NSA slugs for Taipan Veteran .22?

[Mink]

Looking for recommendations for NSA slugs for a Taipan Vet Long .22 (LW barrel). I am primarily interested in the 17.5, 20.2, and 23.0gr options because I don't have a chrono to check my velocities and I want to avoid blind HST tuning. Ideally, I'd be able to leave the gun at the the JSB 18.1 tune that it came with. 

Has anyone tinkered with these lighter slugs in their vets? Also, what diameter would I need (.217 or .218)?

Thanks!

 

[mercado]

If you want to keep your 18g tune then you need to stick with the 17.5...wy cricket standard shoots them at 900fps almost the same speed as the 18g jsb...anyway my long never did good with anything heavier than 21g at max out power...but now you have the plenum so you should be able to tune for more speed if you need to.

 

[jmmartinez573]

Here is my post about the 17.5 NSA in my taipan standard with LW barrel. They perform very good!



https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/taipan-vet-22-standard-and-17-5-nsa-slug/#post-704441



5 shots at 125 yards. .2165 17.5 NSA. 4/5 Shots under that bottle cap. 

 

[jdanvers]

Mink -- you're timing on this question is impeccable as I've recently purchased the very same gun AND just so happened to be playing around with this very thing today. Mine seems to like the JSB 18's at around 935. Without changing the tune at all, I loaded up a mag with NSA 20.2's and the speed fell well into the mid 800's (865's I think) - per @Mercado - yeah - you'll have to stick with the 17's if you really don't want to mess with the tune.

If you don't know about the "speed dialer" yet -- just get one. --> https://donnyfl.com/products/taipan-veteran-hst-adjuster

Some of the guys in here have ingenious ways of marking up the speed dialer. I just use a cheap set of calipers from Harbor Freight and measure the distance of the knob at the different tunes and have that noted in my little cheat sheet. 20mm for 20.2g slugs gets me 915fps, 21.1mm = 935 for the 18g pellets. Down and dirty pics I just took w/my cell phone. 6" digital calipers @HF - $16 or something like that.

 

[mmahoney]

You want to get the .2165 diameter slugs to sneak past the barrel's choke easier. FYI, the NSA slugs are a bit harder than most other slugs and get slowed more by the choke. FX hybrids are even worse. AVS and Griffin slugs are softer and work better.

 

[RobR]

I just received my .22 long this past week. I installed the DonnyFL hammer adjuster and little less than maxed it out and am shooting the FX hybrids at 920 the best with Griffin 19gr cavity point at 960 a close second though the occasional flyer. I’d like to get the NSA dialed in but am waiting on a .216 pellet sizer to run a few through, see what comes of it. Ideally like to run the 20.2 if it works out. I appreciate all the collective info. Still know very little but a lot more than when I started, not too long ago. Very impressed with this Taipan though

 

[cwcarrera]

I also have a new Veteran Standard 22 that just arrived a few weeks ago. It shoots the 18's very well anywhere from 910 to 945 FPS. I bought the NSA sampler pack of slugs in .217 which I believe are actually sized at .2165. I intend to get out and give them a try later this week either Wednesday or Thursday. Fingers crossed...

Chip

 

[Mink]

Here is my post about the 17.5 NSA in my taipan standard with LW barrel. They perform very good!



https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/taipan-vet-22-standard-and-17-5-nsa-slug/#post-704441



5 shots at 125 yards. .2165 17.5 NSA. 4/5 Shots under that bottle cap. 

Very interesting. Although in your post you mention that even with the 17.5s you still have to max out HST adjustment to get low 900 velocities. Must be due to the choke as @mmahoney points out. Do you notice significant ballistic advantages with the 17.5s compared to 18.1 diabolos? The price of the NSAs is much better than AVS/Griffin. Also shot count is important to me as I'm hand pumping, so I don't want to go much heavier than the 18.1s. 

I'm leaning towards ordering some 17.5s and seeing what they do at factory-ish tune. 

 

[jmmartinez573]

My gun maxed out with 17.5 NSA at 930-935fps. I don’t know if that’s max speed I can reach with current reg pressure. Would need a heavier hammer spring to find out. 

so I dialed it back to 915fps, not only because it is where I found the best accuracy, but the gun is still shooting quiet and efficient.

Still getting 50-55 shots per fill at 32fpe. 

lost about 15-20 shots per fill compared to my gun shooting the 18.13gr jsb. (890-900fps)

Yes, there is a significant ballistic advantage. Less holdover, more energy on target, less wind drift. when I was shooting at 155 yards the slug never drifted more than a 1 Mil. 

 

[jdanvers]

I was able to play with my taipan some this evening after work. Slugs really like to go fast!!

Readers digest - I bumped up the speed with the nsa 20.2's to 944'ish - rough approximate average after shooting 5 or 6 over chrony. I re-zeroed at 35 yards and got really consistent poi out of that. I made changes in strelok accordingly to match the new speed and then headed off to a local range that I've recently gotten permission to use as I can go beyond 100 yards there. ( I'm only good for 50 or so in my back yard ) I double check the 35 yard zero and then indeed did just that with the turrets on the scope - set them to zero. I then told strelok that my target was out at 100 and it told me 25 clicks up. I put 6 out of 10 inside of a 3" sticker target - the orange birchwood casey ones you can get at walmart. Not great - but not bad I don't think - after seeing / doing that I'm kind of wondering if they want to go faster yet - maybe that longer range (100 yd) group will tighten up and I could get 10 out of 10 inside that 3" target - or even tighter? I don't know how much more I can turn the dial in before I won't be able to cock it - but I haven't hit that yet. I my get a stiffer spring from Tony @Talon Tunes if I do max it out.