ahhhh...i see...

since getting into PCP air rifles I've discovered there are a whole new kind of fanatics out there in the shooting world, the "clean machine" kind.

oh, I'm aware and very conspicuous about the cleanliness of my rifles and pistols. they must be kept clean in order to be reliable and accurate.

what I'm talking about is the cleanliness of the pellets fed to the PCP air rifles.

i recently purchased two tins of a well known brand of pellets to feed my Airforce Talon that were a lesson in eye-opening attention to detail.

these pellets were yielding, at best, ho-hum groups at all ranges. it was exasperating to me. no mater what i did, i could not get them to group satisfactorily at ANY range.

now, i hadn't been paying too much attention to the pellets as i fed them to the rifle but then i noticed small flakes of lead shavings around the tin i was removing them from. hmmmmmmmmmmm...maybe I'd better check the quality of them. i found many of them with lead shavings left inside of the skirts and found nearly, what i estimate to be, 40% of them, were disfigured or deformed badly enough to where they were unacceptable. WOW!

after sorting out the ones that were of better quality, i washed them in a solution of hot soapy water, rinsed them with hot clean water and air dried them overnite, lightly lubricated them with a light application of Break-Free CLP and headed out to the shooting bench with a fresh refill in the air bottle and a curiosity to see if that would do anything.

now, I'm fortunate enough to have enough property and live in a location where i can shoot my "shrouded" air rifle without fear of a SWAT team, Marines, paratroopers, rangers, FBI, etc showing up at my doorstep ready to "neutralize a threat".

i have read the instruction manual and watched the instructional DVD provided by Airforce and it is recommended by them that the pellets fed to their rifles be lightly lubed; i had been negligent in that suggestion. that suggestion might make some "springer" airgunners have a stroke...lubing pellets can cause 'dieseling' in springers...dieseling can cause internal damage to seals and pistons.

OK, OK...moving on...

i have three targets set up: 31 yards, 38 yards and 53 yards. two of them are 2'x2'x 1/4", steel plates for back stops and one is a huge dirt pile. all are more than adequate for stopping pellets.

i put a fresh sight in target at the closest one and proceeded to shoot for results.

i was dumbfounded!

the first five shots were almost one hole and centered almost dead center of the bulls eye! the group was no larger than a dime!

now I'm not certain that washing and lubing pellets will cause them to be at least 50% more accurate, but i do believe that combining that with sorting out the less than desirable ones DID make a huge difference.

i had, previously washed and lubed some other pellets...Spanish made pointed ones, that didn't seem to be affected one way or another by washing and lubing, but now...I've got to go back thru them and sort out the ones with any damage or disfigurement.

I'm not too keen on pointed pellets, most I've tried tend to be not too accurate at longer distances and seem to get worse as the distance increases, but kept within closer perimeters, they can be accurate to the extreme. those guidelines vary when the caliber and speeds of the pellets increase; heavy, bigger caliber, round nose pellets, tend to be more accurate at very long ranges (usually, 50 yards and beyond)than do pointed pellets.

since i have ordered a brand new .25 caliber PCP I'm gonna have to pay scrupulous attention to the pellets i feed it...i normally cannot get with in a reasonable distance to live game any more and have to rely on those bigger, heavier pellets.

this out to prove to be fun, interesting and challenging.