The loose space around pellets in the Barrel

[Breechplug]

I dont know if this has ever been covered befor but when you load the Pellets in a Barrel there is a space around them as they dont fit tight to the Bore. Does in anyway this loose space affect anything? You'd think this space would have a negative effect, as there's a air space around the pellets. Is the air space almost like not packing your bullet down tight to loose powder, thus causing a short start or something similar?
(BP)

[spaniel]

Just conjecture, but I don't think the air space is nearly enough to cause the problems related to a short start. If they were smokeless powder pellets my opinion would differ.

Also, I would think there are some advantages. If they fit tight it would be harder for the burn to proceed to the front pellets. With some space I bet you get better burn.

[Big Z]

Shake a smokeless round..

[spaniel]

Originally Posted by Big Z

Shake a smokeless round..

There's a little air in there, but the load density is typically pretty good. In fact accuracy starts to suffer if you get too much space in the case. If you reduce a load too much it can actually get dangerous. That is certainly a good analogy to the air around pellets though.

[lemoyne]

Pellets,
I believe that the standard deviation in the weight of pellets is what causes their inaccuracy at long range. They were probably designed for the beginning muzzleloader who did not understand volume measuring and did not have a scale or powder measure. I wonder if the excessive cost is shear profit or if they are actually spending any money on them.

[Breechplug]

A thought.........would Pellets preform better if they were crushed into almost like Loose Powder so the load would be packed tighter? I see in the Brochure that they say (Never to crush) the Pellets, why?
I dont use Pellets anymore as I made the switch to Powder, but it would seem the crushed pelets would get a better ignition crushed than being solid.
(BP)

[sabotloader]

Breechplug

Crushing a pellet could actually cause you to crush or break a grains of powder if you broke enough of them you could change the pressure created in the barrel. Like changing from 2f to 3f.... It is possible you might get a bigger boom than you were thinking you might get. Not to mention how erractic the loads might perform.

In the case of APP sticks they suggest you crush them. Originally the APP pellets wre just like the Hodgdon pellets but Hodgdon filed a law suit and ended up causing the Clean Shot or Clear Shot to go bankrupt. So APP could not copy the pellet design again.

[MountainDevil54]

cant ever say i heard of APP recommending that you crush them. Maybe in the older days?

[Breechplug]

Originally Posted by MountainDevil54

cant ever say i heard of APP recommending that you crush them. Maybe in the older days?

Crap MD, ya better watch out Hodgdon might come after you next with dem Pellets your Makin!
(BP)