I am having to face a new reality in aspect to the new ammo situation with this pellet rifle thing.
Like any "good prepper" I had a stash of pellet rifle ammo just as I should. Probably enough to last me a lifetime until two weeks ago!
I had a bit of .177 laid by and some .22. All of it from Walmart, so I thought I was ready to roll.
Since I was abducted by aliens or whatever and had the air rifle brain-worm implanted things have changed, and I have been besieged with doubt.
All of this because I started shooting these airguns again!
I had three different kinds of .177 pellets, along with a sock full of BBs for a Crosman 60 which had only had about 20 bbs put through it since new. I soon discovered that 2 of the .177 brands refused to group as they should from my rifle.
Fortunately the little Daisy pointed pellets hit right on the money, so half my stash was "no good". The next trip to Walmart separated me from another $5 and put the stash back to 1000 shots. I will burn up the other pellets on tin cans and target large enough to contain their little 2" circles at 25 yards.
Yes there is also a new accuracy standard! It is not an industry standard like a shotgun pattern test or a 50/100 yard rifle test. It is scaled down to fit my back yard, which meshes with the capabilities of these air guns very well. I know people are shooting them at 100 yards but they do not have enough power to shoot at more than 25-35 yards with ethical energy retention. The back yard, well that is 25 yards directly to the tree line in back and 35 yards to the corners.
So what is the "new standard"?
For me it is 1 inch at 25 yards. Anything smaller than that is great, anything larger is not acceptable based on the capabilities of the technology on the market today.
These guns have limited power. By limited I mean LIMITED! Even if your .22 moves at 800fps you get only 19 ft/lbs energy, and that .177 blazing away on that 8 grain pellet at 1000fps only provides 18 ft/lbs. By comparison, a CCI CB cap gives 30 ft/lbs, and we do not consider a CB cap much of a game-getter. A standard velocity .22 short, 30 grains at 1150fps, gives a whopping 88 ft/lbs.
Yep, a .22 short has 4 times the power of a .177 or .22 pellet.
Therefore the accuracy must be better than we even expect from the average pot meat shooting .22 lr. We have left the "minute of squirrel" everyone speaks of and entered "minute of squirrel eye" territory.
The .177 junk pellets in my stash will not hold that accuracy level, but I was fortunate that I had a can of Crosman pointed pellets in the cabinet that my rifle liked and shot to way better than the 1 inch circle.
There are better pellets out there. I am sure of it. Looking through the on line selections I counted a single supplier that offered 800 different .177 varieties and more than 600 selection in .22.
There is no possible way I am going to have time in the remainder of my life to test each and every one of those pellets! Don't want too and don't need to.
Like with the .22lr, I discovered that SK Pistol Match shot best in my 10/22. It costs triple what Mini-mags cost and only shoots about 1/8" better at 50 yards than the CCI, plus I have to order the SK ammo from one of three or four suppliers and have it shipped in. I can get the CCI ammo at any LGS or Wally-World. That extra 1/8" is not worth the effort if I am holding center of mass on a bunny or squirrel.
If I can get Walmart pellets to shoot inside the "standard" that is what I will be using. Besides, they come 500 in a can for a total of $8. That is less than the shipping cost for a can that might do a fraction of an inch better.
Oh well, it is a new adventure that takes me back to 1962 and a new Crosman 140 under the Christmas tree, and all the things about stalking and shooting I learned back then.
That 140 was state of the art for a field air gun back then. I wonder what 12 year old K-rat would have thought of this Diana Stormrider?
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