I have a Red Wolf 18fpe .177cal rifle and was wondering what the optimum pellet size is for this barrel as I would like to order a pellet sizer to try with this gun.
Pellet diameter for LW .177cal barrel
- Thread starter Corvid_hunter
- Start date
Honestly there is no such thing as an ideal head size. Most barrels will have as good of a chance grouping well with, say, 4.49mm as it does 4.52mm. As long as it isn’t so small that it tips in the bore or so large that it extrudes and smears against the grooves, it’s a suitable size. Whether it groups well will be at the mercy of harmonics, the quality of the pellets, and other factors.
Granted, it may well be that sizing pellets will yield benefits by correcting for inconsistencies in the pellets that otherwise would cause variability, but the specific size down to the hundredths of a mm is less important.
Even if there were a magic number, it would vary a bit from barrel to barrel due to manufacturing tolerances. Therefore my recommendation would be to carefully measure some pellets with a micrometer until you find samples measuring 4.48 through 4.52mm in 0.01mm increments, then push them through the barrel and inspect them carefully with magnification and pick the one with the cleanest and uniform rifling marks around the full perimeter and go with that size.
Granted, it may well be that sizing pellets will yield benefits by correcting for inconsistencies in the pellets that otherwise would cause variability, but the specific size down to the hundredths of a mm is less important.
Even if there were a magic number, it would vary a bit from barrel to barrel due to manufacturing tolerances. Therefore my recommendation would be to carefully measure some pellets with a micrometer until you find samples measuring 4.48 through 4.52mm in 0.01mm increments, then push them through the barrel and inspect them carefully with magnification and pick the one with the cleanest and uniform rifling marks around the full perimeter and go with that size.
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Thanks for the reply. I looked at JSB's offerings and went with a 4.52mm sizer (middle of the road). I seem to have some dented skirts and was thinking it could be from washing them and I want to reform the skirts.
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Don’t run the skirts through a sizer unless it’s specifically for that purpose. The skirts should be considerably larger than the head, closer to 4.7mm, to get sized as they’re seated. Sizers are generally for the head only.
For the occasional dented skirt, something like an old 1/4in phono plug can be used to flare it out and back into a round shape. Truth be told, a skirt has to be pretty bad before it starts having a meaningful effect.
I suspect you’ll find the 4.52mm sizer to have no effect on most JSB pellets. They trend small in my experience, more like 4.48 - 4.50.
For the occasional dented skirt, something like an old 1/4in phono plug can be used to flare it out and back into a round shape. Truth be told, a skirt has to be pretty bad before it starts having a meaningful effect.
I suspect you’ll find the 4.52mm sizer to have no effect on most JSB pellets. They trend small in my experience, more like 4.48 - 4.50.
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Thanks. I'm still getting to know my Red Wolf 18fpe and was out with it the other day, High power groups at 30 yards were worse than the Medium and Low power groups at the same yardage with the 10.34gr pellets. 900fps for High, 840fps for Medium and 775fps for Low. I was noticing some of the skirts had been a little dented so I assumed this was the possible cause for the lack of consistency. It was windy, but it should have effected all groups consistently I would guess. Pellets were washed and lubed with Pledge. Approx 150-200 pellets through the barrel since it was cleaned really well (last groups shot on Medium power). Approx 1200 pellets in total through the rifle.Perhaps it's still breaking in?
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Yeah that’s the fun part, figuring out its likes and dislikes. Or the maddening part, depending on how you want to look at it. I would not be inclined to think the pellet skirts are playing a role. If anything, I would expect the higher velocity to be influenced less because the stronger pressure pulse will more readily obturate the skirt to help it seal. Not by much, but still in the opposite direction.
The BC will also vary slightly at different velocities. For that pellet, I want to say it’s optimal in the mid-800 to 900fps range. But again, not by enough to make a big difference, particularly at only 30 yards.
My guess is the biggest factor is barrel harmonics. How it vibrates when fired, or more specifically where the muzzle is when the pellet emerges. Hang a weight on the muzzle (add an LDC), use something elastic to bind it to the air tube/bottle, change how it’s bedded to the stock, alter its state of tune, etc. and the apparent preferred velocity will move around.
The BC will also vary slightly at different velocities. For that pellet, I want to say it’s optimal in the mid-800 to 900fps range. But again, not by enough to make a big difference, particularly at only 30 yards.
My guess is the biggest factor is barrel harmonics. How it vibrates when fired, or more specifically where the muzzle is when the pellet emerges. Hang a weight on the muzzle (add an LDC), use something elastic to bind it to the air tube/bottle, change how it’s bedded to the stock, alter its state of tune, etc. and the apparent preferred velocity will move around.
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Straight out of the box 177 RW on medium power seems to be the best for accuracy when shooting 8.44s and 10.34s. YO!
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You'll really get a kick out of shooting the 7.4gr Crosman pointed from Wal-Mart on medium if your barrel is like mine. YO!
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Almost all will plop for 4.52, HOWEVER what can be much more of an influence is the die number, sadly I think some of your distributors do not have the ID labels on the tin.
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That's only for the accuracy fanatics the folks who strive the ultimate in accuracy when shooting their airguns and need absolute same lot batch consistency like bench rest and field target shooters who strive for the one hole groups at 50 yards. Most Airgun shooters won't care if the tins have lot numbers or not for general shooting since they only buy a couple of tins at a time. Then there's all the washing weighing sizing sorting rolling lubing etc etc etc. Very time consuming... That's only if you want to shoot better than 1/4" inch groups at 50 yards. Most are very happy and satisfied with half inch. If you're an accuracy nut then you need to buy same lot numbers by the cases and buy them ALL. Only problem there's a chance you get cases and cases of same lot tins that only shoot mediocre in your gun. There are variances from lot to lot sad to say. But like I said it's only for the accuracy nuts who want the ultimate in accuracy not for the regular majority of shooters. YO!
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4.52 refers to head size. Most common head size sold due to most 177s favoring that size for general accuracy. There are 4.50 4.51 4.52 4.53 sizes that some dealers either cover with another label or just don't have them on their tins. Maybe so the buyers won't try to hoard a specific lot or head size? Maybe even for general purpose pellets? IDK. YO!
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You mentioned a couple things that threw up a flag to me. First and foremost you said it was windy. Don’t shoot in any kind of wind and expect a good group. Pick the calmest of days for trying to shoot good groups. Wind is a group killer. The next thing was lubing your pellets. Don’t mess with lubing. Just shoot the pellets the way they came. At one time I thought lubing had to be a good thing. I tried all types of lubes from a lot of lube to very little. One day I ran out of lubed pellets and realized plain old dry pellets shot great and my accuracy issues were self induced with lube. These are my thoughts from my experience with wind and lubing.
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