Some brands of pellets will let you choose what size of skirt the pellets have. This will be displayed as 0.01 differences in the calibre, for example .177 pellets will be marked as 4.51, 4.52, 4.53, etc. The idea behind this is the wider the skirt, the better the seal behind the pellet. This provides a greater pressure behind the pellet forcing it out at greater speed and therefore improving accuracy. It's important to know that due to state and local laws, there are certain restrictions for various products. The best way to determine if pellet sizing makes a difference is to conduct your own test. Clamp an accurate airgun in a vice so it cannot move. Fire all groups while it is in that position. For obvious reasons (i.e., movement), don’t use a breakbarrel gun. (No modern target airgun is a breakbarrel.) Precharged pneumatics (PCP) or gas airguns are the easiest to test because they don’t need to move much to be reloaded. Where 1” at 50 yards used to be “great,” it’s now seen as the baseline for performance on any PCP. Expensive PCPs are expected to shoot MOA or SUBMOA even to begin to get taken seriously. This has put pressure on the ammo industry to rise to the occasion and make better, more consistent ammo. Not All Ammo is Created Equal

The device is designed to give an equivalent impact force to an airgun pellet hitting the paddle of a target at 5.5 ft/lbs energy (7 Joules). To mimic the effect of a target being shot at with a WFTF legal air rifle at 55 yards.” From my experience shooting air rifles there area few kinds of pellet that stand above the rest in terms of performance, power and quality of manufacture. Bear in mind that pellets will behave differently in different rifles, even those of the same brand and model. So this is just a guide to what works well in my experience, and for the people I have shot alongside. Recommended: Air Arms Field The star shape also reduces turbulence around the nose of the pellet for better accuracy. These pellets are never going to be match target winners but when it comes to pest controlling these pellets are absolutely devastating at close to medium range, even at 12ft/lbs. Other hollow points to consider : H&N Barracuda Hunter , Bisley Pest Control While head size is very important, pellet weight is equally, possibly more important. Pellets are measured in grains and identified in values as small as tenths or hundredths of grains. So if we take our field target trophy pellets, they are marketed as 14.66 grain pellets. But what are the variances, if any, from pellet to pellet? There’s only one way to really find out, and that’s to get a precision jeweler’s scale and weigh your sorted pellets. Let’s Bring it Home So the next I decided to use the 4.53 pellet sizer and was pleasantly surprised. The 4.53 sized group was considerably better than the 4.54 unsized group

Where Does Airgun Accuracy Come From?

MK4 – Further improvements to resolve all issues of the original design. Re-designed internal parts, spring tension can be fine-tuned with a hex key, free travel length of the probe doubled.

However, the benefit of the .22 pellet is its greater mass. This transfers more energy into the target, essentially increasing the force that the target is hit by. This is important for pest control as it ensures clean one hit kills, as opposed to .177 pellets that can pass straight through the animal due to their smaller size and faster speed. My sizers have a stainless steel ejector plate as well as the screws that are either side of the main adjuter. There is also an option of have a 4mm Stainless Steel Ejector plate under the options tab. These pellets are designed for practice and target shooting and are so shaped to cut clean holes in the target for accurate scoring. The pellets are usually cheap and are available from many different brands. The downside of this shape is that they are less aerodynamic than some of the other types available and will start to tumble at long range. Also thanks to their flat headed shape they are not good for penetration and so not suitable for pest control at all. Domed You can grade the extra loose or tighter ones in batches and keep the best for the more serious shooting.Some shooters are running Predators through a sizing die to reduce their outside diameter by one-thousandth of an inch. This makes them easier to load. Keep in mind that sizing much more than one-thousandth can also render them inaccurate. I only have this secondhand and have never tried it myself. But it does make sense. If it works, this is a legitimate use of a pellet sizer.

The undisputed kind of domed pellets, the Air Arms pellets are supposedly carefully selected to to provide excellent shot to shot consistency, and even looking at the pellets in the tin, they look very uniform and free from imperfections on the surface. They also allow you to choose skirt size between .51 and .52, which is nice, with the .52 pellets coming out on top. The late Don Nygord, world champion air pistol shooter in the 1980s, once wrote that he could not see any difference between sized and unsized pellets. Don sold target airguns and pellets to shooters for many years and perhaps had the opportunity to test this theory more than many people in his quest for perfection. The shape of the pellet is almost as important as the size, and there are lots of different styles of pellet available that all perform vary different roles. Choosing the correct style of pellet can effect drastically improve the effectiveness of your shooting. Flathead or Wadcutter A varied selection of pellets, in different sizes All target airguns and most high-quality adult airguns have choked muzzles that squeeze the pellet by one-half of a thousandth of an inch at the muzzle. That automatically sizes all the pellets and negates any other sizing efforts.Premium brands like JSB and H&N (and others) pay great attention to how each pellet comes off the assembly line, especially with their match ammo. On the other hand, more budget-friendly brands allow for a bit more slop in their ammo. This is why, and this happens quite a bit with big-box ammo, you can have one tin that shoots pretty decently and then the next shoot terribly. Or, have wide variances within the same tin. If you live in a state or city where air guns are treated as firearms you may be able to take advantage of our FFL special program.

The only downside to these pellets is they are quite pricey, costing between 10 and 13 pounds a tin, with their competitors costing up to 50% less. Also there is only one grain size available, 8.4gr in .177 and 16gr in .22. These are pretty average grain sizes for pellets of this type but it would be nice to have something to choose from, maybe something lighter for faster velocities and more accurate target shooting. Other domed pellets to consider : JSB Exact Premium , ProShot Precision , Daystate Heavyweight FT Recommended: Bisley Practice The more you use the sizer then the more skilled you will become in using and feeling what is correct.These are some of the cheapest pellets that money can. But don’t let that put you off, these practice pellets are made to a great standard and feature a classic wadcutter shape to cut clean holes in a paper target, allowing you to see exactly where you have shot. For this reason I think the Bisley practice pellets make a great choice for zeroing scopes in at short range and, well, practising. The plastic/metal tipped pellets suffer from similar problems to the pointed, in that any slight variation to the way the tip is seated can drastically effect accuracy. For this reason I would personally avoid them for anything other than close range dispatching. Hollow points are more useful for pest control, but you will still find the accuracy dropping off after around 25 metres in most guns. This is simply due to the fact that the shape of the hollowpoint affects the way the air flows around the pellet. The ‘Skirt’ These pellets are not going to be that suitable for pest control or anything at long range but for the money I think they make a welcome addition to anyone’s arsenal and save you wasting you more expensive pellets when zeroing up. Other flatheads to consider : RWS Hobby, H&N Finale Match Light , RWS R10 Match Recommended: Crosman Piranha I haven't done near as much testing as I would like yet but wanted to share what little testing Ive done. This month, we take a look a closer look at airgun pellets. If you’re pondering pellet selection, whether it’s target shooting or hunting on your airgun or air pistol, this is the post to help you choose the right buy….. The correct airgun pellet selection is essential to a good day’s shooting Pellet Size