Pellet sorting & weighing...whats more important?

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josh3rd

josh3rd

Member
Apr 2, 2015
954
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Newark, Delaware, United States
For all of you who has read my posts I jump around a lot on different things such as tune suggestions and tune kits and trigger adjusting so on and so forth, so now I want to know about pellet sorting.

Which part of sorting pellets is more important? Head sizing or weighing? And when you measure head size do you separate them by a 100th of a 30mm? Lets say you measured 4 pellets from 4.52, 4.53, 4.54 and 4.55mm. Do you keep them separated or put the 52's and 53's together?

Ok now for weighing. What do you keep together and what gets separated?

My reasons for asking these questions is because for the last two nights I had separated a tin of field Target trophies in the head size of 5.53 mm and they range from 5.49 all the way to 5.55. I don't have a grain scale so that will have to wait but I separated all of them into a egg carton for different sizes and I'm kind of upset because my family paid this money for certain type of head size and have yet to see the consistency of what an expensive pellet was supposed to give me. I had also tried separating some air arms field diabolo 8.4 grains 4.52 mm what's a fellow member gave me. Thank you Mike. And they too seem to not be in the 4.52 category I measured them from and they ranged from 4.44 mm all the way to 4.50 mm. I know it's hard to make something that crucial/critical in size but if it is a problem then why do these pellet companies advertise it as such?

So again when sorting, how do you guys do it and what are your personal criteria.
 
I think that when your dealing with differences that small it's really up to the rifle which head size it likes. Shoot them by head size and your rifle might show you what it does not like. 
When I weigh I weigh to the tenth. I'll have a pile (25 cal) of 25.4 which includes 25.40 through 25.49. .30-.39, .50-.59. Anything lighter goes in a "lighter" pile, heavier goes in to the heavier pile. 
I see the greatest difference in accuracy when I wash my pellets. Funny thing, I was just making a video about it today. lol
Tom
 
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I find weighing makes the most noticeable difference when shooting long distances and get shorter groups if the pellets are close in weight.

I haven't noticed a significant difference between head sizes in my gun. I'm pretty happy about this since it is a pain in the rear to both sort by weight and head size. My gun, however does like soft pellets like those make by JSB. I suspect most of my fliers are caused by slight imperfections on the head of the pellet as opposed to head size. I've never lubed my pellets, but did notice a particularly accurate tin of JSBs seemed a little waxy. I wonder if the wax helped fill in any imperfections. Maybe this is why lubing pellets can be beneficial?
 
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There is no simple answer other than yes quality of the pellets available is less than what anyone would really want. You also need to figure out if all of the pellet dance is worth it for you. If you are looking for bench rest accuracy (1/2 MOA or less) then yes you need to do the dance, all of it. If you need 1 MOA of accuracy then you likely can take short cuts, skip steps in the dance. Only need 2 MOA, other than looking at pellets before you load them and toss the obviously bad ones, that is likely good enough.

Cleaning pellets...

Yes clean them, rather that is a wash of some kind or just wiping them off or using something like a air blast. There are small pieces of lead on those pellets, if left on the pellet sooner or later those pieces will get lodged in the barrel affecting accuracy. 

Weighing pellets...

Slight variances in weight will not significantly affect accuracy in terms of ballistics, however it may tell you more about the quality of the pellet than anything else. How you group them is how they perform in your gun. Example, in my Thomas 17cal, at 25m a 13gr pellet shoots about 1/4 higher than a 16gr pellet at the same muzzle velocity. But I really can't tell the difference between a 13.0gr and a 13.5gr pellet OTHER THAN the 13.5gr pellets will be overall more accurate...

Visual or otherwise inspection...

Rather you are just looking at them by eye, or under magnification or using something like rolling on glass you need to be able to sort out deformed or otherwise not symmetrical pellets. I find that pellets with anything but a smooth head will "wonder" on the target. Pellets that have deformed skirts wonder as well. Want to find a true "flyer" look for one with a skirt that is not the same length all the way around, so that if you placed the pellet on it's skirt it would not be perfectly vertical.

Head size/sizing...

As with ALL of these you have to find what your gun will tolerate and what it won't. Want to shoot a 250 25x at 25m bench rest you better have everything in order. Just want to hit the target at 25m ignore all of this.

If it at all possible find someplace indoors you can test pellets. Someplace that wind can not be a factor! Be methodical about your tests. Find the head size that your gun likes along with the velocity it likes. Once you are able to punch "hole in hole" at shorter distances indoors step outside and play with velocity some more till you can hit exactly what you are aiming at consistently.

Again it all comes down to what you need, want, expect out of your gun. If you want to hit a 12" circle at 100y ignore all this, you'll hit it most of the time opening a new tin and picking up pellets. Need to hit a dime size circle at 100y, better do everything and be a good shot.
 
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"Percula"There is no simple answer other than yes quality of the pellets available is less than what anyone would really want. You also need to figure out if all of the pellet dance is worth it for you. If you are looking for bench rest accuracy (1/2 MOA or less) then yes you need to do the dance, all of it. If you need 1 MOA of accuracy then you likely can take short cuts, skip steps in the dance. Only need 2 MOA, other than looking at pellets before you load them and toss the obviously bad ones, that is likely good enough.

Cleaning pellets...

Yes clean them, rather that is a wash of some kind or just wiping them off or using something like a air blast. There are small pieces of lead on those pellets, if left on the pellet sooner or later those pieces will get lodged in the barrel affecting accuracy. 

Weighing pellets...

Slight variances in weight will not significantly affect accuracy in terms of ballistics, however it may tell you more about the quality of the pellet than anything else. How you group them is how they perform in your gun. Example, in my Thomas 17cal, at 25m a 13gr pellet shoots about 1/4 higher than a 16gr pellet at the same muzzle velocity. But I really can't tell the difference between a 13.0gr and a 13.5gr pellet OTHER THAN the 13.5gr pellets will be overall more accurate...

Visual or otherwise inspection...

Rather you are just looking at them by eye, or under magnification or using something like rolling on glass you need to be able to sort out deformed or otherwise not symmetrical pellets. I find that pellets with anything but a smooth head will "wonder" on the target. Pellets that have deformed skirts wonder as well. Want to find a true "flyer" look for one with a skirt that is not the same length all the way around, so that if you placed the pellet on it's skirt it would not be perfectly vertical.

Head size/sizing...

As with ALL of these you have to find what your gun will tolerate and what it won't. Want to shoot a 250 25x at 25m bench rest you better have everything in order. Just want to hit the target at 25m ignore all of this.

If it at all possible find someplace indoors you can test pellets. Someplace that wind can not be a factor! Be methodical about your tests. Find the head size that your gun likes along with the velocity it likes. Once you are able to punch "hole in hole" at shorter distances indoors step outside and play with velocity some more till you can hit exactly what you are aiming at consistently.

Again it all comes down to what you need, want, expect out of your gun. If you want to hit a 12" circle at 100y ignore all this, you'll hit it most of the time opening a new tin and picking up pellets. Need to hit a dime size circle at 100y, better do everything and be a good shot.
Click to expand...
This is what I am striving for. FT/HFT. And sometimes we piston class are competiting against pcp class and being a springer man through and through, I want every advantage to help me beat those pcp's. Its a friendly rivalry but a rivalry none the less
 
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Tom you clean then weigh? Had not thought of that. Makes some sense though. My sort goes from 25.0- 25.2. 25.3 -25.5. 25.6 plus, I'll sort the heavy's later. My scale don't go to 10ths of a grain. You see the spread is less on the lighter side. As are 30% plus of most tins., 40% of a tin is above or below weight. This known gives me the best value for my money. My groups have tightened up, my confidence has risen, and I enjoy shooting much more.

Dennis
 
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