Tumbling pellets?

[bouddha]

H&N 19.09 grain pellets, thru a GAMO .22 Hunter. Is this normal?

[Raj]

No - not normal at the optimum power setting. What power is your Gamo putting out? I can see from your location that you are Stateside ... where you dont have the same restrictions like we do here in the UK.

[bouddha]

.22 cal Hunter is rated 975 FPS. It shot lighter weight pellets fairly well (half inch @ 20 yards occasionally. I'll probably give this to my neighbor, just curious. My TX200 is much better in all areas, of course, and I swapped spring & parts to lower it to 11 FPE.

[TenMetrePeter]

if the pellets really were tumbling and going through the paper sideways they would be flattened against the backstop sideways. check the lead waste and I bet they are normal and circular. It just looks like low speed and not the best short fibre target paper.

[bouddha]

Target was hung in front of backstop by 6 inches or so. Targets are also regulation benchrest targets, chosen for their ability to showcase accurately bullet strikes.



Not the best picture, but this is the TX200 in .177 taken the same day.

[Raj]

And what is the crown looking like? Better still, if you could catch a discharged pellet with a cloth sheet at distance and inspect the rifling marks, there might be a story there.

[TenMetrePeter]

Try to catch pellets to check rifling etc like Raj says but also check the ones hitting a steel plate at that distance. If they are round and flat they are not tumbling. If like mushrooms they are low power.
The chances of every pellet hitting the paper exactly sideways is pretty small. If I saw that last night at our 10m club I would say well down on power and needing new seals. Slow pellets dont cut they tear, Are you sure it is putting out 975 fps? Could kill a raccoon with that at full rated power!

[Axelrod]

Fps given by gamo are with the lighest pellet possible in order to sell the gun. I live in Spain and am surrounded by gammo. I have yet to see one that produces the figures quoted on the box. The pellets you are using will be at least twice the weight of the pellets the gun was tested with and may be more than that. Low velocity and lower spin rate all lead to what you are seeing on your target. dave

[bouddha]

Thanks, Dave. That was my suspicion.