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Pellet Seating

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FiveString

FiveString

Member
Dec 28, 2018
17
0
WI, United States
The first air rifle I owned, I purchased from a friend back in about 1972, a Slavia. It was kinda beat and I'm sure the seals needed work, but what did I know back then - it was fun. Didn't have anything new until about 1986, bought a Beeman R10 - it was great, but due to a deal I couldn't pass through Beeman I traded it in for an R8 paired with a Blue Ribbon scope - what a great rifle. During this progression, like most, I sought out more and more accuracy and shooting skill. Over the years I have tried to vary this, but wondering how most of you find the best results with different seating methods. Simply push the pellet in place to a flush skirt seating, or pushing it in farther to a uniform depth, like I have tried with a pen tip? At one time Beeman made a tool called pell-seat which was similar to a pen tip. I wonder also if the two methods result in a change in muzzle velocity. For myself, I don't know that I've seen an improvement with insertion beyond flush pushed in place with my thumb. Just wondering what others' results were?
 
My thoughts are that the burst of air pressure is what forces the pellet skirt tight to the bore. The closer the edges of the skirt are to the transfer port the sooner and better the skirt will do what it is designed to do. Therefore the best position for the pellet to be in is directly in front of the transfer port, not shoved further forward of it.

But my thinking may be totally wrong.
 
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My unscientific take goes like this-I have a Pell-seat and used to use it religiously, but since I got my R9 in .22 I've just been pushing the pellets flush with the breech. It seems to work great with the R9. I do remember the shot cycle being much harsher with some guns using the pell seat compared to seating the pellet flush. I guess the short answer is try it and see if it helps.
 
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This topic is right up my alley. I did some seating depth testing using my chronograph and my .22 Sig ASP20. One of the review articles Tom Gaylord did on the ASP20 said better accuracy was achieved (Using the Sig Wraith alloy pellet) deep seating the pellet. Since I use those pellets mostly in my Sig I did some chrony testing. I seated the pellet approximately 1/16" below the breech with my own seating tool I made. I experienced no loss in velocity with this gun/pellet combination. My guess it's an individual thing. Some guns/pellets might lose velocity, some might not.

BTW...I owned a Beeman Pellet-Seat but sold it years ago. From my memory I made one trying to duplicate the ball end of the tool.

1550418635_2478698925c6982cb9ff967.55852697_20190119_135701.jpg

 
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I still have my pell seat. Any machinists out there? I don’t mind giving you a sketch with all the dimensions, and maybe you could offer it to any member looking for one. In fact, if you all want, I can post up a sketch for all to have, Incase you have a machinist buddy.
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I'm game !! Do you have access to a dial caliper for measurements? I never used the pointed end of the one I owned. The ball end was all I ever used. From what I recall the ball end was approximately 1/4" in diameter.
 
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Pretty sure the pell seat was just another Beeman gimmick. I just used the ball end to push in a pellet until the rifling snaps through the rear of the skirt and I lost 70-80 fps with a 900 fps .177. When you push a pellet deeper than just thumb flush, you are introducing dead air space, better know as lost volume and it's not a good thing. A springer of this power needs the buildup of pressure to make full power. A little R7 or similar low power gun may benefit, but more powerful guns won't. PCP is a different thing, so it may be beneficial in them.
 
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I’ve experimented some with pell-seating. Some gained speed, others lost. Accuracy seemed largely unaffected.

Variables seem to be depth of seating and condition/size of barrel at the breech. I don’t bother with it anymore, just slows me down.

An exception is when I’m hunting with my older C-1 Carbine in .22. The breech is loose and sometimes cocking will cause a previously loaded, unseated pell to fly out unnoticed. I’ll use seating here as dry-firing a good springer kills ur soul, just a little.
 
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Pretty sure the pell seat was just another Beeman gimmick. I just used the ball end to push in a pellet until the rifling snaps through the rear of the skirt and I lost 70-80 fps with a 900 fps .177. When you push a pellet deeper than just thumb flush, you are introducing dead air space, better know as lost volume and it's not a good thing. A springer of this power needs the buildup of pressure to make full power. A little R7 or similar low power gun may benefit, but more powerful guns won't. PCP is a different thing, so it may be beneficial in them.
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As has been stated, seating depth is an individual thing for every gun. I push my pellets in until they snap like you mentioned. I lose no velocity with my Sig ASP20 when shooting the Sig Wraith alloy pellet and snap seating the pellet. Versus seating flush with the breech. With this pellet I actually gain 25-30fps when using my sizer and .217" die. I still gain that 25fps whether I seat them flush or snapped in approximately 1/16".
 
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I have two rifles that you have to use a pellet seater to snap them past the initial insert of barrel. Fingers just don't push them in enough to close springer and not damage seal. Sure I could likely change pellet but the cheap Crosman wadcutters shoot so good. It is different if one shoots a tin of pellets every week or two but much difference when you shoot a tin of 500 every two days seven days a week. 
 
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I have two rifles that you have to use a pellet seater to snap them past the initial insert of barrel. Fingers just don't push them in enough to close springer and not damage seal. Sure I could likely change pellet but the cheap Crosman wadcutters shoot so good. It is different if one shoots a tin of pellets every week or two but much difference when you shoot a tin of 500 every two days seven days a week.
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You can fix that with a light spin with a chamfering tool at the breech. Done that a few times.
 
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As others have mentioned, I’ve found the effectiveness of pellet seating in springers, is tied to the skirt diameter of the pellet, and design of the breech chamfer.

HW’s and Dianas usually have a short and rather sharp-edged 45-degree chamfer at the breech. This serves to hold on to the pellet until optimum pressure builds up behind it, if that makes sense. If you shove the skirt past this point, all the way into the bore, it will start to move too soon; you will almost always lose speed and consistency.

Seating works better in guns with a longer, tapered breech chamfer, examples being the classic Webley Vulcan and relatives (Excel, C1, etc.) and Anschutz 335 (aka Crosman Challenger 6500). In that type of design, seating the pellet to a consistent depth has the effect of rounding out the skirt, and almost custom-fitting it to the bore. The 335 in particular responds well and becomes very tolerant of different pellets.


 
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