Bent Pellets

[Mr.C]

Any of you wise folk got any tips on keeping pellets pellet shaped? 

Never bothered before but as I've a comp tomorrow I thought I'd have a look. 

Maybe I just had a bad tin but a full half of those in my Wilkins pellet pouch had bent skirts. I have another tin, same batch, with one or two in the top of the tin looking iffy, but most look pristine. 

Suggestions please. 

They are AA Diabolo Field, BTW. 

[figgy]

Some competition guys place all the sorted and weighed pellets into a foam type pellet holder so no damage to the skirts, ive never bothered with JSBs. The skirt unless really bent gets blown back into shape when fired. i looked at some i shot into soft material and not one had a  bent skirt and you could see all the rifling marks. Try firing some into water and retrieve them and check for yourself.

[Longstrider]

Best tips I can offer are ...

Never buy pellets on-line and have them sent by post .. they'll get dropped and bashed en-route and most will arrive damaged.

Buy from a shop where you get to see the tin before you pay .. refuse any dented or mis-shaped tins because they'll contain mostly ruined pellets

If you shoot PCP then load your mags up in advance and check each pellet as you do so. Mags should help protect pellets from damage.

If you shoot break barrel, only remove a small number from the tin at a time and check each one as you load it.

Always treat tins of pellets as if they were made of thin glass. Dropping them or bashing them is a sure way to end up with deformed and un-trustworthy pellets.

IMO those wet-moulded leather 'pellet pouches' are a really good way to ensure that most of your pellets will get to gun with some damage already done to the skirts ...

[Mr.C]

Thanks for your quick responses both of you. I'll be alot more careful about they way I handle pellets in future. 

Been having random fliers recently, and I mean bad fliers. More pellet care needed. Thank goodness I'm only shooting tin chickens. 

[Newbie to this]

30 minutes ago, Mr.C said:

Thanks for your quick responses both of you. I'll be alot more careful about they way I handle pellets in future. 

Been having random fliers recently, and I mean bad fliers. More pellet care needed. Thank goodness I'm only shooting tin chickens. 

That is unusual for AA Diablo Field.

A mate of mine did have a tin once that had around 1/4 that had bent skirts, but not before that tin or after.

I've never had a tin with a substantial amount of damaged pellets, just the usual few that you would expect.

You possibly got a bad batch tin, that is what my mate put it down too, but maybe they had been dropped a few times. He did buy from a shop, not online.

Edited September 1, 2018 by Newbie to this

[Mr.C]

@Newbie to this I've kept the pellets and the tin with the rest of them in in my gun slip pocket and been chucking it around so its no wonder, thinking about it, that a (large) number got bent. 

I didn't realise quite how soft they are till I squashed one between my fingers. 

Edited September 1, 2018 by Mr.C

[Bobydazzler]

Never tried it but have read before of some guy forming a pellet pusher (for pcp mags) using epoxy metal (the stuff you buy in a sausage shape)

Goes something like.....spray inside your preferred pellet with silicone spray, wd40 etc (anything to hinder the epoxy metal from binding to it) and push in

the mixed epoxy metal in order to get a pretty perfect mold or shape, then form the 'body' of the pusher with your fingers. Once it starts going off or hardening slightly gently seperate

the pusher from the pellet and leave to set. You now have a molded push stick that matches the skirt of your pellet.....using this to press 'em down in the magazine

should iron out any deformities in the skirt of the pellet.

 

[oldypigeonpopper]

hello, AA pellets can be like that and easy to damadge skirt, my tin has foam top and bottom, you can buy a pellet re sizer or what ever called but mainly used for spring air guns, you might find a JSB  better as i am sure they are slightly harder,

[Mice!]

It's a good idea to not carry your tin around and once you have used a few put some packaging in the tin so they can't move around so easily.

I'm lucky now as i can load magazines but i have 30 odd in a pocket in a small tub just deep enough for one pellet so there side by side not moving about and can't squash each other.

[Mr.C]

Having had a bit of a Google I think I'm going to invest in one of those pellet keeper tins. 

 

[bruno22rf]

If it's .177 you can keep them inside Bic pens - remove the ink tube/nib and cut the plastic tube off - reinsert with a little superglue then remove the plastic cap at the back of the pen and fill - pop the cap back on and hey presto your pellets are protected.

[manthing]

Aafd have to look like they've been chewed buy my dogs for me not to use them. As previously mentioned they reform in the breach as the air starts to push them down the barrel. If you shoot PCP the probe will most likely start this process.

But if it makes you think you'll shoot better, size them, weigh them, wash them and lube them before you push the into place with the special tool you've made or bought, I'll just get on with a hand full in my pocket and go shoot.??