What distance?

[old sparky]

What distance should I use to determine pellet accuracy. I bought a air rifle to practice in my garage. I bought two tins of pellets with the rifle they were JSB Exact and JSB Exact Heavy. I am shooting 40' in my garage the Exacts at full power shoot ten shots into one hole at 40' the Heavy's shoot 1/2" at full power but slow them down to 500 fps and they shoot into one hole.
thanks, Sparky

[Dee]

What kind of airgun? Those two pellets are both quality pellets that are known to shoot in most airguns. I use JSB Lites in my TX200 and 8002. The heavies will be more suited to a high power PCP rifle.

To determine what distance to use for determining accuracy I would say whatever max distance you plan to shoot at you need to test out. Just like .22LR it is what it does at 100m not 50 yards that counts. I shoot out to 60 yards with my airguns but mostly out to 45 for Rams. The JSB heavies also have a bad batch of them out there that were to be replaced and grouped like crap. I expect 1/4"-3/8" c-t-c holes at 40 yards in perfect conditions, at 40 feet it will be one tiny little torn hole. Last week with the new 8002 I just got I shot a few spinners at 20 yards offhand that stacked 0 pellets into a spot a dime could easily cover.

Flat heads shoot good out to 15 yards or so but the domes are best. 40' you might consider flat heads if your rifle is low power.

Need mroe infor about your rifle and intent. Sounds like a PCP AA S400 perhaps. If so keep in mind that light pellets shot hot out of a PCP would be accurate. Even heavy pellets pushing over 900 fps can kill accuracy. That is about the max velocity you want or groups go to hell even close up. I have my S400 set to 1/2 power and shoot Kodiak heavies in it at 875 fps max anything more and groups open up at 45+ yards.


Dee

[Hawk-1]

is the distance for rams 50 yards or meters ? What type of groups should one expect from a decent air rifle? Any way to compare air guns to say a CZ452/55 and a 1712? I can get nickle size groups with my 1712 and quarter size with a CZ at 100meters. Are there parameters like that for air rifles? Just getting the bug, but don't know which one to swat. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks david

[caseyboy]

Not sure about the accuracy, but I would think that one would want as a minimum, group sizes of at least half the animal kill zone area. I am interested in what others think on the accuracy requirements. The distances are as follows c 20yds, p 30yds, t 36yds and r 45yds.

caseyboy

[Dee]

For accuracy I would say look for something that can shoot sub .75" groups @50 yards with a quality airgun and selected pellets .5" should be possible in perfect conditions possibly smaller. Consider it the same really as smallbore expectations. You want an inch or so max at rams in SB, since the airgun ram is 1/2 that size at roughly 1/2 that distance you want a group of .5-.75" IMO.

At 20-35 yards you should be getting one ragged hole accuracy.

Dee

[frog5215]

In general, you want the heaviest pellet your rifle will shoot accurately. If 8gr and 10gr shoot the same groups, go with the heavies. You'll find they're less wind sensitive.
Forget wadcutters outdoors; they skate on a wind.
If you have calm conditions to test in, shoot 45yd.
Outdoors, 500fps is tragically underpowered. For starters, your barrel time will be measured with a calendar. Drift will be in hand spans. Unless a target gun (as opposed to open) you want at LEAST 700fps. I feel anything over 800 fps is unnecessary.
At 13yd, if it won't shoot one not very ragged hole, something's wrong.
For power reasons, target guns aren't usually shot with anything heavier than 8gr.