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CLEAR BALLISTIC GEL .177 TESTS. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE TESTED?

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Xbowsniper

Xbowsniper

Member
Nov 19, 2017
1,238
132
New York, United States
Nation, 

In the upcoming weeks I'll be setting up my indoor range for all kinds of ballistic testing with a variety of pellets, and my homemade slugs of different weights and designs.

I acquired a block of 10% Alphabet org rated gel, calibrated from the ballistic gel manufacturer. They shot a steel bb at 590 FPS into the 10% gel, and got a penetration depth of 2.75-3.50 inches. This data will allow me to calculate, within reason, the length of gel needed for my testing purposes. 

IMG_20201122_185839_232.1606128802.jpg


Stay tuned for testing all kinds of .177 pellets and slugs.

What do you want to see tested in true Alphabet org rated 10% ballistic gel??

Tom Holland 

Field Target Tech 

Fieldtargettech.com 


 
Nation,

You got it!!

I need to aquire some NSA'S, and some Hades for testing. I have all kinds of diabolo pellets, from the lighter "green" offerings from different manufacturers, to the heaviest of heavies one can think of. I will be testing my swaged slugs, and the lightest I can go with the designs I can make is around 8.5-9 grains, depending upon if I make a hollowpoint or not. 

Stay tuned

Tom Holland 

Field Target Tech 
 
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Odoyle, 

I want to get some NSA slugs anyway, they are a slightly different diameter than what I make, so I would want to test them out of some of my rigs.......might work better than mine.....NSA .177 diameter is .1780. My dies are .1775.

Tom Holland 

Field Target Tech 

Click to expand...

How much would it cost for you to convert your existing .1775 to .1780? Do you need to purchase everything in the same caliber all over again?




 
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Odoyle, 

Technically, yes. The dies that I use have the ogive and the diameter machined into them. At the moment, I have 1/2, 3/4, and 2S ogives, and each has its own die. Each die is $485. So, if i wanted those same ogive shapes in a .1780, I'd have to go with all 3.

Now, if I wanted to try the semi wadcutter version, the die itself is a plain tube, machined to the diameter that i request. The nose and base shapes are the top punch, and the bottom punch. Each is $75, and the die is $200. So, i could try a different diameter semi wadcutter design, with every base punch, and the 3 different nose shapes, for around $800 for all. Not cheap, but a far cry from almost $1500 in dies, plus another $300-400 for a complete set of base shape punches. All of the base and nose punches for either type of die, is unique to the diameter, so thus, they are not interchangeable for different diameters

Tom Holland 

Field Target Tech 

Fieldtargettech.com 
 
Upvote 0
Tom-

Looks like I have to wait and see how the NSA .1780 slugs do before deciding which diameter to go with since that's $1500 per size. So looks like YOURS are truly ONE OF A KIND. At least until I buy the same dies as yours if you think they may fare better than the NSAs.

Here's the dilemma, I like both low power and high power in 177 and have HP guns capable of shooting slugs but am hopong the one size die would be able to produce slugs that work for high and low power levels in 177.

I have the 22 Corbin dies and so far 22gr and 28gr tested great out to 200 yards specifically in one of my test SLUG ONLY FX Impacts. 1/2 inch or better consistantly at 100 yards. NONE of the commercially bought NSAs could do sub 1/2 inch at 100 yards consistently though only once in a while more like 1/2 to 3/4 inch but at least all were inside an inch or better which is sufficient for 99% of airgunners out there anyway. Unfortunately we are part of that 1% who want better accuracy than the everybody else. Preferably the best accuracy but pellets and slugs have to be homemade.


 
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Odoyle, 

Yeah, that's kind of the big dilemma. I'm trying to get these things to work at 12 ft.lbs, so I would consider that low power. A couple of months back, I had Ernest Rowe of FX lore, at my home range, here on Long Island. Ernest is originally from this area, and comes every once in a while to visit relatives, so when he comes, he makes a point of bringing lots of FX toys with him.

I got him to shoot a bunch of my slugs, and I can safely say that in the higher output realms of his souped up rigs, they performed rather well, over all the weights he tried. Particularly a 17 grain flat base with an S2 hollowpoint. He ran a 1.5 inch group with them at around 105 yards, in a light wind. It was one of the better moments of anyone other than myself trying these slugs, particularly at higher powers.

I have in the works a pair of Lothar Walther polygon barrels on their way, one choked, and one with no choke. These are the same barrels that are in the Red Wolfs, and some other high end guns that like slugs. I figured that I'd take a shot with them, it's a lot cheaper and easier to try these barrels, than to go another $700+ for another die size/design that might not work. They've already had good results from these barrels with slugs at slower velocities, so I have that going for me.......stay tuned..

Tom Holland 

Field Target Tech 

Fieldtargettech.com 
 
Upvote 0
Tom, I would like to see realistic fps speeds and penetration experiments done when testing air rifle slugs. We normally see the testing done (shooting into gel) at really short range and at full power. While this is good to see what maximum penetration and hollow point expansion is, but it is not realistic if shooting game animals and birds is done 50 yards with a 150-200 fps in speed and energy loss. Short range is ok if the testing speed in fps matches the penetration speeds at typical hunting impact ranges. When shooting into my gel block, I turn the power down to match the fps of my longest range shots and there is a noticable difference in slug expansion and penetration.
 
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Odoyle, 

If you go to my website, Fieldtargettech.com, I have pictures of all of my nose shapes, base shapes, and my standard slugs that I make. They are pretty detailed pictures, so that might answer your question. The lightest slug I can make with a 2S hollowpoint flat base, is around 9 grains or so. The lightest i can make with the 3/4 ogive is around 8.75 grains, and the lightest 1/2 ogive is around 7.5 grains.

Airgun-hobbyist,

I'm going to do exactly that. I'm going to do all tests at 12 ft.lbs @10 meters, and then, I'm going to figure out what the expected velocity will be at 55yds, dial my gun in for the right 55yd velocity, and shoot the gel at that power level as well. I'll be using my Steyr LG 110 FT, because it's real easy to adjust my velocity as needed.

Tom Holland 

Field Target Tech 

Fieldtargettech.com 


 
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