Does it help to lube your pellets?

[Budzilla 19]

I recently acquired a Crosman F4 in .177. Will it help any to lube the pellets with a coat of BLL? It shoots good, for me at least, so any advice, good or bad, will be welcome!
Just putting in the trigger time, ya know!
Thanks in advance.

[BLAHUT]

I tried, did not work, you want accuracy, find the pellet your gun likes, just takes time, then when you find the one, buy all of that lot number you can or can afford...

[stubshaft]

BLL is a little thick to be using on pellets. I've experimented with different lubes from FP-10, Ballistol, Break Free and even made some Whiscombe Honey (half and half, Hoppes and STP). certain brands of pellets have shown a slight improvement. Whether it is from the lube or the actual washing of the pellets I can't say. Usually, PCP guns will see an improvement because springers send a fine mist of lube whenever you shoot them. The being said I have shot thousands of bare pellets and NEVER seen any indication of leading.

[dverna]

I did some testing with Ballistol in a PCP gun and adding lube seemed to help.

Here is the data. All data is the average of 5 five shot groups at 50 yards using Crosman 14.3 HP's in a . 22 Daystate Huntsman. Lube is Ballistol and number of drops in a tin of 500.

No lube .547"

20 drops
Test 1 .453"
Test 2 .519"
Test 3 .500"
Average of 15 groups .491"

30 drops
Test 1 .484"
Test 2 .630"
Test 3 .485"
Average of 15 groups .533"

These pellets were not washed first. Washing is recommended but I am lazy and wanted something quick and dirty. Also, I did not weight sort or do intensive inspection. Shot out the tin after lubing.

Adding 20 drops of Ballistol to the cheapest pellets I can buy and averaging under 1/2" for 15 groups is "good enough" for this hillbilly.

You have a Nitro piston gun so not sure how it will react with lube. I suggest doing a bunch of testing.

I love to shoot so spending time at a bench testing stuff is not onerous for me. YMMV.

[GRid.1569]

I’ve used this in a sub 12ftpb Daystate Huntsman Regal (.177)… did it make a difference?…. Don’t know, but it didn’t do any harm. Napier Power Pellet Lube.

[243winxb]

I may try Breakfree CLP on the 177 rifle to reduce leading. But not sure i have a problem? Lubing the chamber does change accuracy & point of impact as some lube makes its way into the barrel.

Interesting read- https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2008...icate-pellets/

[georgerkahn]

I recently acquired a Crosman F4 in .177. Will it help any to lube the pellets with a coat of BLL? It shoots good, for me at least, so any advice, good or bad, will be welcome!
Just putting in the trigger time, ya know!
Thanks in advance.

Perhaps a tooo-long reply... sorry. A colleague (Larry) decided he wished to play tennis, so he bought a Big-box el cheapo racket. After a few trips to courts he acknowledged how awful a tennis player he was -- so he went back to store and purchased their best racket. A few weeks later, noting but marginal improvement, he went to a sporting goods outfit and purchased a semi-pro racket. (TRUE story!)
Germane to your query is when I am tempted (almost obsessed-to ) "improve" -- I suck it up and realize some guys and guyettes have the inherited genes, eyesight, coordination, et cetera to be outstanding performers; I, am a bit lacking .
You wrote, "It shoots good" and I am ever so happy for you.
Somehow, you made me recall Larry...
Not "advice" -- but, Larry truly did this with everything -- for him to improve he either BOUGHT better equipment or any/every gadget imaginable to enhance his performance...
It was suggested that the added practice at whatever is what may have increased marginal performance increase -- not necessarily the additive.
Just a thought or two on "performance enhancers."
BEST!
geo
P.S.: They sell an actual product to better airgun pellet performance...photo here. (Airguns of Arizona carries it.)
Larry (oops -- change that to George )

[375RUGER]

Growing up I dusted my pellets with graphite. My crosman 2400 didn't mind at all, it was a tackdriver. Nowadays I put a drop of Pellgun Oil down the barrel occasionally. For my plinking-around BB pistols, it helps them a lot to the point of being a requirement at the beginning of every shooting session.

[Kenstone]

Not a pellet gun guy, but have to ask, anyone try powder coating pellets??
just askin'

[dverna]

Not a pellet gun guy, but have to ask, anyone try powder coating pellets??
just askin'

https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA...topic=181093.0

This thread ran for 10 months and died. Lots of banter. Guys getting excited about gaining a bit of velocity and pretty pellets, but the really important criteria, accuracy, did not improve.

Smoke was on the thread so you may want to reach out to him and get an update. But in the thread above Smoke was more into the larger pellets/slugs.

There were a couple of other shorter threads and the results were, IMO, boring. 1" groups at 30 yards is pathetic.

I have spent some time looking at how to improve accuracy as that is what matters to me. I want "cheap" trigger time without having to "air up" constantly, so I gravited to .22 cal air rifles. What I learned is casting .22 pellets does nothing but waste your time. PC'ing will not help. In all the stuff I have read, I have never seen either cast pellets or PC'ed pellets shoot any better than 14.3 gr Crosman Premiers at 50 yards from my air rifles. (Daystate Huntsman and DAR)

This year I will be testing at 100 yards just for ****s and giggles.

[Budzilla 19]

After some trigger time today, I think I’ll just leave well enough alone for now! Haha. Getting used to the trigger, correcting some found problems, coming around nicely! $7.50 for 400 shots of pellets will do for me, right now! Bud Light cans in trouble now, if today was any indication! Thank you everyone for your comments! This is a new discipline for me.

[Kenstone]

https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA...topic=181093.0

This thread ran for 10 months and died. Lots of banter. Guys getting excited about gaining a bit of velocity and pretty pellets, but the really important criteria, accuracy, did not improve.

Smoke was on the thread so you may want to reach out to him and get an update. But in the thread above Smoke was more into the larger pellets/slugs.

There were a couple of other shorter threads and the results were, IMO, boring. 1" groups at 30 yards is pathetic.

I have spent some time looking at how to improve accuracy as that is what matters to me. I want "cheap" trigger time without having to "air up" constantly, so I gravited to .22 cal air rifles. What I learned is casting .22 pellets does nothing but waste your time. PC'ing will not help. In all the stuff I have read, I have never seen either cast pellets or PC'ed pellets shoot any better than 14.3 gr Crosman Premiers at 50 yards from my air rifles. (Daystate Huntsman and DAR)

This year I will be testing at 100 yards just for ****s and giggles.

Thanks for reading and responding to my post.
Powder coated bullets have been a game changer for my handgun reloads.

[dverna]

Thanks for reading and responding to my post.
Powder coated bullets have been a game changer for my handgun reloads.

Handgun calibers are much different. There is a lot more "wiggle room" wrt projectile size so being a couple of .001" off is not as critical.

Also, handguns calibers cannot match the accuracy potential of an air rifle. I can get well under 1" groups at 50 yards consistently and at times in the 1/2" range (wind being the worst thing to deal with).

Even with the best target CF handguns that level of accuracy is not going to happen. Now, I know someone will post a nice 3/4" group out of there K-38 or Clark and say, "SEE!!!". But wallet groups don't count. Show me 15 consecutive groups that average under an 1" and I get impressed. (BTW, my air rifle 5 shot wallet group is .2" at 50 yards)

Hopefully, Smoke will chime in and share his experience as I expect he has done the most work on PC-ing air gun projectiles.

[Kenstone]

you said:
""There is a lot more "wiggle room" wrt projectile size so being a couple of .001" off is not as critical.""

The very reason I re-size coated boolits, so why not SIZE coated pellets?
That is a rhetorical question and needs no answer here.
So, there's no need to respond, you are wasting your wisdom on me.
Sorry for wandering into the Air Gun forum...

.