I’m looking for some guidance on the perfect impact set up for shooting slugs at 100 yards plus for Nutria Coons Rabbits Possums etc. Please give me your recommendation on what you would purchase and what type of slug you would use. Be specific as possible ie what scope and rings and accessories. Thanks!
Perfect Impact for 100yd plus varmiting?
- Thread starter fmetz
- Start date
As a Impact owner, I can tell you that it’s not that simple. To a late night YouTube watcher, it might appear simple, but it’s not. It doesn’t matter if someone sells you on a .25,.30 or whatever, what they found to work by shooting sometimes thousands of slugs, may not work for you. If you want to ethically take animals at 100 plus yards like you stated, airguns shooting slugs is a whole new game compared to a powder burner. I would bet that the majority of guys currently trying to dial in their airguns with slugs still can’t produce sub MOA groups every day. This presents another problem when you want to be a 100yrd plus guy. How do you make an adjustment for 137yrds when your gun is only MOA at 100 on Tuesdays or when certain planets align. I just wanted to let you know that if you think taking animals at 100+ with your $3,000 airgun is going to be your new hobby, it isn’t. Getting your gun to consistently shoot ethical groups at 100 on a daily basis is going to be your hobby. And it can get expensive and frustrating.
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I see, thank you for the insight. It will be interesting to hear what others think. Did you ever settle on a particular slug? Barrel? What is your setup?
fmetz
fmetz
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If you planning to buy new get .25cal or .30cal with 700 mm barrel , they all coming with superior liner from the factory and should be good for light slugs.
Shoot it for a while with different slugs and see if you like it ,if not get heavy liner and go from there , all guns are different so you will need to find right slug for yours.
As for the scope check scope section @Odoyle always got good finds there like this one https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/super-deal-on-half-price-crimson-trace-same-japan-factory-as-nightforce/?referrer=1
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Shoot it for a while with different slugs and see if you like it ,if not get heavy liner and go from there , all guns are different so you will need to find right slug for yours.
As for the scope check scope section @Odoyle always got good finds there like this one https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/super-deal-on-half-price-crimson-trace-same-japan-factory-as-nightforce/?referrer=1
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Yes, I’ve have learned a lot of lessons along the way. Here is what you don’t hear or see on videos. I commit to a slug that shows potential. To get that slug to shoot at 100+ yards could take hundreds or thousands. I’m at 700 slugs fired right now and they have shown MOA at 100. So now I am moving on to consistency. Without consistency we shouldn’t be shooting animals. I have a nickel size spinner. A couple weeks ago I started at 50yrds and I’m now at 70yrds. My gun must, every day when I take it out of the safe, hit that spinner with the first shot. I will eventually get to a yardage that my gun won’t do it. Then I will go from there. If I switch to another slug, and yes I have another one that shows potential, I will burn through hundreds of them trying to find the right reg setting, velocity and valve setting. But that still won’t guarantee it will be a success. Bob or Joe can tell me what his gun settings are and his favorite slug but it probably won’t work with my gun. That’s why you see so little of this info, we all know that my settings are of little use to you.
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If you want to take the easiest path to 100yrd accuracy, shoot pellets. It may not be what all the cool kids are doing but if you steer clear of throwing Hail Marys with a pellet gun, getting 100yrds accuracy with pellets is relatively easy.
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I agree with @vetmx posts above, its not easy, even though the videos make it seem so. As far as me, I started slugs with two Edguns, a .22 R3 Long and a .25 R5 Super Magnum. After months and months of testing and comparison, I sold the R5. The R3 got to the point where I could hit a 1 inch spinner on a quad target 15 or 16 times out of 20 from 95 yards.
My next step was an easy one, and I admit I got very lucky. I have a .22 Daystate Bleu Wolf HP with HeliBoard, that shoots RD Monster pellets really well. I decided to try the new JSB KO .217 slugs. All I did was turn the power setting up from 8 to 9 to get them to shoot at 985 to 990 FPS and they are as accurate as the pellets. Easy day!
But I wanted something that could really reach out there with heavier slugs to 200, maybe even 250 yards accurately enough for ground squirrel hunting. So in October I bought a used Impact X .30 with PP, knowing that I wanted to convert it to a .25 caliber gun. So I added things like Ernest Rowe transfer port, FX pin probe, lighter valve spring, Slug A liner, CF liner and CF sleeve over barrel, etc. And I tried slug after slug after slug, all at various speeds. Nothing seemed to shoot as accurately as my Bleu Wolf with the JSB KOs. I had tried all the .25 NSA slugs from 26 to 38 grain. Not a happy camper. And then in the back of my range bag I found a small 30 slug sample pack of the 43.5 grain NSAs. I hadn't tried them because at the approx. 80 FPE the gun was generating, those would only fly at approx. 900 FPS. And silly me, I had read and listened to all the hype about shooting slugs from 950 up to 1050 FPS. Well, safe to say the 43.5 NSA at 900 FPS is truly a tack driver, at 50 yards, at 100 yards, and at 175 yards. For me this turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. And 900 FPS is certainly fast enough and flat enough to shoot out to 250 yards - and accurately! I even won Extreme Field Target with this gun two weeks ago...
So bottom line, its not easy. If you want easy out to 100 yards, shoot pellets. But if you want the benefit of relatively high BC and reaching out past 100 yards, slugs are the way to go, but you have to put in the time...
This is the type of accuracy I get from the .25 Impact with 43.5 NSA slugs. Ten shots at 102 yards prone off bipod. I geek out a bit and name all my guns. This one is Death Dealer.
My next step was an easy one, and I admit I got very lucky. I have a .22 Daystate Bleu Wolf HP with HeliBoard, that shoots RD Monster pellets really well. I decided to try the new JSB KO .217 slugs. All I did was turn the power setting up from 8 to 9 to get them to shoot at 985 to 990 FPS and they are as accurate as the pellets. Easy day!
But I wanted something that could really reach out there with heavier slugs to 200, maybe even 250 yards accurately enough for ground squirrel hunting. So in October I bought a used Impact X .30 with PP, knowing that I wanted to convert it to a .25 caliber gun. So I added things like Ernest Rowe transfer port, FX pin probe, lighter valve spring, Slug A liner, CF liner and CF sleeve over barrel, etc. And I tried slug after slug after slug, all at various speeds. Nothing seemed to shoot as accurately as my Bleu Wolf with the JSB KOs. I had tried all the .25 NSA slugs from 26 to 38 grain. Not a happy camper. And then in the back of my range bag I found a small 30 slug sample pack of the 43.5 grain NSAs. I hadn't tried them because at the approx. 80 FPE the gun was generating, those would only fly at approx. 900 FPS. And silly me, I had read and listened to all the hype about shooting slugs from 950 up to 1050 FPS. Well, safe to say the 43.5 NSA at 900 FPS is truly a tack driver, at 50 yards, at 100 yards, and at 175 yards. For me this turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. And 900 FPS is certainly fast enough and flat enough to shoot out to 250 yards - and accurately! I even won Extreme Field Target with this gun two weeks ago...
So bottom line, its not easy. If you want easy out to 100 yards, shoot pellets. But if you want the benefit of relatively high BC and reaching out past 100 yards, slugs are the way to go, but you have to put in the time...
This is the type of accuracy I get from the .25 Impact with 43.5 NSA slugs. Ten shots at 102 yards prone off bipod. I geek out a bit and name all my guns. This one is Death Dealer.
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The answer is, there is no answer. Every gun, even the same model and caliber is different. The only way is to pay your dues.
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Since you’re new, I will inform you that the two dudes that replied above this reply know their poop. You would need a 3/4 ton diesel truck to haul all the fired slugs that guys like Centercut have fired in the search for long range accuracy. Me? Maybe a 1/2 ton Toyota Tacoma. A raccoon that you mentioned requires a headshot with anything less than a .223 powder burner to drop it. That kill zone is the size of a quarter. I will not ever try to take a coon with my impact at 100. The gun is not capable day in and day out to do it. Just trying to give you a reality check.
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Roger, all great information, thank you. I suspect as the slug technology and gun / slug manufactures all work on perfecting these options it should only get better. Sounds like I have some work to do, which is fine by me! I'm a decent long range shooter / loader in the centerfire world so I'm up for the task. What would be your starting platform and bullet to get this project going if you were to start from scratch on a system?
fmetz
fmetz
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Thanks @vetmx, I grew up in PA near Lancaster... One thing to add with the Impacts that I never worry about with the Daystate or the Edgun. Not saying I don't do it because I do, but usually it was not necessary. And that is that I check my zero at the start of a hunting day - EVERYTIME! I usually carry a small box in my trunk with a few stick on targets. Get to hunting site, set box at 50 yards, check zero. Adjust if necessary. And almost every time with the Impact, it requires a few clicks one way or the other. When you shoot, you need to be certain that if/when you miss, because you will miss, its you and not the gun. Everyone that I've shot with knows that I do this, and they have also adopted the practice...
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I’m a great long range shooter with a center fire and have been reloading since 1980 with my dad. Started poking groundhogs at 700+ in the 1980’s also. Slugs and airguns are on a whole different level. I only ever had one rifle that that refused to shoot, a Ruger .223. With airguns, most of them refuse to shoot slugs even close to the level of a powder burner at 100yrds. Which we know is a chip shot.
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Centercut, why is that? That your zero changes on your Impact? Even with CF sleeve and tensioner?
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Yikes, I thought it was a little more refined after getting caught up online. I have been out of air guning for the last 4-5 years and mainly fishing. My favorite centerfire cartridge is the 6.5 SUAM, she screams. Airgun shooting is much more enjoyable even with suppressors on my centerfire guns. Much less fatigue and can just shoot and shoot, plus many more places to shoot. I'm thinking an Impact .25 cal, 700mm barrel, titan scope. I think they all come with superior liner now so I just need to pick my starting projectile. Sounds like the 43.5 Grain NSA slugs are the place to start? Wish there was a JSB that was lights out. Seem to be more plentiful and cheaper.
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Well, I have the 700mm Slug A liner, with the Ernest CF sleeve glued to it, and a 3mm thick CF tube 14MM ID I bought off Amazon.com. Its a snug fit, so I didn't glue it, but just "lightly" tension it with an oring on each end. Its "lightly tensioned" I guess you could say but I can still rotate the CF tube with a little effort on my part. I do not like fully tensioned barrels, not saying they don't work for some, but my experience with shooting as the temperature changes the POI will also change on your gun, especially if you have dissimilar materials tensioning the barrel. The way I have mine any swell or shrinkage is taken up by the orings on each end of the CF tube. If I put the gun away for a few days the next time I take it out it'll be a few clicks off from when I put it away. It does this almost every time. Its usually only a couple of clicks, or perhaps 1/2 inch at 50 yards, which is enough for a miss at 100+ yards.
@fmetz NSA slugs are the least expensive slugs you can buy in .25 caliber... Also, the Superior liner shot the 43.5 NSA OK, but not as good as the Slug A liner. I'd look at the Superior Heavy to shoot heavier slugs...
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+1 above, I dont know why, but I find I must do the same with my Wildcat MK 3 in .22 and slugs. I just guess the tube that houses the barrel can move. I do have an aftermarket stabilizer that ties the airtube and barrel shroud together and it helps, but I dont trust my shot without verifying zero first. Now my Leishy classic?, at under 50 I just set it and forget it. But my Wild? Check 0Upvote 0
It continues to amaze me what a $2,000 gun is capable of:POI shift of 1 MOA after 2 days in the gun cabinet.
I admit sometimes I get a bit envious looking and reading about different high-$$ guns.The above comment made me appreciate anew the guns I have — I'm blessed....
And this thread — wow, super interesting to hear some honest experiences of our slug pro's. Thanks for sharing! Matthias
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Centercut, is there somewhere I can learn about barrel tension in the impact? I have not heard anyone talk about this. Does the Crown line not have this problem because of a different barrel mounting system. Thanks all for the great tips!
fmetz
fmetz
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Hello Centercut, could you tell me what model of scope you have installed on your fx carbine that you show us in the photo. Thank you. A greeting.
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Look at Ernest Rowe's videos. He talks all about tensioning for various FX rifles. I like the idea of a stiffer liner and barrel, but not full on tensioning as I describe above. Just my personal preference. P.S., for maximum accuracy you'll need to index your liner. That comes near the end of the process...
@concentrado That is an Arken EP-4 MOA 6-24x50 scope. Very good scope for the money. Comparable to an Athlon Midas TAC.
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