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Is this the beginning of a Legend?

4/1/2015

8 Comments

 
For years I had been conveying to manufacturers the request of more than a handful of airgunners for a Premium line of pellets. Something that did not need to be weighed, sorted or rolled by those of us that prefer to shoot.

And usually, the reply was "¿Will the airgunners pay the price?, we know that pellets are very price sensitive"

So, when R-10 came out with their individually packed pellets for Match shooting, the question arose again, but this time specifically for the FT market: "¿Will shooters pay the price?"

Well, I guess now we'll see! LOL!

Courtesy of the head honchos at JSB, FT Team USA received this box yesterday:
Picture
And ¿what is inside? you may ask.
Well, these:
Picture
600 Premium pellets. 8.44 grains, 4.52 mm's head diameter.

Neatly packed into two 100 ct. styrofoam holders, the skirts and heads are protected and will arrive to the rifle chamber pretty much in the same shape as they were made at the factory in Bohumin:
Picture
Between the two styrofoam plates, there is a layer of urethane foam. 

And¿where exactly do they fit in the JSB lineup?

If we compare them to other JSB pellets we see that, for the weight, they are shorter:
Picture
They actually look like "re-inforced" Express'es.

Which is a VERY INTERESTING proposition, especially for those of us that shoot spring-piston rifles.

Thicker skirts will make the pellet less sensitive to peak pressures in high efficiency compression systems. 

But ¿are the skirts really thicker?

Judge by yourself:

Picture
An "on the level" comparison shows how close the external dies are:
Picture
Now, supposedly, we will not have to weight them anymore, ¿how true is this?

I do not weigh our pellets, by experience, the variation in springers is more than what weighing the pellets would help. Yes we use those pellets that show a better consistency at the target, but I stopped weighing pellets some time ago.

I still have and keep a good scale, though, LOL!

The Exacts have always been set at 8.44 grains, that is what the box says and that is what we all expect. ¿What does the scale say?
Picture
OK, so that was one pellet, ¿what about the rest?

This is the weight distribution of 100 pellets:
Picture
As you can see, there is a rather aggressive cutoff at the "light" end, and a tapering off at the "heavy" end. Still, there is only 0.1 grain (1/10th of a grain) between the heaviest and the lightest.

Of course it makes sense once you think about it, light pellets become flyers more easily.

When looked at with objectivity, one cannot but wonder at the precision in the manufacturing of these little lead pills we love so much.
Consider that there are 68/100 pellets between 8.42 and 8.44
And that there are 90/100 pellets between 8.40 and 8.44

And that only a couple of years ago, we did not even have scales that could discern between the heaviest and the lightest.
At present, most powderburners still weigh their bullets and powder with scales that can only read down to 0.1 grain.

In conclusion, up to this point: As far as the scales are concerned, the pellets do live up to the claim of being much closer in weight. Much more consistent.

Whether this will mean that we will stop weighing the pellets for matches or not is up to each one of us.

I will await the results from my team-mates to post the results of the shooting tests.

Keep well and shoot straight!
8 Comments

    Hector Medina

    2012 US National WFTF Spring Piston Champion
    2012 WFTF Spring Piston Grand Prix Winner
    2013 World's WFTF Spring Piston 7th place
    2014 Texas State WFTF Piston Champion
    2014 World's WFTF Spring Piston 5th place.
    2015 Maine State Champion WFTF Piston
    2015 Massachusetts State Champion WFTF Piston
    2015 New York State Champion WFTF Piston
    2015 US National WFTF Piston 2nd Place
    2016 Canadian WFTF Piston Champion
    2016 Pyramyd Air Cup WFTF Piston 1st Place
    2017 US Nationals Open Piston 3rd Place
    2018 WFTC's Member of Team USA Champion Springers
    2018 WFTC's 4th place Veteran Springer
    2020 Puerto Rico GP Piston First Place
    2020 NC State Championships 1st Place Piston
    2022 Maryland State Champion WFTF 
    2022 WFTC's Italy Member of TEAM USA 2nd place Springers
    2022 WFTC's Italy
    2nd Place Veteran Springers

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