Best .30 cal slugger for hunting to 200 yd.

[Scotay42]

Do not rule out the AEA challenger pro. The .30 is crazy accurate, 20 shots when 4300 fill and 100-130 fpe no problem. Trigger takes a little work to clean it up, but excellent even in factory form.

 

[Airgun-hobbyist]

Those Texan's are a great high power, heavy lead, long range slug shooting machines for sure, but are single loader's. The AAA Evol is an accurate, magazine fed, solid built pellet rifle that will shoot slugs too. With this short 18" barrel mine tops out slugs at 99 pfe wth a reasonable 2300psi regulator set point. (That is very efficient.) From my testing and tuning, I've seen that given another 6" in barrel length and a dedicated "slug" twist rate it will up the power levels a huge percentage.

Here's some longer distance slug testing tonight with the Evol30... First time out with the Varmint Knockers 50 grain, large hollow point. Two groups at 175 yards after verifying slug speed and settings in Strelok Pro at 40 & 100 yards. Point of aim was the shiny large lead smear at the top. First group low, second group was after a scope adjustment. The look on Ben's face is of disappointment for the changing wind conditions and my lack of corrective hold.

 

[Motorhead]

That is ONE HEAVILY WORN Iron Chicken my friend !!!
Craters of the moon on that one !!!
1000's of hits over many many years

 

[okieairgunner]

Take a look at the Vulcan 3 with the high power kit. I have seen a lot of people putting up crazy good groups at 100,200,300yards even. If I was going to get a slug gun this would be it jn .25 or .30 properly more .25 than .30 just personally. But check it out. Also so you know the Vulcan has a unchoked barrel.

 

[airprsr]

Hey guys I hadn’t checked this for a while so didn’t see the new reply’s until now. I appreciate the feedback. So I already had an idea what I wanted when I placed that post and your comments have reinforced my thoughts. The AAA Evol is what I REALLY want. The vulcan 3 comes in second.
However I simply don’t have the money now so I bought a used maverick.25 to make do with for now. It gives me something to tinker with and tune on for now, and has decent power, while I start saving for my “real” gun. Thanks again I enjoyed all the input.

 

[MongooseV8]

If you dont want an AirForce, my suggestions would be:

-Vulcan 3 with upgrade kit
-FX Maverick (stock they are around 90-100ft-lbs, modded they can get 130-145ft-lbs)
-AEA Challenger Bulpup with the 32" Barrel specifically. They make ~200ft-lbs unregulated, or get the regulator upgrade and sacrifice a few fps. This wont be as accurate as the other two, and the build quality is obviously worse but they are cheap if you have a budget. But honestly at long ranges you really need something that has top accuracy (AF, FX, AGT etc.)

 

[IMADMAN]

Maybe a Citrus .257, or something along those lines? I think there might be on in the classifieds right now? If you cast your own ammo it might be the way to go.

 

[airprsr]

Airprsr, everyone has their preferences and I'm partial to the AAA offerings, but have other slug shooters as well. I have a Slayer 357 and an Evol 30. Both are well engineered and assembled and tuned by a true craftsman. Both of mine are not first versions, but not the latest either. Rock solid guns with no worries about accuracy going out of whack if you look at it wrong. I can not say with certainty that the current Evol will be a 200 yard slug slinger, but I have read more than once that a new slug version is coming out. (Which will sell out fast). The current Evol configuration likes small and light slugs, because the Evol was engineered as a top shelf pellet rifle, unlike the Slayer (which is a true long range slug shooter). As for buying a new Slayer, aside from being able to order one directly on the AAA website, I recently read that AAA is going to start selling those again through Airguns of Arizona and with new improvements in the already great platform.

235 yards with the Slayer. Not quite MOA with this ammo, but close. A few fliers also because of me and not paying attention to the wind:

View attachment 310786

Thanks. Ive pretty much come to the same conclusion. I’m saving up for an evol 30.

 

[DevilsLuck]

I probably won’t go that way. The biggest reason for me is the low shot count. This would mean I would have to carry a source of air with me in the field, and I dont want to have to do that. If a gun gets at least 30 or 40 shots per fill then in most cases with my style of hunting I wouldn’t have to do that.
I’m curious about the AEA Challenger pro. Does any body have a .30 caliber one that is capable of sufficient accuracy and power to do what I need?

I do. And yes, it does.

 

[airprsr]

I’ve got it folk’s, my dream gun! AAA evol .30! I found a very lightly used one, (new in oct. 2022) and purchased it. Actually ended up doing a three way trade with two other fine AGN folks.
How do I like it? A LOT! Ive never had a gun shoot one hole at 50 yd right out of the box with the first ammo I try! The shoot feels super smooth and quiet. It feels light well balanced and as you know if you watched crossman999 videos you know they are super tough. That was one quality that attracted me to this gun. I want to be able to pack the gun into the backcountry and not worry about poi shifts and other failures.
I was going to power it up to shoot slugs at 1000 plus fps but as good as it’s shooting I’m not sure how much I want to change. I’m waiting on some nsa ammo and once it arrives I’ll see what I can get it to do. If I have time I’ll share some of my results.

 

[Motorhead]

There is such limited data out there .. but I'm not so sure your could even lean on it for 1000 fps slugs or otherwise ?

 

[airprsr]

If I can get it to perform like https://www.airgunnation.com/members/airgun-hobbyist.17827/ the post above I’ll be tickled.