So I have a FX Dreamline with a 500mm barrel in .22 cal. It's pretty dang accurate shooting Diablo Exact pellets. I'm wondering if switching the barrel liner to a slug liner would increase the accuracy at 100 yards. I would love to hear your thoughts and what slugs you like to shoot.
Pellets verses slugs
- Thread starter Chuckd_Retired
- Start date
I would say maybe. And that maybe is gonna cost you a good bit of cash to find out. You definitely have a good pellet gun. And some guns should always remain a pellet gun. If you want to chase slugs, buy a separate gun for that. Then when you’re frustrated, the gun is broke because of something you saw on the internet or you’re waiting on a do-dad that is going to cure everything, you can shoot your good pellet gun.
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How far do you intend to LIKELY shoot, and what power levels? I have an impact dedicated to slugs and it never gets brought out anymore. Only a disco and my 380mm dreamline. I have much more to comment but I need to know your intentions.
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Id say no heavy liner, you have slug options the pellet liner will shoot to 100 well. Don't overlook jsb monster redesigns or heavy hades.... Those are crappy bc slugs imo. Don't slug liner it, when I did I lost use of all pellets except monster redesigns.
Hopefully you have your reg at 150 bar already on that dreamline. Try some 217 patriot javelin 23 grain slugs in that pellet liner. Keep it a pellet gun, that also digests a couple light slugs with no new modifications.
You should be able at 150 bar to achieve everything you want. Mines 25 but I'm popping pigeons at 115 yards with it in 380mm maxxed out at 860fps.
For a year I referred to it as the "3000 dollar miss machine" till I figured it out. 75 fpe 22, and I Still mostly shoot monster pellets or 23 javs out of it on minimum power settings which is 55 fpe. If the impact hammer weren't so painful to remove, I'd put it back to stock power capacity and be shooting jsb 18 and monsters thru a bore sized hole all day.
Its nuanced but I will give you the jist of it, i spent a fortune and ruined the enjoyment of an m3 impact going down the stupid slug rabbit hole, and it's too powerful to shoot most places now. I completed the task to see if i could. Not a good reason.
Hopefully you have your reg at 150 bar already on that dreamline. Try some 217 patriot javelin 23 grain slugs in that pellet liner. Keep it a pellet gun, that also digests a couple light slugs with no new modifications.
You should be able at 150 bar to achieve everything you want. Mines 25 but I'm popping pigeons at 115 yards with it in 380mm maxxed out at 860fps.
For a year I referred to it as the "3000 dollar miss machine" till I figured it out. 75 fpe 22, and I Still mostly shoot monster pellets or 23 javs out of it on minimum power settings which is 55 fpe. If the impact hammer weren't so painful to remove, I'd put it back to stock power capacity and be shooting jsb 18 and monsters thru a bore sized hole all day.
Its nuanced but I will give you the jist of it, i spent a fortune and ruined the enjoyment of an m3 impact going down the stupid slug rabbit hole, and it's too powerful to shoot most places now. I completed the task to see if i could. Not a good reason.
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I will follow the trend and i would recommend you buy something with a CZ barrel, as they tend to love both pellets and slugs, aren't hard to tune, and have thick barrels.
Not saying you can't do it with FX, but it could be a luck of the draw, along with a lot of time, and extra money invested.
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In my opinion a 500mm dreamline isn’t a gun to put a heavy liner in. It isn’t going to push the weight slugs requiring that liner.
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Yep, I agree. My AA S410 shoots pellets(14.3gr Crossman Premiers and 15.89 and 18.13gr JSB's) out to 75yds excellenty, but is lousy with slugs. My FX King has a 1/16 twist and shoots slugs out to 100+yds but pellets just don't cut it for those distances and that rate of twist.
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I tried chasing the "slug agenda" for a short while. A SHORT WHILE.... Like Vetmx said, you're probably better off getting a whole other gun for slugs.
Gun has to be able to push those slugs. Gun must be efficient in doing so. If you're doing 40 - 60 shots with pellets, it's no fun to reduce your shot count down to 10-15. The cost of slugs is also a major consideration. I shoot A LOT and I choose not to spend the extra $$ on slugs.
I abandoned that pursuit and stuck with pellets. My primary Gun is .25 cal with a 1:30 twist. I shoot 33.9 gn pellets @ 935 fps and get under 2 inch groups at 100 yds. Getting 40 shots out of the 580cc bottle on it. An FX should have no problem shooting pellets accurately out to 100 yds. Just gotta find the right pellet/tune and read the wind.....
Gun has to be able to push those slugs. Gun must be efficient in doing so. If you're doing 40 - 60 shots with pellets, it's no fun to reduce your shot count down to 10-15. The cost of slugs is also a major consideration. I shoot A LOT and I choose not to spend the extra $$ on slugs.
I abandoned that pursuit and stuck with pellets. My primary Gun is .25 cal with a 1:30 twist. I shoot 33.9 gn pellets @ 935 fps and get under 2 inch groups at 100 yds. Getting 40 shots out of the 580cc bottle on it. An FX should have no problem shooting pellets accurately out to 100 yds. Just gotta find the right pellet/tune and read the wind.....
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Yep just get a slug gun.
I know nothing about an fx that you can’t see in a YouTube video…but reading these forums gives me the impression that they are the high maintenance girls your momma might have warned you about. Stunning when they feel like being nice but it’s gonna cost you money to play.
I have a budget gun(barra 250z) but it has a 27.5” unchoked barrel with a 1:18 twist. It’s meant to shoot lighter weight slugs quite well. I have it set to where I can shoot 30,31,32 grain Franco slugs from about 990-975fps. I have a DNT Zulus that will let me save multiple zero profiles so it’s just a couple of buttons to change it…. Getting 65-69fpe and about 25 a fill in warm weather…. I’ll be adding a plenum mod in the near future to increase power. The whole point is that I got this gun because it’s windy AF here in the desert and the critters don’t really let you get close. I bought this gun to do what it does and I’ve put a LOT of work into moding/tuning it. It’s been 4 months of obsession. A lot of it is because this is my first pcp so it’s been a learning curve…
At current levels I find taking small game out to 150y pretty easy. I will gladly shoot a coyote out to about 100y but only if it’s near perfect conditions. Otherwise 75-85y is what I’d prefer. Slugs are great for power downrange and transferring that energy to your target. But like someone mentioned earlier this level isn’t backyard friendly. With slugs you really gotta think about your backstop because they sail and sail.
Slugs are a lot of fun when you get it right and personally I would never go back to pellets(no disrespect at all just preference). But it takes some work unless you wanna pay to have someone set it up for you.
I know nothing about an fx that you can’t see in a YouTube video…but reading these forums gives me the impression that they are the high maintenance girls your momma might have warned you about. Stunning when they feel like being nice but it’s gonna cost you money to play.
I have a budget gun(barra 250z) but it has a 27.5” unchoked barrel with a 1:18 twist. It’s meant to shoot lighter weight slugs quite well. I have it set to where I can shoot 30,31,32 grain Franco slugs from about 990-975fps. I have a DNT Zulus that will let me save multiple zero profiles so it’s just a couple of buttons to change it…. Getting 65-69fpe and about 25 a fill in warm weather…. I’ll be adding a plenum mod in the near future to increase power. The whole point is that I got this gun because it’s windy AF here in the desert and the critters don’t really let you get close. I bought this gun to do what it does and I’ve put a LOT of work into moding/tuning it. It’s been 4 months of obsession. A lot of it is because this is my first pcp so it’s been a learning curve…
At current levels I find taking small game out to 150y pretty easy. I will gladly shoot a coyote out to about 100y but only if it’s near perfect conditions. Otherwise 75-85y is what I’d prefer. Slugs are great for power downrange and transferring that energy to your target. But like someone mentioned earlier this level isn’t backyard friendly. With slugs you really gotta think about your backstop because they sail and sail.
Slugs are a lot of fun when you get it right and personally I would never go back to pellets(no disrespect at all just preference). But it takes some work unless you wanna pay to have someone set it up for you.
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I have a Dream Tac 25 that shoots Kings ammmaaaazingly well, and I just can't imagine slugs doing a whole lot more. At 100 yards, it'll easily do just over and inch shooting from an single bag on the bed of my truck to rest on. I don't see me shooting much farther, but who knows. If you have a good shooting gun with a certain pellet or slug, I'd stay with it and look for something else to shoot something else. If I decide slugs are for me, then I'll fire up my Wildcat and see what it would do with a slug liner.
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I think you would have better luck keeping your Dreamline stock, and try some really light slugs. FX Hybrids and Nielsen 17.5g could do pretty well. As others have noted, you just wont make the power to push heavy slugs through a heavy liner. The faster twist FX liners really are designed for the higher end weight ammos.
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Thanks for all the responses. I would have never guessed it was so hit or miss on upgrading the barrel liner. I think I'll keep my FX Dreamline as it is and maybe look for a new dedicated slug gun from the factory. Again, thanks to everyone.
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