:confused:What does Diablo like "devil" in spanish mean, or is it diabolo. I thought it was the shape of the pellet
-Craig

B100, this information is a direct quote from the Pyramydair website:

"Most top-quality pellets are made with a pinched waist - a so-called wasp waist. The correct term for this design is diabolo. A diabolo pellet is stabilized (prevented from tumbling) by the high air drag on its tail. A hollow skirt plus the pinched waist work together to produce this drag, plus a forward weight bias keeps the nose pointed in the right direction. Where a conventional rifle stabilizes the bullet by spinning it rapidly, a diabolo pellet will even be reasonably accurate in a smoothbore gun. It works exactly like badminton "birdie" and for the same reason - a high-drag skirt. Most modern pellet rifles and pistols are rifled which does cause the pellet to spin on its axis in flight, but the rate of spin is too slow to stabilize the pellet by itself. When the pellet leaves the muzzle it starts slowing down very rapidly. It will lose more than half its muzzle velocity within the first 100 yards of flight. If the pellet was shot at a speed above the sound barrier, it will also be destabilized by passing through the sonic pressure wave it created. The sound barrier varies, but it usually remains near 1,100 f.p.s. at sea level on a normal day. When a pellet goes faster than the sound barrier it makes a sharp crack, which is the "breaking" of the barrier. It will be less accurate than if it were shot from the same gun at 900 f.p.s. or less, where the sound barrier is not a problem. While 900 f.p.s. is quite a bit below 1,100 f.p.s., there is great turbulence whenever the sonic barrier is approached. For this reason, knowledgeable shooters never allow their pellet rifles to shoot much faster than 900 f.p.s. If they buy one of the supermagnums that do shoot much faster, they use the heaviest pellets they can find to get the muzzle velocity back down."

Hope this helps. :thumb: :cheers:

St:
looks like you have found the answer to your question.

Wow, I thought I knew everything anbody could ever know about air guns.

Now that you explained it ST, it seems obvious that shape would stablizie the pellet. Another thing I didn't know is that the pellet doesn't need to become supersonic to destablize,even coming close to the speed of sound can cause problems.
Thanks,Craig

St:
looks like you have found the answer to your question.

I didn't. I merely quoted the words as is in response to B100's request for the meaning of the word "Diabolo". In fact, I can't even remember my question! :confused: :D :cheers:

B100, you might find these images interesting. This is a direct screen capture of the prometheus pellets from this site: http://www.airgunpellets.com/

The "diabolo" type of pellet does seem to exhibit more drag in flight.

http://i646.photobucket.com/albums/uu182/speedturtle810/PrometheusPellets.jpg

Thats some great stuff speed!!!!
Thumbs!!!!!

Thanks Speed, I learn something new today.

Here's something to further think about:

IMO, with regards to the photos and description given on the prometheus pellet comparison there are some information associated with it that I am not fully comfortable with.

1. lead pellets does not really much distort while in flight. They only distort much upon impact. The only noticeable "distortion" if you can call it that way would be the rifling marks on the pellet skirt and head when it is still traveling inside the barrel bore. Another factor that would probably be needed to take into account about pellet distortion is the velocity of the pellet. below the speed of sound (approximately 1128 FPS) I don't think there's enough wind resistance to really "melt" or change the head diameter of the lead pellet, unless you go supersonic where heat caused by air friction on the lead material can possibly make it disintegrate while in flight. Not to mention the effect of the rifling twist rate to rotate the pellet for flight stabilization. Too much rotation in relation to the density and design of the pellet can also distort the external dimension of the pellet.

2. It is not simply because it is a lead pellet that causes the air drag on the lead pellet itself but more on the pellet design, meaning how the head, the waist, and the skirt was proportioned to aid them on their trajectory.

Sometimes, the marketing information is a bit misleading just to sell or differentiate their design from the others. Well, still a lot things to learn about the whole totality of the hobby that we are in, and I enjoy learning some of it every day! (I just wonder if my gray matter can understand it all.) :confused: :lol: :cheers:

Thanks Speed, I learn something new today.

Lastmanout, you might find this information as to how the Crosman Premier pellets was designed back then.

http://www.uplandhunter.net/id42.html

Enjoy! :thumb: :cheers: