Some nail dart damage

[Forum Admin]

My wife's pancake griddle broke the other day when my son dropped it. Her loss is my gain, as I now have a metal sheet about 1/8" or so thick.  This morning, I decided to try shooting it at 20 yards. I already had it propped up against a tree, so I filled my airgun to 250 psi and loaded it with a 16d nail dart. Much to my surprise, it buried all the way to the head.

I reloaded and took another shot. This time it didnt go all the way through.

Turns out, it hit the thicker part, where the heating element is.

Now I'm wondering what it would do at 400 psi...

[Forum Admin]

After cutting and splitting a bunch of wood by axe (I just got a stihl chainsaw yesterday, so the axe is going out the window  ), I really havent felt up to pumping. So I've been limited to the 250 psi the compressor puts out. It is quite remarkable to see what 250 psi can achieve. Instead of nail darts, I decided to load up a .58 cal roundball for my next shot. It went right through, revealing the typical cheap 1/8" pot metal our household goods are made from. Here's the damage shot and the recovered ball:

[Forum Admin]

I took a longer distance shot at a tree 65 yards away. The pressure was 300 psi, and the dart was made from a 3.5" 16d nail. It stuck 1.5" deep and flew nice and straight over that distance. The useable barrel length is 27". I say useable because I have been doing some porting experiments, the results of which I will post in the near future. This distance shot again is pointing toward the long distance shooting capability and energy retention. For a comparison, I took a shot at a tree at 100 psi and 20 feet away and achieved the same 1.5" penetration. Both trees were live and were the same type of oak. (Talk about a lucky situation) Anyhow, here's a picture of the 65 yard shot for your enjoyment:

***EDIT*** Just to get a rough idea of how fast the dart was moving at that range, I took a 100 psi shot and measured 280.4 fps - or around 26 fpe. I would shoot a coyote at that range with this kind of energy and accuracy.

[BoyntonStu]

I took a longer distance shot at a tree 65 yards away. The pressure was 300 psi, and the dart was made from a 3.5" 16d nail. It stuck 1.5" deep and flew nice and straight over that distance. The useable barrel length is 27". I say useable because I have been doing some porting experiments, the results of which I will post in the near future. This distance shot again is pointing toward the long distance shooting capability and energy retention. For a comparison, I took a shot at a tree at 100 psi and 20 feet away and achieved the same 1.5" penetration. Both trees were live and were the same type of oak. (Talk about a lucky situation) Anyhow, here's a picture of the 65 yard shot for your enjoyment:

***EDIT*** Just to get a rough idea of how fast the dart was moving at that range, I took a 100 psi shot and measured 280.4 fps - or around 26 fpe. I would shoot a coyote at that range with this kind of energy and accuracy.

65 Yards = 2/3 of a football field.  Wow!  Very impressive.

The question remains, what was the 300 psi velocity?

Are you suggesting that it slowed to ~ 280 fps?

Another way to do the test, is to shoot both darts into the same tree.

I think that you have the secret recipe for a stable dart using the 12 Gauge wad.

If we added a foam disk, it should fit type L copper.

[Forum Admin]

I do need to chronograph it at 300 psi, the last chrony number I had was 467.2 fps with a 250 psi fill, but the barrel was 8" longer at the time. I also need to set up the chronograph 30 yards away and get a speed there so I can figure the ballistic coefficient. This will help me determine longer range energy retention without risking my chronograph further downrange.  If the drag from the base of the wad is slowing it down a lot, I can add a paper nose cone to it to smooth the air flow. It doesnt have to be super strong as it isnt holding back the blast from the shot.