Off the shelf air rifle accuracy.
- Thread starter katanaa
- Start date
try different pellet manufacturers and weights.. The heavier slower pellets work better for me (domed).. all the fancy new 'hyper velocity' alloy/plastic ones are over-hyped BS. Inaccurate crap... including all the pointed and plastic tipped stuff
standard velocity air rifle in .177 with stanard weight pellet (7.9 grains IIRC) = accuracy
high velocity guns and .22 guns I always need to shop for the right pellet for accuracy
standard velocity air rifle in .177 with stanard weight pellet (7.9 grains IIRC) = accuracy
high velocity guns and .22 guns I always need to shop for the right pellet for accuracy
A question- are you able to shoot other springers more accurately? A springer air gun is probably one of the hardest guns to shoot accurately. A couple of thoughts:
1) have you tried a variety of pellets? If it is a 495 gun then stick with the light pellets, otherwise mid-weight or maybe heavies would work (but normally heavies and springers don't play well together and break springs faster). Try to recover some pellets and check for the rifling on the head and the skirt- shouldn't be deeply engraved, but needs to be there. Check for a slight choke in the barrel- push a pellet with a cleaning rod down the barrel and feel how it slides- it should slide smoothly and then get a little tighter at the muzzle- most barrels are choked for accuracy.
Next- how is the trigger? look at a GTX two stage for it if the current trigger doesn't work well. Crappy creepy triggers make high accuracy shooting a challenge.
Last- almost all springers work best with a light and repeatable hold- google artillery hold for some ideas.
You should be able to do much better than 4" at 60' if there isn't something wrong with the gun. It will likely take a few hundred pellets to break-in and settle down...
1) have you tried a variety of pellets? If it is a 495 gun then stick with the light pellets, otherwise mid-weight or maybe heavies would work (but normally heavies and springers don't play well together and break springs faster). Try to recover some pellets and check for the rifling on the head and the skirt- shouldn't be deeply engraved, but needs to be there. Check for a slight choke in the barrel- push a pellet with a cleaning rod down the barrel and feel how it slides- it should slide smoothly and then get a little tighter at the muzzle- most barrels are choked for accuracy.
Next- how is the trigger? look at a GTX two stage for it if the current trigger doesn't work well. Crappy creepy triggers make high accuracy shooting a challenge.
Last- almost all springers work best with a light and repeatable hold- google artillery hold for some ideas.
You should be able to do much better than 4" at 60' if there isn't something wrong with the gun. It will likely take a few hundred pellets to break-in and settle down...
Spending a lot does not always get you good accuracy, but generally the chances should be the more you spend the better the quality and accuracy!
But that is not always so as I bought this all steel and hardwood (no plastic) and cheap but well made Chinese air rifle -
from Princess Auto for $29.99 last year when it was on sale and even with the super cheap Chinese Grizzly brand ammo it gives excellent repeatable accuracy like this -
At 20 feet with a red dot sight mounted on the top dovetail! and it gives excellent penetration through both sides of a steel soup can at almost the same range!
But that is not always so as I bought this all steel and hardwood (no plastic) and cheap but well made Chinese air rifle -
from Princess Auto for $29.99 last year when it was on sale and even with the super cheap Chinese Grizzly brand ammo it gives excellent repeatable accuracy like this -
At 20 feet with a red dot sight mounted on the top dovetail! and it gives excellent penetration through both sides of a steel soup can at almost the same range!
Shooting a springer accurately is not the same as shooting a PB rifle, even a rimfire. The spring piston rifle can be shot accurately if you utilize what's been called the "artillery hold". For more information, Google it and see, for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOYSU5Lq7oA and http://www.pyramydair.com/article/The_artillery_hold_June_2009/63
A friend has a high velocity air rifle and he called me because he said he couldn't get it to group. I tried it with his pointed tip pellets and they were all over the place. I tried a few others and sure enough the dome tops that I had gave very good groups.
I've just got a DAISY 953 from D&L and it shoots one ragged hole at 20ft with Williams peep sight and target front globe, prone support. It costs me around $200 with sights plus shipping for this basic target air rifle. You can check some reviews of this model on Youtube. Or you may go with 10-meter competition model like 853C or 753 (with wooden stock and Lothar Walther high-grade barrel) for higher budget.
Picked up a Crosman Nitro Venom .177 mail-order with a gift card I had, anyway went to Peavy and grabbed a couple kinds of Daisy pellets, with them I couldn't get a group smaller than 6", put about 100 rounds through it just to break it in and headed home. Did a little more research online, did a trigger job on it and looked around finding Crosman pellets at Wally World, just looking at them the quality looked way better, took it back out and at about 25-30 yards was hitting 1-1.5" groups with a cross wind, tried a few Daisy pellets again and same thing, off by 6" even with the better trigger.
I kinda wished I would have went with the .22 now, had picked the .177 due to ease of finding ammo local, but just stocking up a few tins at a time in .22 might have been a better choice for gophers.
I kinda wished I would have went with the .22 now, had picked the .177 due to ease of finding ammo local, but just stocking up a few tins at a time in .22 might have been a better choice for gophers.
I picked up a Crosman Quest 500 a long time ago. Accuracy was around 2.5" at 50yrds but the trigger was sh!t. It had a LONG creep and about 10lb pull weight. Fast forward some 10yrs later and I find a couple Youtube videos on how to fine tune the rifle and fix that horrible trigger. Now the trigger breaks around 2.5lbs with very little creep. I haven't tried shooting some groups to see if it is any better since the mods.
I always wanted a 22 cal or larger pneumatic rifle. That damn springer killed two scopes.
I always wanted a 22 cal or larger pneumatic rifle. That damn springer killed two scopes.
If you have ever seen a pellet move through the air in slow motion you will soon see why springers are rarely very accurate, especially at distance, the pellet moves at times, like a knuckle ball, fast ball curve ball etc. They can be accurate at close distances but not at any significant distance. Why is that? for one the air pressure is not consistent from shot to shot, second the spring speed will vary depending on the temperature of the steel, and then the pellets, they are not all created equal. if the crown of the rifle is bad, it will misshape the pellet as it leaves the muzzle causing it to do wonky things and all of these factors are added on top of the lousy triggers that springers have, which make shooting accurately a chore.
I can't shoot a springer well, but my FWB603 in my hands, will create a single hole at 10M unlike any other rifle. I once had a hole 10% larger than a pellet, and it had over 560 pellets through it. good air rifles are more accurate than powder burners.
I can't shoot a springer well, but my FWB603 in my hands, will create a single hole at 10M unlike any other rifle. I once had a hole 10% larger than a pellet, and it had over 560 pellets through it. good air rifles are more accurate than powder burners.
