TargetTalk

This is my first higher-end air pistol...

Aside from accuracy, if I feel that the cheapest lead pellets I can find are accurate enough for practice, is there any harm in using them? For example, I can get a 500ct. tin of Daisy wadcutters for $2.50 at walmart...I haven't weighed one yet and the tin doesn't say.

What I'm getting at is as long as I'm comfortable with the accuracy, is there any harm in running the cheaper pellets through the gun? Does the weight of the pellets matter? Particularly for practice. For matches or when I want to know where I'm at, I'll use better pellets.

With the decent pellets I've been loaned I am more or less holding the black, maybe the nine on a good string. So I think I have a while to go before the pellets will make a difference for me...

I guess I was wondering if certain alloys were bad for the barrel, cleanliness, etc. Or if certain pellets either too heavy or too light were also bad for the barrel.

Thanks.

It might be worth washing a handful in water to see if there's anything floating around in the water.

Use the same pellets all the time. Pellets cost next to nothing even for high end brands. Mentally it's far better plus you can fine tune the pellet size i.e. pick between 4.48 - 4.52mm and get pellets that are both the right fit and perform optimally.

The downside with cheapies is you will get more variability in size and on the LP50 some can drop out the mag whilst loading whilst others can be quite tight. You also get shavings of lead in the tins which isn't a good thing, plus you won't get the polished finish you do with match grade pellets.

So the choice is yours - if saving a dollar or two every couple of months is that important when you paid over 1000 dollars for the gun then go that way.

Rob.

The price difference between the Daisy and something like an R10 is much more than $1 per tin, but even if it's $7 per tin, it is still worth it.

Look at it from a 'per shot' perspective and it's tiny, but also look at it from a cost of time perspective. How many minutes does it take you to shoot 500 pellets? A lot, isn't your time worth that extra $7 for consistency and the knowledge that any misses is from you not your pellet.

I shoot Field Target, where pellet quality is very important. I can tell you that the cheaper pellets have all sorts of bits in them that'll foul up your barrel really quick. We wash, lube and weight all our pellets, regardless if they are H&N or JSB or Crosman. I can tell you though that the H&N and JSB are WAY cleaner than the Crosman, even the Crosman Premier pellets.

If you want to save some $$, use the RWS Meisterkugeln or H&N Diablo Sport, or the JSB Schack, they are a few bucks cheaper per tin and still of the minimum quality needed.

Thanks guys. Can I also ask how you clean? Are felt pellets every tin or so enough? Is a particular brand of felt pellet better?

melchloboo wrote:Thanks guys. Can I also ask how you clean? Are felt pellets every tin or so enough? Is a particular brand of felt pellet better?

Felt pellets are the only way to 'clean' an LP50, and, yes, a few every tin or so won't hurt. More important is keeping the mags clean and properly lubed to reduce wear on the internal o-rings. I use a fingertip wet with Pellgun oil or Superlube grease every 300-500 shots. A little anal perhaps, but I also blow out the mag loading port with compressed air at the start of each session.

Fred-
I assume you mean just a schmear of pellgun oil on the face and back of the magazine...not the top and bottom?

If there are any other maintenance tips you can think of I'd greatly appreciate them, thanks.

melchloboo wrote:Fred-
I assume you mean just a schmear of pellgun oil on the face and back of the magazine...not the top and bottom?

top and bottom doesn't hurt - reduces wear on the mag.

Schmear is not a good descriptor if you are thinking of cream cheese on a bagel. At least not the way I like it :-)

I was going to go practice in the basement, but I got lazy and decided to go crunch some numbers instead:

According to my laborious calculations, if you're an NRA master class shooter (93+ average, 558 for a 60 shot match), and your gun will shoot a 4.8 mm center to center 10 shot group (pellets furthest apart not quite touching each other), then the gun will cost you about 1 point for a 60 shot match.

Seems like most guns will do that with pretty much with any decent pellet, what's the point in getting $12 a tin pellets? I can see if the pellets are falling out of the magazine, that could be a problem.

Maybe I'll get a few tins of the cheapest target pellets I can find, shoot them and test the accuracy after 1000 pellets or so. Might make for an interesting experiment.

Steve.

P.S. Now, if you're telling be that if I buy the fancy pellets I'll never have to clean my gun EVER, that's worth something!

Fred-
Is there a brand of felt pellet that you find fits best in the magazine?
Thanks again

Tenex, I go with you on this one.

BTW, if you don't spend spending the money for those cleaning pellets, just snip the ends off a Q-tip and shoot them. Works better!

Melchloboo, I can't imagine soft lead in any way harming a barrel. Also, I have been quite surprised at the accuracy of some of the cheaper pellets.

I made Master shooting RWS Hobby pellets in a FWB65 because they were the most accurate tested. They also were the pellet of choice in my Pardini K58, giving high velocity for clean holes in cheap targets with excellent accuracy.

If you're that worried about keeping the costs down then shoot cheapies all the time. What is worst is to change brands between training and matches. You may gain a 1 point improvement from the technical improvement but you will lose far more than that because of the psychological baggage that comes with switching to the 'best pellets' for 'important competitions'

Better still don't enter any competitions, that'll save you plenty of money !

Rob.

melchloboo wrote:Fred-
Is there a brand of felt pellet that you find fits best in the magazine?
Thanks again

FWIW, I have used RWS Hobby, R10 light, Beeman Trophy. The latter for Silhouette with targets beyond 10M. The pellets must be seated just below flush and I use a Beeman seating tool to do this quickly and easily. A fingertip usually works, but not always!

I also use Hobby in my SSP pistols. Can't see any difference from the R10 light, although the R10's certainly look nicer :-)

Fred-thanks I will experiment with those.

However my question was actually which brand of *felt* pellet you use. I read that the RWS ones are "longer", so I was wondering which ones you find fit the magazine without trimming.

Thanks again.

melchloboo wrote:Fred-thanks I will experiment with those.

However my question was actually which brand of *felt* pellet you use. I read that the RWS ones are "longer", so I was wondering which ones you find fit the magazine without trimming.

Thanks again.

Sorry, didn't read your question carefully. I think all my felt pellets are Beeman, but am not positive. I bought a bunch years ago and can't remember if I have ever replenished. Pretty sure I have never bought RWS. BTW, when I use the felt pellets, I load all five chambers, then put put a few drops of TSI301 on the front of the first two pellets. I had the LP50 for almost five years, never any problems.

Fred-
Hopefully last question for a while...where do I find TSI301? I can't find it on nealjguns after finding a google link to it. Or is there a safe substitute?
Thanks

melchloboo wrote:Fred-
Hopefully last question for a while...where do I find TSI301?

Try our host, about three quarters of the way down the page.

thanks, right under my nose as usual ;-)