Had a chance to do some accuracy testing and wanted to share.
These were the conditions. NOAA has a new weather station just 3 miles from my house so pretty similar to what I was seeing on the home range.
(yeah, not the best winds for testing accuracy....)
I've read comments about how the 16.2s destabilize at a certain point so wanted to test that a bit and decided on a pellet trap at 30, 60, and 90 yards and started with the 16.2s. I compared 4, 10 shot groups at each distance in the following sequence, 10 shot group @ 30 yards, 10 shot group @ 60 yards, 10 shot group at 90 yards and then another 10 shot group at 30, then 60, then 90, repeating that process 4 times. Total of 120 shots, 4, 10 shot groups at each of the stated distances. Thought process being that no one distance would get preferential wind conditions by structuring the process in this manner.
I was not varying hold off for wind or timing between gusts. I was focused on seeing how the 16.2s would group, not necessarily where they would group. 30 and 60 were shot with the same scope setting, which is surprisingly the same zero that the gun had with the .22 barrel. When two different barrels will shoot to such a similar aim point....well there's something to be said of the repeatability of airguns that have the barrel threaded into the breech. The 90 yard groups were given 1.9mils of elevation if I remember right, and 0.5mils of windage and then just held dead on to the best of my ability.
Here's the 30 yarder.
60 yard target below....
and then the 90 yarder.
These were all shot over about 2 hours, not that I shoot that slowly, but I'd take breaks here and there and then come back to it. (Filling tanks and doing laundry, etc).
During the shooting, I was sure feeling like a couple out of each ten shot group were "flyers." Not bad flyers hitting inches from where they should, just minimal flyers, not quite falling into the pattern of the other 7 or 8 or 9 shots of that group. And I couldn't see any coinciding gusts to explain it away. At the 30 and 60 it was really incredible to watch the pellets go into the same hole. Examining the 60 I realized that 3 of the 4 groups have 8 of 10 shots into 1/2 an inch or less. That's really quite impressive, considering this was from a .177 @ 60 yards in winds that probably averaged 15 or 6 mph.
As for the 90 yard groups, sorta that same trend as the 60s. 3 of the 4 groups have 8 of the 10 pellets into about 1.25inches. That is also quite impressive for a .177 in those winds, at that distance.
I'm not too sure what's causing that 10-20% rate of flyers. Minimal discussion with the machinist today and he commented that perhaps it's a twist rate mismatch, as the 16.2s are just so long relative to diameter. It could also be a pellet batch specific phenomenon, as something similar happens with the .22 Monster RDs at distance. Of note there though, there aren't as many flyers with the .22 MRDs as I saw with the .177/16.2s today, but the flyers from the .22 MRDs are worse flyers. Not sure what's the lesser evil there, 6 of one, half a dozen of the other I guess.
Also, in those 120 shots, I had 4 jammed pellets. Surely a by-product of using a .22 probe with a .177 barrel but partly me learning the gun also, as they happened early on and I figured out that I could prevent it by not closing the side-lever too fast, and making sure the gun was level. Logic would say that the ledge when the pellet hits the barrel would be a problem and indeed that's where it was jamming, but further investigation showed that it is predominately a pellet tipping problem. With a quick lever cycle and/or an unlevel gun, the pellet tips forward and digs into the lip of the barrel. I believe it is because the .22 probe pushes on the pellet nearer the top than the middle like it would if it was a .22 pellet.
This was one of those failed loads.
When I was installing the barrel I pushed a couple into the leade as if to shoot, and then decocked and unscrewed the barrel for a pellet examination. When they don't tip and then jam, there is no head deformation occurring.
On that note, the NSA 12.5s shot really well at 30 and 60, but sorta fall apart at 90, and they are REALLY bad a bout tipping and jamming. Just such a short projectile I think is the culprit there.
I did take the 15gra NSAs out to 90 yards and decided to shoot an EBR practice card. And with the 15s at 90 I was holding for the wind and varying that windage as the gusts came and went.
That's more likely a 203 or worse, as I see that I gave a 9 a ten in the upper left. But, not horrible, again in the context of a .177 @ 90 yards in gusts up to 25mph.
So my opinions are sprinkled all through the above but here are some of my takeaways from the fun this morning.
More to come as time allows.
These were the conditions. NOAA has a new weather station just 3 miles from my house so pretty similar to what I was seeing on the home range.
(yeah, not the best winds for testing accuracy....)
I've read comments about how the 16.2s destabilize at a certain point so wanted to test that a bit and decided on a pellet trap at 30, 60, and 90 yards and started with the 16.2s. I compared 4, 10 shot groups at each distance in the following sequence, 10 shot group @ 30 yards, 10 shot group @ 60 yards, 10 shot group at 90 yards and then another 10 shot group at 30, then 60, then 90, repeating that process 4 times. Total of 120 shots, 4, 10 shot groups at each of the stated distances. Thought process being that no one distance would get preferential wind conditions by structuring the process in this manner.
I was not varying hold off for wind or timing between gusts. I was focused on seeing how the 16.2s would group, not necessarily where they would group. 30 and 60 were shot with the same scope setting, which is surprisingly the same zero that the gun had with the .22 barrel. When two different barrels will shoot to such a similar aim point....well there's something to be said of the repeatability of airguns that have the barrel threaded into the breech. The 90 yard groups were given 1.9mils of elevation if I remember right, and 0.5mils of windage and then just held dead on to the best of my ability.
Here's the 30 yarder.
60 yard target below....
and then the 90 yarder.
These were all shot over about 2 hours, not that I shoot that slowly, but I'd take breaks here and there and then come back to it. (Filling tanks and doing laundry, etc).
During the shooting, I was sure feeling like a couple out of each ten shot group were "flyers." Not bad flyers hitting inches from where they should, just minimal flyers, not quite falling into the pattern of the other 7 or 8 or 9 shots of that group. And I couldn't see any coinciding gusts to explain it away. At the 30 and 60 it was really incredible to watch the pellets go into the same hole. Examining the 60 I realized that 3 of the 4 groups have 8 of 10 shots into 1/2 an inch or less. That's really quite impressive, considering this was from a .177 @ 60 yards in winds that probably averaged 15 or 6 mph.
As for the 90 yard groups, sorta that same trend as the 60s. 3 of the 4 groups have 8 of the 10 pellets into about 1.25inches. That is also quite impressive for a .177 in those winds, at that distance.
I'm not too sure what's causing that 10-20% rate of flyers. Minimal discussion with the machinist today and he commented that perhaps it's a twist rate mismatch, as the 16.2s are just so long relative to diameter. It could also be a pellet batch specific phenomenon, as something similar happens with the .22 Monster RDs at distance. Of note there though, there aren't as many flyers with the .22 MRDs as I saw with the .177/16.2s today, but the flyers from the .22 MRDs are worse flyers. Not sure what's the lesser evil there, 6 of one, half a dozen of the other I guess.
Also, in those 120 shots, I had 4 jammed pellets. Surely a by-product of using a .22 probe with a .177 barrel but partly me learning the gun also, as they happened early on and I figured out that I could prevent it by not closing the side-lever too fast, and making sure the gun was level. Logic would say that the ledge when the pellet hits the barrel would be a problem and indeed that's where it was jamming, but further investigation showed that it is predominately a pellet tipping problem. With a quick lever cycle and/or an unlevel gun, the pellet tips forward and digs into the lip of the barrel. I believe it is because the .22 probe pushes on the pellet nearer the top than the middle like it would if it was a .22 pellet.
This was one of those failed loads.
When I was installing the barrel I pushed a couple into the leade as if to shoot, and then decocked and unscrewed the barrel for a pellet examination. When they don't tip and then jam, there is no head deformation occurring.
On that note, the NSA 12.5s shot really well at 30 and 60, but sorta fall apart at 90, and they are REALLY bad a bout tipping and jamming. Just such a short projectile I think is the culprit there.
I did take the 15gra NSAs out to 90 yards and decided to shoot an EBR practice card. And with the 15s at 90 I was holding for the wind and varying that windage as the gusts came and went.
That's more likely a 203 or worse, as I see that I gave a 9 a ten in the upper left. But, not horrible, again in the context of a .177 @ 90 yards in gusts up to 25mph.
So my opinions are sprinkled all through the above but here are some of my takeaways from the fun this morning.
- NSA 12.5s jam too often and don't shoot well enough at distance to warrant shooting them, they'll go back on my slug shelf for some future potential use (that shelf is getting ridiculous, no, I'm not a slug fan as I've yet to see them shoot better than a good BC pellet, at least at the weights and power levels that I employ).
- NSA 15s are okay, not exceptional -they'll also go on that same slug shelf in the cabinet.
- JSB 16.2s are definitely worth further investigation.
- Quirky looking little projectile, almost like a little crossbow bolt when compared to other .177s.
- I shot the .20s Heavies at 90 today for a bit of comparison in the same winds. I (anecdotally) don't think the 16.2s have as good of a BC as the .20s (JSB lists and I confirmed a BC of about 0.048 with the .20 Heavies.)
- Wanted to capture a BC as JSBs lists it for these 16.2s as being done with something like 750fps. I think in the JSB chart they're around 0.035. I REALLY want to see what they measure up around 960fpe but it was really overcast and my chrono couldn't pick up the pellet.
- From my experiences I'd still prefer to be shooting the .22 MRDs at any long range pellet game, next would be the .20 Heavies, then the .177/16.2s. I would for sure take the 16.2s over the .22/18.13s or the .22/15.89s and actually any other .22/.177 pellet that I've had the pleasure to shoot.
- I'm guessing the BC of the 16.2s @ 960 is going to shake out to be something like 0.036-0.044
- I did not see any of the drastic destabilization at distance that I've seen people mention with these 16.2s. Maybe 90 yards wasn't far enough? I actually carried some pellet traps out to my new 150 yard range extension but got down there and felt the wind and laughed to myself that today is NOT the day for .177s at 150 yards.
More to come as time allows.
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