Heavier pellets hitting to the left.

[MagnumPI45]

I have been shooting my Diana 460 and noticed heavier pellets were consistently hitting more to the left.  The heavier pellets further to the left where the Crossman 14.3's were more centered which is what I used to adjust my iron sites.  Is there a shooting phenomenon where heavier pellets hit further to the left possibly to do with the rifling/spinning action, with the heaviest pellets 21grain it was a couple inches.  Normally I notice heavier or lighter pellets may hit higher or lower then others but never to one side.

[oldnamvet]

Hmmm. With PB pistols, heavier bullets hit higher since they spend slightly longer time in the barrel which is recoiling upwards.  If your rifle tended to swing to the left slightly during recoil, the heavier pellets would spend longer in the barrel so any movement would be accentuated. Normally I would think that the POI difference would be in elevation.  Totally a WAG.

[only1harry]

It's like Tom says, the pellets will follow the path of the recoil and the heavier they are, the longer they spend in the barrel, so it's normal, but I have never seen anyone claim "a couple of inches".  What distance are you shooting at?

I have tried all different weight pellets in all of my Dianas.  The only time I had somewhat some noticeable difference in POI that was I believe to the left, was when I shot the 21gr Kodiak/Baracuda out of the 350 .22, but it wasn't much.  Maybe 0.5" at 25 yards.  However, I do not normally shoot anything heavier than the JSB 15.9gr out of my Diana .22 Magnums.

Harry

[MagnumPI45]

It's like Tom says, the pellets will follow the path of the recoil and the heavier they are, the longer they spend in the barrel, so it's normal, but I have never seen anyone claim "a couple of inches". What distance are you shooting at?

I have tried all different weight pellets in all of my Dianas.  The only time I had somewhat some noticeable difference in POI that was I believe to the left, was when I shot the 21gr Kodiak/Baracuda out of the 350 .22, but it wasn't much.  Maybe 0.5" at 25 yards.  However, I do not normally shoot anything heavier than the JSB 15.9gr out of my Diana .22 Magnums.

Harry

20 to 25 yards was the distance I was shooting at, at 25 yards I had a impressive for me tight group with open sites with JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy Diablol 18.13g but I noticed the group was over 2 inches to the left of the circle I was aiming at and maybe 2 inches from where most of the Crossman 14.3 were hitting.

A few days later I took some shots, some pellets hitting in circle, some a little to the left, I tried 2 HN Baracuda 21.14g pellet(surprised it makes such a huge difference in velocity, over 200fps lower then 14.3g) and they hit well to the left of the circle, around 2 and half inches, then tried 3 HN Terminators 16.36 and they weren't as far left but about a inch or so left of circle, maybe a half inch to inch where the Crossmans were hitting.

Think I should try a different hold, I had a pretty light hold, mainly just let the gun rest on a bag

These are the targets to show the difference.  Not very clear but you can see the 3 shot group circled of the JSB Exact to the left and on the other one the two Baracude with 21 near them and 3 Term with lines pointing to the 3 shot group and the ones more centered were the Crossmans.

[lefteyeshot]

I doubt they're hitting left because they're heavier. They are different. Different pellets act different in different guns. Find one that groups well and if that's the one you want to use zero the gun to that pellet.

[dtdtdtdt]

The simple answer as stated above, each pellet will shoot to a different point-of-impact.  That's why you have to zero with the ammunition you are using.