Hi, so since I live in Sweden the only rifles you can buy without a licens are max 10 joule(about 7 FPE). Do these rifles have worse accuracy than full power ones?
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Does more power equal better accuracy?
- Thread starter bold_pyramid
- Start date
In my experience I have found that if my low powered air rifle is accurate then I must be satisfied at short distances. The farther away my target the less accurate . With a powerful accurate air rifle I can shoot at a farther target with accuracy. Just my 2 cents worth.
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Too many variables for a yes or no answer. Some pellets will be very accurate out of one of my guns at a certain power level, change the ammo & the accuracy goes to hell.
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Power and accuracy are not related at all, except that the projectile must have enough power to reach the intended target. The most accurate air rifles made are 10 meter guns that shoot 550-600 fps.
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I would suggest more power won't bring more accuracy, assuming the distance you're shooting at is appropriate to the power you're using. Indeed, pellets at transonic speed can suffer instability problems.
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Seems to me, the whole sport of precision air rifles is an outgrowth of the Olympic 10 meter rifle. Most of these rifles shoot 8 grain pellets around 570 fps, or about the same power level as your Swedish maximum. Since the higher power air rifles are still playing catch up to match the precision accuracy of these Olympic rifles, I would say no, you are not compromising accuracy at all. Plus, you get the advantage of a huge shot count, and probably never needing to clean the barrel. As noted, this is not a power level for long range, but for anything inside 25 yards or so, it is probably much more capable than most of us American shooters will ever know, since we need everything bigger, faster, more powerful.
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I'll propose another view on this idea. At 10 meters, all the above may be correct (and probably is). At longer distances or in more variable conditions, more velocity MAY make a gun "shoot" more accurately. Not that it will mechanically be more accurate but that an individual MIGHT be able to shoot more accurately with it. Less windage effect, less trajectory effect, less dwell time of pellet in barrel. All COULD make a gun "easier" to shoot more accurately under those conditions. Or maybe not.
I vaguely recall shooting a new group of very nice European air rifles on our high school rifle team in the early '70's. They were bulky, heavy, and not particularly powerful. But they were wonderfully accurate. I'd like to have such a rifle for target shooting. I would not want one for any other type of use.
I vaguely recall shooting a new group of very nice European air rifles on our high school rifle team in the early '70's. They were bulky, heavy, and not particularly powerful. But they were wonderfully accurate. I'd like to have such a rifle for target shooting. I would not want one for any other type of use.
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only distance makes the difference my Beman r7 will do !/4" groups at 25 yards with .177 JSB 8.4 grain pellets at 7ft. lbs. 1/2" at 30 yards.
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bandg, I have a Anschutz SuperAirre 2002 ssp 10 meter gun that is as you described it" bulky, heavy and not particulaly powerful
and it is wonderfully accurate. with some creative mounting solutions Ive managed to get a 3-12 mildot on it and Ive shot it out to 35 yards where it had enough energy left to knock down a field target target.
Ive also got a Dian 75 Giss systme springer thats equally as bulky heavy and ugly. it too is phenonomally accurate, just not as ergonomic as the Annie. the D75 is much easier to scope
both guns shooting 7.9 CP's were around 590 -610 fps.
and it is wonderfully accurate. with some creative mounting solutions Ive managed to get a 3-12 mildot on it and Ive shot it out to 35 yards where it had enough energy left to knock down a field target target.
Ive also got a Dian 75 Giss systme springer thats equally as bulky heavy and ugly. it too is phenonomally accurate, just not as ergonomic as the Annie. the D75 is much easier to scope
both guns shooting 7.9 CP's were around 590 -610 fps.
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I live in the US, without power restrictions. I've tried low power and high power. I thought I would Challenge my self with 12fpe guns, but that s*** sucks! HIGH POWER IS BETTER!
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Low power is great for indoor shooting.
But if you are shooting outdoors, the wind will move the pellet away from your target. The slower the pellet, the more it is affected(it's in the air for a longer period of time) and the lighter pellets are affected more. Usually you try to use pellets with a good bc that does well with your rifle and adjust for a high speed that is still below transonic so that the wind will have less impact, especially when shooting 50+ meters.
If you plug the numbers into chairgun, you'll see why higher powered rifles are used.
But if you are shooting outdoors, the wind will move the pellet away from your target. The slower the pellet, the more it is affected(it's in the air for a longer period of time) and the lighter pellets are affected more. Usually you try to use pellets with a good bc that does well with your rifle and adjust for a high speed that is still below transonic so that the wind will have less impact, especially when shooting 50+ meters.
If you plug the numbers into chairgun, you'll see why higher powered rifles are used.
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Have you considered putting on a yellow vest and overthrowing your counties tyrannical airgun laws? I can take the antifa and crushing taxes but when someone tries to tell me there are limits to what airguns I can buy I get all V for vendetta up in here! Just kidding mate but I would suggest buying a scope with mil dot or moa hashes in them. That way you can use them to shoot farther.
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In subsonic land, a slower projectile translates to less drag than one in the transonic speed zone. So, if you're dealing with any sort of wind, the higher the speed the more drag and this wind drift will be higher. It sounds counter-intuitive to hear that a projectile traveling faster towards a target will drift more than the slow projectile, but you have to look at the drag coefficient plots to visualize this.
The rule of thumb is the higher the BC, the closer to Mach 1 you can go (usually 1050fps max). You really have to step up the BC by multiples to substantially reduce drift (period), but there's a lot more to it than just BC lol
The rule of thumb is the higher the BC, the closer to Mach 1 you can go (usually 1050fps max). You really have to step up the BC by multiples to substantially reduce drift (period), but there's a lot more to it than just BC lol
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For typical domed pellets, the least wind drift will be with a muzzle velocity in the vicinity of 850-900fps.
Bob drafted a nice article with graphs that illustrates it.
https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=116090
Bob drafted a nice article with graphs that illustrates it.
https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=116090
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If you are shooting at a known range then less FPS is fine. But if the exact distance between you and the target is undeterminable then the faster/flatter your trajectory the better.
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I daily shoot a sub 10 FPE Prod at 12 yards. It shoots cheap 22 crosman hp’s In tiny one hole groups. Low FPE is accurate as are some slower slug shooting airguns, however the projectile must have enough speed to stabilize itself in conjunction with the rifling twist. As the projectile slows in flight, the rotational spin speed decays causing instability, case in point the US M60 machine gun, shooting 147 grain ball ammo would loose stability at 660 yards. Luckily most airgun barrels have a twist suitable for a wide velocity range.
Then you read that airgun barrels shooting slugs need velocity near sonic to shoot well, many times this is due to twist rate. The advice to remove the choke on a airgun barrel to shoot slugs works well, but the twist rate is slow and only the airguns capable of higher velocity will work. Another answer to that problem is a lighter slug, which is why modern slug shooters ofter find that the lighter store boughten slugs work better in their unchecked, whether made that way or the choke removed, barrels.
I ran into this velocity/rifling twist rate problem when making my 500/550/615 yard videos showing hits at those ranges on 12 oz cola cans with a Haley 257 Scandalous. Somewhere between 550 and 615 yards my velocity and rotational spin rate decayed to the point that it made hits at those ranges difficult. My original Haley barrel was a 1-14 twist, I had a spare barrel made that was 1-10. At 300 yards with 80 grain bullets it would print under a moa at times with the 1-14, better than it would the 1-10, but beyond 500 yards the 1-10 was king.
Long answer, but like someone said here in this thread, too many variables, twist rate is one of those variables.
Roachcreek
Then you read that airgun barrels shooting slugs need velocity near sonic to shoot well, many times this is due to twist rate. The advice to remove the choke on a airgun barrel to shoot slugs works well, but the twist rate is slow and only the airguns capable of higher velocity will work. Another answer to that problem is a lighter slug, which is why modern slug shooters ofter find that the lighter store boughten slugs work better in their unchecked, whether made that way or the choke removed, barrels.
I ran into this velocity/rifling twist rate problem when making my 500/550/615 yard videos showing hits at those ranges on 12 oz cola cans with a Haley 257 Scandalous. Somewhere between 550 and 615 yards my velocity and rotational spin rate decayed to the point that it made hits at those ranges difficult. My original Haley barrel was a 1-14 twist, I had a spare barrel made that was 1-10. At 300 yards with 80 grain bullets it would print under a moa at times with the 1-14, better than it would the 1-10, but beyond 500 yards the 1-10 was king.
Long answer, but like someone said here in this thread, too many variables, twist rate is one of those variables.
Roachcreek
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It seems that lower powered guns are easier to make accurate. Less harmonics to deal with as well as the regulators running at lower rate. I see the new fad of running 27" barrels that bring power levels up rather than shorter barrel with a more conservative power. Hopefully manufacturers will kill the power craze and concentrate more on durability, efficiency and weight.
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