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do pellets need to be lubricated?

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R

Rangeland

Member
Mar 6, 2020
37
0
NM, United States
I just bought a Daystate Regal from Airguns of Arizona. The Airguns of Arizona directions that came with it said, "With pneumatics, you'll probably want to shoot pellets that are lubricated with Shooter's Choice FP-10, Slick 50 lube one or Napier Power Pellet Lube, unless the manufacturer says otherwise."

Do you think this is necessary? If so, how do you lubricate the pellets.

I have shot lots of pump and springer pellet guns and this comes as a bit of a surprise. 
 
Some guns, if not most, at least many shoot lubed pellets better but just slightly. Lubing will also help with lead built up in your barrel so you have to clean less. None of my guns have a problem with lubed pellets. I just use silicone oil. A few drops on the foam in a tin and roll 25 or 30 pellets in it dump them out and let the dry and you are done. If it were any more difficult I would not bother as it is not a critical thing.

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The short answer is no. The long answer is, it depends.

Some people find washing and lubricating pellets aids in accuracy. Others don't find any difference between lubed and non-lubed pellets. And some find that lubing actually takes away from accuracy with certain guns.

I have had some air guns that shot pellets straight from the tin so well, that I never even considered washing, lubing or even sorting the pellets.

At the moment, I only have a Benjamin Fortitude G2 in .177 and I am not sure that lubing helps, but sorting for defects is a must.

There will certainly be more opinions in reply to your question. Some will agree with me and some will not. It really depends on the gun and the pellets being used. IMHO

Oh, and as far as lubing pellets being good for the gun. Well, my own theory is that I lube the gun where it needs it at regular intervals, so lubing the pellets for gun maintenance is not necessary. In fact, I find that I need to clean the baffles in the Fortitude often if I use lubed pellets, but so far a light lube of the pellets using silicone oil (a very small amount) does *seem* to make my accuracy a little bit better. Maybe... LOL!

Again, just my humble opinion.
 
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Some guns if not most shoot lubed pellets better. Lubing will also help with lead built up in your barrel so you have to clean less. None of my guns have a problem with lubed pellets. I just use silicone oil. A few drops on the foam in a tin and roll 25 or 30 pellets in it dump them out and let the dry and you are done.
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I have also had decent results using the GRC silicone spray from Walmart. Once the aerosol evaporates, you have a VERY light coating of silicone oil.

But, for the most part I do the same as you. Still not certain that it really helps and if I over do it, the baffles get really dirty, really fast! 
 
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imo pretty ridiculous for pellets the contact area is so small and it likely does change poi some to lube them 'or' moly the barrel etc .. doesnt lend itself to any real use situation - uh hold on mr squirrel let me lube my pellets foist - lol ....
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Well, if that is how you have tried it, then you are doing it all wrong in the foist place! If you have not tried it, then how do you know?

As I said above, I have had some guns that I don't think lubing would have helped because they were already tack drivers. However, the Fortitude I have now *seems* to do better with washed, sorted and very lightly lubed pellets.

Don't knock it until you have tried it. You might be surprised. Then again, you may find that it does nothing or makes things worse. It all depends on the individual gun, the pellets being used and the fps.

Never say never. (grin)
 
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If you lube then be consistent, or the results will vary.

No lube is most consistent.

Varying coverage or patchy coverage of the projectile will be inconsistent.

Consistency is accuracy.

Most likely the velocity of the projectile will go up, but if you cannot be perfect in application of the lube, then speeds will vary and hence consistency (accuracy) will suffer

Most new barrels are so shiny and smooth, that residue build up is nonexistent, and barrel cleaning can be done by firing the next round.

There is so much on obtaining near perfect velocity repeatability with dual regulators now. For such consistency we jump on such innovations. Why sacrifice such a goal?
 
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It depends a lot like @backstop said. First why not shoot the gun without lube and see the accuracy or at the very least have a base line. Then try different lube to see if it improves the baseline. Personally I don't like any sort of oil because oil attract dirt and can cause dirt build up. My preferred method is simple Pledge furniture wax and it does seem to shrink the groups a little plus it's a dry lube, either wax or silicon dry lube won't attract any dirt at all. The pellets do feel slicker to touch after the lube has dried, it also smells great because I use orange pledge. 

Here is a video from Tom Holland or the Field Target Tech:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_9fP1z8D08



Let's be honest, lube will gain you very little in overall accuracy and really is meant for keeping your barrel a little cleaner. 
 
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imo pretty ridiculous for pellets the contact area is so small and it likely does change poi some to lube them 'or' moly the barrel etc .. doesnt lend itself to any real use situation - uh hold on mr squirrel let me lube my pellets foist - lol ....
Click to expand...

So you've never tried it, but feel the need to offer advice on it. Right? 
 
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For prolonging accuracy between barrel cleans, and squeezing the last little bit from an accuracy standpoint, lubed pellets can help. 

It's more pronounced in some barrels than others, and certain pellets. Tighter choked barrels in my experience tend to prefer them. And shooting Crosman Premiers in my Weihrauchs work better lubed by a fairly noticeable margin. My LW barreled HW100 prefers lubed JSBs over dry ones and almost never needs a patch pulled through. 

I use White Lightnin chain lube dripped in a tin lid. Add pellets and roll around. 

Another plus, is it can help keep pellets from oxidizing once they are opened and sit around for a long time. 

Just what I have found, your mileage may vary. 
 
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