Pellet inspection and the magical 10

Crusher · Dec 12, 2018

I recently bought pellets from the classifieds and when I got them, they were pretty beat up. Not so great a packing job if you know what I mean. So I just marked the boxes for "strings" where accuracy didn't matter. No big deal. The price was right.

My question to you is, would you shoot this pellet or throw it away? Sorry the pic isn't more focused but it was the best I could get with an iPhone.

1544655525_14962709705c1192a555de67.02106963_2018-12-12 16.48.17.jpg

I have been tossing these in the bucket for a couple of months now.

Ok, get ready to flame.

I pulled out 10 of these from the tin I was using today and just set them aside. I have heard from some guys that have been shooting for years, that when you shoot a pellet, if it is slightly out of round, the blast of air behind it is more than enough to straighten out the skirt. Ok, so back to the bent 10. Just for giggles I loaded one into the gun and shot it at my solid oak blank down range. (30 yards) I said "that looked like it went right where I aimed" . WTH???

So, I loaded the next 9 and did this:

1544655752_10146572585c119388b72104.26091663_2018-12-12 16.48.41.jpg

I'm certain that you are as surprised as I was. If you think I'm full of crap, so be it. But I think maybe it might have had the slightest effect on the flight, but look at that group. Pretty dang good for bent pellets. Bent in from either one side or both sides.

One thing to keep in mind about the pellets. They were all smashed from the side, not the back. So the length was right, but they were sort of 8 shaped. Probably from banging around in the can during shipping.

I'm just posting this to see what everyone has to say about that. Notice I didn't get any real fliers out of the deal??. I think possibly the head size is more important than the perfect skirt. Just my opinion.

Crusher

DonC · Dec 12, 2018

Crusher,

I have the same experience as you.

JimNM · Dec 12, 2018

Oh no you didint! You risk taking away my go-to excuse for every errant shot. "Musta been a bad pellet".... And yet you shoot a hole on hole group with those very same defectives. Man, my excuses will need updating

jking · Dec 12, 2018

Crusher, I'm not sure what pellets those are. 22cal redesign's? They appear to have a deep skirt. Maybe that made them more "flexible" and they were able fixed themselves easier. Great news for you non the less.

Jking

kayaker · Dec 12, 2018

Crusher thanks for posting, I'll have to give some of mine for a spin. Jking did you have to throw that into the equation (LOL) just when I had my hopes up .You may have a good point their Jking. Darell

tscktran · Dec 12, 2018

I'm with JimNM, THANKS-A-LOT : )

intenseaty22 · Dec 12, 2018

This actually came up as a discussion a while back. I then proceeded to purposely pinch, maybe I bit them, can’t recall a few pellets. Way more than that for sure. Shot them out of the Cricket, and got about 1/2 inch group. I posted it in that thread, but that was a while ago. So, I pretty much just shoot whatever is in the tin.

*edit: Pellets in question where JSB 16 or 18 grain. Normal Diabolo.

Crusher · Dec 13, 2018

The pellets I was shooting were JSB .177 10 gr. It kind of blew me away when they did just fine.

Crusher

bandg · Dec 13, 2018

Certainly not "logical" to me but very interesting result. My assumption would be that the air blast then MUST be rounding the skirt or they wouldn't fly true. Now everyone will be pinching pellets.

SPAW · Dec 13, 2018

I would use the bent pellets to season the barrel after a cleaning.

Ken

crittahitta · Dec 13, 2018

Be interested to see those over a chrony compared to a good pellet and see if the bent ones are slower due to air getting by the skirt.

1BadDart · Dec 13, 2018

I too bought some pellets from a individual a few month ago, when they arrived all four tins were damaged. One tin required channel locks to remove the lid. You can imagine what the pellets look like. I make my own crappie jigs so I've been saving the bent ones for jigs, it looks like I need to be shooting them instead.

sonny · Dec 13, 2018

would be interesting to see how they fly at 50+ yards

nomojo65 · Dec 13, 2018

This doesn’t suprise me from the jsb 10.3’s, I’ve had similar results, but the 13.4’s or beast’s May not fair as well? Even through the 12 groove they shot extremely well with bent skirts!, but have not tried heavily damaged ones?

Crusher · Dec 13, 2018

would be interesting to see how they fly at 50+ yards

Me too. I may bring some of the bend ones from the "chrono string" box out the range and see how they do. I'll take the labradar and see what IT says about the way they fly as well. I guess it is just my nature to think that if something looks to be damaged, it has to be. Like, why don't people buy bent cans of beans at the grocery store?

But I save them for chrono strings and for seasoning the barrel like Ken suggested. But i think it would be interesting to see how they fly at greater distance. My 30 yard in back of my store is about all I can get without being seen by my neighbors in the area.My target full of orange dots is pretty visible beyond the treeline. I was able to get 50-65 yards for a good while, but the city came and trimmed back the trees. Dang.....

Crusher

Michael · Dec 13, 2018

I've found that head size, head deformities & imperfections, affect flight a lot more than bent skirts. I certainly would use bent skirts in competition though.

T3PRanch · Dec 13, 2018

The HPA "blows" the skirt back to bore shape when the trigger is pulled!

intenseaty22 · Dec 13, 2018

I certainly would use bent skirts in competition though.

You certainly would? Or is that a type Ohhh?

bandg · Dec 13, 2018

The HPA "blows" the skirt back to bore shape when the trigger is pulled!

Certainly would seem to be so if results are as reported. Still seems you might be using some of a finite air charge (some blowby until sealed, some energy used to flare the skirt) that you wouldn't expend with a perfectly round skirt. Might be inconsequential but might not.

bubblerboy64 · Dec 14, 2018

My thought is the pellet is as good as new by the time it exits the barrel. We experimented with 22 cal bullets in a 223 once. You could mangle up the nose of the bullet as long as you stayed away from the back edge not much problem. If you nicked the rear most edge it would affect the group. This was done to see how pulled bullets might shoot. So my guess is that skirt gets straightened.

Test my theory put a little nick in that skirt. I'll bet you THEN you'll see some negative affect.

Pellet inspection and the magical 10

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