Did NSA change their lead formula?

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madeintheuk

madeintheuk

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Apr 19, 2020
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Washington depot, Connecticut, United States
to premise this, I have ZERO experience with NSA slugs for hunting all I have shot have been at targets.



I’ve heard from many people that NSA slugs are harder than slugs like hybrids or varmint knockers, and don’t expand as well. Just reading on their website, and it says they use ‘soft lead’ to swage their slugs. Are they using a different formula of lead now? Or was the lack of expansion due to smaller hollow points?
 
stuff like that borderlines in the esoteric .. different batches and runs will vary and shooting all my life i can tell you, you can shoot the same bullet at the same target medium multiple times and every one of them will deform and act differently .. the only truth in all of this is 'dont' count on expansion to stop game ..ever ...base diameter of projectile penetration and speed are the only constant factors that do matter .. penetration is about 1000x more important than expansion on game ..
 
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He did change it .. n is a bit harder..because is needed for the fast machines he is using now in order for them to release faster from the dies..I have old n new slugs n they are clearly not the same.. but still shooting awesome...so no complain for my part... but they are a few slug makers that still uses pure lead..for those who like to pay $18 per hundred instead of $18 for 350 slugs..
 
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to premise this, I have ZERO experience with NSA slugs for hunting all I have shot have been at targets.



I’ve heard from many people that NSA slugs are harder than slugs like hybrids or varmint knockers, and don’t expand as well. Just reading on their website, and it says they use ‘soft lead’ to swage their slugs. Are they using a different formula of lead now? Or was the lack of expansion due to smaller hollow points?
Click to expand...

Hybrids and Ratsnipers are a different design that requires an extra die and step to produce because most of the projectile is hollow. This allows greater expansion at low velocities. NSA slugs have a narrow hollowpoint that still expands well without fragmenting like the more fragile hollow slugs. More velocity = more expansion for NSA.

So in summary the two projectile types have different purposes. 

NSA give excellent performance over a wide power range while keeping the price per shot much lower.

Hybrids/Ratsipers should be called hollow slugs because the give greater expansion at typical pellet power levels and cost around 2 to 3X more per shot due to the extra steps in manufacturing.

FX-Hybrid-30-Hollow-Point1.1637901396.png
 Hollow slug like the hybrid.
HP - Copy.1637902647.png
Hollow point like NSA.


 
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I don’t think so. He states that he uses 99/1 pb/an mix which is about as soft as it gets.
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You would be surprised how much harder a slug is with 1% antimony and/or tin in it. I would say it's significantly harder. There are people that have complained about NSA slugs getting stuck in their barrels on the lower powered air rifles. This info was told to me by a VERY credible source. But Nick MUST add antimony and tin to his lead mix because the automation process wouldn't work with pure lead. There's too much friction and heat, and it would smear the slugs and gum up the automation equipment. But every decision has a caveat. In order for Nick to automate his process, he had to add antimony. But this makes the slugs harder. However, because he's automated his process, he can offer his slugs in larger quantities for cheaper prices. Whereas the other slug manufacturers swage their slugs with Corbin presses by hand using 99.9% pure lead wire. They cost more per slug, but they are beautifully soft and malleable.

I have cast my own slugs. I own several molds, and I have played with lead/antimony ratios. I made a 1% ratio. 99 grams of lead to 1 gram of tin (using lead free solder which is tin and antimony). The lead was SIGNIFICANTLY harder. So much so that I noticed a significant difference in difficulty seating them in the breech as well as a slight loss in average velocities using the same regulator settings. So 99 to 1 isn't as soft as it gets. Not saying this to challenge you in any way. Just telling you based off of personal experience.
 
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Our lead has been the same formula for about 3 years or so. It has a BHN of around 9 which is still pretty soft. Our process does require a little harder lead to produce at the speed our machines make slugs. Most calibers up to 25 we make about 8500 bullets per hour on each machine. Loud as heck in our shop when they are all running.

In regards to stuck bullets people are trying to force oversized slugs into a barrel that needs a smaller diameter in low powered guns. Then their underpowered gun cannot shoot a slug out the barrel with that oversized slug chambered.

Before I made slugs I used to buy off the shelf slugs made for pistols which has a BHN of about 16, still shot fine. So a 9 BHN is well suited for airguns.
 
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Only caliber NSA slugs I used to hunt is 22 and boy do they expand and do some pretty impressive damage. Sadly it also means good amount of wasted meat if you hunt for meat and didn’t get fully clean lung shots. I got a good sized rabbit and there wasn’t much shoulder meat left. Doh! 


hear from Motörhead that the 177 slugs didn’t expand well but all he had to do was give the opening a gentle tap with a small Philip screw driver. 
 
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