How dangerous are lead free air rifle pellets?

A bit of a failure this one... i was hoping to test how dangerous lead free pellets are through ricochets ,however it seems that even a basic pair of British standard safety squints is more than a match for the average sub12 air rifle.
i tested various pb free ammo at various ranges alongside the jsb ultra shock and also the qys streamlined heavies. none of which could penetrate the lenses so that put pay to the main test.
it was quite an eye opener how robust even a basic pair of safety glasses are, i was expecting the pellets to penetrate the lenses with ease.
if we end up with a lead ban id highly recommend everyone uses safety glasses especially if shooting metal plate targets. the harder nature of the lead free ammo is much more susceptible to ricochet and ultimately quite alot more dangerous than the lead equivalent, theres also a few other options to improve safety such as lead lined pellet traps and target holders.
the rifle im using is an air arms xti50 with a falcon endura ffp scope
the pellets on test are the JSB pr free exacts which are essentially a tin jsb heavy.

[@user-dv7rv1hh1c]

if your rifle is hitting at about 11.5 foot pounds that is pretty much exactly the same as the high speed impact impact test used to rate safety glasses. I think they use a .85 or so gram (around 13 grains) steel ball fired at around 185-190 m/s that hits with about 11.4 foot pounds of energy.

[@tillysgunstocks]

Nice one thanks for that mate. Learn something new every day... The lead pellets make around 11.5ftlb the lead free only make around 10ftlb at most.

[@user-dv7rv1hh1c]

@@tillysgunstocks I imagine the higher speed and harder pellets of the lead free account for why they made the deeper dent. One thing I forgot was not all safety glasses are rated to the high speed test. Some are rated to a low speed or medium speed impact which uses the same projectile moving at a slower speed resulting in roughly 1.5 and 18.5 ft lbs respectively

[@johnman559]

​@tillysgunstocks You didn't think to wear safety glasses at the start of your test? Not even on the 15 yd test knowing they ricochet back?😂

[@SavageAirguns]

I had a close call not to long ago with a lead pellet vs a .177 to .50 cal "self repairing plastic spinner". The lead pellet was .177 and it was fired from a break barrel. Somehow the pellet hit it and the angle of the spinner caused it to somehow bounce back. Quiet a surprise with lead. As it bounced back it was still moving VERY fast. At 20 yards it zipped over my head audibly loud maybe a few inches from my head. My daughter was shooting at the time next to me. We both looked at each other like, "wow that was close". She had her safety glasses on... I didn't. She said, "Dad safety first!". I promptly put my glasses from my head down to over my eyes. Was a reminder to me that even under the right circumstances, even lead can bounced back over 20 yards with authority.

[@Steven-jn2cw]

Glad to hear it was a near miss and not an accident. I had a similar incident where I (rather stupidly) shot a golf ball at 25 yards, with a .177 break barrel. The pellet hit the golf ball and rebounded back at me, just above my head and it was going very fast, as it made the zipping noise which sounded very close. I think I would have been injured badly if it hit me.

[@karlj1717]

It’s crazy when stuff like that happens glad you and your daughter weren’t injured but definitely a good reminder to all how important safety is.

[@redpillnibbler4423]

I learned a safety lesson strimming grass a couple of years ago when a chip of glass was taken out of my spectacles,I now always wear safety glasses strimming and think carefully about ricochets while shooting and use a homemade pellet catcher for paper targets.

[@Kabar1961]

I bought a strimmer 20 odd years ago and there was safety specs in the box, they got tossed in the shed untill a pebble lobbed up and hit me on the cheek, I took this ss a warning lol

[@phillipwilliams4674]

Wrong title! It should be 'How safe are safety glasses?' This is a really good demonstration of why you should wear safety glasses in any situation where there's a possibility of eye injury. Would make an excellent promotional video for Industry.

[@samrodian919]

@ Tilleys Gunstocks A good suggestion for you!

[@aphtonyjim]

Great idea for a video and it's certainly good to know the safety glasses took it all. On the subject of lead free and targets, I made a target box with 'Plumbers Mate's putty inside... around 30-40mm in thickness Mainly for keeping noise of the pellets down when hitting, I think this would be great for catching Lead free pellets. Also you can remove old pellets (yes they will be scrap) and rework the putty to carry on using....and it stays soft as it's designed to do.

[@andybeckett4480]

Bolle safety glasses winter & summer are great! My local range has banned lead-free pellets on the indoor 25m range due to a ricochet incident where a member was hit in the face when a lead-free pellet bounced back off the borederof a metal pellet catcher. Fortunately didn't get him in the eye.

[@malcolmdonnison3987]

Basc has just announced that lead will not be banned for air weapons . I had an experience the other day with a ricochet hitting me on side of nose just below safety specs and drew blood . First time in over fifty years of shooting all types of firearms a ricochet has come bk and hit me 😮 like being punched by a child !!!

[@imdaprophet]

As kids we used to hunt each other in the woods with springer webleys and Diana’s probably 10 ftpound at most. Iv had a pellet removed from my arm a few few mates had some removed too. It only lasted 6 weeks one summer holiday in the mid 90s. The air riffles got taken away after too many accidents. Funny times

[@Woodgate425]

Another really interesting video and a very surprising result. I’d certainly would have put money on those cheap safety glasses failing but no, they held out and as you say, makes us all feel better about wearing them. Thanks matey, looking forward to the next one 👍.

[@arcticairgunner]

This is the most important topic you've covered 👍

[@iwanvanderhut4159]

I used to use a similar pair when I used to do airsoft,and in 9 years of play and plenty of facial strikes ,I never had a failure in the eye protection. Great to see that in that situation they were much more than needed.

[@karlj1717]

This is definitely a Welcome to the Science Channel episode, really interesting.

[@pjgtech]

Cheers mate another thought provoking video. Good to see that even basic eye protection works. Thanx

[@tillysgunstocks]

I was hoping for some carnage and destruction to start with 😆 just goes to show that even a basic set of specs is worth having though. I've seen some comedy pellets I'd like to try and bust a pair with though ..

[@Hassle68]

I wear Oakley glasses, what sold me was the 12 bore shotgun from 15ft advert and shot strikes on the lens. I only have one pair of eyes luckily never caught a ricochet although been close doing silly things like shooting tyres.

[@sahhull]

I have seen .38cal steel balls off a catapult go thru police riot shields. Yet all the humble catapult is so often over looked. Possibly because it takes vastly more skill to hit anything with a catapult.

[@stephenpidwell3427]

Back in the 1980s I had an old motorcycle crass helmet. 11ftb hw35 .22 didn't penetrate the visor at 10ft.

[@neknadroj1]

You warn every one about using safety glasses but don't use your own till very late in the testing 😮 and especially shooting at something the pellets are bouncing off.

[@angryagain68]

My thoughts exactly.

[@andydowden8117]

Love these vids especially while drinking my coffee 😂

[@colinmartin4979]

Very nice test, and that's why I do not use wood as a backdrop.. Richochets where as my 4mm steel plate targets and backdrops stop everything. Fully flatten everything. One point though.... You showed us a pellet that blew through..... Instead of continuing to expand by the pressure created by the dum dum hole, it lost its ability to expand when the hole blew through to the recessed in the skirt..... So as a hunting pellet, that was a big fail... I'd love to see you retest that batch and perhaps measure the depth between the bottom of the expansion hole and the inside of the skirt recessed to see if that was just a freak pellet or why that happened.... I've not used many expanding pellets, because I shoot targets or headshots only... Or 99% of the time.. Expanding pellets are for body shots, but head shots require a more harder impact, and no expansion to penetrate the bone and enter the brain.. The Shockwave alone does the instant kill. But if your going for soft tissue to avoid a through and through, your expanding pellet characteristics demand that the central hole does NOT blow out... Never seen that before..... That was the shocker for me... And how will non lead, expanding pellets perform.?

[@stephenacartlidge]

Good test , well done.

[@BedsitBob]

I'm wondering what the results would be, using pointed pellets such as H&N Hornets, or even the steel and nylon Prometheus pellets.

[@theGreatEnod]

Love your videos, but this is an unrealistic test. I say this as someone who shot a 12ftlb crosman 766 back in the 80s with steel BBs. They don't deform and essentially bounce right back at you almost on the same trajectory as they lose very little energy and yes you need safety goggles (I was 15 when I tried this and yes it is not fun getting hit in the face from a bb ricochet). Highly doubtful that lead free pellets have the same ability due to their shape. They'd more likely fly off at an angle. Try shooting at a metal target with a co2 pistol using BBs and then lead free pellets and you'll see what I mean (there's a video suggestion!)

[@heathhalfhill6401]

The Crosman .177 cal 766 was a great pump up air rifle. My buddy had one back then too and broke the stock off of it by accident. He sold it for 10$ to a guy and has regretted it since. I showed him a re-painted Crosman .177 cal 2100B and he thought it was the 766 and offered me 100$ for it. Of course I said no. K-Mart at the time sold them for 70$ and he went out and bought 1 immediately. I have only had to rebuild it once for him in 20 years. That’s pretty good for a pump gun from Crosman. Now he wants my .22 cal Daisy 822…he will be waiting a long time before I get rid of it! Ha ha ha. He found a 2200 nickel finish receiver .22 cal Crosman though so now I’m a little jealous.😏😂

[@LowkeyAirgunner]

Well... Considering that safety glasses are supposed to stop ricochet and not actual projectiles they did surprisingly well 💯😁

[@Ryan.90]

Well shooting, the main danger is ricochets but vast majority of generic safety specs like those in the video are worn by blokes in workshops. Still massively surprise, my money would have been on a hit like that at 15 or even 25 yards going straight through! That's some tough plastic.....

[@CarlMitchell-oy3ly]

A very interesting video, I enjoyed it and the only thing that might have made a difference is a clay nose / centred support as I’m sure the flexibility of the glasses took some of the impact energy away. But very impressive 😊

[@brehme1971]

I would even think that his, better (more expensive) glasses would perform less because of the single lenses. I think the lenses would come out of the frame due to the impact force while the “cheap” one has a bigger surface to disperce the energy. So I say, test your own shades 😅😅

[@JaceBell]

This is a very interesting experiment!

[@colgoldson2139]

What about a test with some normal prescription glasses , as a comparison?

[@andybrown8293]

Tried a sample pack of lead free and the back stop at 30 yards was a table tennis table with lots of lead pellet marks on it but the lead free nearly drilled through the table.

[@AshleyVanDerSchouw-rr6sq]

Someone has already said this but 30 years ago we tested some safety glasses with a paintball gun, then a springer air rifle at about 8ft and same results as you got so then we tried a shotgun 😂 The glasses broke in half with the sheer blunt force but the lenses were pebbledashed with dimples.

[@peterwright9546]

This is a good advert for screw fix ,have you thought about showing them how good they are.

[@davidcrane5984]

Hi. What are the glasses you use for shooting please?

[@darkstardavros]

I wouldn't actually call this video a fail really. As it shows the importance of wearing safety glasses when shooting. Especially at close range. I own a crossman classic air pistol and I do like to try out various types of pellets. Lead free and lead. I've also done some experiments with alternatives to the standard pellet. One such experiment was to try using the inner part of those multi colour pencils or crayons. The ones where you pop out the point and put it in the back to push out the next colour. The results were quite surprising. But yea. Getting back to the ricoche of pellets. I have found the full metal ones will bounce back way more than the lead pellets at close range. Although the metal plastic combos don't seem to be as bad. As for the crayon idea. They seemed to work perfectly. Nothing in the way of ricochet at all surprisingly. Although I can hear jaws hitting the deck going You did what!!? Lol

[@ToyTime-wl3zu]

🚩 You should wear a pair of the Safety glasses while conducting the ricochet test!

[@MrAvant123]

I worry with lead free ammo that the hardness of them causes higher friction as the pellet cuts into the rifling, whereas the lead pellet deforms easily into the lands ???

[@lesrush6298]

Try with 2.2 jsb heavy and lead free equivalent

[@rolandkeys8297]

I think this is a fascinating experiment, but now irreverent a bit as Leaded pellets are no longer going to be band unless the range that you shoot at specifics lead free I would look a safety glasses that have a separate lens as the lens may fall out

[@markhomer5704]

Very interesting video ... got me thinking though , ( from a NON ricochet point of view ) how much a " pointed " pellet would have , seen as the sharp point would ( possibly ) impact at a more precisely .. something like a ... QYS pointed Polymag ( jsb ) Metalmag ( think they are jsb ) Hornet ( H&N )

[@tillysgunstocks]

Loads of people have asked about the h&n hornets... I've got a few spare here 🤔

[@phillkirby]

Im pleased they scraped the idea of lead free for air guns

[@meteor177]

When you think what is flying about in a Engineering workshop safety glasses have to be able to stop anything up to a high standard .a angle grinder spinning at what they do anything coming off is shifting

[@hotchihuahua1546]

You should contact the safety glass manufacturer and see if they will compensate you for testing their product .

[@captainchaos3053]

That is a seriously clumsy looking rifle? What is it and is it heavy?

[@markdunbar8219]

Would you recommend 177 for pest control also what rifle would you recommend? Great vid very interesting on my way to watch your others 😁👍🏻

[@tillysgunstocks]

Thanks for watching 😉 In sub12 I'd always suggest .177. It's a little more forgiving with range estimation. Depending on the style of rifle you are after, something like an AA s510 or daystate regal/derivatives are well regarded and known decent platforms.

[@markdunbar8219]

Thanks for the rapid response 👍🏻 I’ll look into your recommendations 😁

[@markdunbar8219]

@@aircooled352 unfortunately I don’t have a fac license….are they good enough in 12ftlb ? Thanks for the info 👍🏻

[@chrisgreenwood271]

​@@markdunbar8219They are top notch.

[@markdunbar8219]

@@chrisgreenwood271 thanks Chris 👍🏻

[@50caliber29]

Great video as usual & reassuring proof that eye protection is sensible, especially when you see the impact the non-lead put in the glasses. Just imagine what that would do to an exposed eye. I am a bit confused though. The video is about eye protection & the safety it offers. You show us the glasses you use & explain how dangerous ricochets can be (competition targets set up to avoid etc. Then you proceed to shoot a high potential ricoshet target at 15yds with no eye protection. Do you wear eye protection when shooting competition? Not trying to catch you out or anything, genuine question because straight back at the shooter ricochets do happen & I was a bit confused as the video is about eye protection effectiveness but you weren't wearing any.

[@tillysgunstocks]

To be fair I'm way too complacent at times myself. Especially when filming. The glasses wernt flinging them back with any real danger at the longer ranges ,however the shorter shots I wasn't entirely comfortable so did stick a pair on. I'd not entertain shooting steel targets with pb free unless it really came to it. Around the various farm buildings and machinery and general farm junk I'll wear specs, especially when using the nv gear, even with lead ammo. It didn't go the way I expected, but ended up being quite reassuring in the end.😉

[@ToyTime-wl3zu]

Nice rifle with cool stock ... please describe

[@jasonyates9552]

You need to try hn spikes and hn hornet believe you me thay will go through them

[@stephenwallace2423]

On the subject of lead free pellets, you recently removed the choke from one of your barrels. Did you notice any change in performance with lead free pellets when moving from choked to unchoked? Cheers!

[@tillysgunstocks]

I've been playing. There's some quite odd things going on. It'll be the subject of a video in the future 😉

[@stephenwallace2423]

Excellent. Very interested to see if there is a 'simple' solution to improving the performance of lead free pellets. Your pellet testing is some of the best I've seen. Thanks!

[@ianbishop5951]

Impressive protection from cheap safety glasses

[@JimEdmiston]

Any comments on barrel wear & tear?

[@tillysgunstocks]

I don't think many of us have used the on free for long enough to really see any barrel wear,but I can't imagine they would be great longer term. One of the barrels in the 9015 went right off after using them .took a ton of cleaning before it came back on with lead pellets.😉

[@nickwebb9290]

Huge respect with this video 🙏 what a result That lead free pellet that caused a slight mark in the clay makes me think it might have been due to air pressure behind the lens ?

[@ruzziasht349]

David Brent is that you?

[@sirdamianmental]

Safety specs stop my 29 ft lb jsb 16g at 920 FPS every time (lead)

[@Jib230181]

So what will the lead free pellet do to the barrel as lead pellets basically lubricants the barrel doesn’t it so will the lead free do the same? Still think lead is the best purely because 1 it lubes the barrel and 2 they disintegrated on impact and don’t ricocheted. I do think the whole thing is daft trying to band us people who use air rifles using pellets considering it’s not really target shooters or air rifle vermin hunters that’s causing the problem it’s usually shotguns are the problem as one shell spreads like 500 lead pellets all over the shop at a time maybe they should change the pellets inside the shells. Swear I read somewhere it’s like 90% it’s shotgun shells that’s causing the most problem with lead pellets being everywhere not us air rifle target and vermin shooters. I could be mistaken but read it somewhere oh no it wasn’t it was a video on KZbin channel AAA Arms or something and he talks about it and shows you the stats etc. Those lead free look dodgy to me especially for target shooters.

[@DrAgan_tortojed]

H&N Hornet would've gone through, from 15 yards. And the Predator Metalmag, too...

[@davidbilbrough3726]

I know you are doing the tests so we don't have to. But there is no reason to believe that lead will be banned for target shooting, ve

[@darreno9874]

It's not much good testing safety glasses at close range if your not wearing your pair in front of your eyes instead of protecting your hat. Other that that great video, I used promethious pellets in the 1990s and their ability to ricochet was well known.

[@Hey_Steve]

How come you guys use such low power air guns when there are so many 30+ ft lb offerings?

[@tillysgunstocks]

In England, we can have sub12 air rifles and sub6ftlb pistols without any real restrictions. Just some sensible storage rules for keeping them away from youngsters. It's pretty straight forward to apply for a firearms certificate for high power air or live round stuff. But you need the space mostly.. Most my shooting is on small farms at closer ranges and for that sub12 is just fine. Also nowdays on an international level for hft and ft. It's pretty much all shot at sub12 for a level playing field. It's very challenging at sub12 compared the high power levels but also perfectly humane for short range pest control on our usual quarry. Honestly if they upped the power limit to 30ftlb say. I'd have one for long range target work,but if never replace the sub12s for most my shooting 😉

[@PeterMaddison2483]

@@tillysgunstocks Or a simpler answer would have been... Because 'Government'

[@matthewbean4287]

No sub will go through I rember shooting lenses from shooting glasses wouldn't go through

[@mrln247]

Polycarbonate is really impressive stuff.

[@tillysgunstocks]

Yes mate it sure is.. I was really surprised how well it handled multiple shots in largely the same spots too. Maybe the next one will be to see how the fac stuff fares🤔

[@mrln247]

@@tillysgunstocks .17 HMR would be interesting

[@zdenekoldrichmarek2867]

4 X'S YO STATE THAT YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW, Read on the glasses there will be some info as to their resistance to projectiles ?DAAA !

[@mrengland6325]

n1 bud thnx

[@donpeer4477]

You're shooting a hard surface and getting ricochet, yet you're NOT wearing your eye protection! 🤨

[@edhouse4826]

Meanwhile he's not wearing glasses and shooting hard plastic.

[@tillysgunstocks]

The polycarbonate is absorbing the impact energy very well, there was no risk at the longer ranges atall. Just the shorter ones I thought best to be safe than sorry. Even at the shortest ranges the ricochets barely came back past the GoPro. Hence why I left that bit in,where the tripod got pinged.😉

[@grayboy9133]

Conspiracy theory Government first phase Total ban on lead pellets Second phase Sub 12fib air guns will need a licence As they are now more dangerous. Third phase Most won’t meet the new criteria for a licence. All sub 12flb air guns removed from non licence holders. Just a thought.

[@Relaxbadkneeadventures]

👍😉

[@garryadams67]

Just shows how good the British Standards are. Lesson... buy genuine BS safety standard 'bins' don't buy cheap Chinese clones. As you said the Screw fix ones are cheap as chips and more importantly they are safe. If I shoot lead free I shoot into a box stuffed (and I mean rammed) full of rags with a concrete back stop. This stops all chances of ricochets. This is ok for targets but knockdown are a different matter. Would be good to try a test showing how far lead free will ricochet using steel knockdowns and steel plates. Interesting video bud 😎👍

[@richardneave1222]

It’s an EU standard EN166:2001 these particular specs are the low impact rated specification of the standard. If you were in most workshops this would be absolutely fine to use, but if using things like angle grinders then I’d always recommend the higher impact rated ones. They are usually quite a bit more expensive, but literally can save you life.

[@Maddpadd]

Conducts test to see how dangerous lead free pellets are through ricochets, Shoots at safety glasses & the pellets are clearly bouncing off, own safety glasses sitting on hat brim most of video.

[@samslo4321]

yOU KNOW STEEL PELLETS WILL RIP YOUR BARREL APART

[@redprince3158]

What did you expect from a sub 12 ft air rifle 😀

[@beardymcbeardface69]

Son of a Diddley!

[@dicksplatts007]

Did a video testing safety glasses while wearing a set on his head and not actually on his eyes to protect from ricochets 😂🤦‍♂️

[@tillysgunstocks]

Fun fact.. the polycarbonate absorbs a load of the impact energy . The pellets barely came back past the GoPro. Only at the closest ranges did it feel a bit dodgy. I left in the one that pinged back and hit the tripod. That was only around 20cm away from the target. Amazing stuff that polycarb...😉

[@Bigwingrider1800]

turn the glasses around . your losing energy from the clay..

[@ToyTime-wl3zu]

Red Rifle❣️

[@F4Insight-uq6nt]

Agenda Noted.

[@MDM1992]

"How dangerous are lead free pellets".. if you're a rifled barrel, fucking devastating. Lol

[@Elijah_Dove]

Could try using a real rifle?