Finding the right pellet for 25m benchrest

[AZ_Shooter]

I am planning to get started with some backyard 25m benchrest using my .22 Air Arms S500 carbine at ~20 FPE with a 6-24 Sightron Big Sky scope . I am going to start with testing JSB 14.35, 15.89 and 18.1 pellets, are there any other pellets I should consider? Is there a preferred method for testing at 25m for the best pellet? Is it 5-shot group size? 10-shot group size? Anything else I should be looking for when trying to identify the most accurate pellet for my particular gun?

Thanks all!

 

[dizzums]

i can usually tell what pellet is better within 5 shots or a clip ... and for sure i would start with 6$ crosman prmeires and buy a couple of oddbal 25$ a tin pellets here and there and decide if they are worth a few mm better accuracy if they even happen to be better than premeires ..

 

[igolfat8]

Try some AirArms pellets. They are often more accurate in many of my rifles then closely followed by JSB. Crosman’s are usually the least accurate but certainly good enough for practice and plinking.

 

[Bob-in-WV]

My AA 510 loves the Crosman 19 gr. pellets. I think they are 19.3 gr. actually. For bench rest competition, you want the most accurate pellet you can find. Finding it is a fun but expensive journey.

 

[2L8]

AA or JSB, hands down with consistent results.

Patrick

 

[Therealld]

I am planning to get started with some backyard 25m benchrest using my .22 Air Arms S500 carbine at ~20 FPE with a 6-24 Sightron Big Sky scope . I am going to start with testing JSB 14.35, 15.89 and 18.1 pellets, are there any other pellets I should consider? Is there a preferred method for testing at 25m for the best pellet? Is it 5-shot group size? 10-shot group size? Anything else I should be looking for when trying to identify the most accurate pellet for my particular gun?

Thanks all!

JSB roundheads in the lighter weights are prolly best for sub 20fpe. Though group shooting is popular for pellet evaluation, it really mostly best for zero’ing the rig. Once zero’d, just go right to shooting one shot each at multi-bull targets with scoring rings …. Adding up scores on each card and saving pellet/gun/scope/wind conditions to monitor improvements over time.

LD

 

[BlindDave]

Where would I start ? With a pellet gauge and wooden dowel. Measure the pellet head size with the pellet gauge and push through your barrel with the dowel to see if there are any tight spots and mark the dowel if there are. Check the pellet head for rifling marks and choose the smallest head size that has rifling marks evenly all round.

While doing the above you will probably noticed some inconsistency in pellet head sizes and the size stated on the tin means nothing. This is where you start sorting pellets by head size and then by weight using a beam scale. Use a beam scale because digital scales are all rubbish and you want all the pellets to be the same weight. Don’t believe all digital scales are rubbish ! Weigh five pellets and then reweigh them again ! Weighed the same did they ? Bet they didn’t unless you are using a set of very expensive chemists scales.

Now you will probably have a few tins of pellets of different head sizes and weights, all from the same tin ! So that probably took you a while and now time to get the chronograph out and see which gives consistent speed of around 850 FPS. Once done all the above, time to shoot for groups and tune the barrel harmonics with weights ect. I can’t wait to get the new harmonic tuner from FX ! There that should keep you out of trouble for a while.



Cheers Dave

 

[thomasair]

Since it sounds like you are new to this….I beg you to NOT sort your pellets or do any other kind of hocus pocus to them. There are a million other things that you can spend your time on that will be more beneficial to you learning the game.

Find a place to shoot the pellets you have on hand indoors so you can see how they do without the influence of the wind. Choose the ones that shoot the best on a card. Then you can experiment with cleaning interval and procedure to figure out how to manage the barrel to maintain the best accuracy. Generally, you cannot just do nothing and expect the barrel to keep shooting its best. Some barrels will require you to clean every card, some will go several cards, and some won’t even make it through a full card before going south. With that in mind…you will have to start with a clean barrel before shooting each different pellet.

If you are proficient in wind reading and can predict where each pellet should likely go by your flag position ….you can shoot outside. I assume that you are not, though, because that is a skill that cannot really be learned without a good shooting gun to begin with.

Mike

 

[jps2486]

If you plan to shoot in USARB sanctioned matches, then your gun is limited to 20 FPE. With a .22, your velocity is going to be really slow.

 

[-Blue]

If you plan to shoot in USARB sanctioned matches, then your gun is limited to 20 FPE. With a .22, your velocity is going to be really slow.

I may be wrong but I believe the USARB “Open” class is limited to 35 foot pounds in .177/.20/.22 and the “Unlimited” class has no power cap but is still caliber limited to .177/.20/.22

https://www.usairriflebenchrest.com/rules/

WRABF (world rimfire and air rifle) has more restrictive air rifle classes. “Light Varmint” class is limited to 12 foot pounds and “Heavy Varmint” is restricted to 20 foot pounds.

http://www.wrabf.com/rules/WRABF%20&%20ERABSF%20RULEBOOK%202013-%202021.pdf

 

[nomojo65]

This is my regiment, I first start with a pellet/velocity that will keep me below the limits for the class I’m shooting in. (If you’re serious about eventually shooting in organized events?)

I then go to finding the best accuracy for these pellets, you will have to purposely buy different lots to experiment with, then I go to the accuracy testing phase!

I’m lucky and can shoot indoors all winter long at about 16.5yds, this is where I test small samples with multiple 5-6 shot groups then go to larger numbers when I find something promising, but as Mike suggested you also have to see at what intervals barrel cleaning comes into play here with accuracy?

finally you must test outdoors at 25m, buy a good set of flags and use them every time you shoot!

Good luck! “Listen to Thomasair”