Beginners Question

Bill Collaros

Bill Collaros

Shoot to Thrill
I am a rimfire benchrest shooter and I have not long also been doing air rifle benchrest and have a new air arms EV2Mk4, it shoots fantastic @ 25 meters and i have found some nice JSB Diabolo pellets that seem to work great. MY QUESTION is a guy told me that i should check every pellet along the skirt as they could differ and affect accuracy, is that correct?
 
Great Question

There are a whole host of ways to check pellets for consistency. Checking the skirt for defects, especially under magnification, is one. Rolling on a piece of glass is another. Measuring head size is one more. Weighing pellets and then sorting by weight seems to be the most popular method. Everyone seems to develop their own routine and everyone has an opinion on whether it warrants the effort.
 
At the power level of the EV2 all the little things can add up. I haven't the time to weigh each pellet but do recommend washing them to remove mfg flashing's left behind. Some lube them very sparingly, this is more for the high velocity units. Inspecting the skirts is a worth while investment of time as the bulk packed pellets will have some that are slightly deformed. In .177 there are various head sizes available and I recommend trying different ones just like .22 ammo. Get your self a pull through .177 cleaning kit as after a couple hundred rounds or less a little crud does build up and can affect accuracy. Air BR can be more or just as addictive as RF, it is great practice for RF or CF in as little as 10 yards with a flag or 2 in your own back yard or basement for more trigger time, best part 500 rounds for less than $15. Enjoy and have fun, Chris.
 
Bill
I check out the skirts for any deformation then weigh them on a digital scale. The newer JSB Match Diabolo seem to be better pellets than the old ones when it comes to culls. There are some that say the skirt will blow out but on some of my targets I kept getting flyers so now if the skirt is damaged in goes in the trigger time bottle.
Good Luck
Larry
 
Bill,
I have been using a pull through on my Theoben Rapid for 3 years now. I also pull a dry patch before each target.
Our last match a fellow shooter had a bad first target. He uses the felt cleaning pellets. The next target he shot a 250 followed by another 250!!! I might try the felt pellets myself.

Paul
 
Hi Paul,

I went and picked up some scales today so will weigh the pellets and check the skirts and based on majority view i will stick with pellets and see how the accuracy goes.
 
Ok last question, treid the scales and want to know how much variance should you allow if any? Example my pellets are .51g is .50 or .52 also acceptable or do i just use the exact same.51 for all the good ones?
 
I too weigh my pellets, but I use the grain unit, rather than the gram. When sorting pellets weighing around 8.4 grains, I try to keep batches in a two tenth range, or plus, minus one tenth. I use the same tolerance for my .22 caliber pellets, and find the practice seems to help weed out fliers that otherwise can ruin groups.

On a practical level, most scales are really only good for the ranges I'm using, and fortunately, it seems good enough. I generally shoot at 50 yards, and do not find issue with splitting a tin of pellets into three distinct "weigh lots" of pellets containing the bulk of the tin's product.
 
Weigh your pellets. Roll the skirts on glass. Some manufacturers have a pretty wide variance in pellet weight in the same tin and certainly between different tins and different lots. For example . . .
 

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Yes the felt pellets work but on occasion can cause a problem by leaving fibers behind usually in the transfer port blocking the valve from closing. Not a common occurrence but does happen evidently enough that FWB, ANZ, Walther do not recommend them.
 
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