Washing/weighing pellets (it works).

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   I've been watching 'The Red Stag Timber Hunters Club', and in slo-mo you can see the game animal feeding quietly then you notice the long grass in front of it start to move (a lot) as a wave of air hits it.
Then you see the bullet strike a fraction of a second later.
That bullet (300 Win Mag I'm told) has pushed a large wave of air ahead of it as it flies towards the target.
Yes, there is air disturbance going on, and our benches are only about 1m apart.
It will take quite a few targets to build up a baseline of washed/unwashed pellets so will keep on and see what happens. The lube I use is a dry PTFE spray (Supercheap Auto), and is only used to seal the washed pellet surface to stop lead oxide forming on it.
They do look nice and shiny! Any lubricating qualities are a bonus, but not why I use the spray.
I do now use a Carnauba wax/Beeswax paste furniture polish on a patch once my barrel is cleaned.
It's said to fill the microscopic pores in the barrel to make it smoother. The jury is still out on this as only had one shoot with it. I know the UK and USA guys use Carnauba wax flakes dissolved in Mineral Turpentine to 'line' their barrels with. Apparently gives a hard smooth finish to the bore to help the pellet slide through better.
So I have also bought some Carnauba wax flakes to test one day. It's worth a go!
https://www.airgunnation.com/threads/wax-and-gun-bores.669464/

Edited by Grey Kiwi - 08 Jul 2025 at 7:25pm

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Grey Kiwi Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 09 Jan 2022 Location: Richmond Status: Offline Posts: 50	Post Options Post Reply Quote Grey Kiwi Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Washing/weighing pellets (it works). Posted: 08 Jul 2025 at 6:43pm
	I've been watching 'The Red Stag Timber Hunters Club', and in slo-mo you can see the game animal feeding quietly then you notice the long grass in front of it start to move (a lot) as a wave of air hits it. Then you see the bullet strike a fraction of a second later. That bullet (300 Win Mag I'm told) has pushed a large wave of air ahead of it as it flies towards the target. Yes, there is air disturbance going on, and our benches are only about 1m apart. It will take quite a few targets to build up a baseline of washed/unwashed pellets so will keep on and see what happens. The lube I use is a dry PTFE spray (Supercheap Auto), and is only used to seal the washed pellet surface to stop lead oxide forming on it. They do look nice and shiny! Any lubricating qualities are a bonus, but not why I use the spray. I do now use a Carnauba wax/Beeswax paste furniture polish on a patch once my barrel is cleaned. It's said to fill the microscopic pores in the barrel to make it smoother. The jury is still out on this as only had one shoot with it. I know the UK and USA guys use Carnauba wax flakes dissolved in Mineral Turpentine to 'line' their barrels with. Apparently gives a hard smooth finish to the bore to help the pellet slide through better. So I have also bought some Carnauba wax flakes to test one day. It's worth a go! https://www.airgunnation.com/threads/wax-and-gun-bores.669464/ Edited by Grey Kiwi - 08 Jul 2025 at 7:25pm

JasonEdward Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 22 Sep 2024 Location: Waihi Status: Offline Posts: 168	Post Options Post Reply Quote JasonEdward Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 08 Jul 2025 at 5:49pm
	Thanks! That's really interesting - I'm not surprised a .22 bullet even subsonic could disturb the air enough to slightly deflect a wee .177 pellet. I recently watched a video where some projectile made a quite aide visible air disturbance and I was very surprised just how wide the air was disturbed. Maybe no baked beans for breakfast when going to the shooting range would stop a few flyers as well?? :-) You serious target shooters are seriously accurate. And yes, my first high power HW80 springer was putting slugs all over the target until I learnt the artillery hold or similar "non-hold" and suddenly I had the most accurate air rifle I have ever had. And yes, moving to a position to do it and cocking the high power springers gives me a clear heart rate increase and it's very obvious through the scope. However while I'll keep the HW, I've gone PCP mainly as I am not good enough to hunt with a springer - and don't think I have the time to get good... a bit of a cop out for sure. :-) Edited by JasonEdward - 08 Jul 2025 at 5:51pm

Grey Kiwi Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 09 Jan 2022 Location: Richmond Status: Offline Posts: 50	Post Options Post Reply Quote Grey Kiwi Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 07 Jul 2025 at 7:43pm
	Yes, I knew what you meant but I haven't bothered to keep any treated pellets/untreated pellets cards. I just knew that I could see a wee improvement. Not enough to be of use to a hunter, etc but would make a difference to a target shooter. When I sold the CZ457 I went to PCP as that was similar to using a rimfire. Aim, fire, reload without breaking the entire body position. A springer needs a lot of changes to your position, and then you have to get yourself aligned all over again for the next shot and you only have 11 minutes for the sighters and the 10 scoring shots. Or...we also shoot the double targets where you have 2 targets side by side and no sighters allowed for the 2nd target. You get 22 minutes for that combo. I think a springer would not like being fired from a front rest either. Sure to be some bounce happening there. I use an AR250 front rest but some folks just use a modified scissor car jack! https://ar250.sebrests.com/ No magazines allowed for rimfire or air. Single load only. I think the rimfire .22 is easier but good ammo is spendy (although my CZ liked Tac22...about $13 per 50 round box). Rimfire has a shorter 'barrel time' and a shorter 'flight time'. The PCP air rifle pellet has a longer barrel time, and flight time and I 'think' that as I'm surrounded by rimfire shooters at the range that their shots push my tiny wee pellets off target a tad too (disturbed air currents). I wait until I hear the 'bang' from each side of me before committing to my shot (or get it done nice and quick before they shoot). Just weighing the pellets (and the rimfire ammo too) knocks out a few fliers. I use a Hornady beam scale mainly although I have a digital scale too. Keep the pellets that are in spec in 1 container, with separate container for heavy (overweight) and another for light (underweight) pellets. Edited by Grey Kiwi - 07 Jul 2025 at 8:10pm

JasonEdward Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 22 Sep 2024 Location: Waihi Status: Offline Posts: 168	Post Options Post Reply Quote JasonEdward Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 07 Jul 2025 at 7:15pm
	Thanks Grey Kiwi - some great shooting there! But unless I misunderstand, I was actually interested in targets showing the difference between out of the tin and treated pellets and also between the premium pellets and similar from JSB and H&N. I could be interested in getting rid of flyers at modest cost of better pellets and maybe treating some too. Am I right in thinking the .22LR is as easy - or difficult - to shoot straight as decent PCP air rifles so target shooters are considering PCP when they would not consider quality spring powered air rifles? To be honest, I doubt I have the time to spend making the effort to learn/train myself to shoot my springers better and this is my main reason for going to PCP - but bolt action, large capacity magazines and not getting my heart rate up changing my posture and cocking high power springers for each shot are also good reasons to prefer PCP...

Grey Kiwi Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 09 Jan 2022 Location: Richmond Status: Offline Posts: 50	Post Options Post Reply Quote Grey Kiwi Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 07 Jul 2025 at 4:40pm
	I now prefer (for the cheaper line of pellets) to get H&N Match as they are better (for me anyway) than the latest JSB pellets. Those H&N are readily available and would suit both a hunter, or a target shooter, who didn't want to break the bank buying QYS. I did have an H&N trial target somewhere. Will try to find it. Edited by Grey Kiwi - 07 Jul 2025 at 4:43pm

Grey Kiwi Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 09 Jan 2022 Location: Richmond Status: Offline Posts: 50	Post Options Post Reply Quote Grey Kiwi Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 07 Jul 2025 at 4:32pm
	They are available in limited numbers and randomly too. It's a matter of luck, and sometimes you need to be a member of a shooting club, etc to buy what you want. I will put up a couple of photos of targets I shot 25 yards away. One photo shows our normal target card (1 shot at each target roundel, with sighters in the middle rectangle area). It scores 100.6 and I have done 100.7 but never kept that target (usually throw them out when I get home). Once with my CZ I did the magic 100.10 which was all centre shots. Now that felt really great! The blank paper marked QYS has 10 shots in that hole in the paper (disregard the ripped bit). This was shot from a floor mounted machine rest to test the pellets and the rifle. Edited by Grey Kiwi - 07 Jul 2025 at 8:13pm

JasonEdward Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 22 Sep 2024 Location: Waihi Status: Offline Posts: 168	Post Options Post Reply Quote JasonEdward Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: 07 Jul 2025 at 4:00pm
	Very interesting and frankly, while I'm no great shot or even serious target shooter, I think paying 10c a pellet for really reliable accuracy makes sense to me even hunting given the other large costs of quality rifles. Are these quality pellets readily available in NZ? I would also love to see the targets showing the difference between these two and also the QYS and RWS compared to the JSBs which seem to be THE standard in NZ. Thanks to especially Grey Kiwi but also to others for the discussion and sharing of knowledge. Edited by JasonEdward - 07 Jul 2025 at 4:01pm

Pauly5 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Forum Moderator Joined: 11 Mar 2013 Location: Titahi Bay Status: Offline Posts: 1615	Post Options Post Reply Quote Pauly5 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 07 Jul 2025 at 11:14am
	That's confidence inspiring. It does pay to check. During my days of shooting FT, poi shift has been changed by something as simple as a small grass seed head getting lodged between floating barrel and tank.

Grey Kiwi Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 09 Jan 2022 Location: Richmond Status: Offline Posts: 50	Post Options Post Reply Quote Grey Kiwi Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 07 Jul 2025 at 10:57am
	I only checked the weight of the first box of QYS Olympic. Waste of time that was...they were all absolutely the exact same weight. Now I trust them so much I have been shooting straight from the box. Only started to wash and dry lube 100 last week to see if that makes any difference. Early days but on my 2nd to last target shoot I reckoned there was a slight 'tightening' of the spread. Might be worth a couple or so more 'centres'. Had the barrel band screw come loose during the last shoot of that day and got a couple of 9's that I couldn't understand. Get home later on and check things out...and found that loose screw. Yet I check the screws every few weeks after one came loose many weeks ago. Must be quite a shock runs through the barrel. It is choked so maybe that induces a shock wave as the pellet hits it? Sorted now...Loctite to the rescue.

Pauly5 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Forum Moderator Joined: 11 Mar 2013 Location: Titahi Bay Status: Offline Posts: 1615	Post Options Post Reply Quote Pauly5 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 07 Jul 2025 at 9:42am
	I have been using some QYS and although I don't was and sort, I am impressed by the quality and when I test my zero, they are certainly consistant. This is through my Uragan with it's CZ barrel.