I was giving the .177/16.2grain JSB another chance today and had some musings as I was shooting.....
I find it interesting that we have 3 different 16 grain pellet options from JSB.
Left = .177, middle = .20, right = .22.
From a shape perspective...
I've shot multiple tins of all three of them, and from behind the trigger of the guns I've shot them through, I've arrived at the following conclusions....
I find it interesting that we have 3 different 16 grain pellet options from JSB.
- .177/16.2grain (Exact Beast)
- .20/15.89grain (Exact Heavy .20)
- .22/15.89grain (Exact Jumbo) (there are Hades that weigh the same, so I guess 4 options)
Left = .177, middle = .20, right = .22.
From a shape perspective...
- The .177 Beast is the straight-waisted, elongated cousin of the .177/10.34, and it reminds me of a long, skinny dart.
- The .20 Heavy has a shape similar to the "Redesigned" versions of the .177/13.43 and the .22/25.4, I view it as a generally streamlined shape suggestive of good aerodynamics.
- The .22 Jumbo is kissing cousins with the .177/8.44 or the .22/18.13, a narrow waisted, wasp-like design. The skinny waist reminds me of a wadcutter.
I've shot multiple tins of all three of them, and from behind the trigger of the guns I've shot them through, I've arrived at the following conclusions....
- The .177 Beast is AMAZING up to about 60 yards, after that accuracy falls apart a bit. I seen the best accuracy from these at 940-950fps. VERY wind-resistant and very chill to shoot, even with the relatively high speed. A fun pellet to stack when shooting paper around 50-55 yards, they just keep sinking into the same hole, EVEN when the wind is rough. I've shot them at paper at 90-100 yards and they just don't do at 100 yards what they can do at 50. Wind gets ahold of them pretty good, and they also open up even without wind, wandering away from the intended impact point.
- BC of 0.037-0.039 (as measured with a 10 shot average speed at muzzle and 10 shot average speed at 45-60 yards, multiple sessions)
- The .20 Heavy is best from 910-920fps. Best long-range performer of all three but will also stack them from 10-130 yards. Best I've seen it do was a really calm night earlier this year, 25 consecutive shots @ 95 yards, 5 groups of 5 each, largest was 1.08", the other 4 were under an inch, best was 0.61." Amazing long range accuracy for such a small caliber/low weight pellet. Shoots much better at long range than it has any business doing, being small bore. It can hold it's own against the best long range high BC pellets out there, and that includes .22, .25 and .30, and this has been demonstrated in more than one Xtreme Field Target match.
- BC of 0.045-0.049 (as measured with a 10 shot average speed at muzzle and 10 shot average speed at 45-60 yards, multiple sessions)
- The .22 Jumbo is NOT a long range performer. It seems to be more tolerant of a broader range of speed than the other two, I've shot them from 700fps up to 915 with acceptable accuracy, but they seem to do the best around 850-880. It doesn't take much wind to take these for a ride when shooting. Through a scope they can be seen curve-balling with the gusts, and it's much more pronounced than the first two. I view these as good pesting pellets, when the range is limited, and there's not much wind, and a concern for carried energy exists.
- I've never been impressed enough with these to measure the BC myself, but online sources report a range of 0.031 to 0.037, which seems to be about what I would expect, anecdotally.
