Choosing the Right Pellet for Air Rifles
Posted: Fri May 14, 2010 12:27 pm
Hi Guys,
Here’s some food for thought – Hope it helps ‘Enjoy your Shooting’
There are so many factors that can affect air rifle performance hence choosing the proper pellet can be a difficult task. Individual characteristics of the air-gun and pellet combine to play a major role in determining how well a particular pellet will group in a specific gun. A spring air-gun's rifling and choke, spring and spring guide tolerances may have a positive or negative effect on the performance of a given pellet. Additionally, pellets are sold in different shapes, weights, lengths, diameters and alloys. Combining all those factors can make choosing the proper pellet quite confusing.
What attributes make a pellet a good choice?
The type of shooting task at hand will largely determine the ideal pellet. For general reference, we break shooting tasks into four main categories:
1.General Shooting (plinking)
2.Pest Control
3.Hunting
4.Target Shooting
• But one pellet attribute is essential regardless of your shooting type is its ability to group well with your gun in a consistent, repeatable manner.
• It doesn't take more than a few shots to determine whether your gun performs well with a given pellet. If your gun can't shoot a tight group with five shots, then it won't perform any better by shooting 100 pellets. The first thing to do is to then is to look for other attributes such as:
1. Pellet shape - different shapes are designed to perform different shooting tasks.
2. Pellet weight - important for trajectory purposes and velocity results.
3. Pellet hardness /softness assists hunters & pest control shooters to achieve humane kills.
4. Pellet energy - remaining energy at the target (Kinetic Energy) is vital to for knock-down power.
• It is important to remember that attributes important for one shooting type may not be important at all for another shooting type. Knockdown power, for example, is important to a hunter or pest control shooter, but of little importance when shooting paper targets.
• However, if the shooting emphasis is field target competition rather than paper target shooting, a certain amount of knockdown power is required to trip the metal targets.
• At this point, let's assume that the shooter has tested all the pellet types in the pellet sampler and has determined the type of pellets that group best with his air rifle.
• Now it's time to look at the other pellet attributes and the next step is to choose a pellet type for your particular shooting need.
The following paragraphs explain the four basic pellet shapes and their basic functions.
• PELLET SHAPE
1. DOMED/ROUND HEADED PELLETS-are great all-around, general use pellets. The round head is very aerodynamic and is good for shooting at longer distances (over 25 yards). Oddly enough, round-headed pellets have the highest ballistic coefficients of all the pellet shapes, making them a great choice for pest control and hunting. Pellets with high ballistic coefficients generally have more knockdown power at the target.
2.WADCUTTER Pellets-are wonderful target pellets. Their flat heads make nice, clean holes in paper targets which is essential for easy scoring. They can also be used for pest control but it is good to remember that they are not designed to be long-range pellets and any breeze or wind pushing against the pellet's flat head can easily make groups open up at longer distances. Generally they are at their best at shorter distances of 20 yards or less.
3.HOLLOW POINT Pellets-very good hunting pellets that really expand on impact. They are popular with pest control and hunting shooters. But remember that they have the same weakness as Wadcutters because the big hollow mouth on the pellet catches the wind and may open groups at longer distances.
4.POINTED pellets that seem to work best in light to medium powered air-guns. They have good penetration capabilities for hunting and pest control. But they don't generally work as well with magnum or super-magnum air rifles as the domed / round headed pellets. It’s recommended in general that pointed pellets be best used with a lighter or medium powered air rifle.
PELLET WEIGHT
•The weight of the pellet is important because it can affect trajectory, impact power, velocity and aerodynamic stability. Heavier pellets tend to be more stable in breezy conditions and also retain their energy better over distance. And they hit much harder at the target, as one would expect. But that doesn't mean a person should rush out and purchase the heaviest pellet in any caliber. It is important to match the weight of the pellet to your gun's design capabilities and power level.
•Spring powered air-guns, for example, are known to work much more efficiently with medium weight pellets. Using the heaviest pellets in a caliber with a light or medium powered spring air-gun can actually shorten spring life on some light or medium powered air rifles. Gas piston and high power air-guns on the other hand, are not affected adversely by using the heavier pellets.
•Pre-charged Pneumatics (PCP's) actually work more efficiently with the heavier pellets. As a general rule of thumb, light and medium powered spring air rifles operate best with pellets that fall in the middle of the weight range of any caliber. The high powered spring, gas ram and PCP air rifles can use the heavier pellets without damage.
Cheers
Brihacharan
Here’s some food for thought – Hope it helps ‘Enjoy your Shooting’
There are so many factors that can affect air rifle performance hence choosing the proper pellet can be a difficult task. Individual characteristics of the air-gun and pellet combine to play a major role in determining how well a particular pellet will group in a specific gun. A spring air-gun's rifling and choke, spring and spring guide tolerances may have a positive or negative effect on the performance of a given pellet. Additionally, pellets are sold in different shapes, weights, lengths, diameters and alloys. Combining all those factors can make choosing the proper pellet quite confusing.
What attributes make a pellet a good choice?
The type of shooting task at hand will largely determine the ideal pellet. For general reference, we break shooting tasks into four main categories:
1.General Shooting (plinking)
2.Pest Control
3.Hunting
4.Target Shooting
• But one pellet attribute is essential regardless of your shooting type is its ability to group well with your gun in a consistent, repeatable manner.
• It doesn't take more than a few shots to determine whether your gun performs well with a given pellet. If your gun can't shoot a tight group with five shots, then it won't perform any better by shooting 100 pellets. The first thing to do is to then is to look for other attributes such as:
1. Pellet shape - different shapes are designed to perform different shooting tasks.
2. Pellet weight - important for trajectory purposes and velocity results.
3. Pellet hardness /softness assists hunters & pest control shooters to achieve humane kills.
4. Pellet energy - remaining energy at the target (Kinetic Energy) is vital to for knock-down power.
• It is important to remember that attributes important for one shooting type may not be important at all for another shooting type. Knockdown power, for example, is important to a hunter or pest control shooter, but of little importance when shooting paper targets.
• However, if the shooting emphasis is field target competition rather than paper target shooting, a certain amount of knockdown power is required to trip the metal targets.
• At this point, let's assume that the shooter has tested all the pellet types in the pellet sampler and has determined the type of pellets that group best with his air rifle.
• Now it's time to look at the other pellet attributes and the next step is to choose a pellet type for your particular shooting need.
The following paragraphs explain the four basic pellet shapes and their basic functions.
• PELLET SHAPE
1. DOMED/ROUND HEADED PELLETS-are great all-around, general use pellets. The round head is very aerodynamic and is good for shooting at longer distances (over 25 yards). Oddly enough, round-headed pellets have the highest ballistic coefficients of all the pellet shapes, making them a great choice for pest control and hunting. Pellets with high ballistic coefficients generally have more knockdown power at the target.
2.WADCUTTER Pellets-are wonderful target pellets. Their flat heads make nice, clean holes in paper targets which is essential for easy scoring. They can also be used for pest control but it is good to remember that they are not designed to be long-range pellets and any breeze or wind pushing against the pellet's flat head can easily make groups open up at longer distances. Generally they are at their best at shorter distances of 20 yards or less.
3.HOLLOW POINT Pellets-very good hunting pellets that really expand on impact. They are popular with pest control and hunting shooters. But remember that they have the same weakness as Wadcutters because the big hollow mouth on the pellet catches the wind and may open groups at longer distances.
4.POINTED pellets that seem to work best in light to medium powered air-guns. They have good penetration capabilities for hunting and pest control. But they don't generally work as well with magnum or super-magnum air rifles as the domed / round headed pellets. It’s recommended in general that pointed pellets be best used with a lighter or medium powered air rifle.
PELLET WEIGHT
•The weight of the pellet is important because it can affect trajectory, impact power, velocity and aerodynamic stability. Heavier pellets tend to be more stable in breezy conditions and also retain their energy better over distance. And they hit much harder at the target, as one would expect. But that doesn't mean a person should rush out and purchase the heaviest pellet in any caliber. It is important to match the weight of the pellet to your gun's design capabilities and power level.
•Spring powered air-guns, for example, are known to work much more efficiently with medium weight pellets. Using the heaviest pellets in a caliber with a light or medium powered spring air-gun can actually shorten spring life on some light or medium powered air rifles. Gas piston and high power air-guns on the other hand, are not affected adversely by using the heavier pellets.
•Pre-charged Pneumatics (PCP's) actually work more efficiently with the heavier pellets. As a general rule of thumb, light and medium powered spring air rifles operate best with pellets that fall in the middle of the weight range of any caliber. The high powered spring, gas ram and PCP air rifles can use the heavier pellets without damage.
Cheers
Brihacharan
