I recently carried out a pellet comparison for my Daystate Mk4iS and I thought I’d share the results with the community here.
Shooting Conditions:
Each pellet tested (unless otherwise noted) was sorted by both weight and head size. Four different groups were fired of 5 shots each. Ideally, I would have been able to shot them in an indoor location to remove the wind variable. However, there was only a faint breeze throughout the shooting session and it seemed consistent for the most part. Each shot was fired from a benchrest position using sand bags for stabilization. The distance fired was 25 yards using 16x magnification. All pellets were fired at the 12 FPE setting of my rifle (power setting 4). The biggest source of error in the testing was likely the small sample size for each pellet (4 groups) and possible inaccuracies in group size measurement. I’ve seen videos of people measuring their groups and cringe at the inaccuracy I frequently see. I trust the accuracy and consistency of my measurements. I’m not trying to impress anyone with claims of great shooting.
Measurement method: I’ve decided to make all measurements of group size by measuring the max width and height of each group and multiplying them together to get the area of a box that all shots would fit inside. As such, the smallest group possible would be a single .22 caliber pellet hole would result in a group size of .22 x .22 = 0.0484 in2. Here are 2 examples from the data set collected today:
Without further ado, here is a table that shows the results (sorted from most accurate to least):
Things that stick out to me:
For the past week or so, I’ve been collecting data to determine which head diameter pellet my rifle prefers. This data set pretty much confirms the findings I have been getting. My rifle likes head diameters in the 5.1 - 5.2mm range and doesn’t like larger head sizes as much. Of note is the H&N Baracuda Power. These copper covered pellets are clearly high quality pellets and the entire tin was fairly consistent in weight and diameter. However, they are extremely difficult to push into the barrel of my gun. It is to the point that I worry that I will bend the loading probe as I shove them into the barrel. I only shot 1 group of these because of the loading trouble these pellets provide. These pellets are designed for higher power than I was pushing them at in this test anyway. I wouldn’t put any stock in the accuracy of these Baracuda Power results.
The top two pellets were wadcutter style. I didn’t see this coming at all. I figured the lighter weight, less aerodynamic shape, and 25 yard distance would combine to cause the groups to open up a bit for these pellets. Nope, both pellets were spot on. My daystate magazines did not like to load these pellets at all. I had several of the pellets jam as they left the magazine. In the future I will use the single shot tray when shooting wadcutter style pellets. I liked the quality of the RWS Meisterkugeln much better than the JSB Diabolo Wadcutters. The reason being is that the skirt of the Meisterkugeln was much thicker. I didn’t see any deformed RWS pellets but saw many deformed JSB skirts.
I was hoping my gun would like the H&N Crow Magnum. I like hollowpoint style pellets because they cut nice clear holes when shooting targets as well as have good expansion while pesting. The Crow Magnum is an inexpensive pellet that I was hoping might become my mainstay for the gun. Instead, they were the least accurate pellet for my rifle that I tested. Bummer.
The light 9.5 grain H&N Field Target Trophy Green pellets surprised me. I had shot them at a higher power in previous tests and they flew all over the place. I didn’t bother to chony the results, but they liked the velocity of being shot at 12 FPE.
My current go to pellet for pesting is the Polymag short. I like that it has almost the same mass as the JSB Exact Jumbo that I use for most of my plinking. This means I don’t need to make any adjustments in the point of impact between the two. However, both the H&N Terminator and H&N Baracuda Extreme performed better. This might be attributed to the smaller head diameter size. Further exploration will be done followed by a potential preferred pellet switch.
Shooting Conditions:
Each pellet tested (unless otherwise noted) was sorted by both weight and head size. Four different groups were fired of 5 shots each. Ideally, I would have been able to shot them in an indoor location to remove the wind variable. However, there was only a faint breeze throughout the shooting session and it seemed consistent for the most part. Each shot was fired from a benchrest position using sand bags for stabilization. The distance fired was 25 yards using 16x magnification. All pellets were fired at the 12 FPE setting of my rifle (power setting 4). The biggest source of error in the testing was likely the small sample size for each pellet (4 groups) and possible inaccuracies in group size measurement. I’ve seen videos of people measuring their groups and cringe at the inaccuracy I frequently see. I trust the accuracy and consistency of my measurements. I’m not trying to impress anyone with claims of great shooting.
Measurement method: I’ve decided to make all measurements of group size by measuring the max width and height of each group and multiplying them together to get the area of a box that all shots would fit inside. As such, the smallest group possible would be a single .22 caliber pellet hole would result in a group size of .22 x .22 = 0.0484 in2. Here are 2 examples from the data set collected today:
Without further ado, here is a table that shows the results (sorted from most accurate to least):
Things that stick out to me:
For the past week or so, I’ve been collecting data to determine which head diameter pellet my rifle prefers. This data set pretty much confirms the findings I have been getting. My rifle likes head diameters in the 5.1 - 5.2mm range and doesn’t like larger head sizes as much. Of note is the H&N Baracuda Power. These copper covered pellets are clearly high quality pellets and the entire tin was fairly consistent in weight and diameter. However, they are extremely difficult to push into the barrel of my gun. It is to the point that I worry that I will bend the loading probe as I shove them into the barrel. I only shot 1 group of these because of the loading trouble these pellets provide. These pellets are designed for higher power than I was pushing them at in this test anyway. I wouldn’t put any stock in the accuracy of these Baracuda Power results.
The top two pellets were wadcutter style. I didn’t see this coming at all. I figured the lighter weight, less aerodynamic shape, and 25 yard distance would combine to cause the groups to open up a bit for these pellets. Nope, both pellets were spot on. My daystate magazines did not like to load these pellets at all. I had several of the pellets jam as they left the magazine. In the future I will use the single shot tray when shooting wadcutter style pellets. I liked the quality of the RWS Meisterkugeln much better than the JSB Diabolo Wadcutters. The reason being is that the skirt of the Meisterkugeln was much thicker. I didn’t see any deformed RWS pellets but saw many deformed JSB skirts.
I was hoping my gun would like the H&N Crow Magnum. I like hollowpoint style pellets because they cut nice clear holes when shooting targets as well as have good expansion while pesting. The Crow Magnum is an inexpensive pellet that I was hoping might become my mainstay for the gun. Instead, they were the least accurate pellet for my rifle that I tested. Bummer.
The light 9.5 grain H&N Field Target Trophy Green pellets surprised me. I had shot them at a higher power in previous tests and they flew all over the place. I didn’t bother to chony the results, but they liked the velocity of being shot at 12 FPE.
My current go to pellet for pesting is the Polymag short. I like that it has almost the same mass as the JSB Exact Jumbo that I use for most of my plinking. This means I don’t need to make any adjustments in the point of impact between the two. However, both the H&N Terminator and H&N Baracuda Extreme performed better. This might be attributed to the smaller head diameter size. Further exploration will be done followed by a potential preferred pellet switch.