The thing I hate the most..

I have found that pellet sorting requires it's own special lube.

I second that notion. I hope someone is listening. I remember pellets packaged in foam, each set into their own hole. I thing they were offered by Beeman in 177 20 and 22. I wonder if that is a thing anymore. (off topic - I just got that tipton gun vise and I'm loving it for scope mounting)

Sounds like it is very time consuming. Do you sort ALL your pellets? Or just the ones you use for competitions? I like accuracy but I don't think I could sit down for hours at a time to sort and weigh. Have you compared your results sorted vs. unsorted? Thanks

I agree.

Yes, pellet sorting is a wonderful way to get better accuracy and to stay out of trouble? I mix some of my weights, the less productive ones, after a visual inspection then the roll test and I am finished? So then every weight has three divisions for the roll test Small, medium and large skirt sizes. Really shrinks up the groups at 100 yards. I almost ran out of pellet tins for storage but then I started shooting slugs which have less weight deviation and need no role tests ++ ;^). No I don't shoot competition I just like to hit what I am shooting at at long distances so every little bit helps. Oh, and I use a magnifying visor instead of the glass. Keep on sorting and sorting and... Then I found that three-quarters of my rejects, as ugly as they are, shoot just fine if they are weighed and role sorted.

The thing I hate the most..  That says it all! Looks like a mess to me. My screwed up personality would never allow me to sit and sort those things into a bunch of piles like that. Then what? Shoot a tin, then readjust for elevation as you open the next ones? I've seen quit a few posts about sorting. Always amazed me how big a variation in weight there is in those things. 

"If I'm honest, I'd spend a lot more money for a tin of pellets if I were guaranteed a .1gr accuracy." 

I don't shoot any pellet required competitions. So I just found making my own slugs to be the only choice for me. That's how I got my guaranteed .05gr. accuracy. 

I’m new to the air rifle thing. But understand the possible benefits from sorting pellets. Crosman Primers .22 cal were very dirty so I also washed them. And their weight was a pretty big spread. I’ve have now changed to H&N FTT 14.66 grn. They are clean enough for me. But I still sort by weight. The last 500 I did I got 14.6, 14.7, 14.8 and 14.9. I’m shooting just for fun. This is a simple enough process for a beginner like myself. 

My attention span won't allow for much sorting. I had teachers in school writing to my parents and causing me lots of problems as a youth in school. So if it is deformed I toss it into the melt can. It hits the ground? It goes away. Most all others are shot. I have a ultrasonic machine if I want to get picky, clean and sort etc.I'm learning here though. I might experiment with a sub-Olympic pellet pistol to see if it matters there. Be Well. Bandito

same here I do sort everything pellets and slugs , I just make sure each package has weights to .1 ro .2 with pellets or slugs and no BENT skirts and I wash and lube and stock up on all ammo that shots well in my guns ,

I do not compete any more but I am a freak for accuracy plus I hunt

Sorting is a pain in the ass , but it halves my shot spread at 40 yds. Head diameter greatly impacts accuracy over grain weight. My cat loves 6.37 jsb but hates 6.39 jsb whereas my taipan loves 6.38 jsb but hates the 6.37 jsb all we’re same weight range.

Sorting is a pain in the ass , but it halves my shot spread at 40 yds. Head diameter greatly impacts accuracy over grain weight. My cat loves 6.37 jsb but hates 6.39 jsb whereas my taipan loves 6.38 jsb but hates the 6.37 jsb all we’re same weight range.

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A good illustration of the benefit of sorting for one shooter. I would say that the weight range is probably more of a concern for some pellets than others as it might well vary more for some brands/sizes than others. But still a very good result to halve the normal group size. Have you taken a group of your best shooting sorted pellets and then group those into heaviest and lightest to see if there is a difference. Probably wouldn't make any difference if, as you note, the range is small for the pellets you are shooting.

I'm with you Val. I had never sorted pellets until earlier this year, and for a guy with A.D.D. Like myself, it sucks. It really sucks. It just doesn't suck as bad as missing lol

I tried sorting and weighing for a while, but did not have the patience or see the benefits, at least not enough for me. I hunt with my rifles, have LDC on all guns , if I miss I usually have a follow up shot because the game I'm shooting at did not hear the muzzle report. so not that big a deal for me. If I were a competition shooter I could see the benefit though.



Beach-gunner

Dennis

I can’t do it! I don’t have the patience for it. More power to all of you OCD pellet sorters out there! Ha ha!

I clean the gunk off my pellets with Acetone, then rinse them with Denatured Alcohol, then after letting them dry thoroughly I weigh them to 1/10th of a grain, spray Napier Pellet Lube on them, and put them in separate tins that are labeled with the weight of the pellets within. Originally my reason for doing this was to see if this would eliminate the annoying flyers that I used to get in every group. Since I started doing this though I have not seen a flyer in years, and my groups shrunk at least by half or more!

The numbers I get when shooting over my chronograph are extremely consistent with these pellets, and I see lots and lots of duplicates. As an example, my Wildcat .25 has an extreme spread of 2-3 ft/s, with a standard deviation of .86 ft/s...and she is pushing the 34 grainers at an avg. V of 895 ft/s for 61 fpe. The fun part is that she is surgically accurate! For instance, I put a black dot on the target at 50 yards and put the first shot in the center, then pick off the tiny little crumbs of remaining black like a surgeon with a laser! 

I tried lots of scales but found that many of them gave faulty readings if they got too warm... the most consistent, reliable, and problem free scale for me is the Lyman Digital Scale.

All the best, Chuck