Interesting...

One of the first things I learned about shooting was that the brand of ammo you use really matters. You can take two identical rifles right off the production line and one will drive tacks with a particular brand of ammo while the other will be far less accurate with them.

What I didn't know is that this rule is about a million times more important with an air rifle.

You see, I've put at least 15 different brands of ammo through my .22LR and the difference between the best and the worst at fifty yards has been about an inch and a half.

Well, a few days ago I bought a Gamo sampler pack with four different types of Gamo brand pellets and finally got a chance to try them out today. Best by far was the Gamo 'Hunters'. This is an eight shot group at 40 yards (each square on the target is exactly 1"):



Then I tried the Gamo 'Magnums' and oh..em..eff..gee:



I only fired six shots this time when I realised that I wasn't shooting a 'group' so much as a 'spread'. The first group was about a 1" group (and about 3/4" if you don't count the one low 'flyer')...this group was just over 5")

I have some pellets I use for precision target shooting, others that are slightly worse I use for knocking over tin cans... but I think I'll keep the Magnums handy in case there's ever a broad side of a barn I need to shoot.

(Oh, and I should make it clear, I'm not saying Gamo Magnum's are bad pellets...I'm just saying that my rifle absolutely hates them. You might try them in your gun and put them through the same hole).

Let's just say I fully understand why a good number of people bought a Crosman Storm XT and returned them to the store for being innaccurate. This is the accuracy mine's capable of after I've broken it in with well over 800 rounds...I shudder to think what this gun would do with Gamo Magnums before it was broken in.