Effective way of checking for clipping pellets
Most of the time, it is very difficult to determine whether pellets are clipping the baffles or end cap of your shroud. Examining the baffles isn’t really the best way to confirm if the pellets are touching them on the way out. I’d like to share one good way to check for it without the use of slow-motion video. I think that this method can also tell you if your scope’s windage adjustment is off.
First off, you need to understand this: The moment a pellet leaves the muzzle it begins to fall down in a downward arc — when shooting the rifle horizontally. On some shrouds that have a greater distance from their end cap to the barrel muzzle the problem of clipping becomes more likely. However, if you shoot a pellet with the rifle pointing upwards from a 60 degree to a 90 degree angle (upwards), you don’t see this arc. More importantly, the nonexistence of it enables the pellet to fly in a straight(er) line. So, with these said, here are the steps:
1. Point your rifle from 60-90 degrees towards the sky (make sure you are doing this in a safe place and know where the pellet may land). If your pellet flies straight, and more importantly, is inline with the vertical strand of your scope’s reticle, you are good.
2. Next, point your rifle 10-30 degrees (close to horizontal), again towards the sky. It is best to do this if you have a point of reference (like the tip of a twig). If your pellet now flies crooked or does not track with the line of the vertical strand of your reticle, or it flies off to one side, then it is clipping one or more of the baffles of your shroud or its end cap. Note that sometimes you can’t even tell because you don’t see any lead marks on them, but it is.
Bear in mind that when performing this test, you need to make sure that the rifle doesn’t move sideways when it recoils (this doesn’t really occur when shooting close to 90 degress as the weight of the rifle and gravity pulling it down lets it move straight back). Have fun!
Cheers!
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The most easiest way for me is to remove the shroud completely and check if it has an effect on the grouping in anyway shape or form.
Of course because of the loudness not all can do this, do ware ear protection when testing.
All in all with or without it on it should group the same size and as constantly.
A difference in the POI shift in the group can be cause by being off set to the bore line a bit or clipping.
If it’s shooting at 3 O-clock on paper with the shroud on, it’s most likely that from looking at the muzzle opening the pellet is off set closer to the 3 O-clock position on the muzzle end.
In other words if the pellet will shift to the opposing side of the muzzle on the target.
Note that the above is a command occurrence and they’re others also like barrel harmonics but that’s another story.
Also the pellet does not need to actually make physical contact to send it off it’s course.
~ Greg
I agree, Saltwater. Clipping is more likely a problem with low-velocity rifles with long shrouds, making pellet drop the culprit (before it completely exits the shroud).
this will only work if the reason for clipping is pellet drop. If it is clipping because of mis-alignment of the Shroud and/or LDC with the bore axis, clipping will likely occur no matter the direction of fire…
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Very interesting, never thought of that..