Air Arms Diabolo Field are rubbish.

[chrisjpainter]

I've been giving the Wolverine a bit more attention now that the weather's better and have discovered something odd. Air Arms Diabolo field are utterly horrendous in it! I have never had a gun group badly with them, until now. Below is the grouping, aimed at bull, with AA 4.52 pellets - 4" and this recommends the best of the grouping. The tight little group by the 5p is JSB exacts 4.52. I wonder which ones I'll be sticking with...

 

It just goes to show how you should always check your gun for the best pellet and not just assume that one pellet is good for all! Asking what pellet is best for your gun is not a question anyone else can answer!

Edited April 5, 2015 by chrisjpainter

[tweedledee]

Is the head size the same?

[chrisjpainter]

Yup. Same tin, same batch number, all 4.52 and all in perfect nick when they went into the magazine.

Edited April 5, 2015 by chrisjpainter

[evo]

I,ve not tried them in my wolverine chris but,,they perform fine in the ranger and the airwolf,mct

 

they do seem a very soft pellet though,,jsb,s in my wolverine b are very good but the new accupel ft,s are grouping superb , single hole groups to 47yrds, I,ve been trying pellets out this week in the ranger .177 and the accupel ft,s are the best by far followed a close second by bisley long range golds,

 

so far the ranger is performing very well, I will be doing more pellet tests this week with the wolverine b and airwolf so will let you know the results,

 

when I tried the AA fields 4.52 in my wolf the power went up nearly a full ftlb strange but they actually group well in it

[Zetter]

I think you must win a prize for that Chris in finding a gun that doesn't at least perform averagely well or better with AA fields .

I must admit I think I must have put them through about 20 ish air rifles over the years and they have performed ok or better in all of them. Admittedly some rifles worked better with other pellets so I used them but AA field were always close on accuracy just goes to show.

[chrisjpainter]

I think you must win a prize for that Chris in finding a gun that doesn't at least perform averagely well or better with AA fields .

I must admit I think I must have put them through about 20 ish air rifles over the years and they have performed ok or better in all of them. Admittedly some rifles worked better with other pellets so I used them but AA field were always close on accuracy just goes to show.

Yeah! I was surprised. so much so that I assumed something else was going on! I cleaned the barrel completely, took the moderator off, took the shroud off, loaded single shot, but they were just all over the place. some missed the target altogether.

[Zetter]

Yeah! I was surprised. so much so that I assumed something else was going on! I cleaned the barrel completely, took the moderator off, took the shroud off, loaded single shot, but they were just all over the place. some missed the target altogether.

 

The target does somewhat resemble a 12 bore pattern plate. What did it like in the end is it adverse to all the JSB family or dust the Air Arms?

[chrisjpainter]

Well, the little group by the 5p is the JSB exacts 4.52, with the aim point right in the middle. so they're clearly fine. I'll give it a whirl with some Bisley mags - they've grouped reasonably in everything else as well and it's nice to have a heavy pellet option - and as evo has had success with the new accupell FT i will give them a try too.

[Zetter]

Well, the little group by the 5p is the JSB exacts 4.52, with the aim point right in the middle. so they're clearly fine. I'll give it a whirl with some Bisley mags - they've grouped reasonably in everything else as well and it's nice to have a heavy pellet option - and as evo has had success with the new accupell FT i will give them a try too.

That bizarre considering JSBs are virtually the same die as air arms field just goes to show you never can tell

[tweedledee]

How can two different pellet brands come from the one catch?both made by jsb although I often found air arms had damaged skirts.but all in all a very accurate pellet.these come in stacks of ten tins.just wondering how they come from the same batch.jsb take the better pellets to their own tins

[oliver90owner]

Not astonishing but surprising!

 

What was the range for those groupings? Not that anything could make that spray any better cf the tight group.

 

Guessing it is the regular 150ish mm target.

 

Thanks, RAB

[chrisjpainter]

How can two different pellet brands come from the one catch?both made by jsb although I often found air arms had damaged skirts.but all in all a very accurate pellet.these come in stacks of ten tins.just wondering how they come from the same batch.jsb take the better pellets to their own tins

sorry, I wasn't so clear! The AA's were all from the same batch, but the JSB's were different.

 

Not astonishing but surprising!

 

What was the range for those groupings? Not that anything could make that spray any better cf the tight group.

 

Guessing it is the regular 150ish mm target.

 

Thanks, RAB

It's at 35yds

[oliver90owner]

No worries!! Should group well enough to hit a bunny in the noddy box at 10m!

 

But still nowhere near as good as the 5p group at 35 yards!

 

I intend having a few friends shoot a few targets in the summer. I reckoned I will load them with a mixture and then show them 'how to do it' with some decent ammo. Wouldn't even need to mix the weights with those!

 

We have a laugh in the pub/feeding hole afterwards and a thread such as this would be a well received explanation of why the were rubbish with my guns. I just bought a few different makes of pellets and am setting about sorting out the best for my guns. The Air Arms pellets seem adequate so far,... but time will tell ....

 

RAB

[FalconFN]

Have you found any pellets that do group well? That is some spreadspread, and I've never had anything like that without somesome rifle problem, so I would be looking at the rifle a little closer rather than the pellet.

[evo]

Have you found any pellets that do group well? That is some spreadspread, and I've never had anything like that without somesome rifle problem, so I would be looking at the rifle a little closer rather than the pellet.

if you look at the grouping with the jsb,s 4.52 I think it clearly shows there is nout wrong with the rifle, its a one hole group

[Dekers]

Have you found any pellets that do group well? That is some spreadspread, and I've never had anything like that without somesome rifle problem, so I would be looking at the rifle a little closer rather than the pellet.

 

From OP

 

................"The tight little group by the 5p is JSB exacts 4.52".................

Edited April 6, 2015 by Dekers

[FalconFN]

Appologies, I skimmed through but I didn't read it properly.

[turbo33]

Looking at Chris's op, set me thinking why a 4.52 in one make, allegedly made by the same manufacturer, could be so vastly different to another 4.52.

 

I had this yesterday with the FAC Air, trying different pellets. The bis mags, I used to swear by, seem to have been a bit erratic lately, so tried some Baracuda match. They were hugely different, so much more consistent.

 

This had me thinking about head sizes, so as inane as it sounds, I ran the mic over a random 10 pellets from each tin.

 

.22

The bis mags, advertised on the tin as 5.5 ranged from 5.46 to 5.52

Baracuda Match advertised 5.52 were bang on with one that was 5.51

AA Diablo Heavy 5.52 measured 5.50 with one at 5.49

 

.177

Bis MAg .177 4.5 mostly 4.49-4.5 with one at 4.43

AA Field Diablo 4,52 mostly 4.47 with a couple at 4.48

JSB Diablo match 4.53 mostly 4.49, with a couple at 4.48

 

So you see, what the label on the back says bears only some relation to what's in the tin. Hence erratic performances. Now I'm sure someone will jump on me and say my mic is not accurate enough, and I concede to that. The measurements were all taken in the same spot on the mic and twice for the same reading. So it does show a reasonably high degree of variation.

 

I guess the upshot is, as beautifully engineered as our rifles are, the are at the mercy of the weakest link in the chain....the pellet! How do you find the right one? I have no idea! There are too many variables. What you think you're using, you're probably not, hence 4.52 good but 4.52 bad.

 

So Chris, it may well be, the JSB's are a fraction bigger than the AA's and that's why they work so well. Try some 4.53's. They work well in my Ranger

[oliver90owner]

I will start out by measuring. It will not affect my aim, I can assure you.

 

Whilst I use my digi calipers for most routine measuring, I will use my digi micrometer for a more accurate result.

 

Got to tidy up before my SIL arrives later today. Then out with a few batches of pellets for a bit of measuring. I can see seven different ones to go at, for starters.

 

RAB

[Salop Matt]

Try the AA Express 7.9 blue tin pellets ! I found them excellent in my Daystate !

[chrisjpainter]

Good shout on the Accupell FT's, Bob. Marginally tighter than the JSB's, and my gun shop actually stocks them! They only have the 4.51 JSB and I don't think it's worth even trying with those. These FT's seem excellent and the skirts seem a bit more rigid.

[evo]

Good shout on the Accupell FT's, Bob. Marginally tighter than the JSB's, and my gun shop actually stocks them! They only have the 4.51 JSB and I don't think it's worth even trying with those. These FT's seem excellent and the skirts seem a bit more rigid.

nice one chris,,the jsb,s 4.52 performed ok in mine and the 4.53 jsb not so good,

 

the accupel FT,s are performing superb in my wolverine b and the ranger,have to say chris they are defo a tighter group and they are certainly better made, the skirts are not deformed or soft either,

 

I took them out today and they performed excellent in the field , had a couple of crows with them and can say they hit hard because everyone that was hit dropped dead instantly

 

atb Evo

[kiffy]

i used diablo field in my 22 falcon pcp and 177 bsa springer with much sucess accuracy wise so jumped straight in with them in my wolverine without a thought

 

got my zero pretty good in my garden with the limited range i had and when i took it to a local quarry to zero at 30 or 35 yards couldnt get it right.. i mean really bad so much so i thought it was the scope or the gun as the group was to open for pellets

 

i failed to get a good zero with it, in fact my results where pretty much like those above so after a little issue i have with the gun is sorted by daystate i will be looking elsewhere for pellets and it looks like im ordering jsb's... in fact think ill order a tin now!

[bruno22rf]

Am I alone in thinking that the addiction to pellet size is getting a bit over the top-the size difference between the smallest and largest .,177 pellets can be achieved by one single pellet-it will be smallest when in the tin in a cold room and much larger if its in a pouch around your neck?

[evo]

Am I alone in thinking that the addiction to pellet size is getting a bit over the top-the size difference between the smallest and largest .,177 pellets can be achieved by one single pellet-it will be smallest when in the tin in a cold room and much larger if its in a pouch around your neck?

you certainly are alone,,head size make a massive difference to accuracy in my rifles, when your looking for perfection as us daystate owners always do then nothing will do except the best