I did some testing last year and wanted to go down this rabbit hole again. Last year I shot 5 shot groups at 50 yards and found "a little" Ballistol shrank groups from .814" to .65" (average of 10 groups). A "heavy" amount of Ballistol opened groups up to .87"
Today, conditions were not great, so I stayed at 25 yards. Wind was gusting up to 10 mph from the north and my range faces west. I know, the range should face north but my house is not built that way and I shoot off the back porch to 200 yards.
The gun was a .22 Daystate Huntsman. It is not regulated. I top the gun up after every 20 shots form a tank. Pellets are the Crosman Premier HP's that weigh 14.3 gr. Pellets are straight from the tin. No weight sorting, skirt unforming or visual inspection. Cheap Amazon and Wally World $6.24 per tin "crap".
I decided to shoot five 10 shot groups figuring that was a better test than 5 shot groups, and saves me hobbling back and forth so much. Getting old sucks.
Without lube, I got .547"
Instead of a subjective "a little" lube, I measured 20 drops of lube into a new tin of 500, and got .453" groups.
Then put 30 drops into fresh tin of 500 and averaged .484" with one bad group that went .679". The four "good" groups averaged .436"
I decided to repeat the 30 drops of lube test and ended up with .662".
This last test was frustrating. The groups were very good except for one flier in nearly every group. I was getting tired, and the wind had picked up. I also wonder if I am getting "lube purge" or maybe the barrel needs cleaning.
Testing last year and this year have shown adding some lube helps accuracy of these cheap pellets in my gun. YMMV.
Health issues have kept me from shooting much and firing 200 rounds today aggravated my back.
I will be doing more testing. I may weigh sort pellets to see if that addresses the fliers I am getting. No way I will ever weight sort plinking pellets, but it would be fun to get some "wallet" groups with $6.24 pellets.
One thing for sure, 10 shot groups are tougher to hold together and they make average group size larger. Let me explain. I had a .396 group and one shot opened it up to .696. If I had a .396" group for 5 shots and .696" for the next five that would average .546" There is a very high chance the 5 shot group would be less than the .396' nine shot group. And there is a good chance the maximum group would be less than .696".
Out of the 20 groups shot today, I had 10 nine shot groups that were under .35".
With 5 shot groups at 50 yards that gun/pellet combo averaged .77" groups at 50 yards last year. That was the average of 45 groups!
BTW, one reason I ignore accuracy posts with one 5 shot group. They are "feel good" but tell little else.
Sorry but it is a pain for me to post groups and I shoot a lot of groups.
I will update as I send more pellets down range. Plus I want to see how my inexpensive DAR does.