Making Pellets Worthwhile?

[Underdog]

With the recent shortage of JSB exacts (except for $18/tin that Amazon charges), I began to wonder if it's worthwhile to invest in making my own pellets?

I kinda think it's got to be more hassle than it's worth, buying lead, buying molds and swages, and a melting pot, plus the time spent making pellets. And then, are they going to be accurate? And can you make them badminton birdie shaped? The right weight?

What do you think?

[north country gal]

I have no experience with such a thing, but it will be interesting to hear from someone who has tried.

One of the big reasons I got back into AG shooting was to maximize my shooting time, instead of getting stuck at the reloading bench and buying components and so on. Another was to keep shooting costs, down. Rolling my own pellets, so to speak, would be a move, backwards, for me. I do understand, though, that some folks like that sort of thing. Each to their own, as always.

[nced]

With the recent shortage of JSB exacts (except for $18/tin that Amazon charges), I began to wonder if it's worthwhile to invest in making my own pellets?

I kinda think it's got to be more hassle than it's worth, buying lead, buying molds and swages, and a melting pot, plus the time spent making pellets. And then, are they going to be accurate? And can you make them badminton birdie shaped? The right weight?

What do you think?

I've never done such a thing but I really doubt that .177 cal pellets could be cast with sufficient precision. I know that most pellets are swaged in a die from precision pieces of lead or lead alloy.
I really never fully appreciated the precision required for swaging pellets till I made my own pellet sizing die and needed to make the sizing ring to 1/100th of a millimeter (about .0004 inch). The only way I could get the size right was to ream the die a bit smaller than needed and then sneak up on the final dimension by lapping.

Personally, when I was measuring pellet heads it takes great finesse to even measure down to .01mm and I found that the tins of 4.52mm JSB Exacts I bought varied greatly in head sizes! LOL...there were pellets from tins labeled 4.50mm that were larger than pellets from tins labeled 4.52mm and visa-versa! When measuring pellet heads I found that a tin of Air Arms domes labeled 4.52mm had a large percentage that actually measured 4.52mm whereas the JSBs had almost none from a 4.52mm labeled tin that measured 4.52mm.

8 tins of JSB Exacts labeled 4.52mm that were measured.......
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com

After my issues with JSB Exacts fitting in my R9 leade so loosely that a boule flipped out when relatching the barrel at a field target match and having two dry fires I sold the remaining Exacts and stocked up on the die lot marked and dated 7.9 grain Crosman Premiers! Here's my stash as of th eend of June last year...........
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com
Here is what's left as of a couple days ago..........
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com

Anywhoo.......try some of the cheaper pellet brands and you might be surprised! I recently tried some of the Crosman Premier hollow points in the tin that were bought at "WallyMart". Not so good from my R9 with a rather large leade but shot surprisingly accurate from my HW95 with the tighter leade!

As a side note, if you're insisting on JSB Exacts..........
Trenier is listing the 8.4 grain JSB Exacts at $9.26 per tin........
http://www.trenieroutdoors.com/jsbme84-500.html

Pyramyd Air says they're in stock for $11.95 a tin but if you buy 4 tins at a time you only pay for 3 tins and PA also has a 10% discount code.........
https://www.pyramydair.com/product/jsb-match-diabolo-exact-177-cal-8-4-grains-domed-500ct-4-52mm?p=261

Straight Shooters is listing them at $10.75 per tin..........
http://www.straightshooters.com/jsb-exact-.177.html
   

[Underdog]

I did try the CPLs last night. I was pleasantly surprised at the groups I got. I'll shoot a few more in the next few days and get a better idea how they're going to do.

I didn't see that those other places had the JSB exacts, or I would have ordered those already. I do have an order for them from AOA and just added the FTTs to it- but it'll be mid May before they get more in.

I did realize that the pellets would have to be swaged. Casting always results in a certain amount of shrinkage that is unpredictable enough to make even a pellet cast in a precision mold inaccurate. It just doesn't seem to be worth it for all the trouble and time. Sounds like most folks would agree with me.