FX Crown MK II .177 Cal Pellet Comparison Test

[ThomasT]

Hello everyone,

I am starting a new series of Pellet Comparison Test for my FX Crown MK II. These test will be a bit more accurate and scientific because of the procedure and equipment that I will be using. However this is still for the fun and learning endeavor and would be glad to receive any comments, suggestions or your results learned from your experience with a FX Crown .177 cal.

To try and eliminate as much of the human factor as possible, I have mounted the rifle in my gun vice which is clamped to a bench rest. All of this is located in my shop to eliminate as much of any interference from any wind. The Target is set up under my carport at a measured 33-feet from the rifle. This is Test-1 and the next test will be at 25-yards and all of the equipment set up will remain the same as above. See photos #2 and #3 of the equipment and set up.

I shot 5-rounds of each of the 13 different Pellets as shown in the attached list ( photo #1 ). I used a straight ruler to measure the center to center distance for the maximum spread for each of the 5-shot rounds. I believe these measurements are close enough for this first round of testing. I looked at both the max spread and the pattern on the paper target, example see photos 5,6,7,8, to determine which Pellets to eliminate from this first round. Photo #4 is all 5 shots in one clean hole which is the JSB Exact Monster 13.43gr Pellet. The balance of the Pellets had no gap in the 5 shots creating one irregular shaped hole. I am both pleased and surprised how well this rifle shoots a variety of Pellets.

As a result from Test-1 I will eliminate Pellets 4, 8, 11, 12, and 13 and will not shoot them in Test-2 at 25-yards. I will post the results here when I complete Test-2.

Be safe and have a great day,
ThomasT

 

[Corvid_hunter]

Thanks for doing this test. Do you season the bore with the next test pellet or just shoot them one after another?

 

[Str8tshooter]

I have a renewed interest in the FX Crown. I really like your testing, and that movable bench wow! I will be rooting for #10. Great info and thread thanks!

 

[Ghostranger169]

Invest in one of these:

https://fxairguns.com/accessories/pocket-chronograph/

or at least one of these:

Competition Electronics ProChrono LTD | Pyramyd AIR

We've got a great price on Competition Electronics ProChrono LTD at Pyramyd AIR. Shop where the experts do!

www.pyramydair.com

 

[elh0102]

Thomas, based on my experience, I'll offer a comment that you may not want to hear. You've got to do a lot more shooting before making any definitive decisions on pellets. I discovered this process years ago when selecting ammo for .22 RF competition, but it holds true with pellets also, and it's labor intensive. Start with a clean bore, fire a certain number of shots with the pellet to be tested, then shoot 5, 5-shot groups. Clean the bore, repeat with the next pellet. And I agree, 25 yards is a good distance. Cleaning between each testing is not as important with pellets as with RF, because you have no primer and powder fouling, and the difference in pellet alloys is probably not that great. But, bores foul at different rates, and you don't want an unacceptable performance to be the result of a fouled bore. Since becoming old and lazy, I have found a way to short cut the process. I shoot nothing but the JSB 10.3 Diablo, and test nothing! I haven't had a .177 that didn't shoot it very well.

 

[ThomasT]

Hello everyone,

OK here is the follow up with the results shooting at a measured 25-yards.
This turned out to be a lot of work and a lot of walking , eight trips out to the Target and back.
See photo #1 the score measured with a digital micrometer, also note under the Comment column a second set of numbers. The second score is the max distance center to center less the farthest hole ( flyer ).
I highlighted the low score in Green for both the combined score and less the flyer.
I highlighted in Blue the Second low scores.
Another surprise, Crosman took first in combined scores and second without the flyer, who would have thunk-it?
One piece of important information not listed but shown in photo #2, is how close ALL the shots were in Test-1 and in Test-2. A Nickle will cover all the holes shot in Test-1 and the same for Test-2.
Now I can shoot more targets using this information to “tune” the rifle to maybe improve the accuracy on several of the eight best Pellets.

I filled the new CARM Mag with 22 Crosman Domed 10.5gr Pellets after I zeroed the scope for this pellet and shot the full Mag at 25-yards on this corner target. As you can see in the photo, a penny will cover all 22 shots. I shot this from my outside Bench off of bags and a Bag Jack. All this messing around is paying off.

Be safe and have a great day,
ThomasT

 

[ThomasT]

Thanks for doing this test. Do you season the bore with the next test pellet or just shoot them one after another?

Hello Corvid_hunter,

Yes, shoot them slowly 5 at a time and then walk out to my target and tape the holes.

ThomasT

 

[ThomasT]

I have a renewed interest in the FX Crown. I really like your testing, and that movable bench wow! I will be rooting for #10. Great info and thread thanks!

Hello Str8tshooter,

I absolutely love this rifle and really enjoy messing around with all these pellet test. I have been shooting #10 ( JSB Exact Monster 13.43 ) and decided to spend some time today "tuning" the Crosman Domed 10.5 and I just posted the results here. I zeroed them in at 25-yards and stacked a whole bunch of pellets . See the latest post.

Thank you and have a great day,
ThomasT

 

[ThomasT]

Invest in one of these:

https://fxairguns.com/accessories/pocket-chronograph/

or at least one of these:

Competition Electronics ProChrono LTD | Pyramyd AIR

We've got a great price on Competition Electronics ProChrono LTD at Pyramyd AIR. Shop where the experts do!

www.pyramydair.com

Hello Ghostranger169:

I have a Chrono.... and will use it when I narrow down to 3 pellets for a final test.

Be safe and have a great day,
ThomasT

 

[ThomasT]

Thomas, based on my experience, I'll offer a comment that you may not want to hear. You've got to do a lot more shooting before making any definitive decisions on pellets. I discovered this process years ago when selecting ammo for .22 RF competition, but it holds true with pellets also, and it's labor intensive. Start with a clean bore, fire a certain number of shots with the pellet to be tested, then shoot 5, 5-shot groups. Clean the bore, repeat with the next pellet. And I agree, 25 yards is a good distance. Cleaning between each testing is not as important with pellets as with RF, because you have no primer and powder fouling, and the difference in pellet alloys is probably not that great. But, bores foul at different rates, and you don't want an unacceptable performance to be the result of a fouled bore. Since becoming old and lazy, I have found a way to short cut the process. I shoot nothing but the JSB 10.3 Diablo, and test nothing! I haven't had a .177 that didn't shoot it very well.

Hello elh102:

This is my fourth series of test with this new rifle. I have posted here on the Forum one other test very close to this series. The other two test were for only 8 different pellets of which some are the same on this test. Kind of re-evaluating some of them.

Yes sir, I start with a clean barrel on all my test. I had removed the barrel yesterday to make an adjustment to the breach opening and I gave it a really good cleaning.

Well I am also old and maybe somewhat lazy but love trying anything and everything new that I can have fun with, and messing with these pellet guns are my pleasure.

Thank you for taking the time to share some very good information.

Have a great day,
ThomasT

 

[ThomasT]

Hello everyone,

This morning I made another series of test but this time I concentrated on just one Pellet, which is the Crosman Domed Ultra Magnum .177 cal. I choose this Pellet from the results gathered from the previous test. Because the Crown is already set at 130 Power level I will use that for this test and then reduce to 120 for the next test and finally 110 for the last test. The variables include changing the Power Setting to all three levels, Low, Medium and High. I have 24 different Hammer Spring settings, 1to 24, but will only use five in conjunction with each of the Power Settings, this is shown on the attached photo of a Chart I created.

I have the rifle set up exactly as it was for the first test, clamped in a gun vice which is also clamped down on my Bench Rest that is located inside my shop. Shooting at a target at a measured 25-yards just outside the carport so well protected from any wind. I have three columns on the chart: first column “5-Shot” will be the measured maximum distance from the 5-shots per round; the second column “4-Shot” will be the 5-shot less the furthest impact ( flyer ); and the last column is an average of the two shots combined. I realize that this is not an all inclusive test because I am only using 5 of the 24 HS settings but I believe it will show an acceptable result. A good example are the numbers shot at Medium / 18 / 130; 5-Shot = .289 and 4-Shot = .1765, these values are very close to the best/lowest shot and highlighted in green and blue. I will experiment with this at a later time but it might be that a HS of 17 or 19 would be the combination that would give the lowest score or equal to the lowest. If that would be the case, then I would tune the rifle to the Medium Power Level to allow more shots per fill and a bit less wear on the rifle.

It should be interesting what the next two test results will show. I know these test are based on using a FX Crown MK II .177 rifle but this should apply equally to all other guns and calibers. Again I am open to any information or suggestions to add to these test and appreciate the comments that I have received. After all I am having a lot of fun and it has helped me tune my rifle a little better .

Be safe and have a great day,
ThomasT

 

[ThomasT]

Hello everyone,

Today I decided to test at the 110 Pressure setting which is the low end for the Pressure settings. The first photo shows the Chart and the results for all the shots and the variables. Much greater extremes from the high score and the low score, which is understandable due to the lower Pressure. The best / low score occurred at Low Power, Hammer Spring at 13, equaled 0.1325 spacing for 5-shots and the 4-shot was 0.109 and on the paper target was a slightly irregular single hole. Just so happens, this was the factory setting on the rifle when I received it. After this test was completed, I adjusted the HS to 12 and shot 5-rounds into one clean hole. The second photo shows the two different paper targets for the 130 and the 110 Pressure setting test and you can see that the 110 was a bit more spread out than the 130.

I hope to shoot the 120 Pressure settings tomorrow and will post the results here.

Be safe and have a great day,
ThomasT

 

[ThomasT]

Hello everyone,

This morning I shot the 120 Pressure setting and attached the photo of the Chart showing the results. Like the 110 and 130 Pressure settings there was a defiant “sweet spot” where the Pellet shot the best; Power High, Hammer Spring 7 resulted with a .207 5-shot, .069 4-shot with an average of 0.138 spread. Again the performance might be improved by adjusting the Hammer either side of the 7 setting. I am really pleased with how well this rifle will shoot various Pellets at different Pressure settings. The second photo is a combined chart showing the results for all three Test. I hope this information will help in some way.

Be safe and have a great day,
ThomasT