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Air pistols, such as the HK P30, use rotary magazines and require proper pellet selection.
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Editor's Note: This is one in a series of columns coming directly from gun technicians who work at Umarex USA. Please check back to see the monthly column, or subscribe to our eNewsletter to get a link to the column every month as a part of the newsletter.
Proper Pellet Selection for Rotary Mag Guns
By: Glenn and Danny
When it comes to proper pellet selection for Umarex airguns that use rotary magazines, we time and time again see people choosing the wrong pellets. At best, a wrong pellet will shoot inaccurately, and at worst it can damage the magazine or gun itself.
We recommend that airguns utilizing a rotary style magazine not be loaded with pointed pellets. This is because pointed pellets are typically longer in length than other styles of pellets, and if they protrude from within the dimension of the magazine then it will likely result in the gun not cycling properly. This is because the end of the pellet can "catch" and cause the gun to cycle improperly. Pointed pellets can also damage the internal hand that rotates the magazine, which leads to future problems with the gun mechanism being able to rotate the magazine to the next chamber when you try to shoot.
 The tips of pointed pellets can protrude from rotary magazines, causing damage.
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In general, if the tip of the pellet is slightly protruding it can make contact with the internal gun surface and create resistance thus not allowing the proper rotation of the magazine. Besides the possibility of causing internal damage to the gun, this situation can result in misalignment of the pellet with the bore and a normal discharge cannot take place.
If the internal rotating hand is damaged then it will require repair by one of our highly trained gunsmiths. If you have a gun that utilizes this style magazine and it does not seem to be functioning properly you can check the rotary magazine to see if it has any damaged teeth, which would prove this to be the case. The gun may cycle for several shots and then fail to discharge properly. If one of these teeth gets distorted and the gun cycles to that particular spot on the magazine you will experience problems. That magazine must be discarded to avoid damage to your gun. A high quality, well fitting pellet such as RWS German made pellets are suggested for optimum performance. The RWS Meisterkugeln, RWS Hobby, and RWS Super Dome are superior pellet options for Umarex Airguns.
For an overview of the different types of pellets, see the "Choosing an Airgun Pellet" article, and for a comparison of hunting pellets specifically, see the article, "Which Airgun Pellet to Hunt With?".
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