Sorting Pellets by Weight -

[SpiralGroove]

Been sorting pellets this week:
After shooting last Summer with the RAW at 50 & 100 yards, head size didn't seem to matter (within reason) as much as pellet weight.
When I sort my JSB 18.1, 25.39's or 33.95's, most pellets in tim are just two head sizes (.01 apart). Now just sorting by weight.

Shot some (.25 cal) 33.95 and noticed a 1.3 grain difference lead to a 25 fps difference over the crony. Trying to determine realistic weight ranges for different pellets to keep ES around 10 fps. Right now sorting by .10 differences, but hope to go to .20 or higher for simplicity - if can reasonably expect a 10 fps ES.

I know, the lighter the pellet, the tighter the range will need to be because of the different masses.

All this assumes my regulator is constant - which is not realistic, but ......

 

[jmohme]

I tried sorting by weight once and maybe I was lucky and had a good batch but I found no real difference in weight so I have not done it since.
Maybe if I ever get consistent enough to enter EBR I will size and weigh for that, but for every day shooting I don't see the point.

 

[jps2486]

If you shoot in competition and want your rifle to shoot consistently, weighing pellets is highly recommended. It may make a small difference, but if you shoot a "9" instead of a "10", you may lose the match.

 

[AirSmithCA]

Lot of factors involved there. Regulator, consistency of hammer strike opening the valve, air transfer port size/design, smoothness of bore, the choke, and there are intricacies involved in each of those areas as well. After addressing each of those areas, I get 10-12fps ES over 90 shots with my Daystate Tsar straight from the tin.

Edit: That said..when I do sort pellets by weight, I would separate by 1/10 of grain with .177 caliber and weed out the extreme variants. Shoot the median weights at competition.

 

[Kgphotos]

So many of us here have varying opinions regarding pellet sorting. Some don‘t find any value in it, some swear by weight sorting and others head size. Some do both.

My recent experience with a .177 Crown MK2 has convinced me the using a Pelletgage to sort by head size is beneficial if you want to try shooting for tight groups. I have repeatedly found smaller groups when shooting sorted pellets vs straight from the tin pellets. Now I will confess that I’ve only compared the results three or four times. I’d like to sort enough pellets to shoot ten groups of sorted vs ten groups of non sorted and have more definitive results.

Now I plan on also trying out weight sorting. People who’s opinions I respect believe in weight sorting so I’d like to give that a try also.

To me it’s just another facet of this airgun hobby. Kind of like precision reloading techniques were when I used to shoot my firearms. I spent lots of time measuring bullet and case run-out, powder trickling and squaring primer pockets. Now I will spend that time weighing and measuring pellets. It’s all part of the game.
Kenny

 

[SpiralGroove]

For every day plinking, you don't need to sort -> very much a waste of time, but if you want to shoot MOA groups at 100 yards - need to remove as many variables as I can. Have already tuned the valve, hammer and regulator - so now working on pellets.

Out of my tin of 300 JSB 33.95 MKII pellets, at least 15 pellets had a 1 grain weight variance - guaranteed No 1 MOA group with those mixed in .

 

[AirSmithCA]

For every day plinking, you don't need to sort -> very much a waste of time, but if you want to shoot MOA groups at 100 yards - need to remove as many variables as I can. Have already tuned the valve, hammer and regulator - so now working on pellets. Out of my tin of 300 JSB 33.95 MKII pellets, at least 15 pellets had a 1 grain weight variance - guaranteed No 1 MOA group with those mixed in  .

Was thinking about this some more today. Here's an interesting comparative equation on our individual pellet weight variations:

Your .25cal.... 1.3gr variation ÷ 33.95gr = 3.83%
My .177 cal.... .4gr variation ÷ 8.44gr = 4.74%

I figure there must be some relevance there somehow but havent contemplated further. Just thought it was interesting that the variance was similar by percentage relation

 

[dizzums]

id say to be extremely effective youd have to sort by weight front to rear .. balance of the mass distribution as it were lol ...

 

[SpiralGroove]

Was thinking about this some more today. Here's an interesting comparative equation on our individual pellet weight variations:

Your .25cal.... 1.3gr variation ÷ 33.95gr = 3.83%
My .177 cal.... .4gr variation ÷ 8.44gr = 4.74%

I figure there must be some relevance there somehow but haven't contemplated further. Just thought it was interesting that the variance was similar by percentage relation

I don't want to waste a lot of lead, but likely about 1.25% of pellet mass sounds reasonable. Hence, with 8.44gr, need to sort by .10 grain.
I shoot 18.1, 25.4 and 33.95 so likely go in .20 gr weight bands.

In my very limited experiment a 30gr difference in 33.95 pellets gave me a ES of around 6.

 

[Airgun-hobbyist]

I don't want to waste a lot of lead, but likely about 1.25% of pellet mass sounds reasonable. Hence, with 8.44gr, need to sort by .10 grain.
I shoot 18.1, 25.4 and 33.95 so likely go in .20 gr weight bands.

In my very limited experiment a 30gr difference in 33.95 pellets gave me a ES of around 6.

Sorting by a .10 grain difference doesn't waist any lead, so long as you shoot it. I found that the sorted weights are all going to shoot consistent within the same pile/tin, because they all weigh the same. So regardless if it comes from the light side or the heavy side of the sorted piles, shooting from a tin marked .7 then moving on to shooting the .8 tin usually has no need to change a scope setting.

 

[SpiralGroove]

Sorting by a .10 grain difference doesn't waist any lead, so long as you shoot it. I found that the sorted weights are all going to shoot consistent within the same pile/tin, because they all weigh the same. So regardless if it comes from the light side or the heavy side of the sorted piles, shooting from a tin marked .7 then moving on to shooting the .8 tin usually has no need to change a scope setting.

When I group the pellets back in the tin's after lubing, I think each tin will be separated by this:
- JSB 18.10gr -> .20gr bands = .011 or just over 1%
- JSB 25.40gr -> .20gr bands = .008 or less than 1%
- JSB 33.95gr -> .30gr bands = .009 or less than 1%