Pest Control Pellet or Slugs

[Oz airgun]

Here’s my conundrum…
I’m new to the whole PCP thing I’ve been looking for ages and watched everything I can on YouTube and finally went out and got an fX wildcat mkIII BT .22 with all the info out there I wanted to narrow it down do I shoot pellet or slugs.I’ve started tuning with nsa and Zans between 20.2 and 23 grain as well as Diablo 18.3 which shoot great but lack knock down power at distance. I’m finding it difficult to get consistent groups with slugs which I’m not sure if it’s due to the liner or the speeds I’m shooting or should I try heavier pellets?also being down in Oz were not aloud to use moderators so finding a tune that’s in that sweet spot and keeping the bark down as much as possible has been a tricky process I mainly would be using it for pest control but I have a 50/100/150m range on my property and quite enjoy a bit of targets shooting as well any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

[dens228]

How far is your pesting on average? And what animals are you shooting at?
I've never had a domed pellet not kill what I'm shooting at when I hit where I'm aiming but am limited in my distances to under 50 yards due to being in the suburbs. I've also used slugs just for fun. Just as dead with a good hollow point and will admit there's a bit more room for error with them in that I can miss my mark by a little and still result in a quick kill.

 

[Vetmx]

If you can’t use a mod then a nice efficient pellet tune will have the gun operating in its most quiet accurate and consistent state. Just because you can see a pest at 150m doesn’t mean you have to try to hit it at that distance. Slip in to 50-70m and take care of it with a well placed 18gr pellet.

 

[Ranchibi]

A lot will depend on conditions, if it is windy then slugs but in benign conditions pellets work just as well. One of the most important things in order to get slugs to shoot accurately is slug diameter as they are spin stabilized, your barrel is probably choked so only the last couple inches will impart the spin needed to stabilize the flight....might need a larger diameter than you think. Slugging your barrel will help in that regard. In benign conditions I have taken ground squirrels out to 120yds with 18gr pellets.

 

[bdzjlz]

As others have stated, a well placed 18 Gr pellet is deadly.

 

[Gerry52]

I had slug curiosity for a minute a couple years ago. My 3 guns are all Original Smooth Twist barrels, designed around pellets & will not shoot slugs with acceptable accuracy. The vast majority of my shooting is 65-120 yards. ABSOLUTELY no problems with reaching out that far or terminal results. Don't get caught up in the slug hype, especially if you're a decent shooter! I still, occasionally, fantasize about a dedicated slug shooter but then rational thought takes over.

 

[starlingassn]

slugs out of a choked barrel can be frustrating.

my impact will shoot a few slugs.....ok.

but shoots pellets so good its almost unbelievable.

so when i wanted to put together a dedicated slug gun,
i went with an agt uragan 2 .25,

it shoots most slugs well,
and some extremely well.

but every gun will take fine tuning and tweaking to get slugs to shoot their best.

 

[Oz airgun]

distance is mainly around the 50-70m which in most cases is easy done with pellets but some properties are very open grassland very windy and where any movement and the rabbits/hares bolt and your having to take shots around 70-150m (which I normally would have done with a rim fire) so hence I was testing out the slugs what velocities are you guys shooting your pellets and would you go a heavier pellet?

 

[Oz airgun]

Also because rabbits are such a huge problem down here your generally standing amongst 10-20-30 of them at a time so the FX has been great but with a bit of a loud bark and spooking them after half a dozen shots having to take your next shots at further distance is where I’m trying to tighten up the accuracy

 

[delooper]

At those distances pellets are the better option. Cheaper, less hassle setting up the gun. I think slugs only start becoming an improvement at the 80-100m range, so just a little past what you're doing.

So far I've only been "slug curious". I have lots of slugs, but I still pest only with pellets. But I'm mostly hunting at the 30m range.

 

[dens228]

distance is mainly around the 50-70m which in most cases is easy done with pellets but some properties are very open grassland very windy and where any movement and the rabbits/hares bolt and your having to take shots around 70-150m (which I normally would have done with a rim fire) so hence I was testing out the slugs what velocities are you guys shooting your pellets and would you go a heavier pellet?

My slug of choice is 22 grain shooting 950 fps.
My pellet of choice is 25 grain shooting 916 fps.
Both 22 cal.

 

[TracyR]

holy moly thats an amazing amount of rabbits! I have been hunting every night at dusk for rabbits. I have seen one in the last 4 days I don't think they like my area for sure. Maybe i need to start a garden to attract them

 

[Vetmx]

Like dens mentioned, if you can get the 25gr .22 pellet to shoot well out of your gun, it’s game over for rabbits out to 100. You may have to switch to a heavy liner. That pellet in .22 and the 34gr in .25 plain old puts the smack down on critters at distances that can make playing the slug game a waste of time. Yes they drift more but because the day to day accuracy is so consistent and you don’t have to monitor a barrel cleaning regimen, the tiny bit more drift is worth it.

 

[Berserkeley Mike]

Or work on suppressing the "loud bark"? I can't shoot 100 yards and I'd sure not be walking it for every rabbit.
- Mike's "lazy butt"

 

[L.Leon]

Or work on suppressing the "loud bark"? I can't shoot 100 yards and I'd sure not be walking it for every rabbit.
- Mike's "lazy butt"

Moderators aren’t allowed in the land of Oz. ”Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain“ The Wizard of Oz… To the OP, put a moderator on and stop “complying“…

 

[Oz airgun]

If was legal I would definitely put a moderator on it and not sure how the property owners would like it if a left a field full of dead bunnies laying aroundgeneral consensus is the pellets are the go which is the opposite to what most guys down here shoot or recommend being that the slugs are generally the go to ammo.I’ll give the 25gr pellets a shot and see how they fair out to 100m and maybe leave the slugs for now until I can really put some time in to work them out cheers guys for the all info

 

[N2 Shooter]

I shoot Hybrid Slugs almost exclusively from my .30cal FX Maverick VP. Not quiet as accurate as pellets, but almost 15 more fpe at 125 yards.

 

[dens228]

I shoot Hybrid Slugs almost exclusively from my .30cal FX Maverick VP. Not quiet as accurate as pellets, but almost 15 more fpe at 125 yards.

My Hybrid clones, the Air Impulse slugs, shoot as accurate as my JSB Redesigns, just 5 MOA lower at 30 yards. They're traveling 35 fps faster. They shot a little bit larger group than the pellets until I turned the valve down a TINY bit on my M3. As in going from 9.7 mm to 9.5. It didn't even change my FPS for either. I figure there was a bit of air still causing some turbulence as they left the barrel.

 

[squaker]

yah the only time I see rabbits is at night if raining or when cutting hay. Never see them if I wanted to hunt them without a dog maybe if I went tromping through brush with a shot gun i might get one. The coyotes and hawks keep the numbers down here.

 

[Jay308]

Monster Redesign 25.4, flip the barrel to the slug port. For 100m plus you may have to use slugs. The FX hybrids should shoot good out your current barrel but are pricey.