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Old October 26, 2008, 07:44 PM   #1
johnwilliamson062
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Pellet Problems

So I bought a GAMO rifle a few months back. II was pretty excited about it. Took it to the old 25yd range in the basement had great results. Took it out to a 50 yd range great results. THat is until I ran out of the little gold pellets which come with the rifle. Cabelas was generous enough to toss in some lead ones with the rifle. When I placed the first one in the "chamber" it was so soft it deformed slightly. Even being more careful on the future ones there were still deformation problems on any that fit tightly, and those that weren't tight were all over the place. I was getting 10 inch groups with these lead pellets at 50 yards whereas I was breaking pieces of clay pigeons easily with the gold ones.

The gold ones are $.08 a piece!!!
I can get 3 inch groups out of my 891T shooting federal premium bulk at $.04
I bought this rifle for squirrels and a cheap way to practice the basics. It obviously won't get the job done with present pellet selection

The lead ones I was using were GAMO brand and very similar in shape to the GAMO raptor.
Someone please help me out with some pellet suggestions. I am ordering an assortment of the Cabela's brand as I type.
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Old October 26, 2008, 07:46 PM   #2
chris in va
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Have you tried cleaning the airgun barrel yet?
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Old October 26, 2008, 07:56 PM   #3
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My favorite pellet for my Gamo Shadow 1000 is the Crosman Premier hollow or pointed from walmart for around ~$5.00 for 500. These pellets are consistent quality and have a nice tight fit in the breech.

Here are some of my findings...
Gamo Magnum pointed pellets are JUNK!!! All over the paper!

They fit loosely in the breech and have even fallen part of the way out to be pinched in the breech!
These daisy pellets are a bit tighter fitting and grouping but still not up to the task as far as accuracy goes.

This is the pellet I buy for general use as they fit tight and shoot as straight as the "Avanti" olympic grade pellets I tried out.

These are the avanti pellets... Note the way they are shipped in the styro sheets to prevent damaging them...

The hollow point "premier" are just as good of shooter as these!
Brent
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Old October 26, 2008, 07:57 PM   #4
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And here is a thread I made on a different site regarding a 42 yard shooting test...
I set up an old bird bath out in the yard "a far piece" from the house to put feed into to sucker some squirrels in and fatten them up. Well I decided to see if me and the gamo were still up to the challenge so I set this dinky 5.5oz apple juice can on the rim and walked back to get the rifle out of the house... Sat on the seat of the mower and sighted in. Instead of having my target just above the sight I set the sight right in the middle of the can. Popped the trigger and hit the can first shot... Next was to see if the gamo was still up to snuff in the power dept. I thought it might be weak as I had a noticeable lag from shot to impact. Figured I might find just a dent but had a thru and thru. I don't know if it is enuff to get a clean kill at that range but we will see Wink I strode (paced) the distance at 42 yards from muzzle to can. From POI I didn't need the full rise I put on the sight but it will work for a squirrel. Here is the set up...

The damage...

The view from my position...

Camera zoomed in fully...

Yes I did have to wear my glasses for this.
Brent
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Old October 26, 2008, 08:03 PM   #5
johnwilliamson062
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I am headed to w-mart to buy some pellets.
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Old October 26, 2008, 08:26 PM   #6
alfsauve
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Pellet Help

{FOLLOWUP NOTE: When I first posted this, for some reason I didn't receive the pictures. So forgive my ignorance at the caliber and the pellet types. STILL a sampler is a good thing to try}

I'm not sure which caliber you got, and which "gold" pellets you're referring to, but that seems a little high. Might I recommend you check out some of the companies specializing in air guns.

One good company is Pyramyd Air

http://www.pyramydair.com/cgi-bin/sh...d_pellets=show

Another company, one that sells pellet samplers, is Straight Shooters

http://www.straightshooters.com/stra...sssampler.html

And personally, I'd make my first spring powered air gun a Beeman R series myself. But, that's just me.

Alf

Last edited by alfsauve; October 28, 2008 at 08:24 PM.
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Old October 26, 2008, 08:30 PM   #7
hogdogs
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The gamo is most likely the .177 cal. and the gold pellets are a non lead called the "Raptor" by Gamo. They supposedly increase the FPS from 1,000 to 1,200 FPS.
They are terribly expensive buggers and for that reason I have not tried them as I bought my rifle a year before they were invented. Gamo includes a 50 count pack with the rifle now-a-days.
Brent
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Old October 26, 2008, 09:22 PM   #8
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Raptor .177 and 100 count included. They shot amazingly well. I was really impressed and thought this was the smartest rifle purchase I had ever made. I sighted at 25 yds and was hitting clay pigeons at 50 w/o adjusting. It seemed to be shooting 3/4 of an inch lower. The drop for the lead pellets was about 14 inches more than the raptors at 50 yds. I had 7 clay pigeons lined up vertically aimed at the middle one, and was below all by a couple inches. The raptors were just really flat shooting. But, nothing a 22lr can't do at 1/2 the price. I would give them a try Hogdogs, but don't budget for them in the future.
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Old October 26, 2008, 09:24 PM   #9
ziggy222
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i got the crossman quest1000 and have the same problems.crossman just told me to shoot 1000 pellets out of it before contacting them again.i'm not happy.oh and the scope sucks.
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Old October 26, 2008, 09:42 PM   #10
johnwilliamson062
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my scompe is pretty nice. Better than all the scopes I have seen on packages for "real" rifles.

I think the key to this is the deformation of the pellt if it is a tight fit, and the fact that some were tight and others loose. Hoping the crossmans are a little bit less malleable and better tolerances done on their diameter.

Hogdogs hasn't led me stray before, so i am going to test out the crossman pellets before I get too worried.
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Old October 26, 2008, 10:39 PM   #11
Mike U.
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I agree with hogdog about Crossman pellets...

However, I would like to add a couple of more to the mix. Here are the Crossman pointed hunting pellets and the Crossman SIlver Eagle lead free alloy pellets. These Silver Eagles make the loudest CRACK!! I have ever heard from a pellet gun. I've been getting some that impact the target sideways too, but right at POA.
Also, I found the Silver Eagles only at Gander Mountain. Yep, you guessed it, EXPENSIVE! IIRC, it was about $9.00 and change for the tin.
Both of these pellet types shot to POA in my Gamo 1000. I was very surprised to be honest because, well, they come from Crossman. I didn't associate Crossman with high quality pellets, but, these are excellent pellets for the money.
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Old October 26, 2008, 11:02 PM   #12
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Mike, If that 9 bucks was for a 250 count tin... Can you say "Break it off in me please"!!! That is 18.00 for 500 and you can buy 550 .22lr for 13 bucks? I would never buy any pellet for that much, even if they explode on impact!
Brent
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Old October 27, 2008, 09:41 AM   #13
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I generally buy Beeman brand pellets. They sell the good stuff. Very high quality. In my Beeman HK97k .20 underlever, I tend to use the Beeman Crow Magnums the most. They really kill starlings out to extended range.

Gregg
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Old October 27, 2008, 11:33 AM   #14
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+1 on the Crossman hunters. Great for the money and easy to find.
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Old October 27, 2008, 05:03 PM   #15
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I bought a package of Raptors to shoot in my Crossman pump air rifle, but they would jam up in the breach. They wuold shoot fine out of my break over Savage air rifle, but were crap in my pump. Just wished I could find some parts and pellets for my .20 cal Sheridan...
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Old October 27, 2008, 05:58 PM   #16
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hummer, here ya go part 1. http://www.pyramydair.com/cgi-bin/ac...cessory_id=624

Part 2 to follow. I found a guy in central FL that completely overhauled my 70's era Blue-Streak for around $40 plus shipping. I'll see if I can locate his ph.# tomorrow. These are not considered firearms and can be shipped, remove the stock to reduce shipping costs.

My local gunshop carries the pellets.
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Old October 27, 2008, 06:29 PM   #17
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Hummer, The raptors, being non lead, are likely to hard to be compressed into the rifling and fired from your Pump air rifle. Most Pump rifles had a MAX fps of 700-750 and that was "advertised" power which likely never happened and if it did it was only for the first few shots. After that they settle into about 600fps give or take. The raptor was intended for full power adult style rifles.
Brent
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Old October 27, 2008, 08:41 PM   #18
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though not cheap, i've been using a pellet called the predator & it is amazingly accurate & critters just drop on impact. it looks like a tiny hornady sst. definately the best hunting pellet i've used.
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Old October 27, 2008, 08:53 PM   #19
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I ain't 'bout to spend 40 dollars per 500 pellets... I have no problem bringin' down squirrels and doves with the $5.00 per 500 Crosman premier. And to hit that tiny can at 42 yards not once but twice with 2 pellets without a rest says they are plenty accurate for me...
Brent
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Old October 31, 2008, 08:10 PM   #20
Mike U.
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Quote:
Mike, If that 9 bucks was for a 250 count tin... Can you say "Break it off in me please"!!! That is 18.00 for 500 and you can buy 550 .22lr for 13 bucks? I would never buy any pellet for that much, even if they explode on impact!
Brent

hogdogs,

I hear ya! They actually had some alloy pellets at Gander Mountain that have a red pointed plastic tip that were about $17-18.00 for maybe a hundred. Talk about sticker shock!
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Old November 1, 2008, 03:00 PM   #21
Evan Thomas
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$40.00 per 500???? Insanity.

Yeah, the Beeman Crow Magnums are good.

Two additional suggestions: Beeman Match wadcutters, and RWS Meisterkugeln 8.2 gr., also wadcutters. It took a while to find out what pellets my airguns like best...

As alfsauve noted, if you really want to experiment, get a pellet sampler -- the Straight Shooters one has pellets from Crosman, Beeman, RWS, JSB, Logun and Benjamin Sheridan -- 25 each of, I think, 36 different pellets for 25 bucks.

http://www.straightshooters.com/stra...sssampler.html
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