JSB Hades .177 10.34gr Hollow Point

Specifications

Key specs

Why this pellet earns the pick

Most .177 hunting in the PCP world is on rats, squirrels, and small birds — the kind of pest control where you want a clean kill without overpenetration. Hollow points solve this: they expand on impact, dump energy into the target, and stop instead of passing through. The JSB Hades is JSB’s answer to H&N’s hunting hollow points — same Czech precision, same match-grade dies, but with an expanding nose profile.

The 10.34gr weight is the right choice for medium-power .177 PCPs (15-25 ft-lbs). A light 8.44gr pellet at that power level shoots flat but doesn’t always transfer energy efficiently on impact. The heavier Hades trades some flatness for terminal effectiveness — and at hunting ranges (under 35 yards in .177), the trajectory difference doesn’t matter much.

What rifles it pairs with

• Air Venturi Avenger .177 — 22 ft-lb tune is right in Hades’ sweet spot
• Snowpeak Lynx Gen 3 .177 on the high regulator setting — pushes 18+ ft-lbs, matches well
• Higher-power .177 PCPs like the FX Maverick — Hades’ weight pairs better than the light 8.44gr at 25+ ft-lbs
• Skip for low-power springers under 10 ft-lbs — the heavy pellet just shoots a rainbow trajectory at that energy

When to use it / when not to

Use it for: rat and small pest control where you need expansion, squirrel hunting, situations where overpenetration is a concern (urban/suburban, near structures), and barrel break-in where you want to know your hunting pellet shoots before you take it to the field.

Skip it for: paper targets (overpaying for a domed pellet would do better), formal accuracy testing (the hollow point loses BC at distance), or lower-power rifles where 10.34gr is just too heavy for the energy budget.

Honest trade-offs

Heavier means slower means more drop. At 25 yards from a 20 ft-lb .177, you’ll see ~0.5″ more drop with Hades vs JSB Exact 8.44gr. That’s fine when you know your holds — and it’s the price of using a hunting pellet instead of a target pellet.

More expensive per shot than wadcutters or budget domes. Reasonable: hunting is low-volume shooting. You’re not going through 500 of these at the bench; you’re carrying 20 in a tin for a hunting session.

Not the right pellet for paper bullseye competition. The hollow point design gives up some long-range BC compared to a true domed pellet. For dedicated paper, use JSB Match Diabolo Exact 8.44gr.

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