TargetTalk

What cuts a cleaner hole in paper? a light or heavy pellet? Assuming a good grade target is used,

dam8 wrote:What cuts a cleaner hole in paper? a light or heavy pellet? Assuming a good grade target is used,

The velocity governs the kinetic energy, and the amount of energy determines how clean the hole is with a wadcutter pellet. Weak pistols and rifles cut a cleaner target with lighter pellets.

I'd imagine it would be the faster pellet, regardless of mass (almost).

If you are getting ratty looking holes, try better targets. There are several threads in the archives that talk about this issue. I know the US made (National Target brand) targets I use for practice are pretty bad, but I'm not concerned about score & shoot 10 shots per target, so it hardly matters. I think Edelmann targets are considered the best, but they are expensive. There are some cheaper alternatives that are supposed to be quite good.

I have a source for Kruger 10M AP targets here in UK - they are top class and ISSF approved.

Your source of Krueger Targets In the USA http://www.goldmedalshooting.com/ . "Doc"

I got our club to start using the Kruger 10m AP targets. The holes were so clean, we went from 1 hole per NRA target to 3 holes in Kruger. Then, we went to 5 holes per Kruger.

The thought from everyone: It's easier to score a Kruger with 5 holes than it is to score an NRA with 1. We have a couple of mid-upper 560 shooters using them, no issues.

It's also probably cheaper to use Kruger if you're doing 3 or 5 per target VS NRA targets.

The only downside... our club will no longer have a huge stockpile of 1-hole targets for the University class and collegiate team. But we'll figure it out.

Oz

Thanks guys, I get good holes from the canada targets I get from Nikkos, But I'm in the market for a new sleeve of pellets.Sport or practice targets probably. And come to think of it I'm out of targets also. My Steyr is set at 525 fps. So the relationship between target and pellet, is more for light pellets or heavy pellets. Sorry I didn't elaborate earlier

Light, accurate, AND cheap...RWS Diabalo Basic.

Some of the American targets are so bad that you can't get a clean hole no matter what you do.

When the pellet hits the target the target bows inward before the pellet goes through. Putting a used target in back stiffens the target and will frequently cut cleaner holes.

Would micro-waving or baking those poor targets help?

My understanding is that the cheaper targets use longer fibers in the paper, which makes them tear more. Apparently chopping the paper fibers up fine enough to get clean holes costs a lot more. I may also be that making good paper out of short fibers is a bit trickier. I think the US target manufacturers use the same material for air gun targets that they do for everything else. What works OK for cartridge firearms just doesn't hack it for air guns.

Gwhite wrote:If you are getting ratty looking holes, try better targets. I know the US made (National Target brand) targets I use for practice are pretty bad

Amazing junk indeed.

Edelmann of yore went down, changed hands, is still somewhat okay. Krüger now leads in quality and in market share.

Alexander

Gwhite wrote:My understanding is that the cheaper targets use longer fibers in the paper, which makes them tear more. Apparently chopping the paper fibers up fine enough to get clean holes costs a lot more. I may also be that making good paper out of short fibers is a bit trickier. I think the US target manufacturers use the same material for air gun targets that they do for everything else. What works OK for cartridge firearms just doesn't hack it for air guns.

Good targets use short fibre and hardwood pulp (so i'm told, don't tell the greenies)!

I've also heard that they add clay to the pulp.