Match springers and pellet weight

[Arthur John Smithsplease]

Modern match pellets are usually light for pistols and medium weight for rifles.

Has it always been like this?

Back in the day when all match rifles were springers did competitors use pellets nearer to 7 grains than 8?

Do any of you ever use pistol weight pellets in your springer rifles?

I know people say that heavier pellets may give more stability in flight, but we are only talking 10 metres after all.

A medium weight pellet will give about 550 fps in a rifle and a light weight one 600+.

[Modski66]

I would be interested in the answers to this question; I am re-building an old Haenel 303-S to have a go at match rifle (on a budget...) As I already have lots of 'pistol' pellets, it would be simpler (and cheaper) to keep to the same weight.

By-eck, am I turning into a Yorkshire-man?

[mikec4]

By-eck, am I turning into a Yorkshire-man?

It is reversible with surgery - lengthen the arms and shorten the pockets

[PhatMan]

Arthur,

From memory, most target pellets in the 1970s/1980s were ca. 8 - 8.4 gr. in weight.

I have some Eley Match from that time, and they are 8.4 gr. in weight.

IIRC, the RWS Meisterkugeln were also around this weight at the time.

I have been feeding my classic 10m springer target rifles & pistols JSB Match (Green - 7.33 gr., Orange - 8.02 gr.) and RWS R10 Pistol (6.99gr.) with complete satisfaction

Have fun & a good weekend

Best regards

Russ

[Paul SE]

Many years ago when I shot 10m competitions, I carried out some pellet group tests with RWS Meisterkugeln, RWS Hobby, H&N Match and H&N Match High Speed.

At the time I was using an Original 75 and the H&N HS consistently grouped the best. Over a chrono they averaged 606 fps.

I believe they weighed about 7.2 grains and were really meant for pistols.

[Arthur John Smithsplease]

Thank you both very much for sharing your experience.