Pellet Sorting Strategies

Jump to latest Follow Reply
mtnGhost

mtnGhost

Member
Dec 15, 2018
3,543
416
Defected from the PNW, United States
For those of you that sort your pellets by weight, what does your typical process look like? Do you only keep the majority of the pellets weighing X, Y, and Z and chuck the rest (presuming the pellets with X, Y, and Z weights make up the bulk of a given tin).

If that's the case, what is the acceptable level of weight variability? I get that there's no magic number across all calibers, wondering if there's possibly some percentage in weight differences that folks are using to sort.
 
HI I wash all my ammo and dry it and sort out bent skirts first , then I sort by weight by .1 gr and slugs same so say I am sorting .18g JSB

I get 17.8 17.9 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 and then i have 2 other tins lighter or heavier .

at end I get chrono only , bent skirts , i got plinking ,, heavy or light ones . then I got hunting ones . and i get tins of exact like 18.13 these i call match grade



I do same with my slugs like my 52 gr 30 cal , I get 51.7 51.8 51.9 52 52.1 52.2 52.3 and anything not in this range I just remelt



ok after this I pack back in same tins for pellets , for slugs I use old pellet tins or , breath mint plastic boxes or simply containers for like ketchup at take out restaurants and I do my final step I lube all of them with FP10 OIL , THIS I found is best for barrel and give me more fps from less friction , I have friends who think I am like OCD Crazy but I want everything identical so I hit what I shoot where I want to hit it



 OK so answer I have little or no waste this way and any box i grab is better then when I first make them or when they are delivered here , however it takes alot of time I usually do this in winters or at nite

LOU
 
  • Like
Reactions: mtnGhost
Upvote 0
mtnGhost,

I generally soot Field Target competition at 12ft lbs, which is WFTF division. I accept all pellets from and including 8.40 -8.48. I'll keep all those pellets for further scrutiny, like head size, skirt size and physical blemishes. I describe all this in detail and more, on my U Tube Channel, Field Target Tech.

Tom Holland 

Field Target Tech 
 
Upvote 0
Ugh! I had a reply typed out and never submitted it 😢 

Anyways, just wanted to thank you guys for the responses. @Xbowsniper, that sounds very reasonable for competitive shooting purposes. I bought a recommended scale off of Amazon last week, but I'm not at all impressed with the variances that I see when I weight the same pellets. I suppose that sill need to do better research and invest in a reliable scale!

@jwrabbit123 your strategy is along the lines of what I was considering. I haven't put these heavy .25's on the scale yet, but I plan on testing POI differences with various weights to see how they differ from each other (at 100y with this new RAW). I hope the wind cooperates, but does it ever when you need it to?! >.<
 
Upvote 0
OK, so I'm a little late to this conversation, but better late than never. I've been communicating with Tom Holland (Xbowsniper) this week about weighing pellets and setting up a regulator. The epiphany I finally had was that, all other things remaining the same (air pressure, hammer spring and such), a 1% change in pellet weight will see an inverse 1% change in FPS at the muzzle. In other words, if I shoot a 14.3 grain Crosman Premier Dome and it really weighs 14.3 grains (very few actually meet the exact spec) at 800 fps, but the next pellet weighs 14.45 grains, I would expect FPS at the muzzle to drop to about 792 fps. Conversely, if I drop the weight by 1%, I'd expect to see the speed increase to 808 fps.

That doesn't sound like much, until you realize that the last tin of pellets I weighed ranged from 14.16 grains to 14.70 grains, almost a 4% variation. Speeds could vary 32 fps across all pellets in the tin according to the math. Other variations in the gun may mask the pellet weight variations, but it is real. I've had the same experience weighing JSB pellets as well. 3% or a touch more variation across a tin of pellets. 32 fps can effect point of impact,

In larger pellets such as the JSB 34 grain .25 caliber pellets, 1% is a pretty big range of 3.4 grains. In Tom's case shooting 8.4 grain pellets, the 1% range is closer to 0.84 grains. Smaller = tighter tolerances.

It's been an interesting and educational adventure. For serious target shooters, weighing is a must. For most of us plinkers, not so much.
 
Upvote 0
OK, so I'm a little late to this conversation, but better late than never. I've been communicating with Tom Holland (Xbowsniper) this week about weighing pellets and setting up a regulator. The epiphany I finally had was that, all other things remaining the same (air pressure, hammer spring and such), a 1% change in pellet weight will see an inverse 1% change in FPS at the muzzle. In other words, if I shoot a 14.3 grain Crosman Premier Dome and it really weighs 14.3 grains (very few actually meet the exact spec) at 800 fps, but the next pellet weighs 14.45 grains, I would expect FPS at the muzzle to drop to about 792 fps. Conversely, if I drop the weight by 1%, I'd expect to see the speed increase to 808 fps.

That doesn't sound like much, until you realize that the last tin of pellets I weighed ranged from 14.16 grains to 14.70 grains, almost a 4% variation. Speeds could vary 32 fps across all pellets in the tin according to the math. Other variations in the gun may mask the pellet weight variations, but it is real. I've had the same experience weighing JSB pellets as well. 3% or a touch more variation across a tin of pellets. 32 fps can effect point of impact,

In larger pellets such as the JSB 34 grain .25 caliber pellets, 1% is a pretty big range of 3.4 grains. In Tom's case shooting 8.4 grain pellets, the 1% range is closer to 0.84 grains. Smaller = tighter tolerances.

It's been an interesting and educational adventure. For serious target shooters, weighing is a must. For most of us plinkers, not so much.
Click to expand...

Agree with all of this except maybe the last sentence. If you have a need or desire to have first shot accuracy (certainly more hunting/pesting than plinking) then it may be very relevant to casual non target shooters. Maybe it is just part of the hobby.

I also wonder whether the range of velocity change may be higher than weight alone might suggest. WHAT causes the weight change. If larger or smaller diameter (head or skirt) then velocity might vary more than weight alone would suggest due to possibly additional drag if larger or less sealing/loss of air if smaller.
 
Upvote 0
Bandg, Saltlake,

Saltlake, 

Just a FYI, .84 of a grain is 10% of my pellet weight, not 1%. Makes a BIG difference!!!

Bandg,

In one of my videos on my U Tube Channel, I discuss just that. I've found variations of weight in 1 tin of 8.44 JSB'S to be anywhere from 8.08 (or so) up to 8.74. Couple that with larger head size, and larger skirt size, you have more drag than the standard pellet weight/head size, thus much lower velocities still. I've found speed variations of 50 FPS + due to this. 

Tom Holland 

Field Target Tech 
 
Upvote 0
Bandg, Saltlake,

Saltlake, 

Just a FYI, .84 of a grain is 10% of my pellet weight, not 1%. Makes a BIG difference!!!

Bandg,

In one of my videos on my U Tube Channel, I discuss just that. I've found variations of weight in 1 tin of 8.44 JSB'S to be anywhere from 8.08 (or so) up to 8.74. Couple that with larger head size, and larger skirt size, you have more drag than the standard pellet weight/head size, thus much lower velocities still. I've found speed variations of 50 FPS + due to this. 

Tom Holland 

Field Target Tech
Click to expand...

Good to know. Many belittle the concept of sorting (and/or sizing) but if consistency is desired it seems something is needed.
 
Upvote 0
OK, so I'm a little late to this conversation, but better late than never. I've been communicating with Tom Holland (Xbowsniper) this week about weighing pellets and setting up a regulator. The epiphany I finally had was that, all other things remaining the same (air pressure, hammer spring and such), a 1% change in pellet weight will see an inverse 1% change in FPS at the muzzle. In other words, if I shoot a 14.3 grain Crosman Premier Dome and it really weighs 14.3 grains (very few actually meet the exact spec) at 800 fps, but the next pellet weighs 14.45 grains, I would expect FPS at the muzzle to drop to about 792 fps. Conversely, if I drop the weight by 1%, I'd expect to see the speed increase to 808 fps.

That doesn't sound like much, until you realize that the last tin of pellets I weighed ranged from 14.16 grains to 14.70 grains, almost a 4% variation. Speeds could vary 32 fps across all pellets in the tin according to the math. Other variations in the gun may mask the pellet weight variations, but it is real. I've had the same experience weighing JSB pellets as well. 3% or a touch more variation across a tin of pellets. 32 fps can effect point of impact,

In larger pellets such as the JSB 34 grain .25 caliber pellets, 1% is a pretty big range of 3.4 grains. In Tom's case shooting 8.4 grain pellets, the 1% range is closer to 0.84 grains. Smaller = tighter tolerances.

It's been an interesting and educational adventure. For serious target shooters, weighing is a must. For most of us plinkers, not so much.
Click to expand...

That math is off by a decimal place. Nonetheless, removing variability is a good thing. Nearly every tin of JSBs that I have had to date are just completely random in both weight and shape. I'm finding that D-RIG's ammo is way more consistent than any pellets that I've seen to date. Sure - they're a little more dinero to shoot them, but mitigating the aggravation from pellets is priceless!

Case in point, I just weighed a 250 count bag of 32.80gr, and none were beyond +/- 0.50gr. I haven't had good weather yet to spend enough time with them to figure out how much POI is affected by that variation, but I plan to test the dozen or so lighter/heavier ones that I've weighed out to see. Probably won't be much of a difference, but I'll find out soon enough.


 
Upvote 0
MtnGhost,

You will find that the accuracy of your pellets, at only .5 grain out will be fine. As I noted in past posts it definitely depends on the total weight of the pellet. I've had almost a 7/10 ths of a grain difference in a tin of 8.44 grain pellets, as many people in the world claim the best and most accurate in the world. 1/2 a grain out with a 32 grain projectile, you won't even know the difference.

Tom Holland 
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Resources
Menu