Best and Worst Cheap Pellets

[bustachip]

Whatever spices up your egg roll! I wouldn't care if they were marketed by the Sinaloa Cartel if they shot well in my rifle.

There are no communist pellets. Only communist governments.

I was having trouble with my HW95 a few days ago. Couldn't hit a thing. I figured I'd scrambled another scope. I took it out and put it on paper. 30 shots 30 yards off a camera tripod. H&N FTT's.

View attachment 492320

I chronographed every shot. I am getting lots of variance in velocity. The low shot only 609 fps. The left shot was a rogue gust of wind. The rest were all over the map from 640-609. I think I'm having seal/spring issues again. Still the pellets fly pretty close together. And the scope seems to be holding zero....

....the pellets couldn't be too lopsided.

You break barrel guys with all the problems..lol.
Breech lock up isn't locking up, pellet getting clipped when closing the barrel, piston seals disintegrating into powder, breech seals squashed beyond sealing, then with the scope scrambling...lol. I don't know ya do it, makes me want to go shoot a under lever.

 

[Bedrock Bob]

You break barrel guys with all the problems..lol.
Breech lock up isn't locking up, pellet getting clipped when closing the barrel, piston seals disintegrating into powder, breech seals squashed beyond sealing, then with the scope scrambling...lol. I don't know ya do it, makes me want to go shoot a under lever.

It's a special kind of jackass that enjoys shooting springers for sure. You learn a lot from them though. They are as much a teaching tool as a shooting iron.

When you get them right you learn to enjoy it. It won't last. And then you get to work on them some more. It's nature's way.

 

[bustachip]

It's a special kind of jackass that enjoys shooting springers for sure. You learn a lot from them though. They are as much a teaching tool as a shooting iron.

When you get them right you learn to enjoy it. It won't last. And then you get to work on them some more. It's nature's way.

Especially if it's a factory gun packed with axle grease in front of the disintegrating piston seal.
I struggled with mine in the beginning, but after much work and refinement and new lubes and welding everything secure, they shoot pretty good this week..lol.

 

[Firewalker]

It's all dependent on your gun. My Notos and my Airacuda Max do not like CPHP. When I "cheez out" on price H&N is what I usually buy. The 2 dollar difference is meager and they shoot pretty well.

Interesting....

 

[Firewalker]

...I think this is the future of airgun ammo. Cast projectiles just don't fill the bill at today's PCP speeds and ranges....

My Elmer Kieth 158gr SWC .35 do 2 MOA at 200y out of my AEA Big 9mm. No issues with cast.

 

[Bedrock Bob]

My Elmer Kieth 158gr SWC .35 do 2 MOA at 200y out of my AEA Big 9mm. No issues with cast.

Are you saying with a better bullet your air rifle wouldn't shoot a better pattern at 200 yards?

My 30-06 will do 2 MOA at 200 yards with a cast bullet too. But with a Berger VLD it will do under .5 MOA all the way to 500. And I can push it at velocities unheard of with a cast projectile.

So there is the difference....

 

[Firewalker]

Are you saying with a better bullet your rifle wouldn't shoot a better pattern at 200 yards?

My 30-06 will do 2 MOA at 200 yards with a cast bullet too. But with a Berger VLD it will do under .5 MOA all the way to 500. And I can push it at velocities unheard of with a cast projectile.

So there is the difference....

Your not going to get jacketed VLD's through airguns.

 

[Bedrock Bob]

Your not going to get jacketed VLD's through airguns.

You are correct. But thats not the point. The point is a better balanced bullet flies farther before it looses stability.

You CAN shoot a cold drawn plated slug in an air rifle. It will have much better accuracy than a cast lead slug. And you can push them much faster before leading becomes a problem.

Thus my opinion that cold drawn plated projectiles are the future of PCP ammo. They would be more accurate than cast projectiles and allow an increase in velocity.

 

[Just Zack 2]

You are correct. But thats not the point. The point is a better balanced bullet flies farther before it looses stability.

You can shoot a cold drawn plated slug in an air rifle. And it will have much better accuracy than a cast lead slug. Even YOUR cast lead slugs. And you can push them much faster before leading becomes a problem.

Thus my opinion that cold drawn plated projectiles are the future of PCP ammo.

Respectfully, any airgun projectile with reasonably decent BC would be hard pressed to shoot fast enough to make plating worthwhile (in my opinion, they would be very costly). Also, the pressure just isn't there to drive them fast enough to reap benefits. Now, I'm not the most experienced when it comes to air and high velocity but have dabbled a bit pushing 15gr slugs as fast as my (cheap) equipment allows, Lol. On windless days 1050-1060fps was doable having decent accuracy to 100 yards, but if any breeze... best to back velocities down to 900-ish fps or they'll drift off target too much. I know these aren't big projectiles and for optimal results best kept within 80 yards... I'm not certain how fast folks are shooting big lead on air these days but don't imagine too much different from my little .177.... Now if we could shoot 2500+ fps on air I would agree 1000%
...I probably wouldn't want to stand too close to any pressure vessel holding that much pressure though

To reduce leading... Good old fashion Johnson's paste wax applied to a clean bore (like CLEAN clean) seems to be a better (more efficient) route than messing about lubing pellets or wanting plated projectiles. To each their own, I won't knock what others do, especially if it works.

...Weren't y'all supposed to be talking about cheap pellets?

Question, how does one define a "cheap pellet"? ...$.01, $.02, $.03 per pellet? Sub $.01?

 

[Bedrock Bob]

Respectfully, any airgun projectile with reasonably decent BC would be hard pressed to shoot fast enough to make plating worthwhile (in my opinion, they would be very costly). Also, the pressure just isn't there to drive them fast enough to reap benefits. Now, I'm not the most experienced when it comes to air and high velocity but have dabbled a bit pushing 15gr slugs as fast as my (cheap) equipment allows, Lol. On windless days 1050-1060fps was doable having decent accuracy to 100 yards, but if any breeze... best to back velocities down to 900-ish fps or they'll drift off target too much. I know these aren't big projectiles and for optimal results best kept within 80 yards... I'm not certain how fast folks are shooting big lead on air these days but don't imagine too much different from my little .177.... Now if we could shoot 2500+ fps on air I would agree 1000%
...I probably wouldn't want to stand too close to any pressure vessel holding that much pressure though

To reduce leading... Good old fashion Johnson's paste wax applied to a clean bore (like CLEAN clean) seems to be a better (more efficient) route than messing about lubing pellets or wanting plated projectiles. To each their own, I won't knock what others do, especially if it works.

...Weren't y'all supposed to be talking about cheap pellets?

Question, how does one define a "cheap pellet"? ...$.01, $.02, $.03 per pellet? Sub $.01?

Ablative friction causes leading. That happens about 1000 fps. Pressure has little to do with it.

Breaking up the bearing surface, lube and using pure soft lead helps. Still there is a speed limit.

Cold swaged lead projectiles are more stable than cast and will shoot accurately over greater distance. Plated bullets allow greater velocity before ablation.

As firearms developed speed and range they learned this. As PCP's get faster and shoot farther so will they.

 

[Florida_Man]

I just started with Apolo 16gr domes and they seem about on par with crosman premier domes.

 

[Florida_Man]

So the Apolo 16gr have been a pleasant surprise. At my standard pesting range of 15.5yd they stack a 1/4” bull at full TP and 2nd lowest TP.
It did take a lot to get them clean, they are the dirtiest pellet I ever encountered. They required a degrease wash, tumble, light soap wash, tumble. My first tumble is used a white microfiber and I got large flakes of lead, and a significant about of lead dust wipe on the towel.
With FX 15.9gr for 12 bucks at UAG it really isn’t worth all the extra labor to get them to a state I will shoot them from my rifles.

 

[Bedrock Bob]

How about a rotary or vibratory tumbler?

I polish everything from jewelry to rocks with them. It seems a few drops of soap and a little vinegar in small ceramic media you could put a mirror finish on a pellet....

 

[Sawney Bean]

Well, I just ordered 12 Norma Golden Trophy Multipacks in .177 for a total of 16,800 pellets. At $11.99 per multipack of 1400 pellets, plus the 4th tin free deal, plus the 11% off for Labor Day, that came to $0.0057 per pellet. Just over half a penny per shot.

They sure were cheap and I sure hope they're good because I'm going to have a $#&! ton of 'em.

 

[TN_Yankee]

Well, I just ordered 12 Norma Golden Trophy Multipacks

From whom?

 

[Sawney Bean]

From whom?

Pyramyd. Click on .177 Normas and then select the multipack.

 

[TN_Yankee]

Thanks. I noticed not too many places are selling Norma pellets any more.

 

[Sawney Bean]

Thanks. I noticed not too many places are selling Norma pellets any more.

After I placed the order I noticed they also have a .22 multipack for the same price. Wish I’d seen that earlier. I almost always order just one kind of pellet at a time so as to maximize the discount as the free tin you get is always of the cheapest variety that you ordered. If they’re at the same price however then it makes no difference.

Anyway, the .22 multipacks are $11.99 for 850, so with all the discounts it works out to about $0.009 per pellet. Not as cheap as .177, but still a darn good deal.