Picky about pellets

[gspn]

I got a new .22 caliber pellet pistol/carbine last week. The short story is that over the past week I've tested 16 different types of pellets from 4 manufacturers. I was shooting off a solid rest, at a target 25 yards away.

Of that group of pellets, 12 shot so poorly that I would never dream of taking a 25 yard shot at a squirrel. Most of the groups were 3 to 5 inches. They shot so poorly that I was actually beginning to lose hope and the thought of returning the gun was beginning to creep into my head.

Of the remaining four pellets in the group: one shot OK…two shot pretty good…and one shot awesome.

So of the 16 types I shot, only one was good enough to use. Interestingly, the top 3 most accurate pellets through this gun were all from H&N. H&N also makes the pellet that's the most accurate in my .177 rifle as well.

My centerfire guns have are never like that. Anyone know why pellet guns get so picky about ammo?

 

[JohnKSa]

Your experience isn't unusual. In fact, if you were to buy a second "identical" airgun you might find that it "preferred" different pellets.

That's why the standard advice is to shoot a range of pellets in each airgun to find the one that performs the best. It's also why people sell (and buy) pellet samplers.

 

[gspn]

Pellet samplers are a God send.

 

[g.willikers]

.22 rimfires can be like that, too.
One trick to help any pellet fly well is to make sure the skirt is a good fit to the barrel.
Using a tool of some kind to spread the skirts for a tight fit can really make a difference.

 

[HankC]

I bet you have a springer! Springers have double recoils, harder to scope and typically more hold sensitive.

 

[gspn]

I can see why you'd guess that Hank...but this is a PCP gun. Sadly for me, the pellet it likes the best is the H&N Green....and they are not cheap. $21 for 200.

I mght mess around some more nexxt week with the second most acurate pellet to see if I can get it a bit tighter.

 

[Jaymo]

What make and model airgun is it?

All of mine have liked RWS Superdomes, but YMMV.

I think H&N pellets tend to run a bit large on the diameter.
If that is correct, it would explain your gun's preference for them.

Beeman sells a pellet seating tool that has one end for uniforming/expanding skirts and another end for seating the pellet in the bore.
I've had to uniform/expand the skirts on a lot of pellets. They are easily damaged in packaging/shipping.

IIRC, H&N also makes the non-Chicom made Beeman pellets.

The fact that yours prefers lead-free pellets seems to indicate your bore is on the large size. The harder, lead free pellets grab the rifling of oversized bores better than soft lead.
Like the way jacketed bullets will give better accuracy from an oversized bore than soft lead bullets will.

 

[fpgt72]

One thing you need to keep in mind....you said NEW. For whatever reason air guns need to season in a bit. I don't know the whys but I would bet that after a few rounds go down the gun you will find it is going to start liking other pellets as well.

 

[gspn]

This one is a Benjamin Marauder pistol/carbine. My Marauder rifle was super accurate right out of the box...but this pistol (with the stock attached) gives me some challenges.

 

[gspn]

Found the solution. The first 18 types of pellets I tried were all 5.50 mm head size. The first pellet I tried that was 5.51mm put 8 shots all touching each other...group size was probably the size of a nickel...no flyers.

Whew.

 

[fpgt72]

Found the solution. The first 18 types of pellets I tried were all 5.50 mm head size. The first pellet I tried that was 5.51mm put 8 shots all touching each other...group size was probably the size of a nickel...no flyers.

Whew.

And that is the thing that people just miss out on....they can be SO picky. Can you imagine how many people after trying 5-10-15 different pellets came away saying the gun was garbage.

Now if you put Gamo or something like that on the side it IS garbage, but put Feinwerkbau or Anschutz on the side and it is just picky.

Odd how people are, one goes back to walmart and people get on the net to say how they are such Chinese made garbage, the other is just picky and needs just the right pellet.

 

[g.willikers]

Hey, I have an old Gamo that is mighty accurate.
It's a youth model with a cheapie 4 power scope.
I got it for my nephew who lost interest after about five minutes of missing his target.
Kids!
It's not speedy, only about 550 f/s, but it will knock over the corks from wine bottles at 18 yds all day, with plain vanilla pellets from Walmart.
Of course, it could be the skill of the shooter....

 

[ironworkerwill]

Years ago Daisy made a match 177 pellet that shot great from every air gun I owned. Since then they have outsourced that pellet or I can't find it. Yesterday, my father in law's Benjamin 312 in .22, shot the pointed Daises very well. At 50ft all was under an inch standing positing and propped beside my porch column.

 

[fpgt72]

The thing about the "cheapo" pellets is they can vary so much from tin to tin. I have had one box shoot great, the next box shoot just all over. PA did an article on pellets and came away with the same thing. You can get great shooting pellets, but you just really never know.

I would also say that you really should put at least 5 rounds down range (at least) in testing pellets, (my number is 20) to "season the bore".

You can find that in switching pellets even in the same company JSB to JSB or RWS to RWS that you can get some real flyers in there at first, then it will calm down. I have found in switching between alloy pellets and lead really you need to put some lead (or alloy) down range.

In my home my basement range is around 15 yards....I usually shoot for a few hours after work and after getting in from feeding the turkey's chickens and all that jazz, till the wife gets home and parks her car in the middle of my range

I guess where I was going with this was give each of those tins of new pellets a fair chance, it might take a few rounds for your gun to get the feel of that new pellet. I wont even get into how MSP can like more or less pumps between each pellet....seems there is a magic FPS for some of them.