M10 and 34gr. .22 pellets: verdict

[Ribbonstone]

Not an every-day-use PCP, do want it to stay up into the higher velocity/energy and accept the lowish shot count becasue of that.  It's not all that lowwith this MrodAir/SPA M-10 as it has a decently large air volume.


Did slightly down tune the M10 for a more reasonable shot count...which cost me about 10% of the energy.


OK...wife is off teaching a class on the Lutherian  95 Thesis.....(I suggest the 95 feces was due to the "Diet of Worms"...but she just gave me a crappy look).


SOOoo...with "she who must be obeyed" not home,  set MANY sand bags on the couch's end table...locked up the dog and the cat...shot though the house, out the back door, across the yard, and  cheated a little into the (for sale) neighbors back yard to get to 45 yards.

Was looking like a Japanese pillbox in a WWII movie. but was as stable a platform as I could manage.

Main goal of this was at least a short comparsion of the 25.4gr. and the 33.9 gr .22 JSB pellets. 
To get a sense of scale (photo on 1/4" graph paper):



YEs, I did "waste" a few shot figuing hold over from the 25 yard zero to th 45 yard target.  took me three or 4 "sight in" shots on a seperate target to figure out the hold to get "near center" on the hand drawn rats/small squirrels at 45yards with a 3-9X cope (cranked up to 9X).

LIKELY it helpted to shoot the first 15-16 yards indoors...wind at the muzzle has more of an effect than wind later on, and it was well sheltered for the first 15-20 yards)...pluse the rediculaus pile of sand bags...plus an almost no-wind situation  at the time of shooting...plus a well lighted target.   (mentioned becasue NONE of the plus-points are EVER  going to happen when I actually use that M-10 out in the woods).



(took awhile to put the house in order, the dog  at ease, got the sandbags put up,  everything bach as it was before she left.)

So am thinking, there really isn't a "rat'sarse" difference between a 34gr. .22 pellet and a 35.4 gr. .22 pellet (in this SPA/MrodAir M-10).


Whole lot of information in the one picture above.

1. The 25.4gr. JSB is considerably faster than the 33.9gr. JSB, but for less energy per shot than the 33.9gr. JSB.
2. Even with the boost in energy from a better BC of the 34gr.pellet, it makes a "rat's arse" of differnce in accuracy.
3. In this limited test the 25.4's shoot better...that .08" difference is NOT ENOUGH to hang your hat on for just one 10 shot group.
4. Will mention, that with a 25 yard zero, the slower 34gr. JSB''d dropped  about 1/3 more getting out to 45 yards (target is on 1/4" graph paper).



STUFF I'LL LIKELY NEVER KNOW:

5. Will thee long pellets go "stupid" and eneter a "death-spiral" at longer ranges?

6. Is there a real world/in this barrel, signficant BC difference between the 25.4 and the 33.9 gr. pellet?

FINAL VERDICT (at least for me...I'm not likely to ever shoot anything past 50yards...exect for plinking targets).

7.  At least in this rifle, the .22 34gr. pellets work...but the 25.4's work better.
After considered debate.....  For everyting I do with an airgun, I'd much rather have 25.4gr. starting at  928fps than 33.9g starting at 808 fps.

CONFLICT:
Even though it drew basic squirrels/rats as a target, really don't see those as apporpriate 50 yard critters for this level of energy.  "Too Much" really does no harm, but it seems kind of senseless.

If all the shots on critters I'm going to take are inside of 50 yards (and I really-really can't break that habbit), the why would I really need the heavy weight .22's?

YOUR reasoning might be becasue of the better (untested as of now) perfoamnce of the long...and presumably high BC...pellets retaining more energy.

MY reasoning would be that they might offer better "big critter" penetration at my imposed 50 yard limit.  I do like a though-n-though hole in a critter, hopefully wrecking the internal "good bits" along the way.

[triggertreat]

Yes, more FPE at 50 yards for bigger critters.  Or, if you are going to shoot them in the shoulder blade, lol.

[Ribbonstone]

Fatherr kind of trained me 60 years ago..for 5 reasons:

1. He liked squirrel head pot pie (yeah...it's real...look it up).
2. Would occasionally have scrambled eggs and brains....squirrel brinas were fine with him, it just too more squirrels.
3. WrecKing the forward running gear and plugging a hoile though the lungs seems to work just fine.
4. Shoulder/ fore arm tends to toss sharp fragments that help at these speeds.

[Ribbonstone]

Never found it to be "head shots"...have found it to be "brain shots". A whole lot of difference.

[triggertreat]

I was just messing with ya.  Those are some great groups at distance for sure!

[Ribbonstone]

ZFor several years I was haunted by a "pirate squirrel".

He was playing around on a branch at 40 yards right after sighting in an air rifle at 20 yards.  I guessed wrong on the elevation needed for a head shot (full profile squirrel) and the pellet slapped though both ears.

Never took another shot at that squirrel...took a couple of years before he didn't show up again, but whenever he did, those pierced ears earned him a "pass".