Sorted - FX 18.1 Grain (5.52)

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SpiralGroove

SpiralGroove

Member
Oct 20, 2020
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Washington, United States
Hey Guys,

Just sorted about (200) FX-18.1 grain pellets advertised at 5.52mm head size. They're pretty consistent ... Here are the results !!!

Sorted FX - 18.1 Grain Pellets 5.52.1652054311.JPG


Almost all the skirts looked good. Just trying to get a good idea which head size is preferred by my RAW poly barrel?




 
My advice: shoot single loading - not with magazine and shoot 5 shot groups at a reasonable distance like 50 yards. Label each group as to head size. Whichever one is smallest MAY be the size your barrel prefers. I say "may" because you really should do like 10 groups of 5 shots for each head size and check for which one is consistently the best. FWIW, my RAW doesn't really care on head size as long as each shot in the group is from the same size batch. I weigh the pellets before I head size sorting the pellets into groups of about .06 grains. All told, the tighter you can hold the pellets to being identical, the less you can blame the pellets for group size or precision.
 
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Thanks, I'll shoot at 50 yards, but right now I only have enough sorted to definitively test the 5.53's & 5.54's. I should find get a winner between the two - beforehand, I'll sort by weight too, within head size. I'll shoot a few 5 shot groups of the 5.52's & 5.55's ... as their numbers permit. 

- Sorted a few FX .22cal. RD's and their almost all 5.54mm .... sure hope the barrel approves of 5.54mm ...........
 
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Those sorted 25.4 pellets look about like the 33.5 .25 pellets I sorted. There weren't enough off sized for me to continue to sort them any longer. So, I just weighed and rolled them and was done with it.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o0vq__b60g&ab_channel=TomcatAirguns

Click to expand...

How important is the roll test if the pellet skirt is going to expand to the bore size and all the heads are the same? I saw the pellet, roll test video, but discounted its importance as the RD pellets have thin skirts and will definitely expand under pressure.

Do you find this test critical in actual shooting?
 
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I don't roll because the air gun power flares the skirt to fit the rifling. The range of weights isn't greatly important until you go to a match. Just try to get as much variance out of the pellets as you feel comfortable with. When sorting one tin you won't have a lot of identical pellets in each compartment. I sort maybe 10-20 tins for weight (I sort to about .06 range) then I head size each compartment. I end up with tins with few pellets. I set them aside till I do next batch and shoot from tins with most pellets. I tend to get like 5-6 tins of well sorted pellets to shoot from until next sorting. I go thru lots of tins as I do this.
 
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Hey Guys,

Just sorted the 5.54mm head sized (FX - 18.1 grain pellets) and was surprised how consistent their weights were. When measuring, both my tins of FX 18.1 & 25.4 grain pellets 5.54mm was the most common head size. However, the pellets differed greatly in weight distribution within their respective 5.54mm sized head.

I found this very interesting based on my last (only) range shooting session this year. I went with the idea of shooting the 25.4 RD pellets, because everyone had mentioned they shot well in the RAW and had a higher BC vs. the 18.1 grain. However, first, I wanted to shoot some 18.1 grain pellets for kicks as they'd shot well the prior year (the gun was tuned for the 18.1 grain last year). But, I had increased the regulators set-point to 128 bar and knew they were flying to fast at 1,050 fps, but thought I'd do it anyway.

To my surprise, I got 7-8 of the first (2) 12 shot clips under 1 MOA @ 100 yards with the overall groups 1.25" .... and was very pleased! We know from my measuring, the head size on these pellets had a wide dispersion, while their weights were more tightly distributed. The result seemed to = Good Groups.



Unfortunately, when I turned to the 25.4 RD, I stopped shooting them after 3 clips because of poor results. I knew something was wrong and thought a tuning tweak was needed. The 25.4 RD's only shot at about 900-910 fps and any increase meant changing my SSG. Keep in mind these pellets had an extremely consistent head size of 5.54mm, but their weight were dispersed all over the place. In hindsight, poor results could have been caused by the weight distribution pictured above?



This exercise suggests (for my LW Poly Barrel), pellet, Weight consistency is a more important determinate of accuracy than Head Size consistency (100 yards). Yes, I know many other factors pop up like wind changes, but this has got me thinking ..............

Sorted FX - 18.1 Grain Pellets 5.52.1652143886.JPG


FX - 18.1 grain sorted by weight 5.52.1652120028.JPG


FX - 25.4 RD 5.52 sorted.1652122229.JPG


FX - 25.4 RD 5.52 sorted by Weight.1652143933.JPG

 
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Kirk, the 18gr pellets are way more flexible with speed & accuracy than the 25gr out of our non choked poly barrels...the 25gr Redesigned do best @ 940-990fps from my observations. Plus with the Redsigned, they need to be sorted for head size and weight more than 18gr (or one will get fliers). For some reason the 18gr has a much more flexible shape/geometry than most other pellets being accurate with slow to abnormally high speeds (over 1000fps).
 
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Thanks Randy,

I got both my guns (.22 & .25) to shoot 18.1 & 25.40 or (.25 cal.) 25.4 & 34.95 between 900/975 by changing out SSG's. Each gun has two SSG's and I can't really change them out at the range. The thing I really like about these guns is they shoot and respond to tuning great, but give me (consistent) minor headaches trying to achieve my 1 MOA goal at 100 yards.
 
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Thanks Randy,

I got both my guns (.22 & .25) to shoot 18.1 & 25.40 or (.25 cal.) 25.4 & 34.95 between 900/975 by changing out SSG's. Each gun has two SSG's and I can't really change them out at the range. The thing I really like about these guns is they shoot and respond to tuning great, but give me (consistent) minor headaches trying to achieve my 1 MOA goal at 100 yards.
Click to expand...

Kirk, you have the best of both RAW worlds, a .22 & .25 tuned to perfection with your awesome SSG's! You'll get your 1 MOA...it'll be on a windless or indoor shooting day! These PCP's always do their part, me or mother nature don't cooperate as consistently! LOL! But when all 3 are aligned with these RAW's....NIRVANA! Have had a ground squirrel pesting day like that, no wind and with 18gr pellets and 17.5gr slugs, the ground squirrels had no chance out to 120yds, seemed like 50yd target plinkig....special day. Was @ 4500 foot elevation too so the projectiles had a flatter than usual trajectory.
 
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Hey Guys,

Went out with my .22 cal. RAW 1000xLRT and shot (9) groups of 10 shots each of my JSB 18.13 grain pellets sorted by weight at 100 yards (all weighed 18.20-18.29 grains & had a 5.54mm head size).

They grouped more consistently and gave me a good measure of how a (3-5 mile) wind effects accuracy at 100 yards.

During the first 45 min all errant shots missed horizontally, then when the wind moved towards me, shots were consistently low.

Most shots were within 3/4" - say 6-7 of 10, then the wind would send shot #8 1" to the right, I would adjust and shot #9 would be close to the 3/4" mark and shot #10 would be to the left of the group by 3/4" because the wind died down a bit. 

I asked the range master if I could start shooting (my pellet gun) earlier than 9AM (range start time) to take advantage of lower wind. The range was built in 1945 when no neighborhoods existed, but now is surrounded by subdivisions - the noise has caused folks to request the 9AM start (powder burners).

The sorting seemed to remove one layer in inaccuracy, but then clearly defined wind issues and my shortcomings.....


 
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