by RobinC » Tue Jun 18, 2013 11:22 am
Do they make any difference? Yes they certainly do! BUT, you need to take the variables out, old or dirty barrels, wobbley action, not refering to Webleys! but as found on any classic, method of test/clamp, consistancy of gun action, spring, Co2, PCP.
With a classic there are enough variables to totaly eradicate any really subjective result. Also consider what you want to achieve and why. For example a pistol ten at ten metres is so big that even fairly ropey pellets will often hold it, basically any good pellets will hold it and keyhole a group either from a good shot or a rest as long as the pistol is good quality. When I shot pistol a little more seriously I had a problem with JSB pellets where I had less than perfect shots which were called good, I was using Steyrs, I put it down to me, but it was only when using a five shot that I discovered that some fitted correctly in the mag others fell out, a boring afternoon with a micrometer showed that JSB had mixed up 4.50 and 4.49 in the same tin! Tests showed they both shot tight but not in the same place! I changed immediately to RWS R10 Pistol. There are also different weights to consider, R10 are available in 4.50 and 4.49 and also in 7 gr and 8.3gr, pistol and rifle standard weights.
I personally would recomend on classics using 4.50, when they were designed any difference in pellets was merely tolerances. Nowadays with modern target guns its different, and I use what the test target was shot with. Although there are also factors at play there! In 2010 we visited the Steyr site, in the test area there was lots of different pellets on the shelf, but mostly JSB, I asked if they prefered them and was told they used what ever the local shop had in stock!
At Walther they used exclusively RWS, the guns were tested with both sizes and the best was stamped on the test sheet.
Now the real difference is with match rifles, why? the answer is simply down to the target size, a ten metre ten is 0.5 mm, 21 thou in old money, any variation in pellet grouping ability will cost points, and now with the new rules with decimal scoring it is even more critical.
I saw some test results at MEC, a match rifle, barrel cleaned and then five shots to relube, and then ten shots at ten metres from a machine clamp, the result was scored electronically using a Meyton target, a group size of 4,55! using 4.50 chinese pellets at £15 a tin!
So is there any difference, yes, but in a classic not a lot, and in a pistol very little.
Have fun.
