15/4/4
Daystate Huntsman MKII .177 Pellet tests
DRAFT : STILL INCOMPLETE

please see for further information
The results of a set of pellet tests undertaken between mid April 2nd mid May 2004.

I purchased a pellet sample packs (together with the targets) from www.pellpax.co.uk.  This pack consists of 10 of each of 38 different pellet types together with a target for each pellet type.

Gun: .177 Daystate Huntsman MKII  
Serial number: 1558
Distance: 20m linear 1.1m uphill
Weather:
    Generally 10-15mph wind for the first 13 and zero wind from then on

Shot from a seat with a "thumb stock" stick as the front mounnt.  
If you are interested in 'big boys toys' have a look at my .308 group testing scans of the targets

10 pellets per set shot at a single target, documented, target changed repeated.  In cases of "strange" results and at intervals a CONTROL set of 10 pellets of either accupel OR "baracuda match extra heavy" was fired.  The order of firing is as numbered below.  

The results are presented in three ways:
The Radius measure is a quick way to measure pattern spread but does not really allow for "1 bad shot".

The "Centre of Gravity" (COG) is a more complex technique, but it is a better measure of the density of the shot.  A single bad shot will show as a bad radius but a decent COG, 10 shots spread over the entire target may also show the same radius but have a much larger COG.  10 shots within a small area will have a small radius and a small COG.  Rather than present a COG as an (x,y) pair I have simply shown the euclidean distance of the COG from the "centre" of the shot pattern.

Note that both the Radius and the COG pattern measure are taken around the centre of the shot pattern, this neatly avoided any need to have the sights zeroed for the different weights and flight characteristics of the pellets.
  
In summary, a low radius is good, but a low COG is better,  perhaps I should train the progrma to remove the worst two shots and compute the COG on the resulting set?

Anyway, the statistics could be argued about for a long time and we could give medians mode and std deviations of the numbers too - perhaps one day.  I think most prople will agree that the lower the COG the "better"the target cluster appears to be.

Has anyone else done something similar (and published the results?) for any of their guns?

Pellet_tests.html covers the same sort of work on a .22 Huntsman


 Pellet
 Size
(mm)
 Weight
(gr)
 Notes
 Radius
(mm)
 COG
 PICTURE
1
 Accupel control

160bar start
 9
 33
 target
2
 Milbro Select

7.2
25
 119
 target
3
 Eley Wasp
7.2
16
 67
 target
4
 Air Arms Field
 4.51
 8.44
 Very clean to load
 6
 34
 target
5
 Webley Harrier
7.0
 "double waisted"
 21
 114
 target
6
 CONTROL

Gun down to about 130 bar upped to 180bar.  
 6
 31
 target
7
 Milbro Jet
7.9
 "double waisted"
 31
 184
 target
8
 Milbro Caledonian
 7.33

23
 138
 target
9
 SMK
 7.9

46
 328
 target
10
 Bisley Premier
 10.6
Deja Vu - Seemed rather wild for a heavy pellet - refilled gun from 140 bar to 160 bar after 5 shots, but the next 5 shots were just as random
 19
 92
 target
11
 CONTROL (accupel)
7.0
  
 6
 28
 target
14
 Crossman Matchpell (pest control)


18
15
 Barracuda match extra heavy
10.3 yes 10.3
13
16
 Milbro TR
7.9
 Filled to 170b before this set, 5 control (not shown) put into sighter - grouped OK
 31
17
 Webley Lazadome
9.0
9
18
 Webley Venom Lazapell
8.7
8
19
 Daystate 4.52
 4.52
 8.49
 Uncomfortably tight in the breech
 12
20
 Crossman Premier
10.5
8
21
 Control barracuda


9
22
 H&N Silhouette
8.49
13
23
 Bisley Superfield
8.5
7
24
 Crossman Premier
7.9
8
25
 Air Arms Field 4.50
 4.50
 8.44
 Filled to 170b before this set, 5 control shots taken at sighter - grouped OK
 5
26
 Air Arms Field 4.52
 4.52
 8.44
10
27
 New Bulldog
7.2
33
28
 Bisley Practice
7.2
15
29
 Bisley Long Range Gold
7.6
12
30
 Control


9
31
 Crossman Powapell
7.9
6
32
 Beeman Silver Jet
8.39
 The skirts on these were very uneven
 14
33
 Clipper Diablo
8.78
 Very tight in breech (hard to lock)
 18
34
 Crossman Accupell
8.0 (yes 8.0)
9
35
 Bisley Magnums
10.5
10
36
 H&N Finale Match
8.07
14
37
 Daystate 4.51
 4.51
 8.49
8
38
 Milbro Match
7.9
 The small hole at upper left was an exit wound from the pellet catcher, not a pellet entry.
30
39
 H&N Match Kugeln
7.9
10
40
 Field and Target Trophy
8.64
10
41
 H&N Spitz Kugeln
8.64
24
42
 Control barracuda

80bar at the end of this sequence. A wee bit of sport on last test I "pulled" the pellet onto the cross (just to prove I could). It is discounted from the measures and from the group.
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http://www.scotnet.co.uk/jon/guns/177pellet_tests.html