So i received my .22 slug liner in the mail finally! Super excited i put it in and ran straight outside to shoot my new Varmint Knocker and NSA slugs.... whew... that was rough. The NSA slugs were about 3” at 50 yards and the VK slugs were decent at about .75” at 50 yards. But the JSB 18 grain heavies absolutely stole the show at under .5” easily at 50. Tried several velocities, reg pressures, and hammer settings, but nothing seemed to get the accuracy i was expecting... maybe my bar was set a little high, but i felt like i should get at least .5” at 50 yards. Anyone having success that might share some tuning tips on these slugs? I need all the help i can get!!!
FX Impact slug trouble
- Thread starter Kerbow01
- Start date
Hmm, assuming you cleaned that barrel before shooting you should get good accuracy out the gate. Lots of good feedback on 23 grain and heavier for sure. They did the testing with my slugs so you should be spot on. What slug of mine did you shoot?
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Kerbow,
What weight NSA and at what velocity?
If your gun was tuned for 18gr pellets at standard velocity and you tried let's say 21gr slugs without tuning for higher velocity, chances are they are shooting too slow.
I'm waiting on my Slug-X liner to be shipped. Roelf from Air Hunters advised me to try for 930 to 950fps. I have the Ernest Rowe power tune kit for the Crown on order. And I have a bunch of 19gr NSA slugs on hand to try first.
What weight NSA and at what velocity?
If your gun was tuned for 18gr pellets at standard velocity and you tried let's say 21gr slugs without tuning for higher velocity, chances are they are shooting too slow.
I'm waiting on my Slug-X liner to be shipped. Roelf from Air Hunters advised me to try for 930 to 950fps. I have the Ernest Rowe power tune kit for the Crown on order. And I have a bunch of 19gr NSA slugs on hand to try first.
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Heres my theory on slugs. They will not out perform domed diablo pellets any time soon in the accuracy department for group sizes. They excel in having better ballistic co-efficiency and potentially putting out more power. The slug hype is great and all but to really benefit from them you need to push a LOT of air down the barrel, and sacrifice both shot count and pin point accuracy. Just my 2 cents!
I have yet to see a 'slug' group that I was in awe over at any distance be it 30 yards or 100...I wish you or anyone luck in finding the right combo that proves my theory wrong!
-Matt
I have yet to see a 'slug' group that I was in awe over at any distance be it 30 yards or 100...I wish you or anyone luck in finding the right combo that proves my theory wrong!
-Matt
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You might want to pull the liner out and examine the o-ring placement to see if they are holding or if any have moved. Ernest Rowe has a youTube video where he shows a fix he came up with for the o-rings with delron spacers to make the o-rings stay in place better. If the o-rings are moving out of place it is possible that the liner is vibrating or flexing inside the barrel, which will affect the accuracy down range.
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Slugs excel at range so in most guns diabolo pellets will out shoot a slug in group size. At distance, like 100 yards, that is not always the case and at greater distances slugs will often beat a pellet's group size. The other factor is wind. If you are shooting in wind the slug performance is far superior to a diabolo pellet and you will use less wind hold over with a slug. Additionally the slug will carry much more energy down range because of it's higher BC so for hunting a slug is a great option. If you punching holes in paper or only shooting 50 yards I would stick with pellets.
Matt I don't know if this is awe worthy but Claudio sent me this group he shot with my 23 grain slug in a Commander .22, he did not specify the range but he normally sends me 50 or 100 meter pics. The shot up high I don't if that was sighter or what; he sent me the picture with the circled group and said he shot it at 860 fps.
Matt I don't know if this is awe worthy but Claudio sent me this group he shot with my 23 grain slug in a Commander .22, he did not specify the range but he normally sends me 50 or 100 meter pics. The shot up high I don't if that was sighter or what; he sent me the picture with the circled group and said he shot it at 860 fps.
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Thank you for that info NSA! I am going to place an order for some more 21gr slugs. I'm pretty certain my Crown will be able to push them fast enough.
Kerbow,
Check the latest video from Air Hunters. That will give you a good idea of what can be expected at 50 and 100yds. Not as tight as Claudio's group but still good.
Also stay tuned for their new videos as well as Matt's. Claudio was with them for a week I believe, and they did a lot of hunting and pest control with slugs I'm sure. They always share great information about their setups.
Kerbow,
Check the latest video from Air Hunters. That will give you a good idea of what can be expected at 50 and 100yds. Not as tight as Claudio's group but still good.
Also stay tuned for their new videos as well as Matt's. Claudio was with them for a week I believe, and they did a lot of hunting and pest control with slugs I'm sure. They always share great information about their setups.
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I was thinking about getting a slug barrel for my impact .22, but probably won’t because mine is accurate enough with pellets and I don’t want to spend $15.00 for 100 slugs when I can get 500 pellets for that price. The other South African guys that Matt Dubber shoots with did a comparison video last week on slugs and pellets that convinced me to stick with pellets.
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Pellets are plenty accurate and lethal on up to pigeon sized birds to 100 yds. I'm going with slugs so I can reach out to 150yds and reliably take down pigeons.
In my experience, 22 caliber pellets are marginal for hard hits beyond 125yds unless you happen to hit the pigeon in a perfect spot.
Slugs are the solution for 22 caliber long range (100+ yds) knockdown/killing power not to mention the superior BC and all that comes with that.
Just as with anything else, it comes down to what you want and/or need.
In my experience, 22 caliber pellets are marginal for hard hits beyond 125yds unless you happen to hit the pigeon in a perfect spot.
Slugs are the solution for 22 caliber long range (100+ yds) knockdown/killing power not to mention the superior BC and all that comes with that.
Just as with anything else, it comes down to what you want and/or need.
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I shot the 23 gr. and some custom 26 gr slugs that NSA makes also the vk large hollow point slugs in 22.5 gr. All of these were shot at velocities anywhere from 840-930. 900 seemed to be best for the varmint knocker but could not find a sweet spot for the NSA slugs. Hopefully more testing will help!
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Have you tried NSA in 19 or 21gr? That's what I'll be trying when my Slug-X liner comes in.
Roelf from Air Hunters told me to aim for 930 - 950fps.
Roelf from Air Hunters told me to aim for 930 - 950fps.
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These are the notes I posted from an earlier test with various NSA 22 slugs. This was with a stock pre-X impact.
-50 yds, max power, slug-A liner: NSA 19, 21, 23, 27, 28BT, 30, 32BT, and 33 slugs.
The 19, 21, and 23 were clearly the worst groups. The 27 and 33 were very good, with below 1/2" groups. The 30 was excellent at 3/8" group.
For my particular liner, the heavier slugs are better, and in fact the lighter ones can be unstable. When that happens, you actually hear them tumbling, and they're maybe a foot off target. As badly as I want the boat tail slugs to work, they have repeatedly proven (in my liner) to be less accurate than the standard 30gr slug, so I'm sticking with the 30gr for testing power mods. My goal for using slugs is to get the best BC possible, at around 1050 fps. I have the 30gr up to 935 fps so far, so I have some more work to do.
And yes, the "slug" barrel shoots JSB pellets VERY well. I was told there is still a choke, just a very slight one, and the twist rate is the same as the pellet liner. From what I've seen, the slug liner should just be standard, since it shoots both.
And now a word "for" our sponsor. The NSA slugs are amazingly consistent. I've been playing with making my own slugs, and I'm just stunned at the weight consistency of the NSA slugs. I seriously doubt I will ever be able to approach that level of consistency, but it's a fun challenge. The bar is set very high
Cheers,
Rusty
-50 yds, max power, slug-A liner: NSA 19, 21, 23, 27, 28BT, 30, 32BT, and 33 slugs.
The 19, 21, and 23 were clearly the worst groups. The 27 and 33 were very good, with below 1/2" groups. The 30 was excellent at 3/8" group.
For my particular liner, the heavier slugs are better, and in fact the lighter ones can be unstable. When that happens, you actually hear them tumbling, and they're maybe a foot off target. As badly as I want the boat tail slugs to work, they have repeatedly proven (in my liner) to be less accurate than the standard 30gr slug, so I'm sticking with the 30gr for testing power mods. My goal for using slugs is to get the best BC possible, at around 1050 fps. I have the 30gr up to 935 fps so far, so I have some more work to do.
And yes, the "slug" barrel shoots JSB pellets VERY well. I was told there is still a choke, just a very slight one, and the twist rate is the same as the pellet liner. From what I've seen, the slug liner should just be standard, since it shoots both.
And now a word "for" our sponsor. The NSA slugs are amazingly consistent. I've been playing with making my own slugs, and I'm just stunned at the weight consistency of the NSA slugs. I seriously doubt I will ever be able to approach that level of consistency, but it's a fun challenge. The bar is set very high
Cheers,
Rusty
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When stock, there were the numbers. Note that the lengths were sort of an eyeball average of a few I measured.
Rusty
Rusty
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Thank you for the details!!
Your findings seem to jive with what FX stated on the slug liner info sheet, where the lighter slugs would do better in the shorter 500mm barrels.
I hope that turns out to be true.
Your findings seem to jive with what FX stated on the slug liner info sheet, where the lighter slugs would do better in the shorter 500mm barrels.
I hope that turns out to be true.
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I never got clarification of what that statement really means. It could mean light slugs shoot better from a 500mm than 600mm barrel, or it could mean a 500mm barrel will shoot lighter slugs better than heavy slugs. I tried to find an answer to that question when I was debating whether to upgrade my existing ST 500mm barrel, or sell it and buy the STX 600mm barrel. In the end, I preferred the fixed shroud on the 600mm barrel, and wanted the ability to have more velocity.
Rusty
Rusty
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When I spoke to Matt D earlier this year during the testing. It was noticed that some barrels would shoot some slugs better than other slugs. So even though they are making them the same length and specs the end result was some barrels would shoot various slugs and not others. One solution we talked about was offering sample packs readily available so you could see what your specific barrel wants.
Since then they have made refinements to the barrel process for slugs. I do not know if this impacted the issue of some barrels shooting one slug but not another and yet another barrel wanting a different slug than that one. I will try and contact Matt and see if he has an answer.
Since then they have made refinements to the barrel process for slugs. I do not know if this impacted the issue of some barrels shooting one slug but not another and yet another barrel wanting a different slug than that one. I will try and contact Matt and see if he has an answer.
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