I had some spare time, pellets of 3 different types, and a curiosity to see what would be the most accurate combination on my indoor 20 yard range. Yea, I would rather have done this at 50 yards, but hey, it's in the 20s and blowing good here, so a frozen shooter and pellets blowing all over were not conducive to group size/ POI testing today.
I can equip my field target rifle three different ways:
1) Naked barrel. You see this on all the Thomas BR rifles and RAW BM500 BR rifles. I don't usually shoot this way.
2) Full length air steipper. Ignore that dark ooze coming out of the last 2 holes - that is just the lube and protectant doing its thing to keep the pellet stuff out of the barrel. I practice FT this way outside.
3) Full length moderator. This is the way I practice FT indoor.
I shot several series of 3 targets and selected the series where I was most confident the variation wasn't coming from me as the shooter versus the guns configuration.
For each group, of 3 targets I filled the rifle to 3k psi. The target was 1/4" red dots at 20 yards. I started with the full length moderator. Pellets are unsorted from tin and lubed. You are looking at 10 JSB 10s on target 22, 10 AA 10s on target 23 and 10 JSB 13s on target 25. Scope is set up for 10.3s with the full length moderator for indoor shooting at this point, so they are dead center on bullseye. No real surprises here, 10.3 are dead center and 13s are a bit low.
So here was where I was curious. If all these Thomas BRs have no moderator and the RAW BM 500s have no moderator, wonder what happens if I just take the full length moderator off and shoot? Here are 30 unsorted pellets in the same order: JSB 10s on 8, AA 10s on 9, and JSB 13s on 10.
Well! Lookey there! We have a definite POI shift about 3/8" up and 3/8" right on all groups. Look how those groups all tightened up a little bit though...especially the 13s. Looks like the pellet has less variation leaving the barrel crown 'directly' vs 'whatever' is happening inside the moderator.
Now with the air stripper. Rifle is refilled to 3k psi, and I shot 30 more pellets into the target with the pellets in the same order.JSB 10s on 3, AA 10s on 4 (I pulled one high on this target or it would have looked more like #3) and JSB 13s on 5. Once again we have a very different POI. This time, hitting about 3/8" to 1/2" low and maybe and 1/8" right. Look at how the things tightened up again, especially the 13s!! I'm not kidding, that is 10 pellets though the same exact hole this time.
I think it's clear to see how our groups can change - even at 20 yards - based on what we stick on the end of our barrels, both in POI and groupsize. I'm not just seeing this on this rifle. My Steyr EVO 10 comes with a sophisticated integrated stripper and shoot pellets into the same hole all day. My FeinwerkBau P30 has an air strpper from the factory, a moderator I had made, and an open barrel. It shoots best with its air stipper on, but boy is it loud. I see the same type of POI and groupsize shifts with it as well. I'll be trying my CR-X with and without it's moderator soon, and will probably order a air stripper as well to play with.
So where am I going with all this? We'll if you haven't already got the 'aha' yet, all of you chasing accuracy as the biggest goal (in lower calibers) may want to take your moderator off, "go loud" and see what happens. Those with a little extra dollars laying around might want to go online and see if you can find an air stripper to try with your gun or with more $$ might want to have someone make you one. I'm seeing definite accuracy improvement playing with this stuff and even an air stripper is quieter than an open barrel.
Forgive me, but I'm going to pass on trying 'no moderator' indoors on my 37 fpe Airwolf and 72 fpe RAW. Maybe outdoors in the spring well away from neighbors.
Hoping this give some of you ideas to help your accuracy.
I can equip my field target rifle three different ways:
1) Naked barrel. You see this on all the Thomas BR rifles and RAW BM500 BR rifles. I don't usually shoot this way.
2) Full length air steipper. Ignore that dark ooze coming out of the last 2 holes - that is just the lube and protectant doing its thing to keep the pellet stuff out of the barrel. I practice FT this way outside.
3) Full length moderator. This is the way I practice FT indoor.
I shot several series of 3 targets and selected the series where I was most confident the variation wasn't coming from me as the shooter versus the guns configuration.
For each group, of 3 targets I filled the rifle to 3k psi. The target was 1/4" red dots at 20 yards. I started with the full length moderator. Pellets are unsorted from tin and lubed. You are looking at 10 JSB 10s on target 22, 10 AA 10s on target 23 and 10 JSB 13s on target 25. Scope is set up for 10.3s with the full length moderator for indoor shooting at this point, so they are dead center on bullseye. No real surprises here, 10.3 are dead center and 13s are a bit low.
So here was where I was curious. If all these Thomas BRs have no moderator and the RAW BM 500s have no moderator, wonder what happens if I just take the full length moderator off and shoot? Here are 30 unsorted pellets in the same order: JSB 10s on 8, AA 10s on 9, and JSB 13s on 10.
Well! Lookey there! We have a definite POI shift about 3/8" up and 3/8" right on all groups. Look how those groups all tightened up a little bit though...especially the 13s. Looks like the pellet has less variation leaving the barrel crown 'directly' vs 'whatever' is happening inside the moderator.
Now with the air stripper. Rifle is refilled to 3k psi, and I shot 30 more pellets into the target with the pellets in the same order.JSB 10s on 3, AA 10s on 4 (I pulled one high on this target or it would have looked more like #3) and JSB 13s on 5. Once again we have a very different POI. This time, hitting about 3/8" to 1/2" low and maybe and 1/8" right. Look at how the things tightened up again, especially the 13s!! I'm not kidding, that is 10 pellets though the same exact hole this time.
I think it's clear to see how our groups can change - even at 20 yards - based on what we stick on the end of our barrels, both in POI and groupsize. I'm not just seeing this on this rifle. My Steyr EVO 10 comes with a sophisticated integrated stripper and shoot pellets into the same hole all day. My FeinwerkBau P30 has an air strpper from the factory, a moderator I had made, and an open barrel. It shoots best with its air stipper on, but boy is it loud. I see the same type of POI and groupsize shifts with it as well. I'll be trying my CR-X with and without it's moderator soon, and will probably order a air stripper as well to play with.
So where am I going with all this? We'll if you haven't already got the 'aha' yet, all of you chasing accuracy as the biggest goal (in lower calibers) may want to take your moderator off, "go loud" and see what happens. Those with a little extra dollars laying around might want to go online and see if you can find an air stripper to try with your gun or with more $$ might want to have someone make you one. I'm seeing definite accuracy improvement playing with this stuff and even an air stripper is quieter than an open barrel.
Forgive me, but I'm going to pass on trying 'no moderator' indoors on my 37 fpe Airwolf and 72 fpe RAW. Maybe outdoors in the spring well away from neighbors.
Hoping this give some of you ideas to help your accuracy.
