JSB junk…fact or fluke?
Over the last several years since I purchased my first AF rifles I have used primarily Eun Jins and Kodiaks in my Condor and Kodiaks and Crossman Premiers in my SS; all with pretty good success. Last week I decided to order some JSB Exacts to give them a try. I received the order today and was extremely disappointed when I opened the tin. The skirts on at least 80% of them are either deformed or have what appears to be flashing around the edge. I had to ‘hunt’ to find 10 good pellets to test to see what kind of groups I could get. For those of you that are more experienced with this brand of pellet, is what I found typical or did I just get a bad batch? I really hope it’s just a bad batch because the ones I shot were great! The target I had set up was at 40 yards and one group was just one ragged hole; maybe the best group I’ve ever had! I tried 5 more pellets just picking them at random (a couple were pretty distorted) and that time wasn’t very impressive. Three were tight and two were off a good half inch. Please let me know what you guys have experienced with these. If it’s a fluke I want to send them back and try again. If not, I’ll just chalk it up to experience!
Thanks
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Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
i have been importing mine from DK, and 1-2% would be messed up but not that bad…might matter at 50-100 yards…the skirts are super soft and i think the high pressure blast will straighten the skirt somewhat out upon firing
ohh JSB is comming out with 18 grain pellet, i got a tin comming from the factory to test out (they are not yet on the market, and are looking for feedback) it should arrive here next week !
i will ship out 5 samples of 20 pellets Free to those who promise to post groups of at least 50 yards ! springers minimum 35 yards
dump me a PM if you wanna give them a shot, preferably i would like feed back from as many different guns as possible, so when shooting me a PM please do tell what kind of rifle you gonna test with, this will decide if you get a sample
Yep, i too have found bent skirts on the JSB’s. Moreso them as apposed to any other maker. 80% bent skirts is just unacceptable. But you are also right, when they are ON….they are ON.
The first batch I got was great, the rest of my batches awful. Its just not worth the frustrations. I get one great group then the next one has awful flyers. I just stick with kodiaks now. You dont give up a whole lot on accuracy but I NEVER…. NEVER… have to worry about flyers now.
Just go Kodiak.
PS: Ive never tried the wolverines…and now I think I will have to.
Ditto, it’s Kodiaks for me as well whether it’s .22, or .25, they’re about all I shoot anymore.
Yep, the thin skirts are the reason they arrive in such poor condition. They do their little slam-dance with each other inside the tin while they’re traveling with the FedEx man, and the result is unusable pellets.
On the other hand, the thin skirts allow for a great seal in the breech, which is why they probably fly so straight.
A month ago, I bought a 500ct tin from PA with reservations, expecting the same trashed and smashed pellets, but I was pleased… there’s less than 1% of them bent, and the few that are bent aren’t that bad… easy to fix with a pen cap or pell seat.
I guess it’s a “pay and pray” situation.
The first batch I got was great, the rest of my batches awful. Its just not worth the frustrations. I get one great group then the next one has awful flyers. I just stick with kodiaks now. You dont give up a whole lot on accuracy but I NEVER…. NEVER… have to worry about flyers now.
Just go Kodiak.
PS: Ive never tried the wolverines…and now I think I will have to.
I agree with you on the JSB’s! I have never had a bad batch of Wolverine’s.
JSB Exacts 16gn in .22 just down right piss me off. I cannot stand the bent skirts.
The first batch I got was great, the rest of my batches awful. Its just not worth the frustrations. I get one great group then the next one has awful flyers. I just stick with kodiaks now. You dont give up a whole lot on accuracy but I NEVER…. NEVER… have to worry about flyers now.
Just go Kodiak.
PS: Ive never tried the wolverines…and now I think I will have to.
I’ve shot a bunch of JSBs and the JSB Jumbo Express pellets and found the same results. Way to many of the pellets are smashed in the tin. They are very soft and thin skirted and I used them out of a 30 FPE gun that actually tolerated pretty bent up pellets.
I ended up getting lucky when I found that the gun I thought needed JSBs actually shoots the harder and cheaper Benjamin pellets better! Maybe the Benjamin’s would work for you too? If not, the Wolverines might be a good try.
I’ve ordered .22 JSBs from AoA. The 250 count tin or whatever they are. I received 300 count tins of AoA’s rebadged JSBs. They arrived in pretty good condition. Best part of it was that I still just paid for the 250 count tins. 😉
Here is a picture of the Wolverine tin.
I bought wolverines at Sportsman’s warehouse and then compared them to JSB exact 15.8s and they were not only in better condition but they had a thicker waist ❗ and no horizontal striations like the JSBs. Despite people saying they were the same thing I think there must be a difference.
I have ordered .22 JSB Exacts from Airguns of Arizona. What I received was a tin labled BSA Wolverine FT 16 gr. After doing some research, I found out that they are the same pellet. What suprised me was that while I have had the same experience with the JSB lable having many irregular pellets, the Wolverine lable was of impeccable quality. I usually order the 500 ct tins. You may want to give the Wolverines a try. Maybe I just got lucky with the wolverine’s but they shot extremely well in my Talon SS.
Great luck in the .177, they seem a little more durable.
i’ve gotten the .22s in both the 250 and 500 qty; in the smaller tins there are much less damaged ones. Even on the 500ct though the dinged ones are usually 1 of 10 or less, so I’d probably send that tin back for replacement. I think the 500ct tins the pellets are too heavy in mass quantity, considering the very thin skirts, and the pellets damage themselves in shipping (when first opening the tin, most of the dented skirts are in the center of the tin not around the edge, and exterrior of the tins was either not or minimally damaged. Sounds like you got a tin that was very roughly handled.
I’ve had great accuracy with them, definitely a great performer when not mishandled.
Distorted, bent skirts seems to be quite typical as of late with JSB’s, (from Pyramid Air) I got 4 tins of them, and many were messed up. The lead seems softer on them than other ones, plus the skirts are thinner than most, making it easier for them to get messed up during handling/shipping. To bad, otherwise JSB’s are great pellets if their in good condition.
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Thanks for the information guys! I am going to contact AOA and see about changing them out and hope for better results. I really do want to shoot some more (good ones) to find out if my initial results were indicative of what I can expect as far as the grouping is concerned.
I am also going to try some Wolverines. I’ve seen them advertised before but, I had never heard anything about them before this thread.
Later!