.60 mm |
| Pellets at That Common Length | 18% |
| Variation in Length (Smallest to Largest) | 1.63% |
COMPARISON TO MAKERS CLAIMS
The manufacturer claims that the “heavy” Rifle Premium Flathead 8.18 grain .177 caliber pellets we are testing here have a head diameter of 4.50 mm.
In the sample pellets tested by HAM, the average head diameter was 4.52 mm. Only one pellet – that’s 2% of those tested – actually had a head diameter of 4.50mm.
Likewise, the weight is claimed to be 8.18 Grains. However the average weight of the pellets tested by HAM was 8.24 Grains. Again, only one pellet matched the claimed weight of 8.18 Grains when weighed on HAM’s incredibly-precise milligram balance.
The over-spec weight of the Rifle Premium Flathead 8.18 grain .177 caliber pellets tested by HAM is the likely reason that the tin we tested contained 499 pellets instead of the 500 claimed – although the amount of lead dirt didn’t help either. (The tins are probably filled by weight not by actual pellet count).
The manufacturer is to be commended for giving a Ballistic Coefficient for Rifle Premium Flathead 8.18 grain .177 caliber pellets. They say it’s 0.012. In HAM testing, we found a BC of 0.011. However, we were shooting the pellets much faster than would be expected for 10 M competition ammunition and the 0.012 value is almost certainly correct.
CONSISTENCY
There were no damaged or malformed pellets found in the tin tested by HAM. Manufacturing consistency was somewhat better than average, overall. Here are the details…
Consistency of head diameter among the Rifle Premium Flathead 8.18 grain .177 caliber pellets tested by HAM was below average. Just 48% (24 pellets) had the most common head diameter of 4.52 mm.
The variation between the smallest and largest head diameters – from 4.50 to 4.53 mm – was 0.7%. This is about average manufacturing consistency.
Weight consistency, however, was well controlled among the Rifle Premium Flathead 8.18 grain .177 caliber pellets tested by HAM. There were 20% at both 8.26 and 8.27 Grains. A figure of 20% at the same weight is good performance in manufacturing consistency.
The variation in weight of the tested pellets – between 8.13 Grains and 8.30 Grains – was 2.09%. Again, this is a better than average consistency score, although the average weight is rather higher than the claimed weight.
As always, all pellets were weighed using HAM’s ultra-precise milligram balance for precise, accurate and consistent measurements.
18% of the pellets tested by HAM had the same lengths (5.58 mm and 5.60 mm). This is slightly less than average. However, the variation between the shortest and longest pellets was just 1.63% (from 5.53 to 5.62 mm) and this is rather better than average.
DIRTINESS
It has to be said that these Rifle Premium Flathead 8.18 grain .177 caliber pellets are the dirtiest ever tested by HAM! No less than 9.10 Grains of lead dust and dirt were included in this tin of pellets. That, in itself, could be another reason for the very slight pellet under-count, as it’s more than the weight of one pellet.
As there were a nominal 500 pellets in the tin, that makes 1.82 Grains of dirt per 100 pellets. Of course, you should always wash your hands thoroughly after handling lead airgun pellets. But that’s even more important than ever with these Rifle pellets.
DOWNRANGE PERFORMANCE
Rifle Premium Flathead 8.18 grain .177 caliber pellets are intended for 10 Meter shooting, so downrange performance is not really intended to be their forte.
With a typical BC for wadcutter pellets, essentially “flat” shooting can be obtained from HAM’s standard “1,000 FPS” test gun between 11 and 40 Yards. The Chairgun graph below shows how this plays out.
HUNTING USE
Again, the Rifle Premium Flathead 8.18 grain .177 caliber pellets are not intended for hunting. They loose Kinetic Energy very rapidly downrange, as do all wadcutter pellets, with 50% of the initial Muzzle Energy already lost at 30 Yards.
However, it’s clear that Rifle Premium Flathead 8.18 grain .177 caliber pellets would be a devastating choice for hunting small critters at very close range.
Once retrieved from the soap block, it was apparent that the pellet had expanded hugely from 4.52 to 5.58 mm diameter. The wound channel was 10 mm in diameter and the pellet traveled only 36 mm into the ballistic soap block.
All of this indicates massive and immediate transfer of energy. This would cause a humane one shot kill if used on small pests at close range.
BUYING AND OWNING
Currently, it’s not easy to find Rifle Premium Flathead 8.18 grain .177 caliber pellets for sale in the USA. Although they may be available elsewhere, HAM could only find them available at Creedmor Sports. Don’t even think of looking in your local “big box” sporting goods store…
These pellets are supplied in a good-quality screw top tin. The top was easy to open and the general design and finish of the packaging gives a feeling of quality to the product. The inside of both tin and lid are coated, for example, rather than being bare metal.
There was also a round sheet of foam to prevent the pellets from moving during shipping.
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
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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