Pellet weight variance

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IguanaPolice

IguanaPolice

Member
Aug 26, 2019
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Wellington, FL, United States
iguanapolice.com
What is the acceptable tolerance in pellet weight? I have been having some pretty bad accuracy issues so I thought that I could start by weighing pellets. Wow, I couldn't believe the variance. Hades .25 cal 26,54 gr. Lightest pellet weighed in at 26,08 and the heaviest at 27,12. 

I have cleaned the barrels even though I had cleaned them less than 25 shots ago each (2 rifles). However, I have not had the time to send any pellets of any specified weight through the rifles. 

Weather has been quite hot and humid but the difference hasn't been much greater than 2-3 weeks ago when both rifles were shooting pellet on pellet. Turret difference has been off by 7-10 clicks (.25 MOA/click). 

At what point does POI change due to pellet weight?

Frustrated! 


 
First off the Hades aren't the best when it comes to accuracy. I would try the 25.39 JSB Kings and AA variant first. Shoot them straight out of their tins SINGLE SHOT First inspecting for damaged skirts and deformities (and not shooting those maybe for CHRONY testing only or close range shooting like 25 yards and under) to test for accuracy potential before loading the magazines. If you are shooting an FX then my recommendation should make some sense since you never mentioned what gun you are shooting. Keeping the barrel too clean isn't necessarily good either. Clean only when you see accuracy dissappear then you need to (Lead the barrel) run maybe 50-60 rounds or more to season it before getting good accuracy again (use the damaged deformed ones you found) unless you're gun is considered one of the flukes that shoots accurately at any time even with a freshly cleaned barrel.
 
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There is variance in the tins as well. I have weight sorted up to ten tins of the same JSB pellet(s), keeping records of each tin. Some tins can be really off while others are only off by 1.5 grain. The head sizes vary as well. Lately I have been sizing pellets while testing speeds and watching groups to really dial them in at 50 yards.
 
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I have weighed and head sorted. My scale goes to the 1st place (xx.x) not (xx.xx). I can put some in each bin of an egg carton. Most to the middle, with lesser amounts trailing off either way (like a bell curve). POI shift or not, sorting should at least improve your groups. Head sizes seem to be 2 sizes, right next to each other with the Pelletgage. Maybe a 50/50 split.

Sorting is a pain but if you do,... at least then you can't blame a bad shot on an "off" pellet.
 
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Thanks guys. I don't know what happened to my last post. It seemed to disappear.

I keep hoping that the hades will give me more expansion, but I think it's time to go back to JSB kings as suggested.

As for POI change, it happens out of the blue every so often, and although I can't blame it on the pellets I thought I would at least rule it out. I've been told that it's my scope but I've been through multiple scopes and POI change continues to be problematic. 
 
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Plus or minus .1 gr gives me 10 different weights to use based on 26,54. But then again as long as I use a specified weight when I zero, I could have another large group at my disposal. But if I shouldn't mix different lot tins, then I'm only getting use of about 50% use out of my tins. Why should mixing lot batches not be combined?

BTW, I am strictly using my guns to hunt/pest. I have roughly a nickel sized kill zone. That's why I've been using the hades (again, hoping for expansion). Unfortunately, they haven't performed much differently than JSB Kings. Maybe it's from lack of velocity. They performed (expanded) great in my .22 Impact but no expansion with my Wildcats. And since I can't rely on my Impact (can't figure out why it misbehaves so often) I can't use it for work. I'll have to wait until winter, when work slows down, to troubleshoot and hopefully figure it out.

Although I'm having similar issues with the Wildcats, if I check/reset zero in the morning, they usually hold all day. It's really frustrating. It can't just be me that has this much bad luck is it? 
 
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In my testing, you can easily get away with 0.30gr weight sorting without seeing any vertical POI change, at least out to 50 yards. I sort down to 0.20 grain to allow for error.

Don't for get head diameters. I started sizing my larger pellets. The speed differences is very notable between small head size changes.

I wouldn't think the swaged slugs would vary much in either to be too concerned with those.
 
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