New to air rifles, had bb's and gats as a kid just played in back yard shootin tins etc. Been looking at different sites nd laws etc and I have just ordered a hercules b4 underlever cocking rifle. Its a .177 with a claimed 900fps. Using the air gun calculator, i would be looking at 11.69 ftlbs using 06.50 gr Beeman Laser pellets or 30.31 ftlbs using 16.85 gr H&N Rabbit Magnum pellets. So does this mean heavier pellets will make the gun illegal? Ive just ordered some 21gr Piledriver pellets too so I guess they would be well over the limit. Any info appreciated as I assumed the heavier pellets would travel slower and have the same force as a light pellet going fast.

have you got your rifle yet? best thing to do is, when you get your gun (and pellets) either go to your local gun shop/club and ask them if they could shoot a few of each type of pellet that you will be using so you can get a more accurate reading of how each pellet will affect yor power output. hope this helps you.

What is your main interest. snake keeping/air gun hunting

umm... you know the limit is 12ftlbs? Assuming you do, and that these pellets produce 30, (which I really doubt, then don't take it to a gun shop as you will get done

What I meant was, if you fire a 6gr pellet at say 800fps it has 12ft/lb energy. If i put a bigger pellet in the rifle and it came out at 800fps it would have 30ft/lb energy, obviously the bigger pellet will travel slower than the lighter pellet so is there any way to calc its energy other than chronographing the gun?

It's like this matey.

The rifle develops the power, not the pellet - ignore the advertising hype.

Your rifle has a limit to the power it can provide to push the pellet up the barrel.

Fact : Your rifle will be able to push a lighter pellet up the barrel faster than a heavier pellet.

Use this as an example - Try throwing a tennis ball - it goes a long way - yes ? Now try throwing a house brick - not so far eh ?. It's the same with air rifles (unless they are modifed).

Light pellet = more fps than a heavier pellet but the ft lbs remains the same (or there abouts). It's a mathematical fact. I've been there - done that - trust me, I've tested them all.

Just buy sensible standard top of the range pellets RWS, Premier, Air Arms - ignore the so called 'super magnum' pellets.

Good quality, accurate pellets are what you need.

Good shooting - webmaster.

What is your main interest. f4bscale magic website

amen to webmaster , but RWS are ok, i've had them for ages, but logun penetrators really are incredible (not for the squeamish though if you are shooting game)