Is lubricating pellets necessary?

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I tested 2 cycle oil, a bicycle chain lube somebody recommended, and silicone oil. I saw (or thought I saw) slight improvements with all but I decided silicone oil was the best. But I also tried lots of lube and very little lube. Lots is definitely worse than none IMHO. So I put a few drops of silicone oil on the foam disc that comes with some pellets. It is not dramatic but I think it helps a little.

It's interesting that H&N doesn't recommend lubing. Most of my guns shoot H&N the best. I wonder why H&N doesn't recommending oiling.
 
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I have also seen people use Pledge.

One thing I would add and it probably makes no difference. But I have never see mixing lubricants of any type recommended by anyone ever.

I am wondering if washing and drying is important so whatever you are using is all you are using. And not a mystery mix of stuff on your pellets.
 
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I do not wash pellets. Maybe I should, I've never tested the effect. I see tiny flecks of lead in empty tins sometimes but it isn't obvious to me how they would affect accuracy. Any I'm lazy. I pretty much use pellets straight from the tin (except I started looking for a foam insert so I can put a few drops of silicone oil on it to give the pellets a very light coat).
 
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JimD said:
I tested 2 cycle oil, a bicycle chain lube somebody recommended, and silicone oil. I saw (or thought I saw) slight improvements with all but I decided silicone oil was the best. But I also tried lots of lube and very little lube. Lots is definitely worse than none IMHO. So I put a few drops of silicone oil on the foam disc that comes with some pellets. It is not dramatic but I think it helps a little.

It's interesting that H&N doesn't recommend lubing. Most of my guns shoot H&N the best. I wonder why H&N doesn't recommending oiling.
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Despite backyard mechanics the factory engineers usually know their product best .
 
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Sleestak said:
No one has mentioned Ballistol?

If H&N recommends not lubing I guess I'd defer to the experts. I wonder what JSB, et al have to say on the subject?
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The whole Ballistol thing in the airgun community perplexes me. Always has. I have found it to not be impressive at anything. A couple of my muzzleloader buddies like it also. I’ve found nothing impressive about it with my muzzleloaders either. When I need something clean, I use a cleaning product. Not one that can pull multiple duties. When I need to lube something, I use a lubricant. Not something that can double as a cleaning product.
 
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JimD said:
I tested 2 cycle oil, a bicycle chain lube somebody recommended, and silicone oil. I saw (or thought I saw) slight improvements with all but I decided silicone oil was the best. But I also tried lots of lube and very little lube. Lots is definitely worse than none IMHO. So I put a few drops of silicone oil on the foam disc that comes with some pellets. It is not dramatic but I think it helps a little.

It's interesting that H&N doesn't recommend lubing. Most of my guns shoot H&N the best. I wonder why H&N doesn't recommending oiling.
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We have done our own tests and have not noticed any improvement in performance.
Otherwise, if would have an advantage, we would already treat our pellets and slugs with the appropriate lubrication at the factory.
However, we do apply a thin coating of an antioxidant to our slugs. Since they are made of 100% lead, they would tarnish faster.
 
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For those who do not lubricate pellets, do you lubricate your barrel, say by cleaning frequently with a "wet patch" or by shooting a gun that is fed a Pellgun, silicone or some such oil through the pump, bottle or CO2 valve?

Lead (and tin for those who are into lead-free) is a common plain bearing component, but those bearings are typically lubricated. Dry bearings are usually made from something else that has inherent lubricating properties. But I have heard from a number of sources that I respect about self-lubricating properties of lead pellets.

So I'm wondering if either lubricant is coming from elsewhere, or the lead IS actually making it's own lube, say under pressure some of it in the bore becomes lead oxide (pressure can act similarly to heat in some reactions):
The intial summary and figures are interesting.

Edit / Addition: I shoot a lot of tin metal (Sb) "lead free" pellets and I lube those. I can't say lubing improves accuracy but I lube because while lead oxide is soft, tin oxide is harder than soft steel, and I'm thinking that a bit of oil will reduce the formation of tin oxide. I still patch dark grey skidmark out of my barrels, so something is turning to powder in there, hopefully the bits of pellet.
 
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Vetmx said:
If I’m shooting them at slug speeds, I lube them. I lube all JTS and AEA pellets regardless.
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I think it’s a pretty common observation/ occurrence that the AEA and/or JTS pellets do not load as smoothly as softer lead pellets. However, both are shooting better and more accurately in my rifles. I know this because my 30y and 40Y scoring and accuracy is better with both brands.

As an example, my RAW .22 HP shoots the JTS 22.07g very accurately at a whopping 985 FPS velocity. When I close the side lever fully, after chambering a pellet; there is a slight but noticeable resistance closing the side lever. Same is true for me when using the FX Royale .22 and the Daystate Revere .22. Not sure if this is due to using a larger weight and head size than JSB 18.1g pellet, harder alloys used in both JTS and AEA, or even skirt depth.

I mention this because you lube your JTS and AEA pellets, and I was wondering if this is the reason why?

FWIW - Martin casually mentioned to me that some of his RAW customers swear by ‘slightly’ lubing pellets, so I gave it a try. I think this is one of those topics that has a YMMV quotient and is subjective.
 
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When I shoot JTS and AEA pellets directly from the tin, then clean the barrel, there are ALWAYS lead sparkles on the first couple of patches. When I shoot those same pellets with wax or liquid lube applied there is zero lead sparkles on the patches. One particular gun barrel I own, is very barrel cleanliness sensitive and lube always extends the time period between accuracy degradation and required cleaning.
 
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Vetmx said:
The whole Ballistol thing in the airgun community perplexes me. Always has. I have found it to not be impressive at anything. A couple of my muzzleloader buddies like it also. I’ve found nothing impressive about it with my muzzleloaders either. When I need something clean, I use a cleaning product. Not one that can pull multiple duties. When I need to lube something, I use a lubricant. Not something that can double as a cleaning product.
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If you don’t mind, will you list your product choices. Thanks
 
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tommyb said:
I think it’s a pretty common observation/ occurrence that the AEA and/or JTS pellets do not load as smoothly as softer lead pellets. However, both are shooting better and more accurately in my rifles. I know this because my 30y and 40Y scoring and accuracy is better with both brands.

As an example, my RAW .22 HP shoots the JTS 22.07g very accurately at a whopping 985 FPS velocity. When I close the side lever fully, after chambering a pellet; there is a slight but noticeable resistance closing the side lever. Same is true for me when using the FX Royale .22 and the Daystate Revere .22. Not sure if this is due to using a larger weight and head size than JSB 18.1g pellet, harder alloys used in both JTS and AEA, or even skirt depth.

I mention this because you lube your JTS and AEA pellets, and I was wondering if this is the reason why?

FWIW - Martin casually mentioned to me that some of his RAW customers swear by ‘slightly’ lubing pellets, so I gave it a try. I think this is one of those topics that has a YMMV quotient and is subjective.
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There is nothing exciting about having to lube a pellet. I don’t want to add this step to the simple enjoyment of shooting pellets. But you have to listen to your barrel. Fortunately I only have one pellet barrel right now that 100% requires it. I don’t have that barrel on the gun often but when I do, it gets a lubed pellet. Things go off the tracks just a little quicker than I’d like if I don’t. It’s a crazy accurate barrel and it doesn’t shoot a JSB or H&N quite as good as it shoots a JTS. I’ve never encountered a gun that forced me to lube a JSB.

I had a gun on H&N’s for many months leading up to hunting season. They were being shot quite fast so I lubed them. I saw no indication leading up to the decision that I had to. I made the decision because I didn’t want a surprise during hunting season. Everything went quite well that year.

I‘m on the fence with two of my Hades guns. Ones a .22 the other is a .30. I just haven’t fully committed to the decision to lube because I don’t have enough data to absolutely stamp it. But I’m leaning towards lubed is more consistent. If not and the placebo effect makes me shoot better, then so be it. As long as lubing the pellets isn’t hurting anything. I don’t slather a pellet in lube. More definitely is not better.
 
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