Reusing pellets

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I reshoot pellets from traps ( soft catch) and re shoot them in a pistol ( got a thread on it ) depending on damage they shoot ok. Heck for tin can arcade shooting perfect.. anyway for the cleanest spent pellets still make 50' in a 1 inch circle. Some ive reshot up to 20+ times .. some with minor bent skirts I made a skirt tooo to fix them ...lol

It definitely made pistol more fun and not so expensive for just general plinking around ..
 
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Felinis said:
Another aspect of the re-use of pellets:

As the OP of this thread I neglected to mention that I use copper-coated pellets. In June I was still shooting mainly .177 pellets but was acquiring .22 guns too.

As I indicated, I catch the pellets in an indoors trap and reuse the intact ones.

I just finished rebuilding a Crosman 1322 and when I started zeroing it in I discovered that the breech was very hard to close and lock. I went about troubleshooting the problem: checking that the transfer port was properly seated, the probe and O-ring were in good order and that I was using the proper .22 caliber ammo.

Meanwhile I managed to break off the handle on my new bolt.

I was stumped until I cleaned the copper-coated .22 rounds out of my pellet trap and began re-shooting the intact ones. These used pellets loaded and fired just fine.

It seems clear that the copper coating increases the caliber of the pellets so that new ones will barely load into the barrel of this 1322. The used ones have had the skirts worn down enough to fit perfectly.
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That's a leade issue. Mine is the same. Even with a LW barrel. I assume Crosman still did the leade on them. I just slam the bolt home. Good to go.

Oh, that long breech probe is also known to provide almost no substantial gains anywhere. Unless you consider difficulty in loading substantially increasing a gain. I have a hollow one in one, and a brass extended one that I trimmed back to normal length in another one.
 
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Felinis said:
Assuming that "leade" is not a misspelling of "lead", what is a "leade issue"?
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It is the transition from chamber to rifling. Or in the case of our guns, the lack thereof.

Can see in this photo of a snow peak barrel, the sharp edge of the rifling.... which in a lot of barrels would be polished or cut back to provide some type of ramp. Or transition. Now, this often does not affect accuracy, though burs will. But it does affect difficulty loading. Both of my snow peak guns require some force to load, but are very accurate. Same for one of my 1322's. One has a proper leade now (it used to not), but the other has the original absence of one.

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This reminds me of those carnival machine guns that you try and shoot out the red star. Many times I watched the guy fill the tube magazine with mishaped deformed lead bb's. They were extremely inaccurate, which worked to his advantage. I have blown out the star and won a stupid prize a few times. Man it was fun shooting those machine guns. I doubt they have them anymore, some idiot would turn them on the crowd and start shooting.
 
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Hi,
I have watched many YT videos on air gunning. Regarding reusing pellets. Mostly they say no, never. SO, I shot for several years not reusing any. However, for sighting a new airgun, I choose to use the more expensive Match quality. In my case I have had great results with what I shoot calibrating with RWS R10. Recent videos. One done by a professional competition shooting at 10 meters competition at a facility that use those manufacturers airgun vises. He demonstrated that bent skirts do not matter. However, if the skirt is so bent,it may not load. I got a pellet sizer from the UK. I use that for those I cannot load. And for those that just slip out of the magazine. In intentionally bend a little.

Another YT video, someone chooses to reuse his alloy pellets. because they are Expensive! and he reuses the good ones around 6-7 times. and retires the one that show damage which is around 15% to 20%.

If, you are, as I am paying for pellets that cost 0.20, and 0.34 each. It adds up.

Now, my rules I have self created for myself are. Only CO2 and under 500fps. However, I now have a rifle or carbine, which I LOVE only it fires at 650fps, and as tested and Pyramyd Air has demonstrated it has powered out at 715fps. prior to this airgun, all my targets are DIY, using random boxes stuffed with old clothing. some use multiple "tea towel" baffles. I also use the bubble pack from shipping, and the non-Styrofoam packing. I shoot indoors in my studio.
My results in reusing undamaged pellets work fine and remain accurate and get no more flyers than new pellets.
Now I may be wearing the barrels of my airguns faster than usual. I think the alloy, unleaded pellets may be more damaging. even the new ones. However, this is the direction we are going.All the shooting ranges in my area require "green" pellets. Melting lead into something else? I have no use for anything except making paper weights. and there is no resale value for lead blocks.

Sorry this is so long, but I have spent a year re-evaluating the concept of reusing pellets. And I have to agree with those that say it is OK. I think much of the "no, never" group, use a much higher power airgun, or use hard targets, or are influenced with the type that comes from people that are part of the commercial industry selling airguns and pellets.

So, yes I do..with the above caveats.
The interesting YT's I am linking below:
Tillys Gunstocks channel:

HFT Shooter channel:

For the pellet sizer I use see:
 
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I cannot find the YT guy who asked if it is OK, and how he reuses only alloy pellets. Sorry. It was really good and genuine.


Th initial advise I followed was from
The American Airgunner: episode.

I followed them based upon their seeming authority. The channel name further reinforced their authority. However, I later noticed that they are all either employed by an airgun supply store, or are promoting the industry, albeit, indirectly. selling
Also, especially from this group, it is safe to say never reuse pellets. Also legally potential lawsuit safe.
Some concerns I still have and am soliciting opinions on.
1. We are told to use only 100% silicone oil. in everything airgun. So, if I am to clean the airgun wouldn't I use, after cleaning the barrel, some silicone oil to protect and initially lubricate the barrel?
2. New pellets are already coated with graphite or some other coating (Beeman brand), so wouldn't if I go the extra mile of cleaning I really must re-coat the pellets?
3. Instead of graphite powder or spray, why not just use a silicone oil puddle and wipe off the excess?

Regarding the lead contamination on ourselves. There is an excellent thread and post regarding this topic on this forum, where it is explained. that the lead pellet is hard lead and different than fine powdered lead that is toxic.
4. Another concern I have is, when reusing lead pellets, if you do, wouldn't if be safer to use protective gloves when collecting all the shot pellets from the trap, then clean and re-coating them with something? Does firing a pellet out of an airgun, create some powder?
 
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Here is the post from someone who works in a toxicology lab. SO long as you don't swallow lead pellets..🤑

Do copper pellets eliminate lead exposure?

Hi, I have been using JSB lead free .22 pellets with my PCP rifle, but they're quite expensive (at least $30 for 200). I came across copper plated pellets while looking for an alternative that would still prevent lead exposure. They're about half the price, but I'm not sure if they would...
www.airgunnation.com www.airgunnation.com

IT is #10 posting on this topic
 
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Shooting used pellets out of springers gets them stuck in the barrel. Resizing the pellets loses the engineered interference between pellet skirt and the breech cone of a springer. This then acts almost like dry firing it due to the loss of initial pellet motion resistance on firing.

PCPs don't mind being dry fired, so reshoot used pellets if you feel like it. I have cheap pellets on hand for less serious shooting. Such as H&N Excite branded ones.
 
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subscriber said:
Shooting used pellets out of springers gets them stuck in the barrel. Resizing the pellets loses the engineered interference between pellet skirt and the breech cone of a springer. This then acts almost like dry firing it due to the loss of initial pellet motion resistance on firing.

PCPs don't mind being dry fired, so reshoot used pellets if you feel like it. I have cheap pellets on hand for less serious shooting. Such as H&N Excite branded ones.
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H&N Excite branded . tried these good for tin cans but not paper targets .
 
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