T
TCups
Guest
A quick post to say that I have new respect for air rifle bench rest shooters. I told my brother I would do some testing for his new pellet gage using a 10-meter rifle off a bench rest to see if the gage made a difference. The results are, well, somewhat disappointing to me in that I didn't seem to be shooting very well, but at least the preliminary results, even at my level of skill suggest that pellet head size is making a difference in accuracy and POI, at least with my Walther LGR-Universal.
The pellet head size gage was my brother's idea. You can read about it, and if interested, order one. Versus the price of a decent set of calipers, it seems a bargain
pelletgage.com
So, I am trying out head-sized Vogel Green pellets with my Walther off a makeshift bench rest, shooting from one bedroom, down the hallway, into another bedroom. My wife of 42 years (Saint Carol) still put up with this sort of thing.
The sort:
Tested Vogel Green wad cutters, preferred by my my air rifle. The "tin", or plastic case specifies this lot number to be 4.495 mm head size and 0.53 g The gage says that the pellets actually running 4.51mm 4.52 mm and 4.53 mm and weigh, on my scale, 0.534 g - 0.540 g with most weighing either 0.534 or 0.536 g. Today, I was shooting 5-shot groups of pellets weighing 0.534 g and head sizes of 4.51 mm, 4.52 mm and 4.53 mm and comparing to 5-shot groups not head-sized.
Shooting a single pump from a bench rest is a bit tedious as I have to raise and hold the air rifle to cock it every shot, and it's far from a professional set up. Also, I find my 62 year old eyeballs need a Klieg light on the target to dial the rear peep down to minimum, and to change out the front aperture to get the right sight picture. Played with all this set up yesterday, practiced some, then tested some groups more carefully today.
In short, I don't have anything like the skills needed to give much more than anecdotal results, but they seem to match what my brother is observing with diabolo pellets and field trial shooting. The head size definitely seems to affect both the group size AND the point of impact. I was a bit disappointed by my overall accuracy, but this target pretty much tells the story:
Starting in the center, then, clockwise from top left, groups 1 and 2 of target -73 were not sorted for head size. Group 3 was 4.51 mm, group 4 was 4.52 mm and group 5 was 4.53 mm. Groups 3 and 5 were .339 in, edge to edge. Notice the shift in the POI from group 3 to 5. Target -74 was all 5-shot groups pulled, unweighed from the tin and not sorted for head size.
So:
1. Too poor a shot and not enough numbers to be significant
2. Vogel match grade pellets more often shoot well than not, but
3. IMO, I was seeing more "flyers" when the head size wasn't measured, and
4. My two best groups with head-sized pellets show a shift in POI between sizes 4.51 and 4.53
Brother Jerry says he and a few other field trial shooters are seeing POI shifts of up to about 1 inch at 30 yards shooting JSB Exacts with different head sizes. It would be interesting to see what difference matched head sizes might make for a true bench rest shooter using better equipment than mine. Check it out. Thanks.
The pellet head size gage was my brother's idea. You can read about it, and if interested, order one. Versus the price of a decent set of calipers, it seems a bargain
pelletgage.com
So, I am trying out head-sized Vogel Green pellets with my Walther off a makeshift bench rest, shooting from one bedroom, down the hallway, into another bedroom. My wife of 42 years (Saint Carol) still put up with this sort of thing.
The sort:
Tested Vogel Green wad cutters, preferred by my my air rifle. The "tin", or plastic case specifies this lot number to be 4.495 mm head size and 0.53 g The gage says that the pellets actually running 4.51mm 4.52 mm and 4.53 mm and weigh, on my scale, 0.534 g - 0.540 g with most weighing either 0.534 or 0.536 g. Today, I was shooting 5-shot groups of pellets weighing 0.534 g and head sizes of 4.51 mm, 4.52 mm and 4.53 mm and comparing to 5-shot groups not head-sized.
Shooting a single pump from a bench rest is a bit tedious as I have to raise and hold the air rifle to cock it every shot, and it's far from a professional set up. Also, I find my 62 year old eyeballs need a Klieg light on the target to dial the rear peep down to minimum, and to change out the front aperture to get the right sight picture. Played with all this set up yesterday, practiced some, then tested some groups more carefully today.
In short, I don't have anything like the skills needed to give much more than anecdotal results, but they seem to match what my brother is observing with diabolo pellets and field trial shooting. The head size definitely seems to affect both the group size AND the point of impact. I was a bit disappointed by my overall accuracy, but this target pretty much tells the story:
Starting in the center, then, clockwise from top left, groups 1 and 2 of target -73 were not sorted for head size. Group 3 was 4.51 mm, group 4 was 4.52 mm and group 5 was 4.53 mm. Groups 3 and 5 were .339 in, edge to edge. Notice the shift in the POI from group 3 to 5. Target -74 was all 5-shot groups pulled, unweighed from the tin and not sorted for head size.
So:
1. Too poor a shot and not enough numbers to be significant
2. Vogel match grade pellets more often shoot well than not, but
3. IMO, I was seeing more "flyers" when the head size wasn't measured, and
4. My two best groups with head-sized pellets show a shift in POI between sizes 4.51 and 4.53
Brother Jerry says he and a few other field trial shooters are seeing POI shifts of up to about 1 inch at 30 yards shooting JSB Exacts with different head sizes. It would be interesting to see what difference matched head sizes might make for a true bench rest shooter using better equipment than mine. Check it out. Thanks.
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