Is there a real alternative to JSB for Top Accuracy?

[stillair1]

25 years ago, boxed Crosman 7.9 grain Premier were the business in everything springer/rammer. JSB seem to beat them in all the rifles that I use now...

Prems were made to a high std then and gave a flatter trajectory than the pellets around at the time.

[maximus]

Prems were made to a high std then and gave a flatter trajectory than the pellets around at the time.

That's my main gripe with the 16g pellets in. 22, I would prefer about 14,5 grains similar to premiers but the last lot I had seem to vary a lot in thumb pressure required to seat.

[Amac]

Probably due to the fact that Premiers were/are a couple of grains lighter than the Barracuda Match which they took over from at the time.

[magnummike]

AA field made by JSB on their own dies I have been told are better than the JSB and always seem to shoot a little better than in my rifles

[ChrisC]

AA field made by JSB on their own dies I have been told are better than the JSB and always seem to shoot a little better than in my rifles

I have found the opposite as JSB's shoot better than AA's in my 2 Steyrs, and my mates HW100, MPR and Ultimate sporter. It's the same old merry go round of different pellets suiting different barrels........even down to the same manufacturer and the same rifle.

It can get even worse...how many shoot the tightest group and then leave it there? I found that the tightest groups in my Steyrs were the 7,9 grain JSB exact express with the standard JSB 8,44 grain being a very , very close second. However after a few thousand shots i realised that the 7,9 grain pellets were moving unexpectedly in the wind but the 8,44's were more predictable.

[kai06]

My rifle loves JSB 8.44gr and also Air Arms 8.44gr which i have heard are made by the same company but just a different brand name. I also find there accuracy is bang on all the time

atb kai06

[Bellycrawler]

Still testing & searching. I keep finding more new ones to try out.

[bozzer]

I'm trying to find one.

Maybe it's just luck of the draw?

Plenty of posts on various boards complaining about the quality ( and innacuracy ) of some JSB tins. Others saying they are better than ever.

So it's possible that there are great batches of JSB out there and some not so good ones. Do the not so good ones leave the factory like that or are they damaged in transit etc?

It's also difficult to assess what one person calls 'very accurate in my gun'. I used to think anything under an inch at 35 yards was fantastic. So pellets that I'd think were great years ago I would now consider as garbage.

Plus ... am I really that good ... good enough ... consistently ... ( particularly ) with a springer ... when all my testing is done outside ( there's ALWAYS some wind ) ... to know whether today's 20mm group at 35 yards is because this batch of pellets is not as good as last week's excellent 8mm ctc at 35 yards? I'm probably not.

I have taken a poor batch of JSB's ( shooting groups straight from the tin ) and weasled out the dodgy ones and retested ... massive improvement.

I've also done that with Prems out of a box ... again excellent results.

So do I measure and weigh pellets? When you read the threads on that all the top FT guys post up saying it's a waste of time and they just use them from the tin. Where are they getting these magic tins from?

I'm going to give the H&N Snipers a go. I tried the old stuff from PAX. Great to 25 yards and then a hint of a breeze and all over the shop. No reason why these should be different in my guns I suppose as they are made from the same machines.

The best I've found have been H&N Barracuda Match ... but I don't want 10.6gr at 11fp. Quite bizarre really as looking back over 13 years of HFT I would probably now choose to use that weight and take the wind advantage and live with the extra loop up to 45 yards. Not sure I need the extra extra loop from 45 to 55 yards in FT.

[NeilMac]

I put this on another thread, but recently, fed up with my poor shooting after a recent return to FT, I ordered 10 tins of JSB exact 8.44grn, each from a different batch. I added H&N Sniper mediums, Air Arms Express, two more tins of JSB's I had at home and RWS Super Field in 4.51 and 4.52.

I lubed each tin of pellets in FP10 (which I have done for years) and was surprised at this point to see that different dies of JSB's produced different pellets. Back in 2005/6/7 Air Arms pellets had one profile and JSB's had a slightly different profile. When looking at all the different pellets I had, I could see both profiles (not mixed but in different batches) and all from tins marked JSB exact.

I didn't weight, sort or size the pellets, just lubed them and then shot them in strings of five at 55 yards, noting wind direction and speed in a notepad after each string.

In the end I found the H&N's were consistently accurate and so were one batch of JSB's and the Air Arms expresses.

EDIT: The rifle used was a Walther LG300 Dominator, set to 785fps with 8.44grn pellets.

[Jonjon79]

I took my .177 Cricket out on its first rabbit hunt last night......

JSB Heavy were absolutely spot on all night.

[bozzer]

I put this on another thread, but recently, fed up with my poor shooting after a recent return to FT, I ordered 10 tins of JSB exact 8.44grn, each from a different batch. I added H&N Sniper mediums, Air Arms Express, two more tins of JSB's I had at home and RWS Super Field in 4.51 and 4.52.

I lubed each tin of pellets in FP10 (which I have done for years) and was surprised at this point to see that different dies of JSB's produced different pellets. Back in 2005/6/7 Air Arms pellets had one profile and JSB's had a slightly different profile. When looking at all the different pellets I had, I could see both profiles (not mixed but in different batches) and all from tins marked JSB exact.

I didn't weight, sort or size the pellets, just lubed them and then shot them in strings of five at 55 yards, noting wind direction and speed in a notepad after each string.

In the end I found the H&N's were consistently accurate and so were one batch of JSB's and the Air Arms expresses.

See ... let's just look at that ...

Some will say that 5 shots isn't enough. Some will say that 55 yards in some wind is no real indication of the pellets performance. Some will question how good your shooting was.

Let's forget that for a min. So your test is showing that 11 tins out of 12 of JSB 8.44gr Exact are no real use to you. That's 5500 pellets at a cost of somewhere between 6 quid and 10 quid a tin.

Now some will say that they just didn't suit your barrel.

I'm not 100% convinced of that ... and a 1 in 12 chance of finding a tin that suits your barrel!

I've taken poor batches of AAF 8.44gr ( so basically JSB Exact ) and removed the ones that under high mag seem to have a problem ( damaged skirts or little bits of blobs on the tails etc ) ... imperfect pellets. If I then test the remaining good ones ( say 60% ) they are now fine.

So I'm not convinced there are batches that suit one barrel and others suit another barrel. I think there may be batches that just have a very high percentage of good pellets in and they will shoot well in most barrels ... and the opposite.

It's difficult to judge. It seemed a few years back I just bought any old tin of AAF from my local shop and they all shot well in my guns. Then, in the last couple of years I have struggled to find a tin that shoots well. 3 or 4 out of 5 yes ... but opened up groups from 1 or 2. If I've gone back to what's left of my old stuff the groups are back to excellent.

I've seriously got sick and tired of spending 10 quid a tin to find after 30 pelets I've got another tin that isn't any good in my gun.

Hence why I've started looking for alternatives.

[MADEinSTOKE]

Hence why I've started looking for alternatives.

If you can get down dolphin boats,they have had some new daystate kaiser pellets in that look really well made, my friend has shot them in 3 different guns and they have been brilliant in them all....only problem is if your gun likes them is they are £11.50 for .177

[chris.allum]

Someone else said It further up .... Have a go with h&n snipers meds

I was quite surprised

If I didn't have 20+ tins of jsb .... I'd give em a long term trial

[Two200's]

I was trying Daystate LI heavies in an Airwolf.
They looked like those Snipers.

Performed well enough, but I still have 10 tins of Exacts to get through.

Which should take about 17 years at the rate I am shooting these days.

[bozzer]

If you can get down dolphin boats,they have had some new daystate kaiser pellets in that look really well made, my friend has shot them in 3 different guns and they have been brilliant in them all....only problem is if your gun likes them is they are £11.50 for .177

Thanks for that.

I don't mind paying 11.50 if I'm getting a good yield. I've been paying 10 quid a tin for AAF and chucking a load away.

I'm interested that they are coming from H & N. The German pellets look very well made. I've had tins of FTT that I've thought looked great, quality wise, but then sadly don't shoot that well.

The concern with them being Daystate is that Daystate keep bouncing around. They had Crosman make them Li's and my guns loved them. Then they stopped doing them and moved to JSB for Sovereigns. Now they have got H&N making them select pellets. Where next? If my gun loves them and then they stop making them in a year it'll drive me crazy ( again ).