Stopped selling them in the USA, eh?

That'll prolly be because they contain too much lead... ;=)

tac

They certainly have a good pedigree, so I doubt they're crap; but to be entirely honest, there are maybe four air rifle shooters in the country right now (and I'm not one of them) who could benefit from batch tested ammo; and the rest really should (and I've said this repeatedly on and off the range) just buy tins of the highest quality stuff they can get their hands on (H&N Finale Match, RWS R10, that sort of thing) and shoot it. The most expensive pellets go for around €12/500 these days, so it's not really worth trying to save money on them, not when you're standing there in a few hundred euros worth of kit and holding a few hundred euros worth of rifle trying to shoot straight - last thing you need is to save a cent on a dodgy diablo pellet that decides to go wallop a five when you're pointed to the ten ring.

And then, once you hit around 540-550 in competition, worry about the diameter on the sticker on the bottom of the tin. Anything from 4.47 up to 4.53 is available, and some suit some rifles better than others (eg. mine likes 4.49, but the old DURC rifles preferred 4.51 or even 4.52). Figure out which ones, then buy 5,000 of them and don't think about it any more until you've shot them all.

And when you start winning competitions outright, think about getting some batch-tested pellets. Then buy 20,000 of them and forget about it until you've shot them all.

Thing is, if you focus on the small niggly details, you might gain one, maybe even two points by doing so. But if you train harder, you could pick up 40-50 points. So you put your effort in where it counts the most...

Well, sir - I shoot Olympic stand-up style air-rifle, but I'm not that good at it I have to admit. I also shoot 10m and 20 yard air pistol, too.

Sadly, I also live in eastern UK, so I'm not what you are looking for.

Add to that that pellets are not simply 4.5mm, but 4.47 - 8, 9, 50, 51, 52 and 53, and therefore weigh differently, and you might have a problem finding somebody who shoots the samples that you have to offer.

However, if you think that I might be able to help you, please PM me.

tac

demonloop wrote: »

Think I got 4.52, but if I need you I'll drop you a PM

Ah. No use to me at all, so. Both my air rifle [Feinwerkbau P70] and pistol [Steyr LP10] shoot 4.50.

I'm not going to drill the barrels out for the sake of a few pellets, I'm sure you understand. ;=)

tac

If you want DURC to run them through a selection of our rifles (no test bench - but from the shoulder) we'd be happy to help out. Just need to figure out what's necessary to get hold of them.

Cheers guys, I'll get in touch when I get them sorted out

psf32 wrote: »

I have tried the pellets out in my walther and found them to be as good as my H & N and have given me some nice groups now I am back in training to the extent I put in a new 40 shot PB tonight of 395

Great news Peter. Onwards and upwards. Munich seems to have done you a world of good judging by that!

Nice one Peter. You must be working hard at it. I really need to get back into it myself. Need to improve by about 20 points by November.

Qian Yuan Chinese pellets seemed to be hot for a while, but they could be hard to find and it seemed that no one had thoroughly tested them. Opinions seemed to range from,” as good as anything out there” to “junk”. European shooters seemed to have given them a pretty good run, but up here in the Pacific Northwest almost no one has tried them.
They sell several grades of pellets, different nose configurations, and head diameters. They are different and perform differently.

I’ve been able to secure the pointed Training, the flat nose Training, the green box Match, and the red box Olympic and each of these in 4.49 and 4.50 mm head diameter.
A few caveats must be stated up front. Each pellet rifle may have its own preferred pellet. What shoots well in my gun may not shoot worth a damn in your rifle. I have tested these pellets in three high quality air rifles which confirmed the preceding statement.

For match shooting pellets should be carefully weighed. Even high quality H&N Finale Match Rifle pellets which are nominally given a weight of 8.2 grains, may vary from abt. 7.9-8.5. If one weighs every d--- pellet in a 500 pellet tin, most will weigh 8.1-8.3, but there are usually a few outliers. Even the 8.1-8.3 is significant. From one shot to the next the difference may not be very noticeable. In my FWB P70, however, when firing a full 25 bull target of each, an 8.1 gr. Pellet will strike about .04” higher than an 8.2 gr. Pellet. Small numbers of comparative shots don’t tell you much because there are so many other variables, but a full bench rest target of each will suggest where some of those “9s” are coming from.

It should be noted here that pellets that are uniform in weight still may not shoot very well. Weight is just one of the variables effecting accuracy.

I have also weighed a lot of QY pellets. In some professions they might label me as anal retentive. In the following I will use the QY 8.2 grain, flat nose, Training pellet as an example. In a full box of 500 every single pellet showed 8.2 or 8.3 gr. on my scale. Many of those that settled at 8.2 vaccilated back and forth before settling on 8.2. Random ten pellet samples of the 8.3 gr. pellets showed 83.3 total weight. Random samples of the 8.2 gr pellets consistently weighed 82.7. It seems that all of these pellets were within about .5 gr of the same weight. It almost seems that there is no point in weighing these pellets. Still, on test targets the 8.2s shot about the width of the ten ring higher than the 8.3s on a 50’ benchrest target. Do weigh and sort your pellets for bench rest shooting.

A weakness at QY may be in quality control. Pellets in the same tin are extremely uniform, Pellets in the same lot are very uniform, but between lots there can be big differences. I have several tins of the flat nose Training pellets from three different lots. One lot consistently weighed 7.8-7.9 as compared to the 8.2 and 8.3 above. Obviously, these two lots do not shoot to the same point of aim. The 7.8-7.9 can of pellets was also very consistent within the lot and shot very well. If switching from one of these to the other mid match, your scoring would go to hell. Anytime one changes tins of pellets mid match, one should rezero their rifle with the new pellets.

In my FWB P70 the QY flat nose Training pellets seem to shoot every bit as well as high priced competition pellets from several other manufacturers. They not only are an excellent, reasonably priced practice pellet, but seem to be an inexpensive match grade pellet.

The QY green box are a step up in price and maybe in quality. They seem to be the same pellets as the Training pellets described above, but quality control might be a little tighter. As always, each gun has its likes and dislikes. One of my guns does not shoot these very well. The other two like these pellets in either 4.49 or 4.50. Today I shot five consecutive five shot groups which averaged less than .14 center to center using the 4.49 head size. Note: I am nearly eighty and I don’t shoot as well as I used to. My FWB 300 shoots these much better than the same pellet in 4.5mm. I’ve shot a 250/250 with these. Several members of my club have shot personal bests with these pellets. At something like $9.00 for 500 of these, individually packaged, well padded, in a neat box, they seem to be a steal. My big regret is that I can’t find any more unless I want to buy a pig in a poke 10,000 pellet lot direct from the factory-plus a hefty shipping charge, plus a currency exchange fee,….

The red box QY pellets come 200 individually packaged pellets per plastic box at about $10. This is pretty pricey. They come in both 4.49 and 4.5 head diameter. Economy, or my wife’s Scottish heritage, have kept me from giving these nearly as intensive a test as the other QY pellets. In terms of consistent weight and accuracy on target these do seem to be a cut above the training pellets. Again, individual rifles have their preferences. One of my rifles does not seem to like these although I’ve been loath to shoot a lot of them, at a nickel a pellet, to find out if they are a few thousandths C:C better than the green box. A local benchrester did recently shoot 1000/1000 80X with these! Because of cost I’m not likely to shoot any more of these than I am to shoot a lot of the individually packaged R-10s. If you are a serious competitor, you might want to try these. If they work for you, save them for formal matches.

In summary, give the QY pellets a try. At worst they are good quality, inexpensive practice pellets. If one of the pellets or one of the sizes happens to really suit your gun, bless you and good luck.