b23ball23
"list your gun, scope,,overal price, and groupings at 30+ yards
this might help me more on deciding on what setup to get
also it will be fun seeing the guns compared"
Here is an article I did some time back. I have a Leupold 6.5x20 EFR on the M54 now.
.22 Cal RWS 54/Crosman Premiers weighed/tested at 10 to 90 yards
By Larry M. Gibson
Television had little on that I found interesting several evenings ago. So I began another tedious and boring project, weighing pellets! My method was as described in a previous posting, .22 cal RWS M54/Chronograph Results and Pellet Weight Variation, on 8/16/99 at 00:56:43. In that article I described how the weight variation of Crosman Premier .22 cal pellets had a most decided effect on the chronographed extreme spread and standard deviation in feet per second of 10 shot strings. I hypothesized that same weight pellets Vs out of the box pellets would result in a measurable difference in group sizes at ranges of 30 to 70 yards. Thus began my quest to weigh and test.
I weighed 230 CPs out of a box marked Die #1 dated July 30 1996. I also opened a new box of CPs marked Die #1 dated Feb 25 1999 and weighed a sampling. The pellet to pellet weight variation was similar between the two. The chart breaks down by weight in grains (gr) the number of each weight and the percentage each weight was of the total.
Gr-------#-------%
14.0-----3-----01.3
14.05---27----11.8
14.1-----43----18.7
14.15---53----23.0
14.2----57-----24.8
14.25---25----10.8
14.3----18-----07.9
14.35----4-----01.1
Again I found 3.5 tenths of a grain weight variation or 2.5%. To keep vZc happy I used a micrometer that measures to .0001 and measured a sampling of each weight at the head and skirt diameters. Frankly, I found the diameter variations measured on different points of the pellet diameters to be greater than any variation of diameters between different weights. Since I already own the barrel and have purchased the pellets, meaning Im going to shoot them, the real meaningful measurement is going to be group sizes. Sorry vZc!
The next night I was able to conduct the shooting portion of the test. I have access to a building where I can shoot to 90 yards. I used a 6 foot folding table for a bench rest with sandbags front and rear. A cardboard box with a face 30x30 and 12 deep stuffed with old phone books was the pellet trap. This made it handy because I used a Bushnel Pro-800 range finder to set the box at all ranges tested. I use the range finder when hunting so it validates the holdover data for practical use. I use a Magic Marker to make a + on the backside of regular target paper for aiming points.
I used my RWS M54 with a RWS 450 3x9 riflescope (set at 9x) to conduct the test. All testing for group size of the weighed pellets was conducted at a range of 50 yards. I fired a 5 shot test group with each weight of pellet except the 14 and 14.35 grain weights. I only had 3 and 4 of each weight respectively. Also a control group of 10 pellets out of the box was fired. The chart lists the center to center group size for each weight pellet.
Weight Group
grains Size
14.00---------.22
14.05---------.53
14.10---------.6
14.15---------.76
14.20---------.54
14.25---------.66
14.30---------.47
14.35---------.56
Average group size for the 8 groups: 0.5425
The 10 shot control group measured 1.5 center to center. Seven of the ten were in a 0.85 cluster. There were three flyers, one high and two low that opened the group. Obviously sorting the pellets by exact weight produced superior groups and accuracy. The question was; what weights produced the 7 shot cluster in the control group and which were the flyers?
Looking at the target it was easy to see the center of three test groups coincided with the center of the 7 shot cluster of the control group. The weights of those groups are 14.10, 14.15 and 14.20 grains. Those three weights composed 66.5% of the pellets. Not surprising, the centers of the 14.00 and the 14.05 groups were high and the 14.25, 14.30 and 14.35 groups were low. Over laying all 8 test groups (37 shots) using the aiming point as a reference produced a composite group of 1.65.
I then took the remaining 14.10, 14.15 and 14.20 grain pellets and mixed them up. The rifle was then zeroed at 50 yards with the point of impact being 0.3 above point of aim. The target box was then moved from 10 yards to 90 yards in 10 yard increments. The riflescope was not adjusted other than the focus at each range. This gave me the exact trajectory of this pellet. I prefer to use hold off for elevation and wind when hunting. The group sizes then give an indication of the vital area of a small game animal I can reasonably expect to hit from a solid rested position. The chart lists the trajectory and the group (5 shot) at each range.
Range
Yards--------0---10---20----30----40----50-----60----70-----80-----90
Trajectory
Inches-___-2___0_+1.1_+1.6_+1.6__+.3__-1.9__-5.1__-10.2_-20.0
Group
Size________.15_.20__.35_.45__.56_.78 _1.08_0.85_ 3.0
On the 90 yard group I ran out of weighed pellets so I shot it with pellets out of the box. The group was 1.3 wide with the expected vertical stringing being 3.
This test has validated my original conclusion that weighing and sorting CPs is an erstwhile, though boring, endeavor. This is especially the case if one is shooting targets or hunting at ranges further than 30 yards. If just plinking out of the box will do nicely. Excuse me while I go weigh pellets. However, 1.5 ten shot groups will do for most hunting inside 50 yards. Perhaps its Miller time. Where did I leave that TV Guide anyway
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