AEA Pellets and Speed versus JSB, etc.

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CanMike

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Aug 7, 2024
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Im curious now that these have been out if there is a consensus on good target speed. Traditional thinking from what i have seen is that pellets should be fired 880-890-900 speed(ish) This makes sense as past Mach 0.8 you run into stability and drag issues and with a projectile that is drag stabilized this makes sense..

Well now AEA came out with their pellets and they don't look fundamentally different. There are differences of course but they aren't like slug versus pellet difference. Now with these AEA pellets we'v seen remarkable accuracy at 1000FPS and I think there is even a video of 30 cal Challenger slinging them at 1100 FPS with close to MOA accuracy at 100yards.

So I guess my question to all you guys that are much smarter then me, whats changed. Were we wrong with the 890ish guidance or have AEA found som kind of secret source.. I know the pellets are a bit harder but not sure how that would explain being able to go faster.

Mike
 
First, pellets have never been drag stabilized. I tried to explain the aerodynamic stability of pellets in this thread. https://www.airgunnation.com/threads/aerodynamic-stability-of-pellets.1276895/

As for pellet speed for best group sizes, it will depend on how well the pellet is launched by the gun and how well it deals with the inevitable launch errors. The larger the pellet calibre, the better it will tend to deal with higher speeds, as it will slow down at a slower rate compared to smaller calibres and avoid some of the problems building up.

Pellets with a more forward centre of gravity and a longer tail section will have a longer distance between the centre of gravity and the centre of pressure, which will give larger aerodynamic stabilizing moments. It is also possible that the parallel section just behind the pellet head will increase the angle of the flare and move the aerodynamic centre further back, improving the aerodynamic stability more and enabling higher speeds to be used. Don't forget, on videos you are only likely to see the successful shots.

The main problem with using higher speeds is the increase in down wind drift. This is caused by the inevitable increase in the drag coefficient, which comes with the basic pellet shape. Particularly at longer ranges, wind variability and the resulting drift variability will be the number one problem. Again, the larger the calibre, the better the pellets will perform.

Pellet hardness may affect the launch of the pellet from the gun and thus the errors given to the pellet.
 
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My .30 RAW isn't tuned to those speeds, but i can say it shot 45gr JSBs very well at 73FPE. The AEA 45's didn't come to life until I pushed the power up to 80-95FPE (I didn't push further because I was just playing with hammer spring adjustment). Anyway they seem to like to go fast.

The outer profiles seem very similar but the AEA has a thinner skirt and that can make a huge difference for reasons Miles already outlined. Differences in the thickness of the skirt and depth of the skirt pocket make major changes in stability.
 
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Ballisticboy said:
First, pellets have never been drag stabilized. I tried to explain the aerodynamic stability of pellets in this thread. https://www.airgunnation.com/threads/aerodynamic-stability-of-pellets.1276895/

As for pellet speed for best group sizes, it will depend on how well the pellet is launched by the gun and how well it deals with the inevitable launch errors. The larger the pellet calibre, the better it will tend to deal with higher speeds, as it will slow down at a slower rate compared to smaller calibres and avoid some of the problems building up.

Pellets with a more forward centre of gravity and a longer tail section will have a longer distance between the centre of gravity and the centre of pressure, which will give larger aerodynamic stabilizing moments. It is also possible that the parallel section just behind the pellet head will increase the angle of the flare and move the aerodynamic centre further back, improving the aerodynamic stability more and enabling higher speeds to be used. Don't forget, on videos you are only likely to see the successful shots.

The main problem with using higher speeds is the increase in down wind drift. This is caused by the inevitable increase in the drag coefficient, which comes with the basic pellet shape. Particularly at longer ranges, wind variability and the resulting drift variability will be the number one problem. Again, the larger the calibre, the better the pellets will perform.

Pellet hardness may affect the launch of the pellet from the gun and thus the errors given to the pellet.
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Thanks for the info. I read the whole linked thread. Was very informative.
 
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