Always wanted to try this

LOL yeah all zoomed in they do look rather large, huh? Almost like funky looking artillery rounds. To put the scale into perspective, the two 0.177 diameter sections are only 0.002” long before tapering back. This is definitely micro-machining for me, trying to turn these in the lathe. I’m used to making parts that average 6-12” diameter…

 

So what you are trying to say is you are used to working with bigger parts... huh?

 

Long shafts, deep hole drilling, tapping and such

 

I ended up making 6 of this new style for now. Weighing them out, the factory pellet was exactly 0.5 grams. This new one is 0.33 grams. With the (I’m assuming) better aerodynamics, it might have a higher velocity, at least in the short-range. Then plan is to do the 2 liter bottle test. Fill 2 with water and do a side by side comparison.

 

Looks sweet!

 

Well, they definitely didn’t get stuck in the barrel this time. So I do think they’re moving at a higher velocity. Without a chronograph it’s hard to prove. I ended up shooting 2 full 12 ounce cans because that’s what I had. The Coke is with a standard pellet, and the sprite is with my aluminum one. The exit hole on the sprite can is more than double the size of the standard pellet.

Just for laughs I shot one of my pellets into my plastic city trash can, which is heavy duty at about 3/16” thick. The pellet went all the way through it, but got stuck at the very end. The standard lead pellet only had half the penetration in comparison.

Maybe it’s my imagination but they do sound louder too. I’ll have to try some accuracy tests at longer ranges to give my final verdict, but so far I’m impressed.

 

Observations: the velocity is definitely there. It blows straight through T-111 siding at 10 yards. The penetrating power is good too, due to the projectile material not deforming. It slams into something and goes until it runs out of steam.
The accuracy though… I was getting 12” groups at 15 yards Absolutely terrible. At first I thought it was a matter of re-zeroing my scope, but it just wouldn’t repeat. The pellets are sized correctly and are a good fit in the bore. That leads me to believe they’re simply too light and therefore unstable. I can make them longer which will bump up the weight, or make them out of a different material and keep the same geometry. The experiment continues.

 

is the diameter a fuzz to small and it is not grabbing the rifling and tumbling instead of spinning out of the barrel ? maybe make the rear flare a thou bigger ?

 

They’re slamming into my wood scrap targets nice and straight from what I can see. That was another thought, like maybe they were starting to keyhole. To test it I suppose I could shoot them farther out and see how they hit. I dunno. When measuring the factory pellets, those things vary quite a bit. I was finding 0.175-0.178” on some, and out of round 0.001-0.002”. I held mine right at 0.177 within 0.0005”. I’ll try that though, going up to 0.178” shouldn’t hurt. As it is they just about drop right in.

 

Reminds me of these guys: https://youtube.com/@taofledermaus

I love that channel. People send home/shop made shotgun projectiles for these fellas to test.

 

I’m subscribed to that guy too. He may or may not have inspired me to shoot rimfire from a short barrel mounted to the end of a Red Ryder, using the BBs as a firing pin

 

Ha! Haven't seen that one!

 

Is his video he was using .22 nail gun blanks to fire lead pellets. I thought it would be fun to use BBs to shoot real ammo.