Why cant we get a good pellet?

Philthy1

Philthy1

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So my gun likes your basic wadcutter at about 1400fps. But try and find one now. I've tried the so called "high end" pellets, ballistic tips, performance alloys, blue flame, piranha, shark blah, blah garbage. They all shoot like ****. What a pain. Its really simple to make a good pellet, its also really simple to mess it up.....which is what the manufacturers seem to enjoy.
 
The cheaper ones don't seem very good. I don't know if I got a bad batch or what but some of the crosman 500 in a tin pellets were so lose they would slide partway down the barrel and jam up the gun and were hard to get out. Poor quality control.
 
1,400fps?
Colour me a bit skeptical.
Pellets are designed with "skirts" to seal the bore because the pressures that airguns operate at(generally) are quite low in comparison to powder burners.(3000psi PCP vs 50,000+ powder burner)
A normal bullet shape would not seal the bore as well, or if it is fitted tight enough to seal it will not be accelerated fast enough,this is why pellets have "skirts".
Because of a pellets skirted design, they are very unstable aerodynamically in the transonic/supersonic speed range. (950fps+)
They also shed velocity very quickly when pushed supersonic and slow down below the SS range within a few tens of feet from the muzzle.
The best operating speeds for accuracy/velocity are usually in the 800-950fps range.
If your gun is pushing pellets supersonic, this is where your trouble lies.
Try using some heavy for bore dia. quality pellets, it may help.(JSB,HN,Air Arms,etc.)
 
I really don't like the Crossman pellets and most other USA or China pellets, prefer the German made pellets (h&n, rws,norica) but wish they made them a bit heavier. My diana 34 needs some heavier ones to keep it below SS.
 
flyr said:
1,400fps?
Colour me a bit skeptical.
Pellets are designed with "skirts" to seal the bore because the pressures that airguns operate at(generally) are quite low in comparison to powder burners.(3000psi PCP vs 50,000+ powder burner)
A normal bullet shape would not seal the bore as well, or if it is fitted tight enough to seal it will not be accelerated fast enough,this is why pellets have "skirts".
Because of a pellets skirted design, they are very unstable aerodynamically in the transonic/supersonic speed range. (950fps+)
They also shed velocity very quickly when pushed supersonic and slow down below the SS range within a few tens of feet from the muzzle.
The best operating speeds for accuracy/velocity are usually in the 800-950fps range.
If your gun is pushing pellets supersonic, this is where your trouble lies.
Try using some heavy for bore dia. quality pellets, it may help.(JSB,HN,Air Arms,etc.)
Click to expand...

Oooops you are correct. It is actually around 900.
 
As flyr notes, the best pellets that are readily available are JSB (which makes the Air Arms pellets referred to above), H&N, and the Crosman pellets that come in the brown cardboard box. These are available at the major air rifle dealers. Not all pellets will perform equally in any given airgun. Maximum MV for retaining accuracy is indeed in the 900 - 950 fps range, beyond which transonic turbulence creates flight instability.

The high MV's advertised on the web and air rifle packaging (1200 - 1400 fps) are achieved by lightweight alloy pellets, and these have a very poor reputation for accuracy.
 
Over the years I've narrowed it down not only to brands but types within brands. JSB, H&N, and RWS. Specifically Exacts, FTTs, and Superfeilds(not to be confused with Superdome). Every gun I own, or have owned in the past(that's a lot) has done its best with one of these three pellets. The only exceptions to this is a wadcutter from again one of these three brands for shooting ten meter in the basement. I never had any luck with any pellet with the crosman branding on it, including the brown boxed stuff. Still inconsistent in size, weight and accuracy, at least with the examples I've tested.
 
Philthy1 said:
So my gun likes your basic wadcutter at about 1400fps. But try and find one now. I've tried the so called "high end" pellets, ballistic tips, performance alloys, blue flame, piranha, shark blah, blah garbage. They all shoot like ****. What a pain. Its really simple to make a good pellet, its also really simple to mess it up.....which is what the manufacturers seem to enjoy.
Click to expand...

Your gun "likes" basic wadcutter... but everything shoot like ****
- Well Watson, it looks like your gun does NOT like basic wadcutters :yingyang:

You might want to try with heavier (round nose) pellets.
 
We used to buy the Milbro round nose ones in the red tins when I was a kid. They worked well in everything we ever had, but I haven't seen them in years. So when I found them on eBay a few years ago I bought about 20k, shipped from England. I don't think I'll run out anytime soon.
Kristian
 
Yeah, I'll add my two cents and suggest you try round-nosed and heavier JSB pellets. They're ridiculously consistently accurate. The 'sweet spot' is generally considered to be between about 850 and maybe 930fps, with whatever pellet, staying well below transonic to avoid instability issues while delivering a flat enough trajectory to be satisfyingly practical out to maybe 100 metres. Wadcutters just aren't going to shoot well beyond maybe 20 metres. They're designed for 10 metre target work, nothing much beyond that. You really want something like a JSB Heavy.
 
In the "wonder speed" guns the heaviest pellets like the Kodiak's give best accuracy.I take it this is .177 ? Beeman rebadged H+N pellets . JSB is another great pellet. My HW80K/.22 prefers theses ones as well as 16gr Predators.The RWS 34/.22 RWS domes.All the Crosman pumpers and CO2 2240's Crosman domes.Slow it down and you will see some accuracy or add a tune kit to not have it cycling so harsh.Speed doesn't kill with airguns it's accuracy.
 
The most accurate pellet I have ever tested - RWS R 10 MATCH PLUS each pellet individually packaged - perfect skirts...

bulk packaged pellets can not compete...

RWS.jpg
 
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