Pellet Testing with the new Air Arms S510 Carbine .177
Pellet testing at South Yorkshire Shooting Club’s Target Range to find the holy grail of grouping with this carbine rifle.
I’ve read an incredible amount of information over time regarding pellet testing and so many different theories and results. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll show you the results I get and how I’ve done it, keeping things affordable for all air gunners to carry out on every type of rifle. Follow these steps and you won’t go far wrong.
I pellet test Air Rifles everyday being a Shooting Range Manager, I’ve stuck with this practice and the results have been great with sustainability for all our customers. I see all types of rifles PCP, Springers, CO2 etc and we always find a great grouping pellet. Don’t get me wrong, some are a little more stubborn than others but patience and a bit of knowledge goes a long way.
When choosing the correct pellet, many factors have to be taken into consideration. Average Ft Lb of your rifle in relation to Pellet weight, Number of turns created by your rifle barrelling and pellet shape to achieve a full rotation.
Head size, Skirt size, Skirt Length, Pellet Co-efficient etc etc . . .
So let’s get started:
My new gun arrives, covered in a protective oil. I give it a quick wipe down with a soft cloth being particularly careful not to mark the bluing. I’ve read you should give your barrel a clean before you start either with a rod and brush or cleaning pellets. I’m not a fan of the rod and brush, I think you are only removing a light oil covering from inside the barrel on a new gun so not too much effort is required at this point.
I’m lucky to have a Chrono on-site but this will not effect your testing, always ask the gun shop that sold you the gun for a Chrono report.
My gun –
Mean Velocity: 797.35
Standard Deviation: 0.65
Mean Muzzle Energy: 11.01
Standard Deviation: 0.02
Universal Sportsman Cloth £5.50
Phillips Gun Barrel Cleaner £4.95
VFG .177 Cleaning Pellets £4.95
I used 10 cleaning pellets in total. Two light squirts of barrel cleaner down the barrel, don’t over do it, place 5 cleaning pellets in the plastic lid of the can and a quick spray of cleaner on to the pellets. Fire the 5 cleaning pellets at the floor, they are nowhere as powerful as a lead pellet but still come out at speed, keep an eye out on where they go, you need to check the colour of them. Now fire 5 dry cleaning pellets at the floor and collect them, in my case the last two where perfectly clean. Repeat this process until you are happy your barrel is clean.
Coming back to the rod and brush, I would use this on a rifle that has had a lot of pellets through it, only if firstly the cleaning pellets were not showing any signs of coming through clean, which means there is a greater build up of lead in the barrel from regular usage.
Wipe away any excess cleaner that may have made it out of the barrel at the breach end, the Phillips cleaning spray is great for general wiping of all the rifle, including the stock, a quick wipe down after a shooting session will keep the Air Rifle in tip top condition.
I’m ready now to do the pellet testing.
Right, here is where we have identified a long term problem in the Airgun world. So you have bought a new gun, you said to the shop “Which are the best pellets for my gun?” So unless the shop has pellet tested the gun, the correct reply should be “I’ve no idea” This is for you to decide.
So where do you start? – Buy 10 tins of various top branded pellets at £10 per tin or hope the free tin, the shop gives you are correct. This is highly unlikely as every individual barrel is different. How do I know this, I’ve come across situations where I’ve pellet tested 5 of the same rifles one after another and three of them will be the same pellet and two completely different, this is why it is important to test each rifle individually.
I’m going to save you a lot of money by showing you a new product launched by Idleback. The Pellet Test Sheet ! £17.95 in .177 and £19.95 in .22. These sheets contain 21 hand picked pellets of all the pellets we have used to test rifles with unbelievable results.
The benefits of the pellet test sheet is mainly the cost, 10x tins of pellets will cost you around £100 of which nine of the tins are not going to suit your gun or £17.95 for 21 hand picked, best quality domed pellets in top quality brands.
Why Domed?
I’m only going to brief on this subject. Without doubt, domed pellets are by far the most accurate pellets on the market. I speak to field hunters who insist on pointed nose pellets as the ‘hit harder’ or ‘penetrate deeper’ my argument is that – try and put ten pointed pellets through the same hole, not an easy task as the aero dynamics are simply not as efficient as a domed pellet.
Let’s carry on!
Range time and target distance. Only you know what distance you will be shooting at on a regular basis, zero your rifle at this distance. When I say zero, it only has to be approx as you will zero correctly when you find the best group of pellets, for me 33yds, don’t go beyond your capabilities, it will effect your grouping.
Be precise with your results, make a detailed note of which pellets you are shooting first and where on your target they are. I suggest you start with 5 of each pellet. Aim at your mark with each shot, do not deviate from this mark, you are not trying to hit the bullseye, you are looking for the smallest group of pellets.
First 5 Pellet results
The first 5 Results
The first five pellets will give you an idea of which is going to be grouping well for your rifle. With my Air Arms S510 Carbine .177 results show me that I need to work a little more with Air Arms Diablo Express, H&N Field Target, Weihrauch F&T, Superdome and the tightest group being JSB Exacts.
Superdome
Weihrauch F&T
Air Arms Diablo Express
H&N Field Target Trophy
JSB Exacts
What Next
So I have 16 hand selected pellets in various brands left and I’ve narrowed it down to the top 5 groups, I’m now going to concentrate on narrowing it down to two pellet types with the tightest groups.
To be continued …..
If you would like any information on Pellet Testing, please don’t hesitate to send me an email: [email protected]