i need to buy a caliper again. I’m going to start pellet testing barrels by head diameter to look for trends. Today I shot JSB exacts all over the place. It was ugly. The tin claims 4.5 but everywhere I find online claims they’re 4.52. Then my JSB RS were tight which I have in a custom tin so I have no idea. Besides weight there is a supposed .02 diameter difference? My FTTs at 4.50 we’re spot on.
I think I might buy HN FTTs in 4.5 4.51 and 4.52.
Has anyone noticed any trends? Barrel brand or twist rate favoring a certain pellet? I’m sure it’s all specific to the exact set up you’re using. But I’ve always found JSB RS pellets to shoot good in everything I’ve had 177 and 22.
Also what’s everyone’s method on getting the same seating depth on springers every time? I used to have a little homemade device. Today I had to use an Allen wrench...
Try buying a Pelletgage to sort different head sizes and determine which one is best for your rifle.
Have you ever considered lead free? I use Predator GTOs - both domed and wadcutters. I find them to be exceptionally accurate in all my .177 machines. I am not a competition shooter, so I have never mic'ed my ammo. But from the bench rest, I consistently get same hole hits, time after time, from pellets right out of the tins. I've shot thousands of these and never had any problems. The wadcutters are so nicely formed they look machined. Now, I could see the need for extreme vetting of pellets if, for example, you are shooting in the Olympics! ?
If you search Pyramyd, you can find a pellet called Journey. They are exactly the same as the Predator GTO wadcutters but they sell for $0.04/pellet in bulk.
I highly recommend the Pelletgage... bought one last year when I was getting erratic results with my .177 FWB124 after installing a new ProMac kit in it, shooting some Crosman Premier 7.9gr pellets that I had (several boxes stored away)... I weeded out the small head sized ones to select the ones to shoot, and the erraticness disappeared, and the velocity was way more consistent... made me a believer in the device !
I sometimes use a pellet seating tool, depending on the air rifle, but usually just use the my thumb to push the pellet in flush.
I had an old model RWS 45 in .177 that had a slanted breach block, and I found that using a pellet seating tool gave me more consistent shots because the pellet skirt would not seat evenly by thumb... I gave that air rifle to my younger brother, along with a homemade seating tool, and explained why I used it.
@joelongbow Well the older model BIC pens that have a tapered inner tube has been used for sorting out Crosman Premier pellets... not sure if it has been used for other pellets... I found one years ago, and have used it... you can use quite a variety of things to seat pellets in the breech !
@airmojo I have the clear Bic inner tapered tube for measuring pellets. Sadly, is it measuring a skirt or head size. These days, I don't test and just shoot from the tin. Still very pleased. Mike, the Thomas rifle mfg, suggests also just shoot from the tin. He has done extensive testing.
@donc I pretty much just plink and shoot whatever pellets are in a tin... but I did have an issue after I put a new kit in my FWB124 with sporadic shots and velocities while testing it... turned out it was small head sizes on a box of Crosman Premier pellets... so sometimes it's good to have a way of sorting things out.
Something I've been wondering about lately, what about the straightness of the first insertion?
It takes some effort to seat a pellet, and it feels different depending on the head shape.
A dome goes in before hitting resistant, as does an h-point. But a wadcutter hits the chamber right away. If it's a tight fit, especially if space is limited on anything but a break barrel, I probably don't get it absolutely square to the barrel before starting it. Do they deform a little bit? As they straighten out?
I'm not sure I explained that well. But maybe a dome or H-point is inherently better at that initial alignment.
Yes if your not careful you can shear off some lead from a pellet while loading. It doesn't take much to make a pellet a flyer, most pellets are not very heavy and even a small amount of missing lead or a bent skirt will make them a flyer. I have actually put bent skirts in and as most of my guns are PCP's of fairly high power, with mags, I would count the position that the bent skirts were at. And even at short yardages they would not shoot as well. You would think that the high pressure would push the skirt out to the bore and automatically straighten them out, but that is not the case.
