Affect of blades of grass on pellet's flight?

[TG59]

From my boomstick rifle days I know that anything in a bullet's path can potentially deflect it an alter the POI, however I never used to be too concerned about shooting though a few grass blades at feeding woodchucks with 22 centerfires.

For pellet rifles are blades of grass in the pellet's path a major or minor concern?

 

[gbikerman]

 Fine Fescue -Minor concern

Bentgrass - Major concern

 

[Franklink]

From sub 20fpe field target......I've concluded that it depends a lot on where the blade of grass is located. If it's just a few feet in front of the intended target it won't deflect much, likely not enough to miss the kill zone. BUT, if it's anywhere else on the flight path, it'll deflect quite a bit. I've seen guys not even hit the faceplate (probably average size of 8 or so inches) when their pellet has hit a blade of grass or leaf closer to the shooter than right in front of the target.

General rule of thumb is probably something like, the closer the blade of grass is to the shooter, the more deflection will be seen, and vice versa. 

For your example of a woodchuck where he's standing in a bit of grass.....if you're shooting something 40+fpe, you're still very likely to hit him with enough energy to drop him. But if there's a few blades of grass right in front of the muzzle, the pellet probably will miss the whole critter. 

 

[qball]

It has potential of deflecting a .22 pellet in my experience, that’s why I don’t hunt with pellets anymore. 

 

[Gerry52]

I've very rarely had problems with my FX Boss (.30) cutting through grass near or at the intended target. I don't shoot prone because it's just too hard on my back so I've never had to worry about it near the barrel. My .25 & .22 are more affected than the .30 but not enough to deflect off target.

 

[Calbarry]

I haven’t had any problems shooting ground squirrels thru weeds at 60 yards with a .22

 

[davecole]

I've popped many a prairie dog at distances concealed (or so they thought) behind weeds and such. 

 

[dizzums]

it will have less effect than it would be assumed in most cases .. ive hit things right out of the muzzle that damaged the object and shaved a piece of pellet off just layin there, and still nailed my victim .. so ..if you can see it, go for it Iol

 

[delooper]

It affects the pellet's trajectory by MOA from the point of collision, so the closer the blade of grass is to the target, the less important the impact is.

That said, if the blade of grass is near your gun the impact could be significant. It'll of course depend on many things: how beefy the grass is, i.e. the variety of grass as if you hit it on the leaf or stem, and exactly which part of your pellet makes contact, and the relative weight of the grass vs. your pellet. Presumably a glancing blow would have more impact than if your pellet hits the grass dead-on. 

I haven't seen this analysis for pellets but I think ?Lucky Gunner? did it for 0.22's or some other small calibre, hitting grass or even small twigs. The impact is generally significant. 

 

[jdh2550]

This very problem was posed to me today. Shooting slugs, but I still chose to scoot around on my butt to get a clear 122 yard shot. Glad I moved. Was able to get a small hog with a clear shot. 


I think weight of projectile vs. thickness of vegetation vs. velocity has a relative affect. 

 

[L.Leon]

It has potential of deflecting a .22 pellet in my experience, that’s why I don’t hunt with pellets anymore.

The wind has the potential to deflect a .22 pellet. So should we shoot slugs instead? @franklink, explained it well...

 

[qball]

It has potential of deflecting a .22 pellet in my experience, that’s why I don’t hunt with pellets anymore.

The wind has the potential to deflect a .22 pellet

. So should we shoot slugs instead? @franklink, explained it well...

I had the unfortunate experience of watching my 22 hades flying 880fps hit some sort of grass mid flight and deflected clear away from the rabbit I was hunting. Perplexed I shot again and a different grass deflected my second pellet, then I watched the rabbit leisurely walked off. I decided that will not happen again, same thing has not happened with even lowly 23 grain slugs. In fact I have shot through tall grass and still get full pass through at close to 100 yard on a 10lb jack rabbit mashing major bones but that’s also 53fpe on impact…..gotta make sure the shot is ethical right? 


I can use slugs because the rare instances I do go hunt it’s on open plain far away from people. Everyone can hunt however they want as long as it’s in a safe manor. 

 

[TG59]

Thanks all for the feedback.

This question occurred to me while I was trying to check zero at 50 yards with my 25 Marauder (JSB 25.39gr pellet at 880 fps) in my back yard.

Was shooting prone and it was a bit windy. Groups were erratic vs the last session. I hadn't shot it in a while - also a factor.

The lawn was longer than usual and I estimated that the line of flight could potentially intersect some grass tips.

Finally mowed a path to the target, but those pesky woodchucks are often laying low in the grass when feeding.

It makes sense that a blade of grass closer to the gun could cause more trouble than those near to the target.

 

[Ezana4CE]

I’m glad someone asked. I was wondering how pellets are affected by grass stems when grass goes to seed (I mean the chutes that grow tall). I shot at a rabbit in some tall grass and missed clean recently. I think I used my .22 Marauder pistol, but I’m not sure. The grass was knee high in some areas. I’m not sure where the pellet even hit in relation to the rabbit. I was at about 15 yards and have practiced shooting from 7 yards out. I was aiming at the top of its head and I assumed that I shot high. It’s usually tough to follow the pellet in the scope during low light hours unless some dust or something is kicked up upon impact. Since the incident I’ve done some target practice where I placed the target behind grass and weeds. I shot a target with domed pellets where I thought it would shoot through a grass stem/stalk. Instead the pellet appeared to have moved the stem and hit the target very close to my POA. The stem just swayed a while. It didn’t even bend. The grass was virtually right in front of the paper.

Yesterday evening I took a rabbit sitting in some grass with my .25 Brocock Bantam Sniper HR on the lowest power setting (I haven’t chronographed any shot strings on that setting). I missed my first shot and turned the power (TP) down. My shot placement seemed pretty consistent with how I usually shoot. This grass was comprised of mostly blades rather than stems from what I recall. I guess this something that may be good to capture on video to observe because I haven’t drawn a well founded conclusion here other than a single grass stem in proximity to the target will be pushed aside by a .25, 33.95 grain pellet traveling around 850-860 fps without drastically throwing off the POI at 50 yards. Shooting through multiple grass stems may yield a different result. From my observation I’d also infer that a blade of grass would have a lesser impact on a .25 pellet’s POI than a thicker grass stem. I’ve also seen how shots are affected with thicker plant parts (leaves, twigs, and thicker stalks) and various pellet calibers.