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Phil Bulmer puts popular airgun pellets to the test. This month: Webley AccuPell FT .177

When I took stock of the ‘new’ AccuPell – Webley’s dubbed them the AccuPell FT – I thought they’d simply be Crosman Premier under a different label. Having effectively covered

them last month (under the disguise of Brocock’s Super Diablo), I did wonder if I’d be regurgitating my notes, replacing the words Super Diablo with AccuPell FT! Then I looked closer at the tin – and a different picture emerged...

After running the magnifi er over the contents, I can now state with total confi dence that Webley AccuPell FT is not a Crosman Premier. Actually, after scrutiny, I felt they looked more like H&N Sport’s Field Target Trophy – and the scales bore my theory out, too. You know the saying: if it looks like a duck and quacks like one, then it probably is a duck? Well, after checking with Webley, it was confi rmed that their new pellet does, indeed, herald from the H&N Sport pellet-making factory, where it’s made alongside the fabled H&N FT Trophy. So I can turn to a fresh page in my range-test notebook…

H&N Sport – the initials standing for Haendler and Natermann – are a German-based manufacturer who’ve been turning out high-quality pellets since the year dot, previously under the simple H&N moniker. They make all sorts of airgun ammo, but specialise in top end match ammo for 10-metre match guns that take medals and break records in the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and World Championships. In other words, they’re what you’d call a pedigree pellet producer!

But AccuPell FT isn’t just a re-branding exercise; real thought has gone into this. Under the guidance of the UK agency, Highland

Ammo inAmmo inAmmo inACTION

Outdoors – a big gun itself in the shooting business – the Webley brand has more recently made a huge recovery after its ‘turmoil’ years. I spoke to Highland’s CEO, John Bright about the new AccuPell FT and (as any good CEO should be) he was right up to speed with his new pellet’s specs.

AccuPell FT – the .177 version of which I’m testing here, but a .22 is also available – are all from a single die. They have a head size of 4.52mm and weigh-in at 8.64 grains – a little heavier than the JSB competition (which tends to average around 8.4 grains). However, AccuPell FT still falls into the medium-weight pellet category, so offers universal application to plinkers, hunters and outdoor competition shooters alike.

Why this famous pellet (AccuPell) has received the ‘FT’ suffi x is down to Webley’s efforts to improve a waisted roundhead that, let’s not forget, always carried on its lid the tag-line ‘probably the worlds most accurate ammo’ [sic]! This latest, H&N-originated ‘FT’ type now includes a factory-applied coating of Napier’s Power Pellet Lube – and the credentials of that are very impressive (see panel overleaf). Indeed, gunmakers like Air Arms even supply a bottle of it with their new rifl es!

So, in essence, AccuPell FT is a well-established, quality pellet with a new twist – and my fi rst impression on opening the tin was very favourable. While the tin’s no longer a screw-top, you get a nice tape seal to prevent oxidation (the Napier Lube will help prevent this, too), and the contents looked bright and shiny, with no misshapen pellets to be seen. The latter is no coincidence – the pellets were packed in very

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AMMO TEST: WEBLEY ACCUPELL .177

WEIGHT CONSISTENCY – WEBLEY ACCUPELL FT

Left: AccuPell FT pellets from

Webley – not to be confused with Crosman

Premiers!

25 yds

35 yds

50 yds

Accuracy and trajectory from a 35-yard zero

AIRGUN SHOOTER 29

Weighing in at 8.64 grains, the FTs are a touch heavier than the competition

tightly and Webley have specifi ed H&N to insert a foam liner in the lid. I poured the pellets out onto a kitchen towel and found that the

bottom of the tin was also clean and swarf free – always a good indicator of the consistency of manufacture. And, sure enough, each and every pellet was darned close in spec on the weighing scales – just 0.08 of a grain deviation separating a typical 10-pellet, random sample. I’m not entirely surprised. Considering H&N make full-on match ammo – where weight consistency is absolutely crucial – I guess they must have some good technology at their disposal.

TESTING CONDITIONSMy AccuPell FT test day saw only a light breeze, and I laid out targets at the usual 25-, 35- and 50-yard marks, representing typical hunting ranges and, at the long end, FT and extreme plinking. The usual 40 or so ‘barrelling-in’ shots were fi red; I expended these at paper targets and certainly witnessed a settling in period. Initial groups from the fi rst batch wandered around before settling into coherent patterns – so clearly you need to give this round time to come good if you switch to them.

DOWNRANGE ACCURACYAt my zero range of 35 yards, AccuPell showed great promise out of my Daystate X2 PCP/Lothar Walther barrel. Ten shots would fall inside a circle the size of a 1p piece – most acceptable.

Closer to home, the 25-yard target cards were, as you’d expect,

25 yds25 yds25 yds

35 yds35 yds35 yds

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better – and the group pattern printed around 12mm above the aimpoint. At the furthest range – 50 yards – the centre of the group pattern struck just 54mm below my crosshair, although at this extreme distance, I did see the odd pellet wander outside of what would otherwise be extraordinarily tight clusters. That said, these ‘wanderers’ (I won’t call them fl yers) would still have dropped a silhouette knockover target with a standard kill zone. Overall, then, Webley’s AccuPell FT gave a very good account of itself.

FALLOFFThe chrono readings told a fairly typical story in terms of power drop-off over the recorded distances. The most interesting reading was muzzle velocity. Being a slightly heavier ‘medium weight’ pellet, I was expecting my PCP’s output not to suffer as much as is the case when non-heavyweights are fi red. Indeed, I was hopeful of seeing a readout around the 11ft/lb mark – but the chrono showed the same as I’d normally experience with mid or lower-mid-weight ammo: 10.5ft/lb.

As an educated guess, I’d say that the pellets have a slightly tighter head size (perhaps 4.53mm?), which causes start-off velocity to drop a little. Mind you, the difference between 11 and 10.5ft/lb has no noticeable effect in the real world.

Downrange, the 50-yard residual energy fi gure of 5.3ft/lb isn’t anything special to write home about – but as we’re really only talking about hitting metal targets at such a distance, then a 50 per cent energy retention is perfectly fi ne… and not an issue.

VERDICTMy test rifl e’s ‘sweet spot’ in the power curve occurs around 140BAR – and in this vicinity, AccuPell FT really did the business. Outside of it, though, the groups certainly opened up – perhaps more the rifl e’s fault than the pellets’.

Though the groupings were absolutely brilliant, I still got an occasional strike that drifted out. Actually, 70 per cent of pellets went through the same hole – and in a bid to try and identify why a few of the others had a tendency to wander, I occasionally noticed that there was a tiny bit of resistance as pellets were fed from the magazine – and these tended to fall outside of the one hole I’d been forming. This also suggests a pellet that measures up at 4.53mm.

The AccuPell FT is quite a squat pellet, which makes it ‘cheat’ wind a little better than longer ones, but it may also have a tendency to tip during the transition magazine to rifl ing in multishot PCPS. As with any pellet, if the head does get tipped, it won’t be pushed into the breech concentrically… and accuracy will then suffer.

For hunting, I’ve no doubt that the hard-hitting AccuPell FT will carry on where its forerunner left off – right at the top of the list! If you could ditch the minority of miscreants, then you’ll have a pellet that will stand up respectably on the competition circuit, too – and I suspect that if there is a head-size issue, then it could be sorted by the old Bic biro pellet-sizing test; the top FT and HFT shooters hand select their individual ‘competition’ rounds anyway. ●

AMMO TEST: WEBLEY ACCUPELL .177

DOWNRANGE PERFORMANCE STATISTICS – .177 Webley AccuPell FT (4.52mm)

PERFORMANCE AT… MUZZLE 25YDS 35YDS 50YDS

Average velocity 740fps 603fps 550fps 525fps

Average power 10.51ft/lb 6.98ft/lb 5.80ft/lb 5.29ft/lb

Energy retained 100% 66.41% 55.19% 50.33%

Rise/fall from zero N/A +10mm 0 (zero) -54mm

NAPIER POWER PELLET LUBENothing like your average 3-in-1, Napier’s Power Pellet Lube uses a complex formula of oils and lubricants that do more than reduce friction and protect your rifl e’s bore. In fact, it creates a chemical seal around the head and skirt driving bands of every pellet to improve the air seal, thereby generating greater velocity and promoting better shot-to-shot consistency. Additionally, its lubricating benefi ts ensure the pellet doesn’t ‘skim’ or tear on the barrels’ inner rifl ing which, as a consequence, maintains the gyroscopic effect of the pellet as it spins, ultimately leading to greater accuracy at the target.

It’s the stuff used by world and national champions on the outdoor target circuit – and while it’s great that Webley’s AccuPell FT comes pre-loaded with Power Pellet Lube, it’s also available (and highly-affordable) in the after-market, either in a dropper bottle or spray pump!SRP: £2.98 (10ml dropper bottle) £7.28 (25ml spray pump)From: Gun shopsW: www.napieruk.com

A look up the skirt reveals what a well-made pellet the new AccuPell FT isA look up the skirt reveals what

SPECIFICATIONS PELLET: Webley AccuPell FT

DISTRIBUTOR: Highland Outdoors ● www.highlandoutdoors.co.uk

TYPE: Waisted diabolo, dome head

CALIBRE TESTED: .177 (4.52mm)

AVERAGE WEIGHT: 8.64 grains

USES: Hunting, FT, HFT, plinking

SUPPLIED: Tins of 500

SRP: £10.95 per tin

the same as I’d normally experience with mid or lower-mid-weight

better – and the group pattern printed around 12mm

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