Pellet lube woes

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Youngster

Member
May 6, 2021
6
3
Florida, United States
I posted this on my friends Central Florida Airgun page but was encouraged to share here.

Some of you have seen my frustration trying to get my RAW 25 to shoot pellets accurately. I was beginning to think I just stunk at shooting. Depression was getting near. In desperation, got friends to shoot this rifle but they had the same results. I have researched, watched videos, studied ballistics and sought advice from everyone that would listen. Even calling the RAW factory and basically not being able to speak to anyone there that had product knowledge. Relaying questions to the receptionist who never got me in touch with a technician or even got back with answers. No matter what I tried, the pellets would tumble to the target. At 50yds you could definitely see some imprinting completely sideways. At the last meetup my 25yd target was judged unscoreable because of so many sideways pellets. Slugs seemed immune to the problem and were pretty accurate, which further perplexed the troubleshooting. 



Well..... problem found. Beware the ammo you put down your barrel!!! There was a 6 week period after I'd purchased my rifle that the recommended JSB 33.95 pellets were unavailable. I tried many makes/weights of slugs. Found some exceptionally accurate slugs. One however, ordered from a small company up north, had a unique feel to the lube on the slugs. I believe that started my accuracy woes. In an attempt to improve the lackluster performance of the newly arrived JSBs, I learned about cleaning, lubing and sorting pellets. I inquired about choice of pellet lube and concensus led me to choose a silicone spray product, which I used sparingly. I chose one, noticing it is enhanced with Teflon. I thought the more slippery, the better. These carefully sorted pellets I used for special occasions sporadically. Thereby continually contaminating my barrel.



Concluding this long story, the lube was so slippery that the pellets would not grip the barrel well enough to spin. Therefore, exit similar to a musket ball. Hours and thousands of pellets spent chasing a slippery barrel. But I feel SO MUCH more knowledgeable and confident. Now shooting nearly one hole at 50yds. If I can just conquer the wind.....
 
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I would have to say if the pellets don't grip the barrel enough to spin that they is probly balancing on being a bit small for the barrel? If so any lube at all would detrimental to accuracy. I have noticed that some guns like lube and some don't like it as much as well but expect the pellets are at fault most of the time.
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Agree. Interesting theory but under normal conditions (whatever that is) I believe mechanical engagement of the pellet in the rifling would prevent what is proposed. As you state, it seems possible only with either woefully undersized pellets or oversized bore.
 
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You are correct, this barrel has polygonal rifling. Lots of people still consider rifling as raised groves that have to engage the projectile. That's what I was refering to.

To those who feel the pellet diameter or larger bore was at fault, neither is true.

As to those who believe that production pellets don't need lube, you are correct also. However, when you are after extreme accuracy, the factory pellets can have an enormous amount of lead slag sticking in skirts and other places on the pellet. This affects pellet flight and accuracy. A solution is to wash or sonic clean the pellets which does a good job of removing the slag. This process usually removes the factory lube, requiring some sort of lube, if only to prevent oxidation. There is a HUGE amount of preferences on what to use. Lots of info pointed me to a silicone based lube. I believe my choice of one with Teflon enhancement protected the pellets from oxidation but also made the pellet too slippery, for lack of a better word. This lubricant transfered to and remained in the barrel. When I shot these special pellets through my FX, which had been very accurate, that its accuracy went to horrible 2-3 inch groups at 50yds. Only thing common between them was the special pellets. I collected a factory lubed and a special lubed pellet from my trap and one had 6 neat dimples on the skirt. The other skirt was misshappen badly. I theorized that the lubed pellet wasn't spinning but that was causing the skirt to mangle which destroyed accuracy. 

A very thorough barrel cleaning and both rifles are shooting nearly one hole at 50 again. Feel free to draw you own conclusions.


 
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I find it interesting that AOA suggests that you lube pellets if they are traveling over 900 FPS.
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I'm not saying to avoid lube. My choice of lube, a silicone product enhanced with Teflon, is the problem. I have heard from many people who are chasing a chronic flyer problem who use similar lube. If the pellet skips across even one set of groves before starting to follow the rest of the way out the barrel, it deforms the skirt. Thereby creating a potential flyer.
 
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