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Field Target pellet selection

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Regal_US

Member
May 17, 2015
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Damascus, MD, United States
I'd appreciate advice from more experienced shooters about pellet selection for target shooting at 20 ft/lbs (specifically for field target, so range will vary from 10-60 yards). I'm interested in understanding the benefits and trade off between pellet weight and velocity. I'm shooting 0.22 which I know is not ideal, 0.177 being size of choice, but there is still a range of pellet weights available in 0.22; JSBs are available in 13.43, 14.3, 15.89, 18.13 and 25.39 grains (the last would be like lobbing mortar shells at 20 ft/lbs). 

I can range pretty accurately (scope is nicely dialed in). The issues I'm wondering about are: Is slow and heavy better than light and fast for reducing the effects of wind, or vice versa?

Next up: for heavier pellets, the number of clicks, or hold over, required to range at short and long distances, is much greater than for lighter and faster pellets, so which is better in real world: less clicks (allows for more error in range finding for lighter/faster), or more clicks and heavier pellets.

I know volumes have been written about this issue ...
 
First thing would be to pick the most accurate pellet you have out to 55yds. Hopefully it's the 13.4, or 14.3 otherwise the trajectory is going to be an issue if you click. Another tip is to mount the scope as high on the gun as is comfortable. The reason being you will have less holdover/clicks at the far ranges. This helps because with fewer clicks or holdover points means mistakes in ranging aren't as critical. Good luck and good shooting. John
 
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Regal_US,

I'm guessing you're using your Regal .22, and if so at 50 yards the drop difference between JSB 14.3 and 15.9 is less than an 1/8 of an inch and with the 18 grain less than 1/4. With 1/4 MOA turrets, that's only 1 or 2 clicks. (Drop about 1.75" to 2" total at 50 yards)

Now at 100 yards we're talking pretty significant drop and clicks.

(Edit: I just realized you're shooting at significantly less FPS, 20 ft lbs, so you must be using the Wolf on low, and the numbers don't apply)
 
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With a high scope it may help with the long shots, but the holdover on the short ones will be large at 10 yards and will change rapidly with increasing distance. So the hitting of short ones may be less accurate. You can't afford to miss the short ones. With a18 grain pellet,
the muzzle velocity will be about 700 fps, seems slow, but the BC ;of the .22 is alot better than the .177 , try using Chairgun program(available at Hawkeoptics.com ) to run the various options relative to pellet weights and scope height. For example , with a scope height of 2 inches and 700 fps with an 18 grain pellet, you get a holdover of 2.5 mildots at 10 yards and 2 at 55 yards, not a bad range of holdovers. I didn't try clicks because don't know your scope parameters. Chairgun works really well for trying different configurations without wasting a day at the range. Light pellets do shoot flatter in the middle of the ranges but may not be as accurate at 55 and then there is wind. Although heavy pellets may be loopier, as long as you know the range dialing in the POI will let it hit in the right place. I used to zero range at 27-29 yards to make sure I only had holdover, I have changed to a 38 yard zero to have less holdover at 55. But since at 38 yards the trajectory has peaked and is now going down, at 25 yards I have to hold UNDER, but since it ranges well at that range, no big deal. Lots of options for youse. "One test is worth a thousand expert opinions"
 
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Thanks again for all the helpful comments. I spent 9 hours at the range earlier this week, shooting JSB 18 and 16, from 10 to 60 yards. I can dial distance fairly well (my scope is a Sightron SIII 10-50 x 60 FT with 80 clicks per revolution, 1/8 MOA per click). I used a combination of chairgun predictions, and fitting a polynomial function to my clicks versus distance determined from shooting at the range, to make a tape for the elevation turret with interpolated values for short and long distances, where the big changes occur.

Have Chairgun users figured out a way to output a range table with increments smaller than the default 5 yard value (I think this is 10, 15, 20 .... 50, 55, 60 yds etc when I ask for 10-60 yards)? At short and especially at long distances the Chairgun range card is not much use, which is why I resorted to polynomial fits and interpolation - there has to be a better way?

What I learned this week was that wind had a huge effect on both 16 and 18 grain pellets, which lead to my question in the post at the start of this thread: is heavier and slower or light and faster better for reducing effect of cross wind. As my experience grows, I'll get a better feel for this, but its good to hear from people who have been shooting longer than me.

 
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Answering my own question about ChairGun - specifically how to get a range card with more values than the default 5 yard increment - I just found this site which does the same thing as ChairGun, but allows you to set any increment you want. Its a huge improvement over ChairGun's range card, but there are no graphics, reticles, and all the other extras that make ChairGun so nice.

Check it out:

http://www.airguns.net/trajectory.php
 
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"Regal_US"Answering my own question about ChairGun - specifically how to get a range card with more values than the default 5 yard increment - I just found this site which does the same thing as ChairGun, but allows you to set any increment you want. Its a huge improvement over ChairGun's range card, but there are no graphics, reticles, and all the other extras that make ChairGun so nice.

Check it out:

http://www.airguns.net/trajectory.php
Click to expand...
For ChairGun:
Right click on the "Ballistics Table".
At the bottom of the pop-up menu, mouse over "Show every (Yard)... >"
Pick "1" from the sub-menu.
 
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