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Need help with pellets

3K views 23 replies 10 participants last post by  SJAaz 
Hey Mike,

Great advise from all the other guys. I have a bit of experience with airguns (About 40 years and a few state field target championships.). Guns like the Ruger, Gamo, etc. are made for the mass market and produced accordingly. Every once in a while you get one that surprises you with outstanding accuracy, but in general they are meant to be in the hands of people that want a pellet to go as fast as possible and are happy to hit a soda can at 30 yards. One of the first things to do is remove the stock screws (usually two up front and one in or near the trigger guard). Clean them with a good degreaser and re-install them with Locktite (or similar non-permanent thread lock). Do not over tighten! If you can find a lock washer that fits the front screws, that's a bonus. Springers vibrate a lot and are notorious for becoming loose.

Next, ditch that scope! Look at the Leapers/UTG brand. I suggest the Bug Buster range. They are very well made and will focus down to under 7 yards (some even closer). You want a scope with an adjustable objective. Parallax errors with give you fits with cheap scopes, or regular firearm scopes. Springers destroy even well made scopes, so the cheap freebies really don't stand up well. Get a good set of mounts as well.

These consumer grade airguns come with lawyer proof triggers, so getting the most out of them can be tough. Really pay attention to trigger control. Be careful with adjusting it. They usually don't make a huge difference and you can easily make it unsafe or even worse than the factory setting.

As for pellets, I HIGHLY recommend either JSB or Air Arms (Made by JSB). There is a reason why pretty much every single winning competitive shooter uses them. There are other very good brands, but if you can't make it work with JSB I would be very surprised. Added benefit of JSB is they are available in several different weights. as well as head diameters. Once you find one that works, you can order from the same lot number. I would suggest 8.4 grain JSB in a small diameter (sounds like you have a tight barrel).

I'm really not getting down on your selection. They are affordable and readily available. If you get a good one, they can be a lot of fun and a decent hunting tool. If you can keep your groups under 2 inches at 30 yards with one of these, you are about at it's limit. I started with the lower end airguns and worked my way up to very high end customs.

I've been shooting mostly .22, but I may have some .177 JSB pellets. I will go through my stuff and if I have some I will send them your way. I may be able to help you with a scope too. One thing to seriously consider is to keep the Ruger as a fun soda can plinker and then get yourself a decent springer that you will be happy with. If you PM me with a comfortable price range for you, I could probably steer you in the right direction. I will PM you later!
 
PS For the best accuracy you want a medium weight pellet (about 8.4 grains) moving between 800-850 fps. For most springers that's where the sweet spot is. A 7 grain pellet going 1300 fps sounds impressive, but will quickly destroy your gun, be extremely noisy (breaking sound barrier) and accuracy will be terrible.
 
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