14.3 grain “Me” K slugs

[C.B.Daddy]

Howdy AGN!!! I’m trying to make a die for swaging 14.3 gn Crosman’s or any store bought pellets to slugs. I have used both Nielsen 28 grain and VK 22.5’s with great success out to 150 yds. But I just need something more readily available as I can run through em real quick. I’m not saying I can’t afford to buy the commercially available slugs I just don’t always have the money to buy em. Hence the name “Me” K slugs lol! I also want a lighter slug to keep the velocity and energy down range versus a pellet of the same weight. I have looked around but haven’t found any . I thought if I could find an 18 grain I could stay at 900 FPS but nothing . So the ones mentioned although excellent products are just a little too heavy and shot at 750 and and around 800 if I recall correctly. Too heavy for my gun in its current configuration that is. I don’t want to adjust the reg and the hammer spring is maxed out. So with that said, I started and made a die on the eight of this month and have made three total Attempting to make a hollow base hp slug. I have modified the first two beyond what I am looking for but nevertheless they produced what appears to be a good slug just not exactly what I want right now. Here’s a picture of my preliminary test on my latest slug at 100 yards. The pre installed apple weather app said 11 mph but as I looked across the field I promise it looked like gale force winds I ain’t bull shipping you across Texas, the grass was laid down! I thought that it might fly a little flatter so I dialed my “Kill Wheel” to a few clicks under a hundred. It’s currently sporting a custom turret sleeve I made and is wrapped with a skopeknob turret tape set up for the same weight pellet. The first shot was low so I adjusted. The second went right where I pulled the trigger ! So on the next three I tried to dope the crazy wind and really like what I saw. If the lord is willing I’ll test some more tomorrow. Good evening!

 

[C.B.Daddy]

Oh yea don’t laugh at the poor quality, you know what they say, “ a poor boy’s Got poor ways”!lol

 

[biohazardman]

Those look like fairly decent slugs to me. Dies are not that easy to make you did good. I'll be waiting to hear how they do in a bit less wind.

 

[Hobbyman2007]

There’s some thinking outside of the box . Curious how they shoot out past 40 yards . Most bullet designs have the CG moved rear wards when compared to pellets . Best of luck and keep us posted . 

 

[JimNM]

What gun and what fps are you using?

 

[C.B.Daddy]

Good morning! Hallelujah!!! Bio thanks , but I’m just keeping it real . The die isn’t even fully polished but I think good enough to test the slugs . 

Hobby I had to cause mine was empty! and If it was up to luck I’d surely be up the creek without a paddle!!! It is by gods grace that I do what I do when I do it. Not that I know what I’m doing necessarily. Lol but thanks for the well wishing my friend! 

Jim it’s a compact Taipan Vet currently set at 967 FPS with cphp 14.3 grain at least that’s what my Chrono shows. It came tuned from Talontunes @ an avg of 904 with jsb 18.3 grain. I want to keep the velocity up and my HST is already maxed out. I don’t want to adjust the reg as I’m getting at least 3 full mags per fill from 250 to 130 bar (30 shots) and that surely could effect it. I did polish the transfer port like Ernest Rowe shows in a video but saw no increase. I assume this means that the tp is not restrictive at the current regulator setting.

The lord be magnified!!! Good day , Good day, good day!

 

[stoti]

Making your own slugs with dies you made yourself is very impressive! I can’t wait to hear how they shoot, please keep us informed.

Stoti

 

[C.B.Daddy]

Stoti, thanks man! And you know what they say “necessity is the mother of all invention” not that I’m inventing anything new but I need/want a source of light weight slugs and I want them cheap!!! Have a great day! Oh yea as soon as I am able I’ll try and get some more testing done  

 

[JimNM]

If y'all need some help testing... I have a Prod, a Kral PB and a Flash QE in .22 that would be happy to join your cadre

You may also want to try the Hatsan Vortex pellets in 14.66g. They are a bit softer composition than the CPHP. Although, getting them (Crosman Premier Hollow Points) from the local wally world is hard to beat. That is a large part of my interest in your die project.

Shoot'em good and let us know when you will have dies for sale

 

[C.B.Daddy]

Jim you hit the nail on the head like the carpenter’s son!!! Wally World!!! Lord willing it will pan out and we’ll be shooting some superlite slugs very soon. I have two sons with gamo urbans and a son with an armada ,.22s as well and thought these would be good for lower power air guns. I’ll definitely keep you in mind. Hav a great day! 

Oh yea the armada is currently shooting at the same velocity as my Taipan 967 with premiers . I forget what the gamo guns are doing but I know one is noticeably faster. The slower one belongs to my 14 ye old and I have to really stay on my toe to stay ahead!!! not that I don’t want my sons to be better than me or XL further than me in life but it’s a competitive thing ,he shoots so good ,and it inspires me ,all of them shoot well and have great potential but he’s just showing it right now! we were sitting down the other day and he was hitting a tomato paste can with me at 155 yards !! 

 

[JimNM]

You are living a good life, for Shure. Shoot'em good and enjoy those kids

 

[C.B.Daddy]

Lol thanks Jim , I surely am thankful for it. And man I do enjoy them. I’m gonna make up some me k’s this evening and lord willing we are getting up in the morning and going out to test them on some hog foods. I said it right ,any Varmints that fail the test will end up in the hog pen on their menu! Jim thanks again ! Have a great evening 

 

[C.B.Daddy]

Howdy again AGN just thought I’d post some more pictures hp hollow base slugs (14.3 ) grain and some 28 grain hp’s from the same die . These are not tumbled or cleaned of any bleeding, if that’s how it would be phrased, which is minimal, because I’m not going to invest that much time at this point. With the three dies and two hp pins ,the possible configurations are staggering in number. To me any way!Lol last night I re ground my master die cutter, it was originally at .217 and the projectiles are at .219 which is actually slightly larger than I need . I took it down to .214 to allow myself room to fully polish the die if necessary. Necessary I say because at this point I’m just experimenting, learning, and having fun! Anyway I haven’t had hardly any opportunity to do any shooting to test any in the last couple days but lord willing here real quick I’ll be able.

“ I don’t call the shots, I just try to make em!” 

I feel have a potential candidate but I could be jumping the gun , that’s what happens sometimes when you shoot from the hip. silly me y’all have a good one!

 

Hey Jim , btw I have noticed a different “composition” as you put it from the cp domes vs the cphp from Walmart. The domes are from tractor supply . The Sam Walton’s seem a little harder to work. Toodles

 

[C.B.Daddy]

 

[C.B.Daddy]

Greetings once again ! I have been really busy keeping water in my pipes and light in the bulbs so I haven’t had much opportunity to work on my projects much. I did get my “Jesus cutter” sized. I say that because an acquaintance of mine ( my machine shop Daddy) lol, once told me about the Jesus nut on a helicopter. I asked him what he meant and he said “The nut on top of the rotors that holds everything together”   lol , that’s why I said that . My master (only) die cutting tool. The one that does all the cuttin! Without it nothing happens. It’s made from a drill that is ground to the profile I wanted and relief ground to expose the cutting edge . If you know what I mean. Like Any drill bit the cutting edge on the side is raised .

So after it was sized I began to bore out another die . For some reason I stopped and went to something else and then heard an arc . I saw the flash but did not see anything. I thought it was the welder and opened it up but nothing. I couldn’t see anything and went back to the lathe, I flipped it on and went back to cutting. A few moments later the breaker blew. We stayed up late that night trying to figure it out but did not get it straight until the next afternoon when I got home. It was just a broken buss divider. You know the plastic phenolic thing you screw the lugs to ? Anyhow by the grace of god it was nothing big and I’m back on track! Here’s a link to a video clip of the die being cut. https://youtu.be/P2vLZcRDIOM

btw I did go out to test but got distracted. My 12 yr old shot a few and said he was grouping well at around 130 yards but I wasn’t spotting to verify. He’s using a Gamo urban (I forget the velocity but maybe mid 800s I’ll check)I shot maybe four or five and was just getting my scope adjusted on a target at 147 and then it happened! Jack rabbits at 210-230 yards! Back to the default pellets. Cp domes . 

Ill try and post about this one in the hunting department lol “customer needs assistance in the hunting department” . And i will mention it was not at neither of the two distances I initially ranged but one my son spotted. 

Next I need to make another swage/punch/ thing that presses the lead into the die ,or whatever you want to call it . I ground it to .2165 ,the same as my new die in its current polished finish, and need to grind it to form the skirt of my lightweight slug. And then.... I’ll press on!

 

[C.B.Daddy]

 

 

[C.B.Daddy]

Hallelujah! Howdy AGN! 

I finally got all my ducks in a row and went and did some testing. I swaged about 50 lightweight slugs last night and took them out to see how they flew. 

When I first got there I set up and ranged a target at 166 yards. It took a couple shots to get on elevation as the slugs were hitting way higher than the Crosman domes I have my turret tape calibrated with.

I had to adjust down to 145 yds to get on target and there was a cross wind at about 11mph that had little effect on my slugs. I thought it was a good thing as that’s what is supposed to happen when using ammunition with a better B.C. Less drag means more retained speed , which means a further, flatter trajectory not affected as much by the wind. 

As I emptied the first magazine the grin on my chin was growing with each shot! I quickly realized that my slugs were showing great potential!!! 

After the first mag I decided to stretch them out further. I lasered another target at 179, a 4x8 dirt mound, and let em fly! I had to dial way down below the actual yardage on this target as well. 

I was using my Caldwell deadshot for the next 14 shots and was hitting rocks with All available consistency 

Now please understand that my test of these slugs was not 100% because I’m not %lol. I did move and knew when i did it, but when I didn’t , man were these things doing there job!️

Then the wind came up fierce ,

I had to get off of the deadshot And set up on the yeti with a sandbag, it was against my back pushing towards the target and something unexpected happened. The wind obviously had an effect on the slug and the poi was elevated. Windage was perfect but all remaining shots were fluctuating vertically.and only up . It was really confusing for a second. So when I finished the remaining slugs I shot the Crosman domes out to the mound, and same thing! But at this point my 17 year old had already suggested that the wind was pushing them enabling them to fly further and I was paying attention. The pellets were affected the same way. It’s the only conclusion I can draw with my limited knowledge. 

Nevertheless I feel that I have a good design. Not that I invented it ,because the Spitzer bullet has been around since the 1800’s . I’ve only adapted it to this application and I really am impressed. I will now swage a shipload for further testing in other guns.

Here’s some of the recovered slugs and pieces. I am pleased with the engagement on the rifling and also with the expansion/ fragmenting.

 

[Makoda]

Those look really good , I like them being lighter so you don’t need a super powerful gun to shoot them .

 

[C.B.Daddy]

Mako, thanks and BINGO!!! Exactly what my intentions were! Not all guns are created equal. Speaking of, I shot a few out of a Crosman 2289 backpacker last night and that’s what made me want to bump the die up to .217. The Taipan Veteran surely has the power to expand the skirt to engage the lands and grooves but the modest pumper seemed as though it Was lacking . I only shot it into a towel/rag to check rifling contact. Thanks again 

 

[JimNM]

Really impressive! I presume that the heavy.slugs are made from two pellets mashed into the die?



I have two guns that like 14-20 grain pellets and one gun that really shines with 28.5 g pellets at full power.. Like 5/8" at 100 yards kind of shine.



Happy for you, the excitement shines through your posts. Keep having fun and shoot'em good.