FX branded 18gr pellet issues

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slcrcflyer

slcrcflyer

Member
Nov 1, 2018
391
210
UT, United States
So I just encountered the craziest pellet issue. Over the years I’ve heard tales of batches of pellets that shoot differently but, this is the first time I have ever came across this in my life. I was shooting 22 caliber 18gr FX pellets out of my Red Wolf HP, the first tin was about as accurate as the JSB branded pellets though I did notice the FX branded pellets fired about 13FPS faster than their JSB brothers. I changed to a new tin of FX pellets and whoa 😮, my shots were all over the place! The accuracy was so bad that when I got home I figured I must’ve blown out the breach seal or the actuator pin seal must’ve gone bad. I took some shots of the chronograph and seen that my velocities were pretty consistent, regardless I ended up tearing apart the rifle to check the gaskets and what do you know they were all fine. Long story short I switched back to the JSB 18gr and the the Red Wolf stacked up pellets on top of each other. I even tried a different tin of FX pellets and they shot just fine also. 

I weighed 30 pellets of the alleged bad tin of FX pellets, because I thought goodness, with accuracy this bad they must be different weights, nope! All were within about 0.1gr difference.

I then tried the alleged bad tin of FX pellets in my Brocock Bantam Sniper, Ataman AP16, EdGun R5M, and Huntsman Revere. Every one of these guns practically rejected 🤮 the pellets, tons of flyers.

Now here is where things get weird. I loaded up a magazine of FX pellets in my wildcat MK3 and I was able to stack them up on top of each other. So it now looks like I have pellets that are specifically only going to work in my wildcat and not in anything else I own. Just thought I would share the story because after 30 years of shooting pellet guns this is the first time I’ve ever came across this. I am just wondering if other people of maybe encountered the same issue. Yes I do know FX branded pellets are made by JSB on a specific assembly line versus their JSB brothers. My guess is the dies are probably a little bit different.

Happy Holidays!
 
Experiemced that way too many times already and decided to just make my own match grade pellets because what you just witnessed with JSB manufactured pellets is totally normal. Only true accuracy fanatics will notice it who are smart enough to keep backup already shot proven accurate same lot batch pellets stashed for times like this to avoid exaggerating it by tinkering and complete tear downs and mostly unnecessary stress.
 
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Guys,

I've come to a conclusion that MOST (not all) accuracy issues come from pellet quality, or lack thereof. If I had a dollar for every person, myself included, that tore their gun down, only to find nothing wrong with it, and discovering it was only a dirty barrel, or a pellet issue, I'd be rich.

I would say that 95% of all accuracy issues stem from a pellet problem, or a fouled barrel problem. Both of these are easily remedied without tearing said gun down. 

Tom Holland 

Field Target Tech 

Fieldtargettech.com 
 
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Strange, for sure. I've only ever bought the 30 cal FX pellets (44.95 gr.). They are absolutely identical to JSB & Vortex .30's. Size, weight, shape, etc. Even set up a magazine load with 3 of each. Shot EXACTLY the same out of my FX Boss. 1 ragged hole @50 yards. I thought THAT was strange. Expected at least a slight variation. Your story is definitely more strange.
 
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To answer your question yes. I see it as well. What you are seeing is not an unusual phenomenon. As Tom said, it’s seldom the gun. I like Tom, are a FT shooter. I think it’s safe to say, we (i.e. competitive FT shooters in general ) put pellet testing close to the top of the list of most important things to do.

For the more casual shooter or even hunter, reasonable groups can be good enough. ( I also hunt and a 2” & 3” group at 100 yards is very acceptable for the type of hunting I do. Smaller groups are welcome but not mandatory.) 

I have four guns to shoot in FT. Now, they will all shoot the same pellet well, but all have a specific pellet they are most accurate with.

I recently bought a large assortment of pellets of various brands, and weights and have been testing them in my guns to see what their diet is looking for.

The ones that don’t make the cut get sold on the classifieds. And BTW... In my FT guns, I don’t sort, weigh, lube, burn incense next to my pellets, anything like that. I open a tin of pellets, shoot 10 shot groups at 10, zero and 55 yards and crown a winner.




 
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I would have to agree with all of the above. I was out stacking pellets or shooting MOA @ 75 to 100 yards and opened a new tin of pellets only to have my group size doubled or better immediately and I was not able to tune it out of existence. This has happened with both Crosman and JSB pellets which are what I most often shoot. A few months back I was saying how good the .22 Hades were out of my SK-19 and had targets to back the claims. I opened a new tin, and began loading up, but a large portion of the pellets were now falling back out of the magazine when inserted while the previous tin had a loose fitting pellet only occasionally. Needless to say accuracy suffered. Now the search for an accurate pellet has to start all over again. ;^( It's a sad thing when you can't even trust the makers of usually quality ammunition to give you the consistency and quality they are usually known for. Still it has always been a regular occurrence for me.

It's sad to say but I almost hate to shoot my most accurate pellets cuz I know I will run out and likely not get the same pellet when I order again.

NSA slugs are my saving grace as of late. I seem to get the same exact slug every time I order. Time and time again I go out to the range and shoot <MOA at 100 yards with these. Open a new box and get the same accuracy. I seldom even bother with pellets which have to be sorted for quality, weighed and then roll tested and sorted to get the same quality as comes right out of the box with NSA. Thanks NSA for the quality ammo and great QC and customer service.
 
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If you have a reloading press you could sorta fix them rejects.

OR!





https://youtu.be/C9jQogmztXI





This one's the main one to watch below...



https://youtu.be/dwg_cqC1y-M



BOO HOO THESE NEW JSBS SUCK... AGAIN! BOO HOO HOO HOO HOO...







https://youtu.be/fjqD18qF6kM













https://youtu.be/rEstAwG5g4o









BOO-HOO THESE JSBs SUCK 

LOL!

Musta got all them H and Hem match grade dies confiscated outa China so probably had to make their own dies...

He shoulda tried H&N FTT 5.54 and 5.55. Woulda saved him all that wasted time...

OR!

He Coulda just gone the easy way out and bought himself a Marmot Militia Jim Gaska Hammer forged drop in barrel that shoots just about everything accurately.
 
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I will add the jsb 18.1s and 13.4’s seem to be the most erratic and inconsistent of all I’ve tried. In my guns anyway, the 13.4’s kill me because I use them in my RAWS for competition!

I will add it seems to be inner skirt (pocket) dimensions play the biggest role in this?. Which relates to seating depth in pin probe type seating actions. My theory anyway?
 
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I will add the jsb 18.1s and 13.4’s seem to be the most erratic and inconsistent of all I’ve tried. In my guns anyway, the 13.4’s kill me because I use them in my RAWS for competition!

I will add it seems to be inner skirt (pocket) dimensions play the biggest role in this?. Which relates to seating depth in pin probe type seating actions. My theory anyway?
Click to expand...

Terry Robb Pellet sizing tool. This thing actually works! 

https://www.trrobb.com/product/adjustable-pellet-sizer-177
 
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I will say this ( my experience only! ) sizing and or weighing has never really made a quantifiable difference that I can tell?, I think the pocket depth may play more of a role for pin probe style seaters/bolts for why some pellets of the same brand will shoot great or terrible?.

Another good example is Crosman Premiers ALOT of swarf inside skirt pocket, shoot great if you want to inspect and clean each one. I'm Not!
 
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