Page 2 - Beeman Silver Bear, .22 Reviews

I like the lighter weight of these pellets.

Larger tins.

Light enough to come sizzling out of the barrel, but heavy enough to still retain good shooting characteristics.

Great design. Dead on at 35 yards. Best pellet I have used in my Remington .22 Nitro.

More pellets in the can...

Very similar in accuracy as H&N wad cutters but with the small hollow point.

An OK pellet for underpowered guns. It gives adequate accuracy and expansion at close range.

Weight and velocity vary* too much for long range accuracy, besides which it doesn't have the ballistic efficiency of longer, heavier domed rounds. At 780 fps, the standard deviation is 12.6 fps, relatively high for precision pellets.

Silver Bears turn themselves inside out at close range and give good expansion at longer ranges. However, they are so light they can fail to completely penetrate game animals Since air guns kill by disrupting the central nervous system or by causing hemorage, it is important to go through as much tissue as possible to increase bleeding. If you have a full-power gun and want hollowpoint terminal performance, consider RWS or HN.

very accurate, uniform in shape and size, shoots very well in my benjamin trail. will shoot in the same hole as h&n 12.65 hp. visually cannot tell the difference.

a lid that stays on the can.

if you have a benjamin trail, get some!!!

Well formed and consistent.

Make them more aerodynamic and longer ranged.

Silver Bear pellets are much lighter than Crow Magnums in .20 cal, but about the same weight as the Crow magnum in .25 cal. Haven't tried them in .22 cal yet. In .25 cal they are more accurate than Crow Magnums beyond 35 yards in my BSA Lonestar which is a magnum PCP. In .20 cal in a PCP they are for short range work as the Crow Magnum works better at longer ranges due to the heavier weight. In .20 cal they are good for use inside buildings due to the light weight and limited penetration. In either case, if you want to hit hard at long range, better go with a Baracuda or Kodiak. Hollowpoint pellets are best inside 40 yards even from a magnum PCP rifle. Silver Bears, just like Crow Magnums, will hit lower at long range compared to Kodiaks or Baracudas due to the velocity loss, in spite of their higher initial velocity. That also means less energy into the target, and no expansion will result at that range anyway. Use the Silver Bear for a short range pellet, and you will be OK. Works best in .25 cal for me.

The guys who wrote about this pellet were right--it's perfect for light duty springers. My Weihrauch HW 50S loves them.

Make the tin easier to open by getting rid of that seal.

For a relatively light pellet, the SB's quite accurate for their price range. One of my favorite pellets for hunting/plinking/target shooting. In calm weather, they retain much of their energy and accuracy out to 30 plus yards with moderate to sub-magnum rifles.

More pellets to the tin in the .22 cal line. Perhaps a screw on lid!!

To me, these pellets are a bit light for use in some of my stronger rifles. But all guns fire/respond differently to different pellets, and I wouldn't over look these at all if you're looking for "the" pellet to use in your gun!!

Seem reasonably accurate with Daisy 22sg

Sharp shoulder on pellet makes these very hard to load in Daisy 22SG

HIt's hard and FAST. Great for Rabbits. With other pellets (At 45 -50 yrds!!) most rabbits hear the RSW 350 Magnum before the pellet hits. Not with the Silver Bear. Pull the trigger, hit the head, and they'll drop dead.

good consistency of shape, few damaged skirts

for a "baseline" pellet, lower the price. and please PLEASE put a screw on lid on the tin!!!

of the one tin (200 pellets) i've tried in my Beeman RS2 there was only 1 mis-sized pellet, so much so that it literally dropped into the barrel. honestly, for something called a "hollow point", i expected more expansion. shooting into block ice at 20 yards, there seemed to very little expansion, although.... the impact crater was quite impressive.

It's a hollow point

Length, weight, design of hollow point

Not the best choice in hollow points to hunt with. Very small in length, Not the best designed hollow point tip, this pellet would be better off in an air pistol hunting small to very small game or just target practicing. If you have an air pistol that is 400 to 500 fps then these should work out perfect for you since they are very small in length and very lightweight. If you are looking for a great hollow point pellet to hunt big game with or something bigger than a sparrow then go with the Beeman Crow Magnums a much better choice. Out of all the hunting pellets I have I never select these if I do it's usually for target shooting out of my weak Benjamin EB22. I love Beeman pellets but this is one hollow point that left me disappointed, hope this helps those trying to figure out what type of hollow point pellets to hunt with. Remember the lighter the pellet is the worse it is for hunting, always go with the bigger and heavier to drop those varmints.

I submitted a review for this pellet a while back, but now that I've had a chance to really test it, here is some additional info. On impact the head of the .22 Silver Bear flattens out into a large cup. Out of the 10 types of pellets that I tested, the Silver Bear created the 4th largest entry hole, averaging .1645" in diameter (about 76% of the pellets original size, leaving a large clean entry hole with a tiny jagged star edge). But the best part was the impressive expansion that topped the charts at 26%. In spite of having the best expansion of any pellet that I tested, it only created a medium sized exit hole (clean oval shaped hole), about .3325"x .2635" in diameter, which explains the moderate energy transfer to the target (6th best out of 10). One explanation for the moderate energy transfer may be its very small hollow point nose, which acts more of a point. My tests show that the initial impact of the small hollow point actually improves penetration and delays the expansion, thus allowing more over penetration and less energy transfer to the target. In my pellet comparisons, the Silver Bear tied the Crossman Copperhead pointed field pellet for the best overall size consistency (measured the head, skirt & Length of several pellets from each type of pellet tested) which is great for consistent shooting.

Unfortunately the Silver Bear didn't shoot that accurately with my rifle, averaging groups of .7568" c-t-c (best group was .69" c-t-c) at 25 yards. The average price of all the pellets that I tested was $0.035 each, so at $0.041 each, the Silver Bear provides moderate accuracy and average stopping power.

Out of the 10 types of pellets that I tested, the .22 Silver Bear semi hollow point is the shortest (0.239') and the lightest (12.65 gr) making it fast, but maybe not so accurate down range. The other 9 pellets that I tested included the FTS, Silver Sting, Copper Head (pointed), Kodiak, Supper Dome, Crow Magnum, Max Speed Flat-Nosed 7562, Silver Ace, and the Ram Jet. My rifle is a .22 Beeman GS1000 that is rated at 765 FPS by the Mfg.

Good hunting pellet,out to 35 yds.Good expansion

nothing

good general purpose rounds

100% more accurate in my Beeman GS1000 .22 rifle than any other Beeman or Crossman pellet that I've tried. Much tighter groups at 20 yards (1" c-t-c) no problem.

Container does not stay closed. I wish the lid screwed on.

When shot with a higher powered airgun, these hollow point pellets penetrate very well, and they really do open up nicely. Very deadly at 20 yards (I haven't tried them beyond 20 yards). Excellent for hunting squirrels.

Light, fast, consistent. Hollow point hits hard, I use these to hunt birds, squirrels, and rabbits in the back yard and they are deadly at 20~25 yds.

The tin that they come in doesn't stay closed very well. I had to crimp the edge of the lid a bit to produce enough friction to hold it on reliably.

My Crosman 2200 really likes these. They shoot very consistently group tighter than any other pellet I've tried in this gun. Great for lower powered guns like mine!

Light and a work of art each one near perfect.

nothing, good job beeman

works good in my 2250 and Chinese rifles your results may differ.