Is this any way to finding the perfect (?) pellet?
This is going to be a multi-part series on pellet testing.
Welcome to part I.
The Ark of the Covenant, The Fountain of Youth, The City of Atlantis, The Perfect Pellet.
So many have searched; so many have failed. 😥
I have read numerous post, as most of us have, trying to find The Perfect Pellet. It would be total folly for me to even think that I could accomplish such a task as I am a mere mortal and still a rookie at air guns by most standards. However, what I hope to accomplish is helping new shooters with .25 Condors find a starting point of selecting a pellet that will accomplish what we all strive for; overall accuracy.
The equipment:
The rifle I will be using is the .25 Condor. No modifications to the rifle have been made from the way it came from Airforce. The scope I will be using is the BSA STS 6 -24 x 44 Stealth Tactical.
Pellets that will be tested are some of the more popular found being discussed on TAG.
All pellets for this test will be shot at (approximately) the same velocity. I wanted to also determine if the POI would change from pellet to pellet. According to Chairgun, there should be no shift. I know that some pellets will shoot better at one velocity than another, and rather than agrue this point, feel free to do your own testing. 😆
I decided to start with (about) 925fps for this stage of the test. Why 925? Beats me. 😉 It was the speed at which at which I shot a random pellet across the crony.
I didn’t say this was going to scientific. 😯
So then I went to the crony to determine settings for my experiment.
Let me set standards for my experiment. I am testing for four things and in no particular order of importance:
1. How much pressure is required to propel different weights of pellets at the same speed ❓
2. Will Chairgun be accurate as far as forecasting the same POI ❓
3. Which pellet groups the best when shot at the same FPS ❓
4. Am I having fun doing this ❓ 😎
In the first part of this experiment I wasn’t looking for long shot strings. I wanted to get 5 with a good average to test the theory that the POI would not shift with pellets traveling at the same speed.
The three constants in part one of the experiment were power wheel settings, top hat gap and FPS with tank pressure being the variable value.
The power wheel set was set at 6.0
The top hat gap was set at .069”
The FPS I picked was 925
The three pellets I used are:
JSB 25.4g
Benjamin Dome 27.8g
Kodiak Match 31.2g.
There are many, many more pellets out there to choose from. I chose these cuz I had them. 😉 I did not currently have any Eun Jin pellets but do intend on testing them as well.
If you have a pellet you would like to see tested, send me a tin and I’ll put them in the mix. 💡
First I started with the JSB’s
The magic pressure for these pellets was 1500psi
1. 933.01
2. 927.56
3. 919.06
4. 915.44
5. 908.91
Avg 920.8
Next I shot Benjamin Domes. I found these to require 1700psi
1. 930.36
2. 929.22
3. 923.97
4. 918.78
5. 911.38
Avg 922.74
And last I shot the Kodiak Match. These required 1900psi.
1. 938.73
2. 930.50
3. 927.72
4. 929.43
5. 922.35
Avg 929.74
Summary:
The POI didn’t seem to vertically shift, so that part of the test proved to be conclusive. However, In testing the Kodiaks, the first two shots went high. I thought OK, the POI did shift. But then the following shots settled in to a better grouping. I actually shot a total of 7 Kodiak pellets, the last five hit where the arrow points.
In the accuacy test, it was close. I have to give the nod to the Benjamin’s for accuracy. If it weren’t for the two “flyers” in the Kodiak’s test, they would have been my choice by virtue they produce more FPE.
The JSB’s were very close too. With three touching and two loose, caused me to drop them to 3rd place.
Stay tuned for Part II….. Which pellet will group the best at 50 – 75 – 90 yards. (Can’t do 100.. my range is only 93 yards deep.)
This test will be an accuracy test of a shot string of twenty pellets. This should weed out the weaklings. 😉
All Replies
Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)
Your results so far look very familiar. Benjis outperform every other pellet in my barrel, and they really hold tight at long range.
Tofazfou – Honor to have you answer my post. :bow: Watched your videos on YOUTUBE, great shooting. Also, I’ve read your post on the forum; a personal thanks for sharing your experiences with all of us newbies.
I will most definitely try your recommendations as they have proven successful for you. I’m going to go back and test at 920 – 930 – 940 with both the JSB’s and the Kodiaks. I will give full test results later this week as it is windy and supposed to rain in the next couple of days. I will get in touch with Jerry about his “slugs” (i.e pellets) too.
Again, thanks for the insight. That’s what makes this forum work.
Dave
Dave,
All the pellets. But since you started kinda high in the FPS dept, just lower bit by bit and take note of the set velocities and accuracy at said FPS.
When i was shooting .25 Cal Kodiaks at 940 FPS, i tried the then NEW JSB KINGS and they were going about 990-1000 fps and they did not like that speed. So i lowered the KINGS to 940 fps and VOILA….1 hole accuracy. For some reason (rifling twist rate) my guns really shines at 920-930-940 fps. I’ve tried them all at about 880 with only so so accuracy. I’ve pushed Kodiaks at 975 fps with decent accuracy but again, at 940, the gun and the Kodiaks and JSB’s shine. The .25 cal Preds and Benji Domes like 920 FPS which is what my gun produces with them while its set at 940 fps with Kings. Kings and Predators shoot to the same POI and the Benji domes shoot about 1/2″ left of that but dead centered vertically.
Whats really interesting is that you can get HIGH and MEDIUM-HIGH FPS accuracy with the same pellets. For example, I can shoot JSB kings at lets say 940 fps then 1050 fps and get great accuracy. But at no were else in the FPS realm that i care to try. 880 and 975 fps are not great but accuracy is OK.
And yes, with only 2+ grains difference, the lighter pellet can show abnormally (matter of personal opinion) high speeds between the 2. Such as my KODIAKS vs JSB KINGS vs Crow Mags vs Benji Domes. As i stated, my gun was pushing KODS at 940 fps then i inserted a few JSB Kings and it hit right at 1000 fps and the next few shots went just over 1000 (chrony was 6 ft from muzzle). I also have shoot a ton of Crow Magnums while the gun was set for Kodiaks and they also hit 1005-1010 FPS. Kodiaks=30.7…Benji Domes=27.8…Kings=25.4…CM’s=26.2….Predators=26 gr. But man are those KODIAKS one solid and thick and heavy pellet. Its now wonder they travel much slower than lets say the Kings. The Kings are short and stubby and have thinner skirts. So i’m sure that aides in less resistance while in the barrel.
Have fun experimenting…….your off to a great start. You will definitely discover what your gun likes.
PS…….another great slug to try is the 6-7-9 ring slugs from SUREFIRE CASTING sold here by JERRY BOYENGA. Just PM him concerning any info.
Tofazfou – lower the speed on all the pellets or just the JSB’s? I doubt I will be able to target shoot today, but I could do my crony work this afternoon. The wind is blowing 25 mph.
I can do it Monday!
dave
sorry dave, those were an FT version i seen in my PA catalog…if a barrel is total trash, i fire lap with barkeepers friend mixed with a few drops of alcohol, 10-15 rds. and shoot it clean another 10 rds., then clp coated rds. for 10 rds. did wonders on my crosman springer(dont do this unless all else fails ❗ )
Nice.
I definitely would like to see the FPS lower. Those numbers speed wise are getting pretty fast. Your slower numbers of 800-900 should prove to be interesting with around 880 being pretty good.
Have fun and good luck testing some more. I’ll be reading your updates
yes i have this happen most always,going from one pellet to another , if i am really serious about the groups i will clean the barrel between differant pellets.
i always shoot a few pellets to settle the gun after a fill also,before shooting my groups , first few pellets seem to have differant impact until it settles in after a fill or air.
powder burner – Will do on the lower FPS. I using the .25’s. However, when I tuned my .25 Mrod (man was it on!) I remember best groups were at change under 900, I think about 875.
I’ve got 2 full tins and about 100 pellets in another, so I’m going to try 10 shot groups at 800 through 900 in 25FPS differences and see what kind of grouping I get at 50 yards before I try to stretch them out.
Moneyshot – Life is good to me.:wink:
What is the wadcutter lip you speak of? PA part number is PY-P-466 are the ones I was shooting.
What is the best method of using a paste or a cleaner. All I done is pull patches.
All – The one thing that I have found in the testing series is when I go from one pellet model/brand to the next, the first two or three shots seem to not to “settle in”.
The other thing I noticed weird in this test is if I go from one pellet (say I shoot the Benji’s) and then shoot a different pellet, (say the Kodiak’s) then switch back to the original shooting pellet (Benji’s in this case) and even with only a few shots of each, the original starting pellet might produce flyers, or change POI and then it settles back in to the original group.
Like I say, Weird
got the life, huh man? them kods usually dont disappoint…is the barrel leaded maybe from the benjis? did you try JB compound? im a bit baffled myself. how different from kod matches and standard ones are? think i seen em in my PA catalog if im not mistaken, and that little wadcutter lip may hurt ya at distances.
persistence is golden… 😉
:popcorn:
your having too much fun.
In my 22 condor the benjamin or crosman domes shoot better at higher fps than jsb’s. If you dial you fps down to around 950 or 920 i think the jsb will tighten up for you. worth a try any way.
In Part II and beyond of my pellet testing, I want to see which pellet will give me the greatest accuracy over a shot string of 20 pellets, over distances of 50, 75 and 90 yards. The distance I shot today is 50 yards. I chose this because Airforce states “one inch accuracy” at this distance but dies not state which pellet they used. I chose a quainty of 20 pellets because that is what my pellet holder will hold when I go hunting. 😉
After many, many, many pellets shot into the trap I was able to come up with these shot strings.
JSB
H 1038.60
L 987.11
A 1019.27
ES 51.49
SD 16.61 😥
Pressure 2400psi
Power wheel 2.5
Benjamin
H 1014.41
L 983.26
A 1004.25
ES 31.15
SD 10 🙂
Pressure 2500psi
Power wheel 3
Baracuda
H 1001.23
L 974.24
A 990.75
ES 26.99
SD 8.24 😎
Pressure 2700
Power wheel 5.5
You can see in this target about the same grade of groups as in part I. You can kind of see the type of groups you might expect when you look at the crony numbers of each pellet.
Conclusion:
Benjamin Domed
At 50 yards in my rifle, Benji’s work the best. With 18 shots making one “ragged” hole in the magic “one inch”. These have proven time after time in every brand and model of .25 rifle I’ve shot, these seem to be the most consistent.
Kodiak Match
With the way the Kodiak’s crony’d, I though they were going to be top dog in the accuracy string testing. But when only 70% of the pellets hit the industry standard “one inch” at 50 yards, I was a little disappointed. I really want this pellet to go toe to toe with the Benjamin Domes. With the wild, first few shots in both the low pressure 5 shot string and the higher pressure 20 shot strings, I’m a little baffled by why this is happening. When all this testing is over, I’m going to do further testing to see what might be causing this.
JSB
The JSB’s still tended to be a little lack luster. I haven’t given up on them, though. I will be shooting these as well as the other pellets at 75 yards. Reguardless, the JSB brand of pellet is my go-to pellet in my .22 Marauder rifle and Marauder pistol. I have yet to shoot a better pellet. I consistently hit Starlings in a dead tree behind my property at 75 yards. 😆
Part III….. Group me at 75 yards, please. 😯
Cool !!!!
I just got in some 43’s. I will try and answer that this weekend after I finish rebuilding my trap. I shot the back out of it. Guess 340 pellets was it’s limit. 😯 😆
interesting… each 2 1/2 gr increase required an additional 200 psi
guessing 3000 psi to shoot 45 gr.
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My pleasure Dave and thanx a ton for your compliments. your doing it just right on your own man. A lot of powderburner principles apply to airguns. Ideal projectile, projectile speed, and twist ratio makes for an accurate shooter.