I don't think the OP said where in the window the hole was (apologies to them if they did!), so I was assuming that for it to be possible there was a sill not too far out of shot.
Which was ambiguous, as he could have been meaning air guns or 'conventional' cartridge guns - so I answered each in turn.
Most people firing an airgun intending to break a window do so from more or less head on, but here the pattern of the damage shows that this was something of a glancing impact, from below and to the right of the window as one looks out of it, and I think that is probably sufficient to explain why the damage looks different from what most people have experienced.
Well, if the round was .170 and the air-rifle .177, it certainly wouldn't have the full force of the correct pellet for the gun. That could also explain the damage, but it doesn't alter the fact that it was a glancing impact and most of the other suggestions - conventional air-gun pellet, small stone or ball-bearing from a catapult - are more likely.
Dunno, in my time with such things, Teflon hadn't been invented.
Do you happen to have a table of glass impact damage caused by various calibres and at various ranges? If the answer is no, then can we surmise that you're making this up?
Not that I know of, but US handloaders have produced some weird wildcat cartridges. .17 WMR, that someone mentioned, or .17 HMR are made commercially.
.177 airguns with the CI effect are very naughty and I'm sure no-one would intentionally do such a thing.
I googled conchoidal glass fractures and found some air gun forum. The view was that a lead pellet usually won't do it because it flattens; a point impact is necessary. A steel BB pellet will do it, ITHO.
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