Anyone ever try lubing pellets?
I have a new project rifle that I don't shoot so great but is proving to be really fun - 500 fps Ruger Explorer. From 9 yards, I got it down from an initial 4" group to about 1", by bending the barrel. It was initially bent to the right where the rear sight had to be set all the way over to the left, and nothing else seemed to help. So I clamped the barrel and just bent it until the gun shot to POA with the rear sight centered. For some reason, this greatly reduced the flyers. I also recrowned it and fire-lapped it. And with practice (already have 2k pellets down the tube in about a week!), I could hit a quarter more times than not from 9 yards. Still, I couldn't keep the shots on a quarter all the time at anything much over 10 feet.
This, I figured was as good as it would get. At least the gun shot the best with the cheapest pellets I had.
I initially lubed the pellets just because I was tired of having black fingers from loading the gun. But I didn't want to shoot them squeaky clean and dry, so I cleaned and tumbled lubed 250 of them with a tiny chip of melted beeswax.
I didn't even think anything of it. But today, while I was shooting quarters at 9 yards, and I happened to noticed a pellet hole in the front of my cardboard pellet trap. It was over a patch of black print, is the only reason I could see it. So I shot at it. And I widened that hole. I figured that was sheer luck, because at this point, I had 2k pellets down the rifle, and I know I couldn't do that if I tried. So I shot again. And now I had 3 shots touching. Well, I shot 8 shots at this hole, and if I throw out 1 low flyer, the rest of the shots are all covered by a quarter, with 5 of the shots through a hole smaller than a 1/4". This is way better than what I have come to expect from this gun and myself, using the tru glo open sights, sitting in a chair but otherwise unsupported. And when I was done shooting, my fingers weren't black.
I have a new project rifle that I don't shoot so great but is proving to be really fun - 500 fps Ruger Explorer. From 9 yards, I got it down from an initial 4" group to about 1", by bending the barrel. It was initially bent to the right where the rear sight had to be set all the way over to the left, and nothing else seemed to help. So I clamped the barrel and just bent it until the gun shot to POA with the rear sight centered. For some reason, this greatly reduced the flyers. I also recrowned it and fire-lapped it. And with practice (already have 2k pellets down the tube in about a week!), I could hit a quarter more times than not from 9 yards. Still, I couldn't keep the shots on a quarter all the time at anything much over 10 feet.
This, I figured was as good as it would get. At least the gun shot the best with the cheapest pellets I had.
I initially lubed the pellets just because I was tired of having black fingers from loading the gun. But I didn't want to shoot them squeaky clean and dry, so I cleaned and tumbled lubed 250 of them with a tiny chip of melted beeswax.
I didn't even think anything of it. But today, while I was shooting quarters at 9 yards, and I happened to noticed a pellet hole in the front of my cardboard pellet trap. It was over a patch of black print, is the only reason I could see it. So I shot at it. And I widened that hole. I figured that was sheer luck, because at this point, I had 2k pellets down the rifle, and I know I couldn't do that if I tried. So I shot again. And now I had 3 shots touching. Well, I shot 8 shots at this hole, and if I throw out 1 low flyer, the rest of the shots are all covered by a quarter, with 5 of the shots through a hole smaller than a 1/4". This is way better than what I have come to expect from this gun and myself, using the tru glo open sights, sitting in a chair but otherwise unsupported. And when I was done shooting, my fingers weren't black.
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