• The AGN App is ready! Search "Airgun Nation" in your App store. To compliment this new tech we've assigned the "Threads" Feed & "Dark" Mode. To revert back click HERE.

Pellet testing / group consistency with the Royale 500

Jump to latest Follow Reply
C

Cliff_Allen

Member
Jul 14, 2015
625
35
maine, United States
I know some folks aren't into punching paper and while I don't hunt I do enjoy watching video's of others that hunt but I mostly really enjoy target shooting. I really like the challenge of trying get a gun to shoot as consistently as possible (smallest groups possible). Additionally, when I'm on the hunt for a new gun, accuracy is number one criteria and I always look for how consistent a gun is and how well it will stack the pellets. It seems I'm always looking for more results than I can find on any one gun I suppose this is my way of trying to help others in the same boat. Also, I'm usually not looking for one, cherry picked group. I really enjoy seeing several groups in a row to really get a good idea of how consistent a gun is going to be. The more data the better.

Here is a test I did this morning with the Royale 500. Shot outside a window at 50 yards from a bench that is located inside. Near perfect conditions, almost no wind to speak of. Before shooting, I lightly cleaned the barrel with JB bore paste and followed up with cloth patches until they were coming out almost completely clean. Then I filled the gun to 230 bar and loaded two magazines with the JSB King 25 grain. I started at the top left and shot across the target to the right and then moved down to the second row. You can see the very first group was not so good and I chalk that up to having just cleaned the barrel.

So the order went like this:

4 groups with JSB King 25g
4 groups with JSB King Heavy MKI
4 groups with JSB King Heavy MKII
and since the King 25 grain seemed to be the most accurate, I shot the last 4 groups with the them.

Of course I had to adjust holdover quite a bit to compensate for the drop with the Heavies to keep my POI somewhat consistent. There are a few sighters that I took at the bottom to make sure I was close when changing pellets.






This set of groups in particular put a smile on my face :)






I hope you enjoyed, please leave "+ accuracy" if you think it is deserved. 

Thank you and happy shooting!!!

 
  • Like
Reactions: Imold, chasdicapua, Neiler2112 and 1 other person
"TonyT"Nice 50 yard groups. Have you been able to test it,s performance at 100 yards?
Click to expand...
Yes sir, this past summer I did a similar post about shooting at 100 yards. 

100 yards is a whole different animal in my opinion. Based on half inch groups at 50 yards, you'd think I'd be shooting 1 inch at 100. It just isn't so. Additionally, the groups I shot here in the link provided below, at 100 yards were 10 shot groups, not 5 so I'm sure that increased the group size a bit. The best I've done with this gun in the past at 100 yards was 5 shot groups that averaged about 1.5 inches. Taking all the guns I've tried over the past few years, I haven't been able to achieve better, honest results with any stock, non tuned rifle shooting pellets straight from the tin.

http://www.airgunnation.com/topic/10-shot-groups-at-100-yards-jsb-kings-jsb-heavies-jsb-heavies-mkii/

The .22 BSA R-10 is the only gun I've ever owned (and still own) that will hang with the Royale at 100 yards.















 
Upvote 0
I would have guessed that the JSB 25gr would have grouped the best from a smooth twist barrel based on what I've read here about the level of spin generated by the design. I.e. It is designed for diabolo pellets that are stabalized more from the wide skirt. 

I'm I'm not sure if that's exactly how it works but it makes sense in my head. 

Out of curiosity, have you ever tried H&N barracudas? I use the 25 cal hunter extremes in my Cricket and get similar results (to the JSB 25's) for half the price. I have been wondering how they might perform from a 25 ST barrel. Strangely, I never had great results from the 22 cal H&N pellets.

I get better results with the heavies than the 25's in my Cricket but I put that down to the additional spin and their shape allowing less room for error when loading from a mag instead of hand loading. 
 
Upvote 0
In my .25 st barrel (fx gladiator mk2) the H&N barracudas are good but the barracuda hunter works a bit better. Hunter extreme are under the normal barracuda.
The best pellets are the king heavy mk2 in my barrel (I also have increased the power to 55ft/lbs to achieve better results).

On a calm day i can continuously achieve group size below 1.5 inches at 110 yard (100m) and quite often sub moa groups.

Soda can at 165 yards are destroyed 9 out of 10 times if not more.

I spent time to set up my gladiator but now its accuracy always surprise me.

 
Upvote 0
"dreuf"In my .25 st barrel (fx gladiator mk2) the H&N barracudas are good but the barracuda hunter works a bit better. Hunter extreme are under the normal barracuda.
The best pellets are the king heavy mk2 in my barrel (I also have increased the power to 55ft/lbs to achieve better results).

On a calm day i can continuously achieve group size below 1.5 inches at 110 yard (100m) and quite often sub moa groups.

Soda can at 165 yards are destroyed 9 out of 10 times if not more.

I spent time to set up my gladiator but now its accuracy always surprise me.

Click to expand...


Hi Zebra, I have actually tried the Barracudas. They did pretty well but not nearly as well as the JSB's. My barrel just didn't seem to like them as much. You're lucky, I wish I had more room to try longer ranges out to 150 yards but as it is I barely have 100 yards to play with. 
 
Upvote 0
"CampFussell"You keep makin' me want to join that "500 club" Cliff. Great post as always.
Jimmy
Click to expand...


Thanks Jimmy! Always good to hear from you! I'm surprised you haven't tried one yet, although it's hard to fault you for going with a Thomas first, those are top notch guns by any account and I'd love to try one some day! :) I tried to give you some +accuracy back but the forum said I need to spread some more around to others first. I better get started :)
 
Upvote 0
Good stuff Cliff. I sent my Royale 500 to AZ for a tune and didn't get it back until a couple of weeks until I was going to be out of town for the fall. Now it's winter in Mass, so I have hardly shot it since I got it back from him. I like the shooting out the window idea!! I'll have to give it a try. The basement shooting starts to get old come about mid Feb.!! Can't wait till spring to get out side with it. Nice groups by the way. 
 
Upvote 0
"Dairyboy"Have you ever tried AA 25.4gr pellets? Tend to shoot alittle better than JSBs out of my gun and if I remember we're alittle cheaper per tin.
Click to expand...
Hey Dairy, I have a couple tins of them and they shoot pretty well but they're ever so slightly less accurate in my gun than the JSBs. I keep them around in case I run out of JSBs. I notice will all pellets though that some tins of the same pellets shoot better than other tins. I kind of like to try what Ted did, find a tin that is super accurate and order a bunch from the same batch number but I'm not really sure where to begin to do that.
 
Upvote 0
"Widget23"
"dreuf"I spent time to set up my gladiator but now its accuracy always surprise me.



Click to expand...
Can you expand on what this means? What is done to "set up" an air rifle?
Click to expand...
The fx gladiator shares the same block as the royale series. So my .25 glad is the same as the royale 500 (just 1 bottle more and a different stock).
What I did to increase accuracy (out of the box accuracy is very very good):
- take time to install scope mounts (ATP66) and scope
- installed a scope level to avoid canting errors
- increased power from 44 ft/lbs to 54ft/lbs (regulator setted up to 150 bar and HST increased a bit)
- barrel polishing using jb bore paste
- tried almost all the .25 pellets on the market
- spent hours and hours to shoot from 110 yards up to 218 yards to learn how my beauty wants to be held:)

hope it helps
 
Upvote 0
"chasdicapua"Good stuff Cliff. I sent my Royale 500 to AZ for a tune and didn't get it back until a couple of weeks until I was going to be out of town for the fall. Now it's winter in Mass, so I have hardly shot it since I got it back from him. I like the shooting out the window idea!! I'll have to give it a try. The basement shooting starts to get old come about mid Feb.!! Can't wait till spring to get out side with it. Nice groups by the way.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I know what you mean about the basement shooting. I couldn't take it anymore! haha. I cut a path into the woods out back to line up with an upstairs window I have. It's not ideal but it is WAY better. I envy some of the guys I see that have open fields all around their house to shoot at whatever distance they way. Someday...... :)
 
Upvote 0
"dreuf"In my .25 st barrel (fx gladiator mk2) the H&N barracudas are good but the barracuda hunter works a bit better. Hunter extreme are under the normal barracuda.
The best pellets are the king heavy mk2 in my barrel (I also have increased the power to 55ft/lbs to achieve better results).

On a calm day i can continuously achieve group size below 1.5 inches at 110 yard (100m) and quite often sub moa groups.

Soda can at 165 yards are destroyed 9 out of 10 times if not more.

I spent time to set up my gladiator but now its accuracy always surprise me.

Click to expand...
Interesting. It makes sense to me that the Barracudas do well in the ST barrel as they are the same basic shape as the JSB 25's.

I am surprised that the heavies do best though (unless you load from the mag). They are the best of the JSB's in my Cricket but I didn't think they had enough skirt to stabilize from a ST. I guess they have more skirt than the MK1's.

I want to know who started the rumor that ST barrels only like JSB pellets. Now that I think about, it sounds silly. Barrels don't know what the brand is...

I haven't heard many people talk about the gladiator which surprises me. In theory, it should have greater potential for precision than the other FX models due to the volume of air. 

Maybe you could write a review if you have time?
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Resources
Menu