4.49 or 4.50 - what should I use and why?

[zooma]

Following the "good vibes" about the GECO pellets I bought some last week and noticed they no longer come in the tin with a blue lid - but now have a new red coloured lid.

Maybe this is simply new packaging and I was concerned that I had bought the new pointed GECO pellets by mistake, but on opening the tin I found them to be the target "wadcutter" type sure enough, so they are the type I wanted - but have they changed in any way?

Has anyone noticed any difference between those in the new and old packaging?

[silvershooter]

Hi zooma, when I last bought some Gecos the shop told me they now come in a red tin, I don't believe the pellets are any different, but I don't have any from the blue tins left to compare.

[zooma]

Thanks for that - I was guessing it was just a cosmetic packaging thing - but since this is a thread about pellets it seemed a good place to ask!

[zooma]

I have now got a Walther 300X Anatomical rifle, and as this thread suggests that rifles may indeed benefit a little more from the correct pellet choice than pistols, can anybody advise from their own experience what is the best pellet to use in this particular match rifle.

I am guessing the usual culprits like RWS R10 Rifle are an obvious choice - but as the thread asks - is the 4.50 or 4.51 or even 4.52 size an advantage when used in a Walther 300X Match rifle?

Has anybody used the JSB Match Diablo Rifle or the heavier Match Diablo S100 Rifle in a Walther rifle like this?.....and if so what worked best 4.50. 4.51 or 4.52?

I am guessing the smaller available sizes of 4.48 and 4.49 are not as suitable?

[zooma]

I have received confirmation by email from a reliable source to advise that Walther have tested all types of pellets in their rifles under very precise conditions, and the pellet that tested the best and gave the tightest groups is the R10 Rifle pellet from RWS, and the size most suited to the Walther barrel is 4.50.

This is a good positive answer that may be helpful to Walther rifle shooters to be aware of as it is not possible for most of us to replicate the exact controlled conditions that the manufacturer can acheive to give such a precise test environment.

Other manufacturers may well have found entirely different results and other pellets and sizes suite their barrels better, but I am happy to accept this good information and will use the R10 rifle 4.50 in my 300 from now onwards knowing that it is the pellet best suited to my rifle.

[zooma]

I have been told that there are some problems with the RWS Hobby pellets being inconsistant size wise.

These are only available in 4.50, so the problem must be related to production variations.

Anybody else found problems with these recently??

I have always found the RWS Hobby to be a good performing pellet (especially in most target pistols) and have not seen or had any problems with them myself, but strange things can and do happen in production sometimes , so maybe this comment only refers to a recent batch?

[silvershooter]

Hi Zooma
Yes I have found that some pellets go in the breach easily and some require a lot of effort. Measuring them I find they are all well over 4.5 mm. I tried a Steyr LP1 at the club on Monday and some shots went where they were meant, but then I would get a lot of recoil and a flyer. This is what I was finding with my C25. So if by luck I get a few pellets of the same size, then I would get a reasonable group.I have just measured some and 4.65 seems to be typical size, with the occasional 4.7. So with the larger pellets there is more recoil as the pressure builds up too much (imo).

It's possible this is less of a problem with the Steyr LP10 with its anti recoil mechanism, (hence Cones great score with Gecos.)
I am going to use JSB Diabolo from now on and have ordered some 4.49 to try alongside the 4.5.
Regards
Dave

[zooma]

Hi Dave,

You could try RWS Meisterkugeln - loads of world record and International results were won with this pellet not so long ago, and at £6.00 a tin it is closer in price to the budget priced Hobby pellets you have been using, and they are also available in 4.49 if you think this size is important.

I have also found the RWS R10 pellets always work well - but they are now over £8.00 a tin, and I have found the results from the Meisterkuglen are just as good ( but at a lower price).

[derekm]

The only way to be certain of your pellet size is to put them through a sizer.

The "competition grade" pellets may be more consistent than the cheaper offerings, but to be sure and confident, it would be best to mike a good number.

When I checked a selection of pellets a couple of years back, none of them corresponded in any dimension with what was printed on the tin, even the AA Fields. I measured head and skirt, both over two diameters, 90 degrees apart.

Then I bought a sizer from UK Neil!

[zooma]

The only way to be certain of your pellet size is to put them through a sizer.

The "competition grade" pellets may be more consistent than the cheaper offerings, but to be sure and confident, it would be best to mike a good number.

When I checked a selection of pellets a couple of years back, none of them corresponded in any dimension with what was printed on the tin, even the AA Fields. I measured head and skirt, both over two diameters, 90 degrees apart.

Then I bought a sizer from UK Neil!

Good idea!.but to get back to the original question posed by this thread - maybe we should ask what size of sizer - and why?

...and does it really matter?

Consistancy of the pellets always matters, we all agree, but is the size difference between 4.49 and 4.50 of any significance?

[silvershooter]

The "competition grade" pellets may be more consistent than the cheaper offerings, but to be sure and confident, it would be best to mike a good number.

I have been measuring my R10 pistol weight 4.49 and 4.50, they are more consistent compared to cheaper pellets as derekm is saying but some of the 4.50 are a touch smaller than the 4.49.
(They are great in my FAS 604, which I had not used for a few months ,I had forgotten what a great pistol they are.)

[zooma]

This thread may be helpful to the new one just launched regarding Geco pellets as there is a lot of good valuable information reported here on these (and other) pellets.

[john_almighty]

Thanks zooma, hadn't noticed this thread. Very useful and very informative. Thanks again for bumping it up.

[zooma]

Thanks zooma, hadn't noticed this thread. Very useful and very informative. Thanks again for bumping it up.

No problem John,

If cost is a serious consideration, I can tell you that since this thread was last "alive" we have had plenty of time to shoot and use several thousand Meisterkugeln pellets in 4.50 and 4.49 and can report they are still as good as when they were used to set all of those world records that were won with them, and at only £6.00 a tin there is no real compromise on performance whilst still making a useful cash saving over all of the other "top spec" pellets.

RWS is perhaps the brand stocked by the most dealers, and so you should be able to find them most good dealers - if you have any problems finding them - send me a PM.

[zooma]

I noticed a new thread today asking for advice about the best flat head pellet for use when shooting air pistol at 6 yards.

There is so much valuable information about match pellets in this thread that I thought I would dig it out and get it back on the front page again as there will be a lot of people that will have joined the BBS since this thread was last seen ( 52 pages ago since the last contribution!) who may find it interesting.

The thread was started when I returned to air weapons shooting after many years away and found the choice of .177 pellets dimensions somewhat bewildering, but as the thread gained momentum some very good contributions regarding match pellet choice was given and it will still be very helpful today.