Pellet Testing with Springers at 10 metres.

[zooma]

I have been spending quite a lot of time testing various wadcutter pellets in different .177 spring powered air rifles (non-recoiless) to find the best combination of barrel and pellet to give the tightest groups at 10 metres for me to shoot in the MPL 10 meter Spring Powered Air Rifle with Scope competition.

We shoot the Air 7 rifle targets at 10 meters with our scoped "kickers" to give a nice challenge, but the target rings are packed very close together as they are designed to be shot at 6 yards.

Any error in shooting can be punished quite heavily, so finding the pellet that works best with your chosen springer is important to stand any chance of hitting a good score (that can be repeated).

I shoot strings of 10 shots each time I test any barrel/pellet combination to see what size of hole they produce so I can see which gives the tightest group.

The many hours that I have invested in these pellet tests has shown me that one of the best ways of aiming (for grouping purposes only!) is when the scope is not adjusted accurately enough to strike the aiming cross that I have drawn on the test target.

With every shot landing away from the aiming mark it is much easier to ensure that every shot can be aimed with the same precision as the hole (or holes) do not spoil the aiming mark in any way.

Shooting "dead-on" makes it impossible to aim with the precision needed as the pellet holes are so much bigger than the Air 7 centre spot.

Once the grouping tests have been completed, the scope can be re-adjusted to make the shots hit the centre of the target.

Hope this helps?

[zooma]

This contribution was originally added to another thread, but i thought it could be of some interest here as we are looking at grouping at 10 metres when shooting with spring powered air rifles (kickers - not recoilless rifles) that are more at home as sporting air rifles and shooting with dome head pellets.

I have spent quite some time testing different types of wadcutter paper punching pellets to see what works best in various springers at 10 meters, and there is no combination of .177 rifle barrel and pellet (that I have found) that can give repeated one hole groups (that is a single hole the same size as the first shot) with any 10 consecutive shots from a spring powered (non recoilless) air rifle at 10 metres.

Some pretty good groupings have been attained (one hole - but greater in size than a single shot) but with the size of the centre 10 spot being so small on the 6 yard Air 7 targets that we shoot this particular 10 metres competition on, it is not possible to guarantee a 10 every time - even if every shot is executed with great repeated precision.

A typical 5 shot target (if shot perfectly in every way) could score 50 ex 50, but this demands some luck.

Another equally well executed 5 shot target could only score 45 ex 50 as the typical best grouping size could easily make every shot a 9 and not a 10.

Any score between 45 and 50 could be scored if the shooter was able to execute five consecutive perfect shots on each target.

Add to this the fact that we are shooting spring powered air rifles (!) and I think it is fair to say that some luck is needed to score a 50 ex 50, and it is highly unlikely that any of us could score 6 "possibles" in a row to give the perfect 300 ex 300.

The fact that some of us have come close to this utopia on occasion I think confirms that we obviously shot very well - but that we also enjoyed some good fortune too!

[Blackrider]

Excellent, I enjoyed that !

[Helm]

Hi all
Zooma hello ....which sporting rifle did you find was the best ? Or most to your liking ?
I have had both hw35 and Annie 335 in 177 and found the Annie to be more accurate even out to 45 meters ,bumped up to 10 + ft lbs to match hw
The trigger on the Annie can be made very nice at lower power but still not as nice as hw
I also found the Annie to like most roundheads and the hw to be fussy
For bell and 10m I would pick the Annie MK1
Cheers ian

[perlin]

Hi Bob, any particular pellet come out on top ?
John

[zooma]

Hi all
Zooma hello ....which sporting rifle did you find was the best ? Or most to your liking ?
I have had both hw35 and Annie 335 in 177 and found the Annie to be more accurate even out to 45 meters ,bumped up to 10 + ft lbs to match hw
The trigger on the Annie can be made very nice at lower power but still not as nice as hw
I also found the Annie to like most roundheads and the hw to be fussy
For bell and 10m I would pick the Annie MK1
Cheers ian

Hi Ian,

I have a 1970 (pre-safety catch) HW35 and a slightly later 1972 model that I intend testing next so I will let you know how that goes, but I have never owned a 335 so cannot help you with that.

My testing so far has been with HW97K (9 different rifles), TX200 and TX200HC (4 different rifles) and there is very little to choose between them, but all of the sporting rifles tested to date prefer to shoot round head pellets and finding flat head pellets to suite them is not so easy.

Even the "same type" rifles have their own preferences (!) and I was a little surprised to find how many of them preferred the lighter pistol weight flat head pellets and some worked best with the heavier rifle weight flat head pellets.

My testing has all been done at 10 meters because I am trying to find what works best for use in the current MPL competition (why not enter?) as this is a good fun series that has been designed to encourage more to shoot and enjoy their spring powered air rifles!

As a rough guide so far I have found the HW97K prefer the Meisterkugeln 4.50 (some prefer the pistol weight and some prefer the pistol weight) and one seems to like (tolerate) the RWS Basic (but only one!).

The TX200 is not a particularly "happy bunny" with any flat head pellet, but I have been using the JSB orange recently with some success in my TX200HC as it grouped the best out of all the pellets types tested to date with that rifle so I chose to use them for shooting my MPL targets with - and Meisterkugeln 4.50 Rifle with my HW97K.

There are so many variables with spring powered rifles and so what works best with one may not work as well with another of the same type, and any change of spring, drop-in kit or piston seal (or short stroke kit) can change everything and so the testing needs to start all over again!

I think the HW97K is the easier rifle to shoot well with (so far) but I am making a lot of effort to get the TX200 and TX200HC to work as well (mainly to support a good British manufacturer), and my scores show that I am making some progress - but I have to work harder and concentrate a lot more on every detail to squeeze a good score out of the TX and find it to be much more "hold sensitive" - and so not so easy to score with.

Hope this helps - and I look forward to seeing you shooting in the MPL soon

[zooma]

Hi Bob, any particular pellet come out on top ?
John

Hi John,

As a general guide I have found that most sporting air rifles prefer round head pellets (!), but they can (mostly) work well with Meisterkugeln 4.50 wadcutters, but only testing with your own particular air rifle will determine what works best for you in your own rifle.

Sorry I cannot be more specific , but the Meisterkugeln is a good choice to start with if you need to find a good wadcutter for target shooting that punches good clean holes and it works well in most of the rifles I have tested to date (and over the years!).

You may find a specific type that can work better (perhaps?) in your own spring powered air rifle, but only testing will determine this.

Help us to promote spring powered air rifle shooting at 10 metres (with scopes) in the MPL - all entries are welcome at any stage - late entries are welcomed !

Bob.

[Helm]

Hi Bob, interesting results....
I have found that the hw35 liked 4.51diablos and my tx hc likes jsb exacts in 4.52, neither where that accurate beyond 20 m using meisterkuglen in 4.50 and definitely not pellett on pellet. unlike..the Annie ,which was not so fussy on make or size of diablos....when rested it liked meisterkuglen in 4.50 not so much in 4.49( same as my Annie 250) that's with a dioptor on both Annie and hw...I put this down to the Annie being marketed as a junior target rifle In low power format...with dioptor ..
Cheers Ian
Had planned to join but now have to move,so won't know if I'll have room at home yet ,at the mo I have 6m so I can practice with rifle and pistol which is now taking over !
Cheers ian

[zooma]

Hi Bob, interesting results....
I have found that the hw35 liked 4.51diablos and my tx hc likes jsb exacts in 4.52, neither where that accurate beyond 20 m using meisterkuglen in 4.50 and definitely not pellett on pellet. unlike..the Annie ,which was not so fussy on make or size of diablos....when rested it liked meisterkuglen in 4.50 not so much in 4.49( same as my Annie 250) that's with a dioptor on both Annie and hw...I put this down to the Annie being marketed as a junior target rifle In low power format...with dioptor ..
Cheers Ian
Had planned to join but now have to move,so won't know if I'll have room at home yet ,at the mo I have 6m so I can practice with rifle and pistol which is now taking over !
Cheers ian

Hi Ian,

I don't think any flat nosed pellet is likely to be "pellet on pellet" accurate beyond 20 metres as they have the aerodynamics of a milk churn - and being shoved along at the sort of speed that a sporting rifle can deliver (which is what we are considering here) may well put it outside of its comfort zone - but they are the best choice for punching nice clean holes in paper targets when shot at 10 metres (but preferably not at maximum 12 ft/lbs!).

Testing with round head pellets is not something that I have mentioned here as I am purely trying to find the best paper punching pellet to suit my own spring powered rifles that give me the best grouping at 10 metres and hope that others may find this interesting and contribute (as you have done) with their own findings.

I carefully shot some more practice targets last night and the score varied between 47 and 50. This sort of variation (between 9 and 10 scores) is well within the typical group size of the pellets I was using in that particular rifle and so indicated a "near perfect shot" had been taken each time (and a large dollop of the very necessary luck!).

At this moment I have still not found any combination of spring powered sporting air rifle and wadcutter pellet that can give a tight enough grouping to absolutely guarantee that a perfectly executed shot can deliver a perfect 10 score at 10 metres on the 6 yard Air 7 targets that we use in this competition, so I am still convinced that any "possible" (50 ex 50) that is scored in this competition needs a fair degree of luck - as well as excellent marksmanship by the shooter!

The groupings I have been able to find during my testing to date indicate to me that it is not possible score a perfect ten every time when shooting with a spring powered (recoiling) sporting air rifle at 10 meters when using the 6 yard Air 7 targets that we use in this competition, but I will keep trying to find a rifle/pellet combination that can a give genuine one hole group (same size hole after 10 shots have passed through it), and only then will I be convinced that every 10 scored in this competition is down to excellent marksmanship with no degree of luck needed to guarantee it.

Bob.

[PhatMan]

Bob,

Indeed.

Even factoring in the smaller holes that 'field' pellets make in the cards, no 'flat nosed' pellet in my TX200 has ever equaled the groups shot with my TX200 & JSB Express.

I have often wondered why, and I will have to have a serious peek into this

Have fun

Best regards

Russ

[zooma]

Bob,

Indeed.

Even factoring in the smaller holes that 'field' pellets make in the cards, no 'flat nosed' pellet in my TX200 has ever equaled the groups shot with my TX200 & JSB Express.

I have often wondered why, and I will have to have a serious peek into this

Have fun

Best regards

Russ

I am looking forward to reading about your "findings" following your TX200 tests with different tuning kits and springs etc to see which options can give the tightest groupings at 10 meters using wadcutter pellets.

At the moment I am finding JSB Orange give the best wadcutter groupings in my TX200 and TX200HC barrels, but the "old faithful" Meisterkugeln Rifle (and Pistol) pellets run them a very close second along with R10 Match (again in both rifle and pistol weights!).

These findings were taken following tests with two TX200 and two TX200HC rifles and just about every known wadcutter pellet that is currently available in the UK.

TbT spring guides have been tested to give less "twang" and a smoother rifle, but the groupings still show the JSB Orange to come out with the tightest groups in my TX barrels so far, but different drop-in kits and spring types may well give different results - as I am sure your testing could perhaps reveal?

[PhatMan]

Bob,

Just done some initial shooting at 6 yards, with TX200 & JSB Match (Blue) and this is looking promising.

Have fun & a good weekend

Best regards

Russ

[zooma]

Bob,

Just done some initial shooting at 6 yards, with TX200 & JSB Match (Blue) and this is looking promising.

Have fun & a good weekend

Best regards

Russ

That's interesting Russ.

I have never bought or tested any of the heavy JSB Blue flat nose pellets in my springers as (if anything) it was the lighter weights that sometimes surprised with a tighter group than expected at 10 metres.

I will have to test some of these JSB Blue pellets in my own springers to see if they can out-perform the best results that I have been able to achieve so far!

Bob.