Variation of weight will result in some changes up or down. I normally weigh a whole tin to minimise weight variation affecting accuracy. I never chuck out empty tins as these get used as I sort the weights. I also have a tin of miss-shaped skirts so thanks to your timely video I now know how to fix some of these so that they become more usable 👍🏻
Remember an article in a magazine where the guy tested damaged pellets. He also found skirt damage didn’t effect the groups that much but when he damaged the heads the groups opened up. Might be worth a follow up video 😊
Yep absolutely correct.head damage and eccentricity will usually have a great effect on group sizes. Trying to replicate it on film though...might be tricky but I'll be revisiting this topic for sure 😉
@@tillysgunstocks I think he took a Stanley knife to the head and basically scored them. He flattened the skirts and they were ok but the head damage had a direct effect. Would be good to see an actual video on the difference.
Same here. I use a sizer larger than the headsize which leaves the heads untouched but means I don't throw any away or inadvertently use a damaged pellet. I also found the sized pellets shot slightly tighter groups. I'm only talking minimal difference but that difference is great for confidence. Only my findings of course and I'm sure some will have differing experiences but it works for me.
I have always found deformed pellets to perform just as normal as normal. I put it down to the skirt becoming pressed back in to shape from sudden impact of air upon shot and the path along the rifling before exiting the barrel.
I often get JSB Express.22 that have brutally squished skirts. Not economical to return to supplier given the postage charges here in Canada. I can get most pellets back to 95% of their proper shape by putting them through a pellet sizer that is 0.01mm smaller then the pellet die.
Done that since ever... JSBs suffer the most, H&A the least (harder lead compound). My method is different though, no tooling used. I just press the head of another pellet inside the skirt hole of the deformed, and with a circular movement I round it back, very easily to do. I don't bother if it is enlarged a bit more or less because the blast will fix it tight fit inside the barrel.
Nice video; However I think a better test would be to select damaged pellets from the tin. Couple of reasons for this (1) damage is random, you are essentially just making a relatively consistent batch when deforming identically. (2) real world use groups will be a mix of perfect & damaged pellets. You should sort the pellets & shoot 5 shot groups. The test would be 5 x 5 pellet batches with one damaged pellet in each batch. You fire the batches with the damaged pellet selected randomly but you make a note of the order you fired the damaged pellet (for example 3rd pellet of 5 in that group). Do this for the 5 groups (or more) & it would give you a much more accurate representation of how damaged pellets affect accuracy/grouping. Noting the place of the damaged pellet in the group shot sequence allows you to identify flyers & if the damaged pellets are contributing to opening the group size up & just how much the damaged pellets affect accuracy as opposed to pellets just reacting to wind or technique error. Just my thoughts.
Good video, I've found the softer the pellet, eg, JSB, the pressure applied in the barrel reforms the skirt in the barrel. However, the harder pellets eg H&N then the damage has a greater effect. If you are a competition shooter, it would have a definite effect, but for your typical club shooter, I don't feel there is an issue. Keep up the good work.👍👍
Thanks for response, I use the wolfman store, and all their pellets are very well packed. I would recommend then as the normal 3 working day delivery is free. Finally, I think head damage is more critical than shirt damage. Cheers
Brilliant video,i will often put damaged pellets in a separate tin to use for plinking, but from now on i will be making a jig to repair some of the damage. Keep up your excellent work 👍.
*Not too shabby!* Apparently the shape of the skirt doesn't matter as much as we would think but I usually throw them away or put them to the side and never use them afterwards haha _I might actually use those to test my Caldwell chrony for lighting errors instead of wasting my time fixing them and pellets under the chrony_
Hi mate, absolutely agree.. I didn't go into it in the video but magazine loading can cause some much larger discrepancies with squished skirts , especially with auto indexing mags. That's the subject for another day 😉
What a great video, you really do go the extra mile with your tests 👍 Takes me back to your excellent ‘home delivery’ test where you put a tin of pellets through the mill, replicating an on line order. After watching that I ordered a tin of AA Diabolo Fields to see what state they turned up in. Ordering from DAI Leisure they came really well packaged and the pellets looked as good as the ones bought from a gun shop 😁
Yep dai usually well package stuff up. Some dealers are hopeless.. vote with your wallet mate Lol I still laugh at kicking them pellets down the road 😆
I have found that, depending on the head size and material hardness, the diabolos from the Diana magazine for the Stormrider can sometimes be pushed into the barrel with little resistance or with very high resistance from the not very good magazine with the existing loading mandrel. The result is probably deformed, stretched or compressed diabolos with probably crooked heads? I don't know because I haven't pushed any of these diabolos out of the barrel yet. But in contrast to loading with a magazine, I don't feel any noticeable resistance with the single-loader with a pure loading mandrel. And the spread circles are about 10 to 30% smaller with the single loader method than with loading with a bad magazine. The differences in the fluctuating larger scatter circles are due to the lead mixture and the head shape and size - at least that is my results with this very inexpensive weapon. The shooting took place indoors at a distance of 8 m under artificial light and below 7.5 joules, as is permitted for free weapons in Germany. However, there is also another video documentation in which a very renowned gentleman demonstrated under “laboratory conditions” with his high-end Super Match rifles that these weapons can also be used to shoot damaged diabolo heads or deformed diabolo bowls at a distance of 10 m and in compliance with the 7.5 joule limit, this did not lead to a deterioration of the scattering circles! I take note of his result. Ultimately, I have to bow to my weapon and accept that it simply delivers measurably more precise results when loaded directly with the loading mandrel without a magazine, across all types of diabolo. I tested over 30 different types and got very different results indoors at 8m. I tried to reduce my shooting errors by placing the gun while sitting and using a paralax-free scope.
All the manufacturers should be weighing each pellet and then processing the batches using Machine Vision Cameras on a production line to photo every pellet and sort them into head size or reject to melt down. No excuse these days.
good informative video as always. I also try to reform pellets if possible. I had real good results with a countertop caulking ball tool for .22 and .25. I don't own a .177 but I think the smallest ball should be able to reform .177 skirts :)
Excellent vid as always 😃👍, I agree with urbanspace something or other , I also use a pellet sizer, much simpler & so easy to use, takes out all of the possible mistakes, eg leaning to 1 side or the other, let me know if that’s wrong, thx,
A sizer can absolutely work, however what a sizer does is swage the pellet from the outside inwards. That's fine if your barrel doesnt mind the sized pellet.but using a taper inside the skirt outward will often give a more concentric reshaped skirt. Having said that,if the sizer works for you..then stick with it 😉 it's all about being confident in your kit and prep
I'm always surprised about the number of pellets (straight from the tins - JSB Exacts) others are finding with skirt deformation. I do size and weigh all mine, so every one is inspected. And I cannot recall ANY - like not one - with any damage from any one of the most recent 5 sleeves of JSBs I have bought. And same goes for weight variation. I purchase Exact 4.53s and weigh them after sizing down to 4.52. I find 60-70% weighing between 8.40 and 8.49, with the balance fairly evenly split between 8.30 to 8.39 and 8.50 to 8.59. I sling out any which weigh more than 8.59 or less than 8.30, but that's usually fewer than a handful per tin.
As a side note , I'd expect the manufacturer of the pellets to have them inspected each and every one , the price some are charging .. now the lead BAN ain't happening , it'll be interesting how this effects prices .. sorry if ive gone a bit off topic ..
I wonder if your method of damage is too consistent to reflect typical damage from the tin, which could be causing the groups to be not too bad? Great video👍
Quite possibly mate. However the damage I caused was quite a lot more severe than I've ever seen straight from the tin. Had I been using a mag fed rig, I'm absolutely certain the groups could have been significantly worse. The chances of major misalignment would be much higher than in the single shot action.😉
Another really interesting video. Who’d thought those reshaped ones were almost as good as the fresh ones! Have you tried the JTS Dead Center pellets yet? They seem to be getting good reviews so it would be very interesting to know what you think of them. cheers, Woody.
Hi mate are the jts available in .177 yet? It's surprising eh, but I've generally found that head sizing and or damage is more detrimental to group size than light skirt damage. 😉
Had a test with some damaged Norma FT pellets,spent an hour sorting the damaged ones out from the good ones and ran a comparison test only to find out the damaged ones were as good as the undamaged ones 😂
6.3 mm stereo jack does the trick for me. Just press it into the skirt. I cannot notice any difference between fixed and "perfect" pellets. BTW. my air rifles are full power, that also might have something to do with it.
I weigh most pellets and when you get up to a 1 grain variable within a tin of .177 I wonder is the additional/reduced weight concentric, which with the spin, would result in flyers?
In my own tests i used less damaged skirts. My results suggested some groups were improved but probably my shooting, lol. My theory is that because the bent skirts move out further to seat when shot they slap into the rifling and perhaps seal better? May be way off there though.
I'll show you in the future mate what I believe is happening. It's enlightening collecting shot pellets to see how they come out the barrel. There's a definite relation between reg pressure and valving duration too, relative to pellet fussyness and pellet choice.its all intertwined 😉
Good video , I usually use the front of another pellet to reform , I wanted to be able to print your target but unfortunately I am not able to find a currant website 😒
Just my 2p worth ..... Regarding your pellet skirt re-former tool, I'd suggest trying a rounder head rather than elliptical/cone shape. After all, what your aiming to reshape is the rear of the skirt and this could be the reason you found them 'hard' to reform.
Hi Mike. Yeah you are absolutely correct. The 1/4 stereo jacks have a straight taper and work perfectly. I couldn't find mine in time for filming so made the one in the vid quick. The jack plug works much nicer 😉
Absolutely... 100 bar up the back side of the pellets is pretty good for reforming them, but that lag from bent to trued up can bring in some discrepancies and the pellets can be yawing before they have left the barrel. No good down range. 😉
How much time do you guys have and/or how much are you paying for ammo where taking the time to fix deformed pellets is economical? You can get a tin of 500 CPs for under $10…and they shoot better than a damaged ultra premium pellet…
I will be mate.dusted the action off the other day. It's got no air in right now so need to work out where it's leaked from. It's been unused for a few years now...
@@tillysgunstocks cool love the s200 think it’s a very underestimated rifle. Keep up the excellent work with the videos mate. Think you’re producing some of the best videos on RUclips at the minute.
Yep, the TR Robb pellet sizer strikes me as being a great option for this. It uses a very slightly tapered tube, and depth is adjustable to allow you to change the head diameter. If my memory is correct (highly unlikely!) the taper leaves the skirt 4 thousandths of an inch wider than whatever the head size is set too. End result is that not only are you sizing the heads of the pellet, but the skirt diameter is controlled too. The sizer will be supporting the nose of the pellet, and the pusher probe should be able to reshape the skirt, with the added advantage of keeping the skirt diameter consistent during the reshaping.
Variation of weight will result in some changes up or down. I normally weigh a whole tin to minimise weight variation affecting accuracy. I never chuck out empty tins as these get used as I sort the weights. I also have a tin of miss-shaped skirts so thanks to your timely video I now know how to fix some of these so that they become more usable 👍🏻
Remember an article in a magazine where the guy tested damaged pellets. He also found skirt damage didn’t effect the groups that much but when he damaged the heads the groups opened up.
Might be worth a follow up video 😊
Yep absolutely correct.head damage and eccentricity will usually have a great effect on group sizes. Trying to replicate it on film though...might be tricky but I'll be revisiting this topic for sure 😉
@@tillysgunstocks I think he took a Stanley knife to the head and basically scored them. He flattened the skirts and they were ok but the head damage had a direct effect. Would be good to see an actual video on the difference.
I love pellet sizers
Same here. I use a sizer larger than the headsize which leaves the heads untouched but means I don't throw any away or inadvertently use a damaged pellet. I also found the sized pellets shot slightly tighter groups. I'm only talking minimal difference but that difference is great for confidence. Only my findings of course and I'm sure some will have differing experiences but it works for me.
@@karlmaddox1209 100% Sir
Didn't know you had a channel IG fellow!
I have always found deformed pellets to perform just as normal as normal. I put it down to the skirt becoming pressed back in to shape from sudden impact of air upon shot and the path along the rifling before exiting the barrel.
I did see a video a while ago that was showing results going this way but I just can't it gives me OCD 😂
Well that's looking like a winner glad I didn't rush and get the fx
Great video as always cheers ray
I often get JSB Express.22 that have brutally squished skirts. Not economical to return to supplier given the postage charges here in Canada. I can get most pellets back to 95% of their proper shape by putting them through a pellet sizer that is 0.01mm smaller then the pellet die.
Oh Kenada
_(Oh by the way Airgunsource did send me replacement tins when I had damaged ones)_
Done that since ever... JSBs suffer the most, H&A the least (harder lead compound). My method is different though, no tooling used. I just press the head of another pellet inside the skirt hole of the deformed, and with a circular movement I round it back, very easily to do. I don't bother if it is enlarged a bit more or less because the blast will fix it tight fit inside the barrel.
The 6.3mm headphone jack method works a treat. I used to use one to reshape the skirts of bent up Webley-Venom Lazadomes, back in ye olden days.
Nice video; However I think a better test would be to select damaged pellets from the tin. Couple of reasons for this (1) damage is random, you are essentially just making a relatively consistent batch when deforming identically. (2) real world use groups will be a mix of perfect & damaged pellets.
You should sort the pellets & shoot 5 shot groups. The test would be 5 x 5 pellet batches with one damaged pellet in each batch.
You fire the batches with the damaged pellet selected randomly but you make a note of the order you fired the damaged pellet (for example 3rd pellet of 5 in that group).
Do this for the 5 groups (or more) & it would give you a much more accurate representation of how damaged pellets affect accuracy/grouping.
Noting the place of the damaged pellet in the group shot sequence allows you to identify flyers & if the damaged pellets are contributing to opening the group size up & just how much the damaged pellets affect accuracy as opposed to pellets just reacting to wind or technique error. Just my thoughts.
Good video, I've found the softer the pellet, eg, JSB, the pressure applied in the barrel reforms the skirt in the barrel. However, the harder pellets eg H&N then the damage has a greater effect. If you are a competition shooter, it would have a definite effect, but for your typical club shooter, I don't feel there is an issue. Keep up the good work.👍👍
Thanks for response, I use the wolfman store, and all their pellets are very well packed. I would recommend then as the normal 3 working day delivery is free. Finally, I think head damage is more critical than shirt damage. Cheers
Brilliant video,i will often put damaged pellets in a separate tin to use for plinking, but from now on i will be making a jig to repair some of the damage.
Keep up your excellent work 👍.
Thanks mate 😀
I use an old bic biro,remove the ink tube and end cap,put five (1.77) pellets put thumb over the end shake up and down three times job done.
*Not too shabby!*
Apparently the shape of the skirt doesn't matter as much as we would think but I usually throw them away or put them to the side and never use them afterwards haha
_I might actually use those to test my Caldwell chrony for lighting errors instead of wasting my time fixing them and pellets under the chrony_
Never really been bothered by wonky skirts, head size variation has always given me more inconsistencies.
Good video 👍
Hi mate, absolutely agree.. I didn't go into it in the video but magazine loading can cause some much larger discrepancies with squished skirts , especially with auto indexing mags. That's the subject for another day 😉
What a great video, you really do go the extra mile with your tests 👍 Takes me back to your excellent ‘home delivery’ test where you put a tin of pellets through the mill, replicating an on line order. After watching that I ordered a tin of AA Diabolo Fields to see what state they turned up in. Ordering from DAI Leisure they came really well packaged and the pellets looked as good as the ones bought from a gun shop 😁
Yep dai usually well package stuff up. Some dealers are hopeless.. vote with your wallet mate
Lol I still laugh at kicking them pellets down the road 😆
I have found that, depending on the head size and material hardness, the diabolos from the Diana magazine for the Stormrider can sometimes be pushed into the barrel with little resistance or with very high resistance from the not very good magazine with the existing loading mandrel. The result is probably deformed, stretched or compressed diabolos with probably crooked heads? I don't know because I haven't pushed any of these diabolos out of the barrel yet. But in contrast to loading with a magazine, I don't feel any noticeable resistance with the single-loader with a pure loading mandrel. And the spread circles are about 10 to 30% smaller with the single loader method than with loading with a bad magazine. The differences in the fluctuating larger scatter circles are due to the lead mixture and the head shape and size - at least that is my results with this very inexpensive weapon. The shooting took place indoors at a distance of 8 m under artificial light and below 7.5 joules, as is permitted for free weapons in Germany.
However, there is also another video documentation in which a very renowned gentleman demonstrated under “laboratory conditions” with his high-end Super Match rifles that these weapons can also be used to shoot damaged diabolo heads or deformed diabolo bowls at a distance of 10 m and in compliance with the 7.5 joule limit, this did not lead to a deterioration of the scattering circles!
I take note of his result. Ultimately, I have to bow to my weapon and accept that it simply delivers measurably more precise results when loaded directly with the loading mandrel without a magazine, across all types of diabolo. I tested over 30 different types and got very different results indoors at 8m. I tried to reduce my shooting errors by placing the gun while sitting and using a paralax-free scope.
All the manufacturers should be weighing each pellet and then processing the batches using Machine Vision Cameras on a production line to photo every pellet and sort them into head size or reject to melt down. No excuse these days.
good informative video as always. I also try to reform pellets if possible. I had real good results with a countertop caulking ball tool for .22 and .25. I don't own a .177 but I think the smallest ball should be able to reform .177 skirts :)
there used to be pellets supplied in foam in individual holes you pay a premium for perfect ammunition
Excellent vid as always 😃👍, I agree with urbanspace something or other , I also use a pellet sizer, much simpler & so easy to use, takes out all of the possible mistakes, eg leaning to 1 side or the other, let me know if that’s wrong, thx,
A sizer can absolutely work, however what a sizer does is swage the pellet from the outside inwards. That's fine if your barrel doesnt mind the sized pellet.but using a taper inside the skirt outward will often give a more concentric reshaped skirt.
Having said that,if the sizer works for you..then stick with it 😉 it's all about being confident in your kit and prep
I'm always surprised about the number of pellets (straight from the tins - JSB Exacts) others are finding with skirt deformation. I do size and weigh all mine, so every one is inspected. And I cannot recall ANY - like not one - with any damage from any one of the most recent 5 sleeves of JSBs I have bought. And same goes for weight variation. I purchase Exact 4.53s and weigh them after sizing down to 4.52. I find 60-70% weighing between 8.40 and 8.49, with the balance fairly evenly split between 8.30 to 8.39 and 8.50 to 8.59. I sling out any which weigh more than 8.59 or less than 8.30, but that's usually fewer than a handful per tin.
As a side note , I'd expect the manufacturer of the pellets to have them inspected each and every one , the price some are charging .. now the lead BAN ain't happening , it'll be interesting how this effects prices .. sorry if ive gone a bit off topic ..
I wonder if your method of damage is too consistent to reflect typical damage from the tin, which could be causing the groups to be not too bad? Great video👍
Quite possibly mate. However the damage I caused was quite a lot more severe than I've ever seen straight from the tin.
Had I been using a mag fed rig, I'm absolutely certain the groups could have been significantly worse. The chances of major misalignment would be much higher than in the single shot action.😉
Another really interesting video. Who’d thought those reshaped ones were almost as good as the fresh ones!
Have you tried the JTS Dead Center pellets yet? They seem to be getting good reviews so it would be very interesting to know what you think of them. cheers, Woody.
Hi mate are the jts available in .177 yet?
It's surprising eh, but I've generally found that head sizing and or damage is more detrimental to group size than light skirt damage.
😉
l think they are coming but unfortunately only available at moment in .22
Looks like it makes skirt a tighter fit
Had a test with some damaged Norma FT pellets,spent an hour sorting the damaged ones out from the good ones and ran a comparison test only to find out the damaged ones were as good as the undamaged ones 😂
Lol.. it happens.. the more we think we understand this game something comes along and throws a spanner in the works 😆
6.3 mm stereo jack does the trick for me. Just press it into the skirt. I cannot notice any difference between fixed and "perfect" pellets. BTW. my air rifles are full power, that also might have something to do with it.
I weigh most pellets and when you get up to a 1 grain variable within a tin of .177 I wonder is the additional/reduced weight concentric, which with the spin, would result in flyers?
Thanks for doin what i couldnt be bothered to do😂
I drill a hole in the board and push the pellet through resizing in an out at the same time.
In my own tests i used less damaged skirts. My results suggested some groups were improved but probably my shooting, lol. My theory is that because the bent skirts move out further to seat when shot they slap into the rifling and perhaps seal better? May be way off there though.
I'll show you in the future mate what I believe is happening. It's enlightening collecting shot pellets to see how they come out the barrel.
There's a definite relation between reg pressure and valving duration too, relative to pellet fussyness and pellet choice.its all intertwined 😉
exacts are a bloody nightmare with head sizes and weight variations
Good video , I usually use the front of another pellet to reform , I wanted to be able to print your target but unfortunately I am not able to find a currant website 😒
Sadly the firm who did these targets packed it in, a little while ago.
I'm looking into having my own ones printed 😉
They make brass pellet sizers that would do that just push through onto a hard surface
Just my 2p worth ..... Regarding your pellet skirt re-former tool, I'd suggest trying a rounder head rather than elliptical/cone shape. After all, what your aiming to reshape is the rear of the skirt and this could be the reason you found them 'hard' to reform.
Hi Mike. Yeah you are absolutely correct. The 1/4 stereo jacks have a straight taper and work perfectly. I couldn't find mine in time for filming so made the one in the vid quick. The jack plug works much nicer 😉
Is it possible that the pressure of the gun is re-rounding the skirt of the pellet so it fits OK in the breech and making the pellet accurate again?
Absolutely... 100 bar up the back side of the pellets is pretty good for reforming them, but that lag from bent to trued up can bring in some discrepancies and the pellets can be yawing before they have left the barrel. No good down range. 😉
Why are they JSB short? Do they come in a longer variant?
I don't buy JSB's any more - last tin had 25 out of 250 with deformed skirts and there was no sign of damage to the tin.
I use one of the domed pellets and squish the skirt straight. Seems to work for me
If it works for you mate stick with it 😉
Nice vid mate thanx 8-)
No problem atall mate. Was a fun one to do. 😉
How much time do you guys have and/or how much are you paying for ammo where taking the time to fix deformed pellets is economical? You can get a tin of 500 CPs for under $10…and they shoot better than a damaged ultra premium pellet…
Are you doing any more videos with the s200 project
I will be mate.dusted the action off the other day. It's got no air in right now so need to work out where it's leaked from. It's been unused for a few years now...
@@tillysgunstocks cool love the s200 think it’s a very underestimated rifle. Keep up the excellent work with the videos mate. Think you’re producing some of the best videos on RUclips at the minute.
I've bought damaged tins that are usually 20% cheaper and the number of damaged pellets is minimal
Nice one mate, fascinating and surprising.
Danthepainter.👍
Cheers for watching Dan, there's plenty of mileage in this topic for sure...
Trouble with those pallets different weight 🧐
Could you not just use a commercial pellet sizer?
Yep, the TR Robb pellet sizer strikes me as being a great option for this.
It uses a very slightly tapered tube, and depth is adjustable to allow you to change the head diameter. If my memory is correct (highly unlikely!) the taper leaves the skirt 4 thousandths of an inch wider than whatever the head size is set too.
End result is that not only are you sizing the heads of the pellet, but the skirt diameter is controlled too.
The sizer will be supporting the nose of the pellet, and the pusher probe should be able to reshape the skirt, with the added advantage of keeping the skirt diameter consistent during the reshaping.
👍👍
why is it all i've ever seen you do is 177, do you ever test 22 pellets.....
They don't fit my barrels 😉
Doing this all my live (and i am over 50 years🤓😐🤔🤫 old)
jsb exact used to be go always used pellet until someone introduced me to QYS... i now know JSB's are petty much junk
Good idea if your time is worthless.
Anyone with "damaged" pellets can send them my way, I will deal with them for free.
Yeah same here 😆
Repair them? Laughable at best. 😎
Why would anyone want to use damaged ammo it'll cause great pain to the animals your culling . If it knackered get rid
Maybe for plinking ?