Hi all. A little intro...just bought my first PCP air rifle. I have been reading and researching for the past couple years and finally decided to get into the hobby. From reading on forums like this one I have learned a lot. In the past, I have always been into building project cars,but I am sick of the cost and constant headaches. Time for a new expensive hobby!
I bought a nova freedom 22 caliber mainly because of the onboard pump. I am already hooked on this airgun and stoked to buy more PCPs, get rigged up with an electric pump set-up, and get some bullet casting dies. As other reviews have mentioned, my main gripe with this item is the big white lettering on the side. I definitely plan to remove it!
I have been testing out various pellets and would like to use heavier ones for more power and long-range accuracy. I tested some of the rabbit magnum II and, like other reviewers, found that they do not shoot very well. As others have stated, I found the fit too snuggly in the barrel of my gun...lots of resistance. So, I decided to try and experiment...with interesting results.
I took a few of the pellets and lightly mounted them like in the chuck of my screw gun. I used some very fine sandpaper to mildly mill down the front and back of the pellet and then polish them smooth with paper. Since I do not have a chrony yet, I am shooting them into a plywood board in order to compare penetration to the factory diameter bullets. I figure since they are basically the same bullet the penetration should imply speed.
when I took the slightly milled bullets and loaded them I could feel they were a little bit less snug in the barrel. When shot at the plywood, the factory bullets would actually bounce right off! Very little penetration...and I assume low fps. The bullets that I had milled manage to penetrate into the plywood and a couple actually passed right through. I will be interested to measure the actual FPS difference when I get a chrony.
Long story short, this proves that these bullet type pellets could probably perform much better for various airguns if they were resized down a little bit. My next plan is to get a Lee press and resizing die...this way I can quickly process many of them and to a consistent diameter...I'm just not sure which size. I will probably try the .224 which is the smallest one they offer, but I honestly do not even know the true diameter of the factory rabbit mag pellets.
Any thoughts on which size I should try to resize them to?
I bought a nova freedom 22 caliber mainly because of the onboard pump. I am already hooked on this airgun and stoked to buy more PCPs, get rigged up with an electric pump set-up, and get some bullet casting dies. As other reviews have mentioned, my main gripe with this item is the big white lettering on the side. I definitely plan to remove it!
I have been testing out various pellets and would like to use heavier ones for more power and long-range accuracy. I tested some of the rabbit magnum II and, like other reviewers, found that they do not shoot very well. As others have stated, I found the fit too snuggly in the barrel of my gun...lots of resistance. So, I decided to try and experiment...with interesting results.
I took a few of the pellets and lightly mounted them like in the chuck of my screw gun. I used some very fine sandpaper to mildly mill down the front and back of the pellet and then polish them smooth with paper. Since I do not have a chrony yet, I am shooting them into a plywood board in order to compare penetration to the factory diameter bullets. I figure since they are basically the same bullet the penetration should imply speed.
when I took the slightly milled bullets and loaded them I could feel they were a little bit less snug in the barrel. When shot at the plywood, the factory bullets would actually bounce right off! Very little penetration...and I assume low fps. The bullets that I had milled manage to penetrate into the plywood and a couple actually passed right through. I will be interested to measure the actual FPS difference when I get a chrony.
Long story short, this proves that these bullet type pellets could probably perform much better for various airguns if they were resized down a little bit. My next plan is to get a Lee press and resizing die...this way I can quickly process many of them and to a consistent diameter...I'm just not sure which size. I will probably try the .224 which is the smallest one they offer, but I honestly do not even know the true diameter of the factory rabbit mag pellets.
Any thoughts on which size I should try to resize them to?
