By far the most popular shape is the wasp-waisted diabolo pellet, which has two sections – a solid front portion called the "head", which contains the center of mass and is available in a variety of shapes and styles such as flat (wadcutter), round (domed), cone-shaped (pointed) and pitted (hollow point); and a hollowed, thin-walled conical rear portion called the "skirt", which expands and fully engages the bore to provide a good seal and thus allows maximal efficiency in pellet propulsion during shooting. In flight, the skirt has greater drag-to-weight ratio than the head and exerts a rearward pull behind the center of mass, similar to that of a shuttlecock. This produces a phenomenon known as drag stabilization, which helps to counteract yawing and maintain a consistent flight path. However, the diabolo shape also means that the overall pellet will have poor ballistic coefficient and tends to lose energy quickly and be more unstable especially in the transonic region (272–408 m/s ~ 893–1340 ft/s).
By far the most popular shape is the wasp-waisted diabolo pellet which has two sections – a solid front portion called the "head" which contains the center of mass and is available in a variety of shapes and styles such as flat (wadcutter) round (domed) cone-shaped (pointed) and pitted (hollow point); and a hollowed thin-walled conical rear portion called the "skirt" which expands and fully engages the bore to provide a good seal and thus allows maximal efficiency in pellet propulsion during shooting In flight the skirt has greater drag-to-weight ratio than the head and exerts a rearward pull behind the center of mass similar to that of a shuttlecock This produces a phenomenon known as drag stabilization which helps to counteract yawing and maintain a consistent flight path However the diabolo shape also means that the overall pellet will have poor ballistic coefficient and tends to lose energy quickly and be more unstable especially in the transonic region (272–408 m/s ~ 893–1340 ft/s)