Last week I received the long awaited Makos from Precision Ballistics UK, and today the weather was great, so I opted to see how they would do on target and on the Invasives compared to the JSB 10 gr knockouts.
So around lunch time Glimmer and I jumped into Bob and drove to my permission for some target work, and pesting, one last time unless I’m visiting home. (Wednesday I move north to the Seattle area for a new job, which I can actually make a living off of and which pays for new airguns.)
First, Glimmer is my RTI Prophet Performance Compact with a CZ 177 barrel kit. The barrel isn’t very picky so far, and is accurate as hell with both Hades and 13.4 grain JSB Knockouts. Second for those unfamiliar, Makos are a sub-12 FPE slug designed and manufactured by Precision Ballistics in the UK.
Without getting too fancy I set up a target at 30 yards and shot some groups with both slug types. Both slugs had 1/2” - 3/4” groups for 10 shots. I didn’t optimize the gun for either slug. Starting with the Knockouts (got more of them) I adjusted for 850ish FPE with reg pressure to 100 bar. Magazine fed. The Makos were next and even though they way basically a 1/2 gr more, they left the gun at 25-30 FPS faster than the lighter knockouts. The makos are more streamlined than the knockouts, so maybe that contributed to the higher velocity. Next I put two 16 oz water bottles back to back at a distance of 60 yards. Both slug types got their chance to perform, and both slugs passed through both bottles.
Next came the invasives. Today all four invasives were present, but very wary
and I guess I am to blame, I have pressured them hard for the last 3 to 4 weeks. However, this pressure has made for a very happy dairy owner, which is my job, dairy owner happy with results keeps my access and makes me happy.
Now I will admit that I should have spent more time on the target vs the hunt because I missed shots I know I could have made with the hades and 13 grainer knockouts. Trajectories for the two slugs seems similar, the makos seem a “little” flatter than the knockouts. For 50 to 60 yard shots I didn’t have to do much hold over, but thinking I did I grazed two birds. (My bad
)
Today I only got 4 birds, 2 and 2 (3?) for each slug. One of my archenemies was finally taken, one of the remaining pigeons left at the stockyard. I hid where the feed grain was stored and pocked my head around the corn occasionally to see if the pigeons returned to their favorite roof. When they did I took a 58 yard shot with the mako, and the pigeon was dead when it hit the ground, which I had to retrieve from inside the paddock, icky cow crap. Then the pigeon was taken to one of the big hay stacks I know a farm cat lives in and I left it for the cat, a full belly helps against the cold Idaho winter nights. After that I got one more dove in some russian olives and headed off to the dairy for a drive by.
At the dairy using knockouts, I saw another archenemies pigeon and finally was able to anchor a shot, but not enough. The pigeon was able to keep flying from roof to roof so I couldn’t get a follow up shot. Bitter success. Lastly, I did a round trip around the edge of the dairy. A dove was taken at 55 yards with the knockout, it flew about 150 yards then expired in the adjacent field. As I exited Bob to retrieve the dove, a Red-Tailed Hawk swooped down to claim my prize, which I was going to leave for the dairy cats, but well, old Red got this dove. Also, it was damn cool to see the hawk start almost immediately feasting on the dove. (Cheap bastard didn’t even tip, so much for the door dash job paying off.) Lastly, I took one more dove before calling it quits.
Conclusion / After thoughts, I expected from the groupings for the Makos to perform a tad better. Is it possible being designed for sub 12 pushing them 870-880 FPS is too fast for them? Initial experience was in an FAC brocock compatto and results were slightly better at 100 FPS less I am going to contact Geoff at PB to see what he thinks if reducing the speed of the Makos will improve performance. I see use for both slugs, and when I am able to again after the move I will do a more detailed comparison study. (Yes long but kind of a slug review and hunt in one)
So around lunch time Glimmer and I jumped into Bob and drove to my permission for some target work, and pesting, one last time unless I’m visiting home. (Wednesday I move north to the Seattle area for a new job, which I can actually make a living off of and which pays for new airguns.)
First, Glimmer is my RTI Prophet Performance Compact with a CZ 177 barrel kit. The barrel isn’t very picky so far, and is accurate as hell with both Hades and 13.4 grain JSB Knockouts. Second for those unfamiliar, Makos are a sub-12 FPE slug designed and manufactured by Precision Ballistics in the UK.
Without getting too fancy I set up a target at 30 yards and shot some groups with both slug types. Both slugs had 1/2” - 3/4” groups for 10 shots. I didn’t optimize the gun for either slug. Starting with the Knockouts (got more of them) I adjusted for 850ish FPE with reg pressure to 100 bar. Magazine fed. The Makos were next and even though they way basically a 1/2 gr more, they left the gun at 25-30 FPS faster than the lighter knockouts. The makos are more streamlined than the knockouts, so maybe that contributed to the higher velocity. Next I put two 16 oz water bottles back to back at a distance of 60 yards. Both slug types got their chance to perform, and both slugs passed through both bottles.
Next came the invasives. Today all four invasives were present, but very wary
and I guess I am to blame, I have pressured them hard for the last 3 to 4 weeks. However, this pressure has made for a very happy dairy owner, which is my job, dairy owner happy with results keeps my access and makes me happy.Now I will admit that I should have spent more time on the target vs the hunt because I missed shots I know I could have made with the hades and 13 grainer knockouts. Trajectories for the two slugs seems similar, the makos seem a “little” flatter than the knockouts. For 50 to 60 yard shots I didn’t have to do much hold over, but thinking I did I grazed two birds. (My bad
)Today I only got 4 birds, 2 and 2 (3?) for each slug. One of my archenemies was finally taken, one of the remaining pigeons left at the stockyard. I hid where the feed grain was stored and pocked my head around the corn occasionally to see if the pigeons returned to their favorite roof. When they did I took a 58 yard shot with the mako, and the pigeon was dead when it hit the ground, which I had to retrieve from inside the paddock, icky cow crap. Then the pigeon was taken to one of the big hay stacks I know a farm cat lives in and I left it for the cat, a full belly helps against the cold Idaho winter nights. After that I got one more dove in some russian olives and headed off to the dairy for a drive by.
At the dairy using knockouts, I saw another archenemies pigeon and finally was able to anchor a shot, but not enough. The pigeon was able to keep flying from roof to roof so I couldn’t get a follow up shot. Bitter success. Lastly, I did a round trip around the edge of the dairy. A dove was taken at 55 yards with the knockout, it flew about 150 yards then expired in the adjacent field. As I exited Bob to retrieve the dove, a Red-Tailed Hawk swooped down to claim my prize, which I was going to leave for the dairy cats, but well, old Red got this dove. Also, it was damn cool to see the hawk start almost immediately feasting on the dove. (Cheap bastard didn’t even tip, so much for the door dash job paying off.) Lastly, I took one more dove before calling it quits.
Conclusion / After thoughts, I expected from the groupings for the Makos to perform a tad better. Is it possible being designed for sub 12 pushing them 870-880 FPS is too fast for them? Initial experience was in an FAC brocock compatto and results were slightly better at 100 FPS less I am going to contact Geoff at PB to see what he thinks if reducing the speed of the Makos will improve performance. I see use for both slugs, and when I am able to again after the move I will do a more detailed comparison study. (Yes long but kind of a slug review and hunt in one)