TargetTalk

Let's have a look at some ordinary air gun pellets. Like H&N sport 4.5 mm. When we buy it, they are being shaken during the transportation. This can't be helped. The transportation to the shooting gallery is in a pellet box. This is safe.

But we store reserve tins of pellets at home. Sometimes one hears that pellets are pretty heavy and even just their own weight in the tin may be harmful for them. I don't know whether this is true or false. But maybe the bottommost layer is suffering.

Maybe at home the pellets should be taken out of the tins? For example laid in small boxes in one layer?

Provided the tin is not dropped on the floor there is no potential damage to the contents in storage. Handling with fingers and exposure to air causes most damage thru oxidation. Personally I keep them sealed in the tins on a cool shelf until needed then tip out a quantity rather than rummage around like peanuts on a bar counter. I set them out in a tray with holes in for shooting so I can check the skirts for obvious damage.

Here comes the controversy! I oil mine with Napier pellet lube once opened to slow any oxidation during the 8 weeks or so that 500 pellets will last me.

TenMetrePeter wrote:Personally I keep them sealed in the tins on a cool shelf until needed then tip out a quantity rather than rummage around like peanuts on a bar counter.

You mean you keep pellets in the refrigerator? But why? I can open a tin of pellets bought last year and I can't see oxidation.

Kifsif wrote:

TenMetrePeter wrote:Personally I keep them sealed in the tins on a cool shelf until needed then tip out a quantity rather than rummage around like peanuts on a bar counter.

You mean you keep pellets in the refrigerator? But why? I can open a tin of pellets bought last year and I can't see oxidation.

I meant not in the sun! Fridge is a tad excessive.
No you won't see a whole tin of pellets from last year oxidise if kept closed. Laying them out in a tray like you suggest will expose them to air and moisture. Most tins I use have a tape seal. It is there for a purpose and can be reused each opening.
The club has some odd half tins we keep for visitors and they are dark grey and dirty after a couple of years.

TenMetrePeter wrote:

Kifsif wrote:

TenMetrePeter wrote:Personally I keep them sealed in the tins on a cool shelf until needed then tip out a quantity rather than rummage around like peanuts on a bar counter.

You mean you keep pellets in the refrigerator? But why? I can open a tin of pellets bought last year and I can't see oxidation.

I meant not in the sun! Fridge is a tad excessive.
No you won't see a whole tin of pellets from last year oxidise if kept closed. Laying them out in a tray like you suggest will expose them to air and moisture. Most tins I use have a tape seal. It is there for a purpose and can be reused each opening.

That oxidation is harmful for the barrel? Is it abrasive? Or what is the danger?

They probably shoot just fine. Lead oxide is more likely to be carried into human gut via fingers than clean oiled lead would. I also just hate corrosion.

I Certainly store them in a cool place, sealed with the original tape. I buy them 1-2 sleeves at a time, for both pistol and rifle. So that means a shipment of 40 tins. Now that is pretty heavy, and I can certainly tell if the box has been dropped or man-handled during transport.

I guess it depends on how often you train/shoot, but if two people train daily, it would be unlikely that even a single shipment would last a year.

If you're worried about this, buy less and use more. You can get Diabolo basics on amazon with free shipping on Prime. I buy one tin at a time, use it until I can start to see the bottom, then purchase another. But maybe you're at a higher level, where you're looking at things like production runs and precisely which pellet works in your rifle well. In that case, why not store the tins either one or two per stack in a broad area? It'll take up more room, but the tins are certainly capable of withstanding their own weight.

And refrigerator is a bad choice, not just because of the temperature, but the humidity. Higher humidity will speed up oxidization.

As to crushing under their own weight, perhaps you should research it. I haven't personally experienced it, but I suppose it could be a legitimate concern.

Kifsif wrote:Sometimes one hears that pellets are pretty heavy and even just their own weight in the tin may be harmful for them. I don't know whether this is true or false. But maybe the bottommost layer is suffering. Maybe at home the pellets should be taken out of the tins? For example laid in small boxes in one layer?

No problemo. At the pellet manufacturing factories, pellets are made by the thousands sitting on their own weight, they’re then packed, sealed, and stacked by the hundreds in their tins. I like using my wadcutter pellets with a pellet shaker box. It’s a very convenient way to transport your pellets without any damage, but it’s only good for single-shot airguns; multi-shot guns will go through a box pretty fast.

The best way is to pack them in your cheek like snoose. Spit 'em out as you need 'em.

Tins are fine so long as you don't drop them. I once bought a tin of H&N Finale Match, turned gleaming with my new purchase and promptly dropped it out the door onto the concrete.
Pellet savers are good - plastic clip in which you can slip the split tin cases in to keep them together.

As for the aforementioned tin: bent about 1/5th the tin to some degree, about a dozen were stuffed.
Bugger it.

H&N seems to have a softer alloy than most, but still fine pellets provided you do not throw them at concrete.

For long term storage I have some 7,500 pellets stashed in my writing desk which is cool and dry; emergency stash just in case the balloon goes up.

SamEEE wrote: Pellet savers are good - plastic clip in which you can slip the split tin cases in to keep them together.

That's what I assumed the tape was for. Not to keep air out, but to keep the tin halves together.

jky

Chia wrote: And refrigerator is a bad choice, not just because of the temperature, but the humidity. Higher humidity will speed up oxidization.

Refrigerators are dryer than normal air. Things only seem wet when they come out into room air as the temperature is below the dew point.

Talk about an overthinking thread! Buy 'em, shoot 'em. Don't fret over it.

TenMetrePeter wrote: The club has some odd half tins we keep for visitors and they are dark grey and dirty after a couple of years.

Not many visitors then ;-))

Brian Girling wrote:

TenMetrePeter wrote: The club has some odd half tins we keep for visitors and they are dark grey and dirty after a couple of years.

Not many visitors then ;-))

We make them buy a tin next visit!

TenMetrePeter wrote: We make them buy a tin next visit!

Do you really make pellets? But why? Are they for such special purposes that there are no pellets available in shops? Are they better than those from big manufacturers?

Kifsif wrote:

TenMetrePeter wrote: We make them buy a tin next visit!

Do you really make pellets? But why? Are they for such special purposes that there are no pellets available in shops? Are they better than those from big manufacturers?

language difficulties!. let me restate...
We require visitors to buy a tin of pellets on second visit.

KifSif,

I store my un-opened tins of pellets in a large 'KlipLok' tub - these have hermetic seals. I put some active silica gel packets and a sheet of VPI paper into the tub, then seal.

When I open a tin, I place a square of VPI paper over the top of the pellets, then a piece of foam from a JSB pellet tin.

None of my pellets become 'furry' or oxidised in the slightest, and I live in an old, cold, and leaky Victorian house with no central heating.

Have fun & a good Sunday :)

Best regards

Russ

Lead is a funny substance, it oxidises in different ways identifiable by colour, White oxide, Brown oxide and Black oxide.
The patina is made up of a layer of insoluble lead salts that give the appearance of traditional grey lead and
is made up of normal lead sulphite, normal lead sulphate, and normal lead carbonate.
It is important to recognize that the formed lead carbonate is not just a substance clinging to the surface the lead,
it is the surface of the lead transformed to white powder.

Pellets are normally near pure lead with a small amount of tin <2% to help the forming process.
When made they are shinny silver and as they naturally age harden they go to dull light grey.
Over time they will oxidise to dark grey, black and eventually to white salts.

Time will depend on storage bright to dull - 1 to 3 yrs, to go white may take 15 to 25 years.
If you still have pellets after 15 yrs....you are not doing enough shooting.
Bottom line, purchase a brick at a time (10 tins), leave them in the sealed tin inside your gun room.
Shoot a tin then open another.........old white pellets, melt the down for casting Blackpowder balls.

Most modern Airpistols use a loading rod type of chambering which pushes a pellet into the breech.
Any minor distortion will be reshaped in the chamber, so no problem for training or club shooting.
For top competition use near new (soft) pellets in good condition.

Use them up before they tarnish.