Pellets do matter

[Jayare]

So I’ve been trying to achieve consistent groups and found this pellet comparison target very telling, I have been fighting random fliers and can see some of it is defiantly pellet related. Not sure if the heavier pellets are best or the fact that they are “match“ grade.

 

[Jlowe]

Nice post. I have owned several pcp's that would shoot the 22cal H&N Barracuda Match well. They are 5.51 vs. the standards at 5.50.

 

[Jayare]

Thank you.
Yes , I see they are also available in 5.52 which I’m going to try also. Possibly I little more squeeze on the skirt will achieve better consistenc.

 

[dgeesaman]

5.52 should be head size and the skirt will be larger still.

For pellets that sell with a listed head size (5.52, 5.53, etc) I don’t think there is any relation to skirt size.

 

[rsfrid]

Also, the sudden blast of air propelling the pellet tends to expand even damaged skirts. The size stated is head size. I doubt you'll see much difference since the labelled head size is an average. Only way to tell for certain is to sort be head size using a pellet gage.

 

[Jayare]

Ok , thank you for the clarification. I’ll have to get a pellet gauge, kinda tedious using a micrometer.

 

[Simplemann]

Yeah there is definitely a difference in them groupings, is it the match grade or because they are heavier a little more shooting has to be done with some heavier pellets that are not match grade, sorry it has to be done

 

[nervoustrig]

There was a time when I confined my purchases to match grade pellets because no amount of money can buy the confidence that comes from seeing those two words printed on the packaging.

Nowadays I have relaxed my requirements a bit to also accept either exact or extreme precision or other similar unsubstantiated marketing claim.

 

[Centercut]

There was a time when I confined my purchases to match grade pellets because no amount of money can buy the confidence that comes from seeing those two words printed on the packaging.

Nowadays I have relaxed my requirements a bit to also accept either exact or extreme precision or other similar unsubstantiated marketing claim.

Yeah, there seems to be a few schools of thought about this topic. Some will say pellets do come in different qualities, and that some pellets within a tin aren't as accurate as others. Then some will say if the barrel is super unobtainium dosed with magic powder, a small chunk of lead inserted in the barrel will come out a perfect pellet and hit the X ring every time... Hard to say, but probably somewhere in the middle is the truth...

 

[Jasonmc]

So I wonder if the 18gr would tighten up if you slowed them down a bit...
I know I got a few rifles that won't group them well when the start going over 850fps give or take...

 

[Jayare]

So I wonder if the 18gr would tighten up if you slowed them down a bit...
I know I got a few rifles that won't group them well when the start going over 850fps give or take...

I have tried them from 820-900’s and they shot great till they didn’t , seems like every 5-8 shots a flyer would present itself.

 

[Jayare]

This is an interesting, related, watch...

Wow , that was very interesting. Hard to believe pellets that damaged still hit relatively true.

 

[Motorhead]

10 meters is NOT VERY FAR is showing fight degeneration trends over distance with such damages present.
Having done extensive testing for Field target work out to 55 yards, fubar skirts can create YAW issues that i see creating flyers time to time.
Thus on my MATCH pellets all skirts are trued up to be Round before using

Your mileage may differ

 

[Beer Nap]

Just in general I bought a variety of .177 pellets on a discount sale. One tin wouldn't even chamber in the gun so pellets very much do matter, lol.

 

[rsfrid]

This is an interesting, related, watch...

Excellent!

 

[Chuck-in-Ohio]

Match grade has nothing to do with it brother, they are H&N pellets from a tin.

Probably more to do with that weight of pellet and head size, finding happy harmony in your barrel, at that velocity.

Good shooting, by the way.
Take it out further and see if it holds up on target!

 

[elh0102]

I have found that pellet weight almost always makes a difference, in a specific barrel and at a specific tune. Manufacturer and specific lot often matter too. There are two certain constants, a good barrel will shoot most decent quality pellets pretty well, and a crappy barrel simply won't shoot, get rid of it. And it's all relative to your need. My demands these days are not real stringent, I can shoot about any pellet without claiming pellet failure! The demands of highest level BR will make a blathering idiot of any but the most dedicated shooter....which I ain't! But it's all good, shoot bottle caps for fun or targets for trophies, but your pellet selection process will vary.


.

 

[jps2486]

Even my favorite pellets benefit by sorting by weight. I've proven this time and again. As far as those with bent skirts or any other physical damage, those get put in the practice tin.

 

[JimD]

My P35-22 also really likes H&N Baracuda Match 21.14. Head size does not seem to matter. I've shot both. I don't have a head size gauge for 22, yet. I also shot JSB 18 grain equally well at 25 yards but at 35 yards, the limit for my yard, the H&N groups were better. I put three pellets in exactly the same hole at 25 yards with two different head sizes of match pellets. I've never done this before with any other gun, powder or air.

I also shoot H&Ns in my P35-177. I have a head size gauge for 177. I've shot Baracuda, Baracuda Match, and Baracuda Power. All 10.65 grain. I've also gauged a sample of about 20 pellets of each type. The Match were more consistent in head size. But they were not the size on the tin, but close. The predominant head size of my tin of Match in 4.50 head size is 4.51. The predominant head size in my Baracuda Power is 4.54. The tin says they are 4.50. I'm still testing but so far there is no obvious group size difference between the Power and the Match. But the POI is different, by maybe 1/4 inch at 30 yards.

I bought the head size gauge to try and understand why one tin of Crosman 10.5 shot great, equivalent to the H&Ns, while the next two shot poorly. Head size was the explanation. The "good" tin was pretty consistent in head size while the two "bad" tins were all over the map. Head sizes in each of the 10 holes of my gauge - and probably beyond. I think there are probably a couple things going on. First, pellets this inconsistent are just not well made. There are likely other issues not readily observable. But I know the H&Ns at different head size have different POI, the Crosmans probably do that to some degree too. So when you shoot random pellets from the tin you get multiple head sizes and multiple POIs in one group. But I segregated one tin and shot groups with pellets that had the same head size and those were not much better. I think they are mainly just poorly made pellets.

But H&N pellets and especially the Match variety are definite well made pellets in my opinion. I haven't had a bad tin yet. I have a bunch of empty tins, however.

 

[rc4fun]

FYI- A .1" miss at 10 yd is a .5" miss at 50 yd. Not taking anything but a straight line path into account.