Magazines and accuracy ?

Ricky-tk

Ricky-tk

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Ive seen some posts and videos recently equating how you load pellets into a rifle and the accuracy afterwards?
Morseo people comparing different mags to see how thd accuracy changes ?

Is this a thing ??

Surely the mag just provides the facility to hold the pellet before its loaded ? If the barrel is tight and the pellet is good quality, what difference does the mag make ??

Is it just placebo ?
 
Accuracy is a subjective term, and magazines can indeed cause issues in terms of consistent pellet presentation. An SSL will do the same thing and has less potential for variation, however that in itself doesn’t make it better, if it’s still putting the pellet in the wrong position.

My experience is using an SSL improved my accuracy, as did sorting and weighing pellets, but oddly doing both showed no significant improvement over either by itself. On reflection, I realised the improvement wasn’t down to the SSL or the act of weighing and sorting pellets, but the action of discarding damaged pellets for either process.
 
Avalon said:
Accuracy is a subjective term, and magazines can indeed cause issues in terms of consistent pellet presentation. An SSL will do the same thing and has less potential for variation, however that in itself doesn’t make it better, if it’s still putting the pellet in the wrong position.

My experience is using an SSL improved my accuracy, as did sorting and weighing pellets, but oddly doing both showed no significant improvement over either by itself. On reflection, I realised the improvement wasn’t down to the SSL or the act of weighing and sorting pellets, but the action of discarding damaged pellets for either process.
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That makes more sense and puts the problem with the pellet and not the mag
 
I had an FX dreamline lite, was a great gun but the mag was shocking, single shot and carm mags very much improved the accuracy, same pellets, very different results, so I think yes it is a thing with some rifles. 👍
 
Ricky-tk said:
Ive seen some posts and videos recently equating how you load pellets into a rifle and the accuracy afterwards?
Morseo people comparing different mags to see how thd accuracy changes ?

Is this a thing ??

Surely the mag just provides the facility to hold the pellet before its loaded ? If the barrel is tight and the pellet is good quality, what difference does the mag make ??

Is it just placebo ?
Click to expand...
I would present the argument that the very action of slowing the tempo of shooting, by the act & time taken to single load a pellet, thus allowing for a possibly more considered & purposeful shot and merely not rattling through a magazine, is a heavy contributor to accuracy, as much as anything else. A renowned German fella, whose name escapes me, that does many videos on shooting tech & technique, has shown ( at least @ 10 meters) that pellet damage plays very little into accuracy loss.
 
SSL's in all my rifles, my accuracy is better but that could be simply that I'm taking more time and slowing down my shooting.
Saying that, some multi shot mags as supplied with the rifle can be quite shocking in their quality.
 
I generally find single shot loading to produce more repeatable accuracy. That said, the loader has to be of a decent design, and not simply a 'single shot loader' by nature.

Some of my aftermarket mags are very close in terms of repeatable accuracy. And of course, a slower, more careful cycling of a mag will almost always yield better results than rapid 'lock n load' style shooting.
 
I agree with all of the above, some mags are better than others, some are poor quality and inconsistent in how they present the pellet, eg: spring loaded ones, as there can be more tension/force on the first few pellets and less on later ones as the spring tension decreases as the mag cycles round, for example. IMHO SSL's tend to give better accuracy, but that may also be down to the fact you are slower and more deliberate in loading SSL's, as mentioned above.
Some mags may not align the pellet correctly, or some mags may damage pellets from one or more slots due to small differences/faults in manufacture, etc.
Its all about presenting/loading the pellet in the same way every time, without damage and/or misalignment.
 
Surely tho , once the pellet is in the breach there is no where else for it to go ?
Even if you put the pellet in individually or even by hand the pellet seats the same way ?? How much tolerance is there in a barrel to the pellet skirt ?? Plus once the pellet is forced along the barrel the rifling takes care of the rest??
 
Ricky-tk said:
Surely tho , once the pellet is in the breach there is no where else for it to go ?
Even if you put the pellet in individually or even by hand the pellet seats the same way ?? How much tolerance is there in a barrel to the pellet skirt ?? Plus once the pellet is forced along the barrel the rifling takes care of the rest??
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To your pellet skirt question; to some extent it will depend on pellet lead/ alloy mix ( hardness) & just how much the air blast obturates the skirt to seal into the rifling grooves. If breech end is tight, the rifling ( to varying degrees) is graved into the head & prior to muzzle exit the choke ( if present) & to what degree of it's restriction, sizes the pellet...
There's a few here, myself included, that lean to optimum velocity , for a particular pellet/ barrel combination , as a strong factor in the accuracy stakes. Very few can outshoot their rifles...
 
Tolerances!
Does the chamber in the magazine line up perfectly with the barrel, no! So my BSA's the whole magazine wobbles around as well as the rotational position isn't perfect and can vary on BSA magazines (and others I'm sure) according to the pellet used so both my Scorpion T10 and Ultra currently have single shot loaders but these have pretty much the same issue as they also wiggle around and hinge somewhere handy! They can still be amazingly accurate through carefully pushing the bolt or probe forward.
Brocock Compatto far superior magazine to the BSA's and locates far better, again I carefully push the bolt forward or I use a printed loading try or if your thumbs are small enough I can load direct to the barrel if I'm fussy.
My most accurate rifles currently are my Daystate Harrier .177 single shot with a loading tray and my TL TX200 load direct to breach. Obviously there are other factors but in principle if you were building a target rifle you would load direct to breach, if you're going hunting most people would go for a magazine for fast follow up shots or ease of loading without being detected.
 
Ricky-tk said:
Ive seen some posts and videos recently equating how you load pellets into a rifle and the accuracy afterwards?
Morseo people comparing different mags to see how thd accuracy changes ?

Is this a thing ??

Surely the mag just provides the facility to hold the pellet before its loaded ? If the barrel is tight and the pellet is good quality, what difference does the mag make ??

Is it just placebo ?
Click to expand...
Yes, it's a thing, I've tested dozens of mags and single shot loaders over the years and they are NOT all equal, here is just a couple I have to hand:

IMG_4339.webp
Wolverine-R-150-shot-string.webp
 
I have guns where the mag makes absolutely no difference to accuracy over an ssl. But those guns have very good magazines.
I also have guns with shocking magazines where you can feel the resistance when loading. And an SSL is necessary for good accuracy.
Thing is price doesn't seem to be main deciding factor.
 
Ricky-tk said:
Surely tho , once the pellet is in the breach there is no where else for it to go ?
Even if you put the pellet in individually or even by hand the pellet seats the same way ?? How much tolerance is there in a barrel to the pellet skirt ?? Plus once the pellet is forced along the barrel the rifling takes care of the rest??
Click to expand...
Nope, I've seen mags that have tiny lead slivers inside where small bits of lead have been shaved off whilst loading, I've seen and felt resistance when loading mags as they don't always line up the pellet properly.

However....For most people, for most of the time, their mags will be just fine.
But absolutely there can be bad mags that affect accuracy.

I would argue that there can also be bad SSL's too, but IMHO they would be far, far fewer as potential problems with loading and damaging pellets are already severely limited and reduced just by using a SSL in the first place.
NB: I'm talking about a decent quality SSL, not very cheap plasticky ones!
 
As I see it. You load the pellet into a thing.
You load that thing into your gun.
You push the pellet front the thing into the barrel with a probe.
You shoot the gun.
How does how many pellets the thing hold affect accuracy after the big metal probe has pushed it in from behind and the air blast spread its skirt?
 
I am mostly a plinker -- and most of my rifles have magazines -- but I still like them to be supremely accurate.

There is a bell target at my airgun club which is at 65 yards. To make it ring, the shot has to pass through an 18mm hole. . One of my rifles has a ten shot mag. . All ten went through the hole. :)
Dancing banana
Mind you, I haven't managed to do it again..... yet. But I have no complaints about the accuracy with a magazine in the rifle.
 
I've had magazines that just don't line up with the breech. Therefore you have to force a pellet in to the barrel. That can't be good for the pellet. It must take some damage however slight.
Yes you can shim them with tape or whatever but still.
The same could be said for single shot loaders. No guarantee they line up any better. But on a lot of modern pcp's you have to have one or the other as there's no room to thumb a pellet directly in to the barrel like on older models
 
Ricky-tk said:
Ive seen some posts and videos recently equating how you load pellets into a rifle and the accuracy afterwards?
Morseo people comparing different mags to see how thd accuracy changes ?

Is this a thing ??

Surely the mag just provides the facility to hold the pellet before its loaded ? If the barrel is tight and the pellet is good quality, what difference does the mag make ??

Is it just placebo ?
Click to expand...
Personally, I have found the single load option, better.
However, if out hunting, it is better to have the quick second shot option.
So target/plinking single shot, hunting multishot.
 
I think it's all personal & individual .
Single shot loading reminds me too much of shooting springers 😂... maybe not a bad thing for some but not me... I'm definitely a magazine man 💪, all my rifles are far more accurate than me & it's my preferred option.
Plinking & Hunting is all I do.
 
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