I have been using AA Field Heavy 10.3 grain in 4.52mm for about 9 months now. They have generally functioned well for me. But, they seem to do better sorted by weight. I typically buy 4 tins of 500 at a time. I sort to 1/10th of a grain.
However, the last batch or two I received have been less consistent it seems. While weights have been pretty typical, the variation seems to be with head size. They seem more variable and fit looser. I suspected some of this is contributing to performance inconsistency.
Today I set up at my usual 50-yards using a 1 inch bull with 1/2 inch "X" ring for testing. All pellets were from AA Field Heavy 10.3 grain in 4.52mm lots. I weight sort to 1/10th grain. I used a batch sorted to 10.3 grain and another sorted to 10.5 grain. The 10.3 was from a recent lot, the 10.5 from an older lot.
I shot six 5-shot groups each with the 10.3 batch and then the 10.5 batch. The 10.3 were much looser fitting and had variation in fit. The 10.5 were relatively tight fitting and appeared more consistent.
The batch the 10.3 were, according to my pellet sizer, not 4.52mm for the most part but closer to 4.50 or 4.51 in general. I did not check the older 10.5 batch as they were tight fitting already.
The results suggest that weight sorting to 1/10th grain makes a difference with my rig. This was noted by seeing the 10.3 batch consistently shoot higher than the 10.5 batch.
The results also suggested there was greater variation in group size with the 10.3 batch than the 10.5 batch. There were several extreme flyers with the 10.3 batch. The 10.5 batch typically saw smaller groups with less variation for the 10.5 batch.
I am not sure if there has been some changes with production or if it is just the luck of the draw.
However, the last batch or two I received have been less consistent it seems. While weights have been pretty typical, the variation seems to be with head size. They seem more variable and fit looser. I suspected some of this is contributing to performance inconsistency.
Today I set up at my usual 50-yards using a 1 inch bull with 1/2 inch "X" ring for testing. All pellets were from AA Field Heavy 10.3 grain in 4.52mm lots. I weight sort to 1/10th grain. I used a batch sorted to 10.3 grain and another sorted to 10.5 grain. The 10.3 was from a recent lot, the 10.5 from an older lot.
I shot six 5-shot groups each with the 10.3 batch and then the 10.5 batch. The 10.3 were much looser fitting and had variation in fit. The 10.5 were relatively tight fitting and appeared more consistent.
The batch the 10.3 were, according to my pellet sizer, not 4.52mm for the most part but closer to 4.50 or 4.51 in general. I did not check the older 10.5 batch as they were tight fitting already.
The results suggest that weight sorting to 1/10th grain makes a difference with my rig. This was noted by seeing the 10.3 batch consistently shoot higher than the 10.5 batch.
The results also suggested there was greater variation in group size with the 10.3 batch than the 10.5 batch. There were several extreme flyers with the 10.3 batch. The 10.5 batch typically saw smaller groups with less variation for the 10.5 batch.
I am not sure if there has been some changes with production or if it is just the luck of the draw.
