PRod Pellet Choice??

[Norm_m]

OK I've had my PRod for some time and it loved the H&N FTT 5.53 head size. I was getting one ragged hole at 30 yards and was my go to gun for yard pest. I had run into issues with getting the H&N FFT pellets so when they came back into stock(last year) I purchased a good supply so I would not run into that problem again. Well the PRod sat in the safe all winter and when I took it out in early March it no longer groups the H&N FTT pellets at all.

My PRod is set up for power with a Double Tube, .110 transfer port and heavy spring. I get 16 power shots and I took out a fox at 42 yards without any issue. Now I would not even attempt to use my PRod for pest control as I can not say for 100% where the pellets is going to hit.

So to possibly save my self some time and money  I would like to hear from other PRod owners to see what their PRod's favorite pellet is.

Thanks in advance for your help
Norm

[Rdsail]

Norm,

give the HN FTT 5.54 a try....I sent a tin of those to Clifford to try on his Prod and They grouped better than the smaller head one.

Just a thought

Daniel

[FuzzyGrub]

With only 16 power shots with a double tube, what fps/fpe are you pushing them?   I have heard that pushing the FTT over 800fps can cause grouping issues, or at least what some Mrod owners have reported. 

The 5.53 FTT have worked fine for me in the stock Prod barrel at 700fps.  Maybe just a "bad" batch.  The 5.54 have been reported working well, as Danial mentioned. 

FWIW: JSB Exacts 18.1g and H&N BM 5.53 did not group well in Prod barrel for me.

[Norm_m]

Like I said the PRod has not been shot for some time and digging out the Chrony printout showed the shot string was actually 24 shots.
It started at 813.01 climbed to 832.81 and back down to 806.51 for an average of 823.03. This gave an extreme Spread of 26.30 and a Standard Deviation of 7.14. All shots were within a 3% range and the FPE was 22.

When that string was shot the H&N FTT 5.53 head were grouping very good. Guess I will need to set the Chrony up and see if possibly something has changed and if it has I will see if I can get it back to where it was to see if it groups well again. If that does not work I will order some H&N FTT in the 5.54 head size.

Norm

[Motorhead]

Yuppers .... H&N FTT 5.53 are the bomb

[Whatsquirrel]

I've tryed the h&n 5.53 in my prod but it doesn't like them.  It shoots about a 1" group at 15yrds with them. Mine loves the benji domed magnums. I get a 1/2" with them at 30yrds.  The only thing I've done to is a .094 tp, my farthest kill is 46yrds on a tree rat.

[jessered]

Chrony is a good idea. It should shot either the 5.53 or 5.54 better, but both should still be grouping at that close of a range and since it did shoot good before you put it up for the winter.

Mine liked the 5.53 better until I bore paste lapped the barrel and now it likes the 5.54 better. But it shoots 5.52 and 5.53 and other pellets better then before I lapped it. I used Bob's/Sean's method per here:

http://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=47627.msg448037#msg448037

[cilami]

My Prod is all stock. I have tried H&N FTT 5.53, 5.54, and 5.55. Admittedly I need more testing, but best one so far, although not by much, turned out to be the 5.55. In any case, any of the FTT's shot much better than JSB 18.1, 15.9, or any other I have tried.

Maybe you can test the "bad" batch in another known gun and see how they do...

[cilami]

My Prod is all stock. I have tried H&N FTT 5.53, 5.54, and 5.55. Admittedly I need more testing, but best one so far, although not by much, turned out to be the 5.55. In any case, any of the FTT's shot much better than JSB 18.1, 15.9, or any other I have tried.

Maybe you can test the "bad" batch in another known gun and see how they do...

of course, another check would be to try a different batch(es) of 5.53.

[Norm_m]

Yesterday between periods of rain I set up my Chrony and managed to do a little testing.

It seems that the adjustments on my PRod somehow changed as it is shooting in the mid 800s. Started at 841.85 FPS went up into the 850s then back down and I got only 8 shoots.

So I backed out the Pre-load adjuster one full turn and the PRod is once again shooting 24 shots in the low 800s. That is almost identical to the shot string I had before putting the PRod up for the winter.

First shot was at 802.82 then it climbed to 827.23 and dropped back to 802.61 on shot 24. That gave me a low of 802.61 FPS, a high of 827.23 FPS and an avg. of 815.56 FPS.

Extreme spread was 24.62 FPS, standard deviation is 7.00 FPS and all shots are within 3 %. This was with a 3000 PSI fill but I refilled before I checked the end pressure.

Rain came back in so I was not able to do any more Chrony testing but I did notice it seemed to be grouping once again. I was not really shooting for accuracy as I was trying to get a couple of shot strings in before the rain started again and it was getting dark.

If the rain stops I will plan on a few more Chrony strings and some serious target shooting to test the H&N FTT 8.53 pellets for grouping.

Norm

[darren]

maybe it was the speed throwing the groups off....I hope so. but I think it was still the screw type lid....

btw did you ship mine out today?

[Norm_m]

Darren All boxed up and ready to bring to Fed Ex Here is the tracking #7700 7974 7382

I was totally shocked when the 1st shot of the string over the chrony said 842 FPS! I was expecting the string was going to start well below the original one, not 40 FPS higher. I could have understood starting a bit lower as the spring may have taken a set by sitting so long. What made it jump by 40 FPS is beyond me!

It has been raining all day but if it stops I plan on setting up the chrony and doing some serious testing to see if it will group like it did before.

A one ragged hole group at 30 yards will make me happy as that should keep me well below an 1" at 50 yards

Norm

[Norm_m]

Well it was not a day to set out the chrony as we had a heavy mist all day long.

So I decided to see if lowering the FPS back to where it shot good would help the F&N FFT pellets. You guessed it they were better but no way close to be being OK. Over a 1" group at 30 yards!

So now PA will be receiving a pellet order very soon.

Going to be trying the F&N FTT with 5.54 & 5.55 heads plus the JSB Exacts.

Hope one of them will be good

Norm