Cheap pellets problem K12

[thirdwheel]

I shoot a K12 using R10 pellets and I have never in any of my target pistols ever used "budget" pellets, I'm serious about my shooting so why would I cheap out and use them but they do have a following.
This week a club member asked if they could use my pistol for 60 shots to give it a good evaluation, I obliged as you do, what I did not do was give them my pellets to use, never crossed my mind. Well 60 shots passed and they said on handing it over "super pistol and trigger I'm getting one and it seems to love Geco pellets", still it had not twigged what I had done. My first shot told me something was wrong the second shot confirmed it and the third told me what it was - the recoil absorber piston was not functioning, it was only blowing back enough to clear the keeper magnet then clicking back onto the magnet- I could feel it, I put it away and continued the training session with my back up pistol. The next morning in the workshop I inspected the K12 and yes still the same with the absorber moving about 5mm during a shot and then clicking back onto the magnet - it normally flies back 20mm or so and only returns as you re-cock the trigger or point the pistol downwards. On inspection the pellet load area was littered with tiny specks of lead, I have never seen this before. So the geco pellets are real dirty and have blocked or partially blocked the air bleed to the absorber piston. Took me an hour of careful work with my tools and air line and all is good with my K12 again, phew I've got an open to go to tomorrow. Now I cleaned the barrel oh my goodness I've never had that kind of blackness come out of my barrel and I'm so glad I did it as well and not just left it. Sixty training shots later to re-lead the barrel and I'm still happy.
So on top of never shooting "cleaning felts" with a K12 add never cheap out with your competition pellets, really why would you as competition ones are not expensive - how much is a new pistol now.

[schauckis]

You're right.
I've discovered the same with the 5-shot Steyr LP50.

Some pellets leave more lead residue and an air pistol, too, should be cleaned during the season.
This can affect the precision quite a lot.

I recommed pulling a cleaning thread through the barrel.

- Lars/Finland

[High Left]

Far below the level you're talking ...

I did a fair bit of bench testing of pellets in my break barrel HW-35 40+??? years ago. Meisterkugeln were noticeably more accurate than RWS Hobby ... but I never saw any issue with switching back and forth ... and the Bluejays never complained about being assassinated with the cheap ones ...

My FWB-65 never got anything but the MK... but I was, and still am (++++++) a fairly pathetic pistol shooter anyway.

Can't say anything about comparing them in my FWB-800, or my P8-X ... none of those antique pellets survived the decades between ...

[pbrejsa]

Interesting indeed. The currently produced Geco pellets are universally recognized among shooters and are good. They have comparable quality and purity to RWS Basic. I am only a 10m shooter, not their dealer. I use them almost exclusively and for many years mainly because of their quality and at the same time an acceptable selling price. LP2, LP10, CM162, K10 pistols have not had a problem with them in the last 15 years. The only thing I haven't had experience with yet is K12. 60 shots is absolutely meaningless. Time and more and more shots will show where the real problem is.

[mus]

Gecos are my club's preferred pellets too, thousands get shot every month by many pistol shooters. Zero issues.

Sounds to me the person you loaned your pistol to had a faulty tin, so to say.

[william]

If one kind of pellets leaves more lead residue than another, I'm guessing the brand of pellet has much less effect than their diameter.

[Rover]

I used GECOs, then they became RWS Basics (???). Basics are all I use now, even though I've tested others that were microscopically better.

I've played with many brands of pellets. I have noted that there is an occasional, rare, "shitty" tin among them. Maybe it's the bottom of
the bin as they're dumping the pellets into the tins, but never a real product defect.

[pbrejsa]

GECO and RWS Basic are produced by the same manufacturer. Probably on the same production facility. The ordinary user and the pistol will recognize them only by the different image on the label of the tin.

[ojh]

thirdwheel: might it be that the persons you loaned the pistol, also tried some really cheap & crappy pellets with it? According to my experience with Gecos in my Anschütz LP-@ I find it somewhat difficult to believe that they would cause the troubles you mention, unless they came from a seriously flawed lot.

[thirdwheel]

Thanks for your thoughts on the matter, pistols with mechanical / spring recoil absorber will not be affected by dirty pellets eg. LP10 but on the K12 the blast behind the pellet is used to work the absorber via a small port <0.1mm dia and behind that there is a adjustable needle valve to restrict the blast. The blast will scour the inside of the skirt of the pellet so any carp flying about has the opportunity to go into that tiny hole and valve and block it. There may be some currency in Rover's evaluation of the bottom of the barrel theory but cheap pellets are not being in my pistols again, this was just an over sight. Match today I shot pants and was adjusting the absorber valve during the match as I had got the setting wrong at home as I was too pressed for time, I cannot blame the absorber on my weak show today as much as I would like too.

[william]

Someday, maybe when I'm a grownup, I'll understand the reasoning behind a recoil absorber in an air pistol.

[PirateJohn]

Someday, maybe when I'm a grownup, I'll understand the reasoning behind a recoil absorber in an air pistol.

Pretty sure it's to absorb the recoil.

[Gwhite]

The reasoning is that you can add it to sell the pistols for a higher price...

An awful lot of top level shooters are still competing with Morini 162EI's, so I'm not convinced it's anything but a marketing gimmick.

[kevinweiho]

Dirty, economical pellets can be cleaned very easily. Use a plastic container with some warm water and liquid soap. Move and swirl the pellets around with your fingers. When the lead sediments settles on the bottom, pass the pellets over to a strainer and flush the soap off with running water.

Spread the pellets out on a towel and leave them to air dry or if it's a sunny day, put them out in the sun.

[kevinweiho]

The reasoning is that you can add it to sell the pistols for a higher price...

An awful lot of top level shooters are still competing with Morini 162EI's, so I'm not convinced it's anything but a marketing gimmick.

I wouldn't say it's a gimmick, the more innovative things you put into a device, they often create other problems in the process.

Stick with the KISS principle...

[High Left]

Shot Crosman pellets in my Powerline 'pump' gun ... before I upgraded to the HW-35 ...

Got nothing but a 'blap' one day... Bluejays...

Somehow happened to notice a pellet on the ground ... that had slid out of the barrel when I pointed it down...

Shortly thereafter discovered there are real live genuine 'match grade' pellets available.