VarmintAir's Airgun Hunting Blog

Pellet Picky? Who Cares - Not Me - I'm Looking For One, and Only One - and That's The Most Accurate One

I pretty much approach finding accurate ammo for my airguns, the same way I did for my powder burners back in the day.  As a hunter, I'm looking for that one most accurate pellet in a given rifle.  I don't need three, or five, I just need one.  The most accurate one.

When I was heavy into varmint hunting with my powder burners, I would search for the one exceptionally accurate load for any given gun. Load development consisted of trying different powders, primers, and bullets, until I found that one load that would shoot bug holes at 100/200 yards.

I would work up loads, by increasing the powder charge in one or two tenths of a grain increments.  I would turn case necks, uniform flash holes and primer pockets. Experiment with bullet seating depth, and check the loaded rounds for concentricity on a concentricity gauge.  

All of this was done to eliminate variables, while searching for that one load that was more accurate than any others.  Once that was found, that became the load of record for that specific rifle.  I didn't start looking for a second or third load, I had the one I was looking for, and that's all I needed.

With my rimfire rifles, I would try different brands, and types of ammo. Invariably, one brand and type would shoot better than the others.  I would then try and buy as much of that load's lot number as I could find. Knowing, that the next run of the same ammo might, or might not, shoot as well as the one I had tested.

It never crossed my mind that a particular rifle was, "load picky" because it wouldn't shoot a bunch of different loads, or brands and bullets equally well.  I knew it was pretty much a given that it wouldn't, and it was up to me to find the one load the gun would really shine with. Were there exceptions, of course, but they were just that, an exception not the rule.

I approach my airguns in the same way.  I don't expect any of my guns, no matter how expensive, or inexpensive they may have been, to shoot more than one pellet exceptionally well.

I don't go into accuracy testing with any specific brand expectations in mind.  I am simply looking for the most accurate pellet, that a specific gun/barrel combination will shoot, at the distances that I will typically be taking shots at.  The specific gun I'm testing will tell me that.  If it's brand X or brand Y pellet, doesn't really matter to me. The most accurate pellet in a given rifle is what I'm after, and that's the bottom line for me.

Once an accurate pellet has been identified, I'll start fine tuning the process by weight sorting the pellets, and experiment with how they shoot lubed or unlubed.  I've tried sizing pellets, and for my hunting applications, I've never found it to be worth the time, plus a choked barrel pretty much takes care of that issue at the time the pellet is sent down the bore.

I never consider a particular rifle, pellet picky because it only shoots one particular pellet extremely well, because that's actually my goal, to find that one pellet that the gun shoots better than any others.  Just like with my powder burners, once that accurate load, or in this case, accurate pellet has been found, it becomes the designated pellet for that rifle.  

I also buy pellets in lots of five or ten thousand .  Just like with rimfire ammo, the next run of a given pellet may, or may not, shoot as well as the ones I have on hand.

So "pellet picky" isn't something I even think about.  The one most accurate pellet, in a given gun, at the distances that I typically shoot at, is what I'm looking for, and once that has been identified, the hunt for the most accurate pellet is over, and the hunt for critters is on.  

 

 

 

Part II - Benjamin Marauder - .25 cal Air Hammer - Pounds Some Prairie Dogs.

Been on the road, and just got back into town.  The following is the rest of the story from my last prairie dog hunt with my .25 cal Marauder.

As I've mentioned in the past, I'm fortunate to own some very accurate airguns.  They have to be accurate or they wouldn't be in my collection. Among that group are several that are extremely accurate, as in the cream of the crop accurate, and my Marauder .25 is in that elite group.

Last year, I hunted prairie dogs, shooting the Kodiak 30.8 grain pellets, this year, I'm hunting the Benji, 27.8 grain domes.  Excellent long range performance with either pellet.  

Among the traditional small bore airgun calibers, the .25 caliber is in a league all its own.  The energy these Benji pellets carry down range is impressive.  The job they do upon impact with a prairie dog is even more impressive.  

I prefer head shots, but even upper body, heart lung shots with a .25 caliber pellet, pretty much drop them in their tracks.  Every once in awhile I'll have one that will run a few feet, but not often.  That .25 caliber wound channel shuts things down in a hurry.

The way the prairie dogs typically react at pellet impact, is pretty impressive also. The energy delivered, many times, will pick them up, spin them around, or knock them completely off of their mounds, even at 90 to 100 yards.

The performance I'm getting from my .25 cal Marauder is everything I had hoped for, and then some.

Here's a refresher video showing a SteelPlinker quadrant paddle target, being hit with the 27.8 grain Benji domes at 50 yards.  This really displays well, the power the Benji's are carrying down range with them. No wonder they really pound a prairie dog at impact. The first clip just shows the last two shots I took on a prairie chuck target, after final sight-in.  I put three on the one inch spinner in the middle, and then purposely hit each paddle in a different location, to show how they react with different pellet impact locations.  The video runs first in real time, and then in slow motion.

 

Below, are some more video clips from my last prairie dog hunt with my .25 Marauder. They may take 20/30 seconds to load, and run for about 3 minutes 22 seconds.

 

My pellet of choice for prairie dog hunting this year.  

Benjamin Marauder - .25 cal Air Hammer - Pounds Some Prairie Dogs.

 
This is the first time I've had my .25 cal Marauder out after prairie dogs since last season.  What a fun gun to hunt prairie dogs with.  The .25 cal really drops the hammer on these things.  

I picked this gun up from Mac1 Airguns last year when they first became available.   The accuracy is right up there with the three other most accurate guns I own.  Those are an FX 2000, RWS Rapier, and my new AA 510 TC, all in .22 cal.

I have a Crosman CenterPoint, 4-16x56mm Power Class scope, with 30mm tube mounted on the top of her.  This is a big scope with a bit of weight.  Just what I'm looking for when mounting a scope on a prairie dog rifle.  

Most of the time, it's going to be windy in the dog towns, and I want some weight in the rifle, to help me hold it steady in those conditions. My .25 cal Marauder runs 11.75 pounds with scope, camera, and mounts. This has become one of my favorite prairie dog rigs.

Sunrise was at about 5:45, so I was in the town at 6:00, and ready to hunt by 6:15.  It can be in the low 90's by 10:00/10:30, so I like to get an early start.  There was a time, when the heat didn't effect me all that much, but as I've gotten older, that is no longer true.  I should have purchased stock in Gatorade.  I've become a really good customer.

I hiked about 300 yards away from the road, and started working my binoculars, looking for prairie dogs out in the sage.  One of the first things I saw was a cottontail rabbit, with its ears glowing in the early morning sun.  They do that when backlit, and that's what I'm looking for when hunting the little critters.  Except, at that point in time, I wasn't hunting them, I was after prairie dogs.

It wasn't long before I started to spot prairie dogs here and there.  The vegetation is getting pretty thick and tall, so each trip out there is a bit more challenging as far as spotting the dogs is concerned.  

The closest shot of the day was at 40 yards, and the longest was at 101 yards, with lots of targets inbetween.

My Marauder gets 16 full power shots on a fill.  Something told me, that it was going to be a good day, with lots of shooting, so I put my AirHog Pigmee tank on my belt and carried it with me.  I'm glad I did, I had the best single day hunt I've ever had on this ranch.  As a matter of fact, I was having so much fun, that I forgot to take very many pictures.  I took a total of two.  LOL.  I did shoot lots of video though. 

Usually, I'm lucky to get ten or twelve shots on dogs, in a three or four hour hunt. This time I got over 40.  It was a busy and fun few hours for sure.  The Pigmee tank was definitely great to have along.

I was hunting with the Benjamin 27.8 grain, .25 cal dome head pellets. They shoot sub half inch five shot groups at 50 yards, and that's the kind of accuracy you need for hunting prairie dogs at long range.  They generate 44 fpe at the muzzle, and average 848 fps, with an extreme spread of only 23 fps.  This is on a 3000 psi fill.

Below, are some video clips from the hunt.  They may take 20/30 seconds to load, and run about 3 minutes and 45 seconds.

 

It was an awesome hunt.  I've got more video clips that I'll get posted when I have a chance.  I'm headed over to California on business for a week, so it'll probably have to wait until I get back.  Stay tuned, more Benjamin Marauder air hammer footage coming soon.

 

 

 

AA 510 TC - Does Two On The Town! - Part 3.

Been on the road for the past week, and just got back.  I wanted to get the third part of my prairie dog hunt with my new AA 510 TC finished and posted.

When this rifle was assembled at the factory, the planets must have been aligned just right, and the crew on the assembly line must have had an awesome weekend, and were in very high spirits, because this rifle went together perfectly.  Maybe the barrel came from a batch, that was just made with nice new fresh tooling, I don't really know, but the gun is extremely, extremely, accurate with the 18 grain JSB's.

I've got the trigger adjusted to 1.5 pounds, and it breaks nice and clean.  I don't like really light triggers on my field hunting guns.  The 1 to 2 pound range works just great for what I like to do.

When I doped the wind correctly, shots to 100 yards were almost to easy.  I spent three days hunting in the dog towns, with this huge, happy grin on my face.  A rifle this accurate will do that to you.

The following, are the last of the video clips from that hunt.  They may take 20/30 seconds to load, and run just about 5 minutes. 

 

Air Arms have really outdone themselves with this rifle.  I don't know if they all shoot like this one, but this particular rifle, accuracy wise, is definitely in the top 1 percent of the guns in my collection. 

I'm heading out later this week for a hunt with my .25 cal Marauder, which by the way, is right up there with this AA 510 TC in the accuracy department.  Stay tuned for another demonstration of the knockdown power of the .25 cal Marauder.