Find Your Magic Pellet

I'll be to the point, with an important message gleaned from personal experience.  That is - if you truly care about being as accurate as possible with any given air rifle or pistol, try as many pellet brands, styles and weights as neccesary!  There will be one or two pellets that prove to be most accurate in each gun, and among these, you'll likely see different points of impact (POI) on the range.  Pick your favorite, stick with it and practice at different yardages.  Once we have our gun broken in or tuned so it's smoothed out and consistent, our technique refined and repeatable with just about every shot, and our most accurate pellet identified, we can begin to really get to know the gun better and shoot it accurately every time we pick it up.

From the time I first got my RWS 350 Pro Compact, I tried 10 or 12 different pellets including several JSB's, RWS, Crosman, Beeman, Gamo and others, before deciding that Crosman Premier domes were the best for my gun.  So many have claimed to get the best out of their guns using CP's, I guessed that would be true for me too.  For the next 8 or 9 months I shot only CP's, and resigned myself to the fact that the best this gun would shoot was 1.25" center-to-center 5-shot groups at 35 yards, at least with any consistency.  And that doesn't include the frequent fliers!  I just wasn't having enough fun with that degree of accuracy, and started to think about selling the gun.  Then, on a whim I decided to try a few pellets I had not yet.

It's revelation time!  The order I placed included Air Arms Diabolos in 18.1g (5.52 head size), and the H&N FTT in 14.66g with the 5.55 head size, among others.  10-shot 3/4" outside-to-outside groups are now the norm at the same 35 yards, and at 25 yards it's one ragged hole with either pellet.    The edge goes to the H&N's, but both give me the kind of accuracy I find very satisfying from a magnum springer.  What good is all that power (23 ft/lbs in this case) without accuracy?  When you place that next pellet order, mix it up a little...you might be pleasantly surprised, as I was.  As for all those extra pellets you'll accumulate, well that's what a Crosman 2240 and soup cans are for.

Safe Shooting,
Ken

I'm Glad You Found Me!

Here goes my first post...am I blogging yet?  I've been wanting to share my renewed interest in the sport of airgun shooting with fellow enthusiasts and newcomers, and have made a couple YouTube videos (links in the sidebar).  Problem is, I've been too busy with work and obligations to set aside the time to make videos with any frequency, so I'm thinking this blog will allow me to share on a more convenient and regular basis.  Let's see how this Blogger host works out; I chose them pretty quickly based on their being simple, and free.  Hey I think it's time for a pic of an airgun!  Here's my very enjoyable-to-shoot RWS 350 Pro Compact.  I'll be doing a review of this gun soon:

Airguns provide an affordable and viable means of access to the shooting sports.  More importantly, airguns are a real pleasure to shoot, especially the accurate ones!  Many non-shooters and cartridge gun shooters alike are not even aware of the existence of a whole class of higher-end air rifles and pistols, but they'd be amazed at the performance, accuracy, and craftsmanship to be found.  Not saying it's neccesary to spend large dollars to obtain a good degree of function though - you can find Crosman, Daisy and Gamo products at Wal Mart that will shoot pretty well and offer lots of fun and value.  Then again, there's life beyond Wal Mart.  Spend some time on the web and you'll find an amazing array of air files and pistols very well suited to hunting of small game and precision target shooting.   I have not had the pleasure of shooting a PCP (Precharged Pneumatic) gun yet but I look forward to experiencing their precision and power, when the opportunity arises.  I enjoy shooting my air rifles and pistols every bit as much as my cartridge firearms, and I can enjoy them legally in my back yard range - which means I can do a lot more shooting!  I look forward to sharing a variety of airgunning experiences and observations here and getting some feedback from you, so let's meet again soon.

 

Safe Shooting,

Ken