Pellet stability

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Franklink

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Sep 3, 2017
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I've had the opportunity to shoot a lot of pellets at very not normal pellet ranges.

A few evenings ago I was shooting some JSB .20/13.73 pellets at 165 yards, 805fps at the muzzle.

I could put them within the same two or so inches, pretty regularly. The wind was certainly favorable to be able to do so. But I've seen similar results from other high quality pellets, they just fly straight and true, at extremely long-for-pellet distances. Their downside is of course how much theyre deflected by wind.

But it got me thinking.....and this, together with all the other long range/low power airguns that I've shot, are that pellets are generally more stable in flight than slugs. And pellet/barrel combinations are much more forgiving than slug/barrel combinations.

I'm not saying pellets are better than slugs, just that it's a heck of a lot easier to get a pellet to cooperate than it is to stumble upon a slug/barrel combination that shoots well. And that pellets get a bad rap for long range shooting, when they'll actually shoot really well at long range, just not in the wind.
 
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They definitely are more forgiving in stability. I've had really good 50 yard groups with smooth bore and pellets. Obviously not the groups you'd be happy with target shooting or hunting but a 4 inch gong and hit after hit. Unless large game or 100 yard shots in some wind I will rarely ever pick up my slug guns. It's almost always pellets for me.
 
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I think pellets fit most barrels better for sure plus the skirts expand inside the barrel when shot. I have found that slugs have to have a near perfect lands to ammo fit (plus speed to match twist rate) to be pellet accurate which is hard to accomplish on a very consistent basis, at least for me. The pellet shuttle cock shape is tough to beat for aerodynamic stability!
 
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EquivalentDelta said:
Pellets will always be easier to stabilize. Their center of gravity is in front of the center of drag. That’s not case for more typical bullet shapes.
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The centre of drag, like the centre of gravity, for the pellet lies on the pellet centreline, with no particular longitudinal point of acting. The centre of pressure, which is completely different, lies behind the centre of gravity and thus produces stabilizing moments about the centre of gravity. The Drag produces no stabilizing moments and thus makes no contribution to pellet stability. It is lateral forces produced by pellet yaw angles which produce the stabilizing moments about the centre of gravity. This was explained in this thread. https://www.airgunnation.com/threads/aerodynamic-stability-of-pellets.1276895/.

However, pellets are not just aerodynamically stabilized. Pellets are what is known as aerogyro stabilized, which is different to slugs which are purely gyroscopically stabilized. This helps explain the difference in behaviour of the two. The enemy to pellet long range group sizes, apart from wind effects, is not a lack of stability but far too much stability, as the gyroscopic stability increases as the pellet slows down rapidly compared to the loss of spin. This effect is worse on pellets where the centre of gravity is further back. Pellets can be fired at longer ranges, particularly if the barrel has reduced twist rates and the muzzle velocities are kept low. For high muzzle velocities, pellets with a high spin damping would be required to avoid spiralling. https://www.airgunnation.com/threads/pellet-spirals.1297114/
 
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