Rifle or pistol pellets?

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Rover
Posts: 7055
Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2008 4:20 pm
Location: Idaho panhandle

Rifle or pistol pellets?

Post by Rover »

I'm resurrecting this quote from a March 2008 post. It sure seems to shoot some dearly held opinions to hell. I'd like a few responses.

"The difference between pistol-pellets and rifle-pellets is not just the weight. We test all batches in our factory through different rifles and pistols.

If we then find out that a batch in average shoots better in rifles (it is mostly the heavier weight) we then label it as a rifle-pellet. Otherwise as a pistol-pellet.

It is right, that sometimes the weight of both types differ only a little bit or even not. The reason is also the better technology in airpistols with their higher speed in last times.

Be sure that a golden label is (in average) better for rifles and a blue label (in average) is better for pistols.

Hope this informations could help you.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen/With best regards

Peter Schmidt
Vertriebsleiter Inland

Haendler & Natermann Sport GmbH"
Gwhite
Posts: 3427
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2004 6:04 pm
Location: Massachusetts

Post by Gwhite »

Who cares? I strongly suspect that the differences they observe are no larger than the difference between individual pistols. If you are shooting at level where cheap pellets are costing you points, it's more important to find what works well in YOUR pistol than to worry about what (on average) shoots better in some unknown pistol(s) at the pellet factory.
Rover
Posts: 7055
Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2008 4:20 pm
Location: Idaho panhandle

Post by Rover »

If I'm reading it right, they sell the poorer shooting heavyweights as pistol pellets.

I find that interesting.
taz
Posts: 88
Joined: Fri May 04, 2012 4:08 am
Location: Greece

Post by taz »

So far the HN Finale Match batches that I have comply weight-wise with the advertised weights. That is 0,49gr for the pistol and 0,53gr for the rifle labeled pellets.
My Steyr LP10E seems to be calibrated from the factory with heavier pellets since it shoots around 155m/s with rifle pellets and 166m/s with pistol pellets.

It also seems that the additional weight is in the skirt of the pellet (at least for HN Finale Match pellets). This must be why I find much less bent skirts in rifle pellets compared to pistol pellets.
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Brian M
Posts: 262
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Location: Warm Springs, GA
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Post by Brian M »

taz wrote:My Steyr LP10E seems to be calibrated from the factory with heavier pellets since it shoots around 155m/s with rifle pellets and 166m/s with pistol pellets.
My LP10 also likes the heavy pellets. One day when I was bored, I put mine in a vise and did some testing with the 2 pellet weights and different pressures/velocities. I could never get the light pellets to group even half as well as the heavy pellets, no matter the velocity. And the (assumed, I'm the 2nd owner) factory setting was pretty much the best setting possible.
David N
Posts: 19
Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2011 12:07 am

Post by David N »

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Last edited by David N on Mon Dec 31, 2012 4:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
FredB
Posts: 537
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2004 6:43 pm
Location: Northern California, USA

skeptical

Post by FredB »

I'm skeptical about this. Don Nygord obtained his Nygord-marked pellets from H&N, and he visited the factory a number of times. He told me that the machinery automatically sorted the pellets by weight and size. So for the original statement by Herr Schmidt to be completely true (as translated?), it would mean that H&N on occasion must take pellets of a known heavy weight and intentionally put them in containers marked with a light weight. It's hard to imagine any company intentionally marking any of their products in such a misleading way, let alone their premier product.

On the other hand, Don also told me that he didn't think pellet weight was important (within the normal range), so maybe this is all a lot of fuss over nothing?

FredB
ronpistolero
Posts: 102
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 8:36 am
Location: Philippines

rifle pistol pellets

Post by ronpistolero »

My thoughts.

I have done velocity adjustments while the gun is clamped/vised since 20 or so years ago when I had my C20. I did this because I wanted to see how accurate the gun was with RWS and the H&N ammos I had and was surprised that such ammos produced 8 -10mm groups, way more than the small 6mm hole of the test group stuck on the manual of the gun. I am of the belief that, as per barrel "forensics"(?), no two barrels are exactly alike and so, therefore, minute velocity adjustments are indeed a necessity for each particular batch of pellets. "One minute" adjustments out of a 60 minute clock face noticeably affected groups and fliers would come randomly. I am of the belief that the "ideal" pellet velocity is an approximation for the gun to produce consistently "good groups" and the minute velocity adjustments is tantamount to a fine tuning effort to optimize the gun's performance and make a smaller group.

I preferred the heavier pellets (RWS yellow) as it was more consistent with and without the compensator I had machined then. So, when I got my Steyr LP1, and now the LP10, I adjusted the velocities to find the best group with the ammo I have on hand.
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