A Bit Of Advice Needed ?

[S2K 10]

Hi Guys,

Well here it goes. I took the rifle out for a stroll yesterday. As I had just got some new pellets and fancied doing a bit of comparing. It wasn't the best of days yesterday quite clammy and their was a bit of a wind. Anyway I set up a target at 30 yards, Just an old bit of cardboard and drew round a 10 pence piece. So I took five shots with each brand. The .22 Air Arms Field Diabolo were up first. First shot hit just above the target, second shot was bang on the money. Then it all just went down hill. I noticed that I had damaged some of the skirts on the air arms and will certainly never put my pellets in a pouch again. Next I used the new brand which I had seen a lot of guys rave about .22 Bisley Magnum. I noticed these were quite a hefty pellet. So I gave them a bash and they went all over the place. Very hard hitting but no accuracy, Well for me anyway . I tried both brands again at 25 yards and I pretty much got the same result. Which pretty much soured my day out

 

So guys this got me thinking? Was this due to my bad shooting? Damaged pellets? Pellet weight? An off day? A dirty barrel? :hmm:I mean last week I was in fine form. Happy with my grouping, Taking a nice woody for tea and a few nest robbers. I'm really getting confused?

 

Both brands have been washed in warm soapy water to get rid of lead the lead particles. No lube has been used as I don't know much about it. I read it was bad for spring rifles as it would cause dieseling and lead to a damaged barrel ??? Would lube even help? What do you guys use?

 

Any suggestions on a pellet brand or weight of pellet I should be using? Rifle being used Webley Xocet XS .22.

 

Many thanks in advance guys

 

Cheers Brian

[villaman 9,979]

Shooters error may be or your gun might not like those pellets or weather

Edited June 30, 2013 by villaman

[S2K 10]

Shooters error may be or your gun might not like those pellets or weather

 

Most probably shooters error Thanks for the reply

[secretagentmole 1,701]

Er as regards Air Arms pellets, you get loads of deformed ones in a tin so do not worry it too much.

 

Now the all over the place shots swapping between brands, some barrels like about 20-30 pellets through after an ammo change to relead the barrel! So some of the error could be because you have not shot enough pellets through too!

Edited June 30, 2013 by secretagentmole

[S2K 10]

Er as regards Air Arms pellets, you get loads of deformed ones in a in so do not worry it too much.

 

Now the all over the place shots swapping between brands, some barrels like about 20-30 pellets through after an ammo change to relead the barrel! So some of the error could be because you have not shot enough pellets through too!

 

Thanks mole that's great. I've learned some thing new

[secretagentmole 1,701]

Some people say you should clean a barrel and put at least 30 shots through before trying to zero! I know after I had the 10 Bowketted it took a couple of magazines for the barrel to come back to aim again, so that was 20 shots!

[mikemorton 2]

It's probably not you, more likely the pellets.

 

Every barrel is different and it's only by trying several different types in your barrel that you'll know what's best for your particular rifle.

 

If you shoot, say two five-shot groups with one type of pellet, then repeat with different pellet types, that will give you some idea of what each pellet will do.

 

But to be fair to the pellets, as said above, you should really clean the barrel, take 10-15 shots with Pellet X to re-lead the barrel , then shoot a couple of five-shot groups with Pellet X.

 

Then repeat the whole process for Pellet Y and then again for Pellet Z.

 

Yes, this is time-consuming, but it only needs to be done once.

 

There're a couple more things to consider.

 

Try to shoot either indoors or on a calm day. If a breeze is blowing then it won't help. You're trying to test the accuracy of a pellet in your barrel, not your windage skills.

 

Second, if you get a superb group with one pellet at a particular distance, it may not be the best at a further distance.

 

For example, the best pellets at 30 yards in my .177 Daystate MK3 are H&N FTT, but H&N Baracuda Match keep a tighter group at longer ranges.

 

It was the same with FTTs v Mosquito Express in my (sadly now sold) TX200 HC.

[S2K 10]

Cheers for the advice Mike, I'm building up quite a collection of these pellets now . Can't wait to get back out again

[pianoman 3,584]

Hi S2K.

 

First off. It's not your shooting that's your rifle's problem. It's all about the weight of the pellet.

 

I've shot Webley spring rifles since God was in shorts and I've never yet found a heavyweight pellet that ever had any tight grouping accuracy from a Webley springer.

 

Webley Exocet is a spring rifle. So....Bisley Magnum will very likely, not group from a Webley springer barrel. Never known them to and certainly not in .22 so you can write those off.

 

Not sure Air Arms pellets will either. Seems you are getting a mixed response from these and that's still not right. You need to be able to confidently shoulder your rifle and pack 20 shots inside a penny at 25 metres before you can go out and shoot live animals with no risk of wounding from innacurate pellet choices.

 

Webley's in my experience are best with a lighter-to- medium weight pellet. The Air Arms Fields push it a bit at around 16 grains so it looks to me that your Exocet wants an even slightly lighter pellet than these. Then there will be the issue of head size to seal the deal on it's accuracy.

 

Eley wasps were the one reliable slug for Webley spring rifles but don't even bother with these. The ones made now are junk that bear no resemblance to the originals. They were about 14 grains so there might be a clue what to try next.

 

If you shoot with a 14 grain pellet and you are getting better acuracy but still the odd flier, it will be likely down to which headsize to try and fine tune your rifle's accuracy to a sweet one-hole group. And you can't get better accuracy than that!

 

Spring rifles are an entirely different animal to PCPs and what pellet type works in one does not always work out in the other type of action.

 

Heavyweight pellets are best in PCPs (Daystate Mk3 being a PCP Hence H&N Barracuda or Weihrauch Magnum (same pellet. Different label branding) is a good pellet for it.).

 

While spring rifles, especially yours, tend to shoot their best with light to medium weight pellets so H&N Barracudas will like as not, fail the accuracy test from your Exocet too. So, avoid the heavies. That is anything pushing 17.5-18 grain upwards. There are exceptions to this but, generally, that's how pellet weights usually fall with spring rifles and PCPs.

 

I really think you need to try something around the 14 grain mark and see if that brings any improvement.

 

LUBED PELLETS.

 

I lube my ammo with WD40 Now before some smart-Alec pipes up and says that will diesel. Of course it bloody will! It's an Oil!!

 

I wash my pellets thoroughly in Fairy Liquid and a bowl of warm water. A good wash gets out the swarf and other shit that pellet makers send their pellets out in these days. When they are nice and dust/swarf clean, dry them with a hair dryer. NOW squirt a shot of WD40 onto a cotton rag and take a bunch of pellets at a time and roll them in it. Just enough to get a light coating on the external surface of the pellet and non up inside the skirt. That's all you need. Don't wet them in the stuff or you'll get diesel-smoke like a train! For me, my WD40 lubed ammo will group one on another at 25 metres and through a 5p hole at 45 metres And that's good enough accuracy for me

 

 

Best of luck with your testing. Webley Exocet was a nice little carbine in the day.

 

Pianoman

Edited July 6, 2013 by pianoman

[S2K 10]

Thanks very much for info guys, It really is appreciated. Anybody want some Bisley Magnums