I have been testing different slugs in my .25 Impact. I can only shoot 25-30 yards in my backyard. I have heard people say that slugs don't shoot great under 50 yards. My question is, if they group at 1inch at 25 yards, should they do that at 50-100yds? will the groups get tighter or bigger. Or will I have to start over when the distance changes.
Shooting slugs question
- Thread starter lancehenley1
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If they are 1" at 25 yards, they will be larger at 50 and 100 yards. The "get better at distance" is an old wives' tale, never proven. Find a slug that will shoot tight groups at 50 yards, say that can be covered by a penny. Then with the slugs that do that, move to 100 yards. But the 100 yard groups will never be better than the 50 yard groups, its physically impossible...
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Maybe the better question is, can I determine which slugs shoot well out of my Impact at 25 yards. Or do I need to start at 50yds or further.
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Matt Dubber's latest video contradicts your hypothesis. He actually uses physics and video illustrations to show it. Watch the video, specifically at the 3:15 to 3:45 mark. That 30 second portion precisely explains the wobble to stability factor with slugs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR5j4aZwNH0
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I have never, with thousands of many different slugs at speeds from the mid 700s to the low 1000s, seen a slug shoot a larger group at a shorter range and smaller at a longer range. Groups always grow larger as the distance increases. Watch it again all the way through he says slugs and longer heavy pellets react differently.
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Agree. I don't buy the "go to sleep" concept that I've heard for years with powderburners, either. Similar concept. The problem with the idea is if their is a "wobble" or instability of any type that needs to "settle down" (and I don't discount that such instability can occur), how could it be possible for the projectile to "settle down" in a consistent manner? I can see that "wobble" or "instability" could settle but don't understand at all how one could rely on it to occur the same way consistently. Doesn't seem possible to me and, as you mention, I've never seen any instance of any gun shooting smaller groups at some longer distance than they do at a shorter distance. If someone has one that will do so I'd travel to see it.
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What I have heard, and believe myself, is that slugs probably don't have a large functional advantage over pellets at shorter distances. Their BC advantages seemingly would show up more and more at progressively longer distances but pellets function fine at shorter ranges. I don't hunt so I don't know about mushroom capability and that could certainly be an advantage of a hollow point slug if velocity can expand it at shorter distances in small game but as far as accuracy and energy pellets seem to do just fine out to 50 yards and sometimes a bit further.
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I am not trying to compare them to pellets. I am just trying to figure out which ones my impact shoots the best. My question is, can I figure that out at 25 yards, which I can shoot anytime in my backyard. Or would it be better to shoot them at 50 to 100 yards to figure it out. Don’t want to waste a lot of time and money to find one that shoots well at 25 but not further. I also shoot the jsb mk2. They shoot well at any speed I have tried.
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Hey guys.... I just posted the video of what Matt said. I'm just the messenger. I know pellets are self stabilizing in shape. They are tack drivers within 50 yards. I wasn't trying to rub anyone the wrong way or instigate anything. I saw his video a few days ago, so when I saw what Centercut wrote, it rang a bell, and I looked at the video. I never said he was wrong, and I never said I agree. I just said his video contradicted Centercut's hypothesis.
To be honest, the ONLY way to prove the hypothesis would be to track a slug downrange with a high speed camera from muzzle to impact over the course of a few hundred yards and see if you could notice that the slug stabilized. To be honest, I agree with you guys. If the gun shoots hole in hole at 50 yards, it stands to reason it should do equally well at shorter distance. But that would be a great experiment. If you have a gun dialed in to shoot slugs at 50 yards, and you have sub MOA groups, or hole in hole, try moving the target closer to 25 yards and see if the groups get tighter or if they spread.
To be honest, the ONLY way to prove the hypothesis would be to track a slug downrange with a high speed camera from muzzle to impact over the course of a few hundred yards and see if you could notice that the slug stabilized. To be honest, I agree with you guys. If the gun shoots hole in hole at 50 yards, it stands to reason it should do equally well at shorter distance. But that would be a great experiment. If you have a gun dialed in to shoot slugs at 50 yards, and you have sub MOA groups, or hole in hole, try moving the target closer to 25 yards and see if the groups get tighter or if they spread.
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What you've posted or linked isn't a problem. It's a good discussion. Dubber does seem to do a lot of good work and does put quite a bit of effort into it. This entire concept just doesn't make sense to me.
Assume that a slug is "unstable" but is moving along the bore axis. It seems that should produce basically single hole accuracy. For instability to cause larger groups at short ranges, it seems that the unstable projectile would have to be moving in a "spiral" in order for the group to be larger. For this "settling down" concept to work, the projectile would apparently be stabilizing at some point along it's flight. The question in my mind is, how could the projectile "settle" in exactly the same place for each shot? If such is possible then I guess you could have a larger group closer and tighter groups farther away. Just hard to see that such is possible for me. But I've been wrong before, more than once.
Assume that a slug is "unstable" but is moving along the bore axis. It seems that should produce basically single hole accuracy. For instability to cause larger groups at short ranges, it seems that the unstable projectile would have to be moving in a "spiral" in order for the group to be larger. For this "settling down" concept to work, the projectile would apparently be stabilizing at some point along it's flight. The question in my mind is, how could the projectile "settle" in exactly the same place for each shot? If such is possible then I guess you could have a larger group closer and tighter groups farther away. Just hard to see that such is possible for me. But I've been wrong before, more than once.
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Slugs and a tune that will work good for me have still been close to one hole at 25 yds, crap @25-50=crap any farther. That has been with about 13 or 14 different slugs, now unlike pellets, I have seen 3/4-1” @ 50 and basically same @ 100 or close to it, with pellets, 1”@50 means not so great @ 100. That has been my experience. 
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@trinitymaker, it’s not hypothesis, it’s cold hard fact. Unless the slug has a magic built in homing device to get it back towards the target, there is NO WAY that a group at 50 yards can be larger than the 100 yard group. Wait, maybe the Earth really is flat? Nah. 
@bandg excellent logical analysts. +1. Physics is physics...
I don’t think Matt ever said that a group at 100 yards would be smaller than the 50 yard group.
@bandg excellent logical analysts. +1. Physics is physics...
I don’t think Matt ever said that a group at 100 yards would be smaller than the 50 yard group.
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All of my slug guns must be one hole at 30yrds before I waste any time shooting them 50 then 100. I have been screwing around with my Taipan and slugs recently. Its my first venture into slugs with a choke. My 50yrd groups look like my 30yrd groups. This is a first for me and I will not state that it is a fact until I retest tomorrow. I am curious what will happen at 100yrds. So to the OP, If you are using 25yrds as your initial test, if you are happy with a nickel size group at 25, your gun might do it at 50 and possibly 100. For me, I know that my margin for error with my shot process and environmental conditions grows as the yards add up. Start off with a one hole group at 25 because things are only going to get worse from there.
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I agree CC, I've had this discussion with people way too many times and nobody ever wants to attribute the smaller groups at distance to shooter error or external ballistics.
When talking about projectiles settling down or self stabilizing, the center of mass of the projectile is usually in line with the bore axis. It's the tip and tail of the projectile that is stabilizing to the bore axis. The pitch, yaw and roll of the tip and tail of a projectile is usually nominal in relation to the center of mass which is in line with the bore axis,.This is why at our distances, pitch, yaw and roll of a projectile has almost no effect on group size. The center of mass of the projectile is going to hit the target in the same spot whether the tip and tail have "settled" or not. I hope that makes sense...It does in my head, not sure if I articulated it properly.
With all of that being said, yes lance, you can test slugs at any distance. If you can only shoot to 25-30yds in your yard, test them at that distance, find the smallest group and then when you can, test them at longer distances. It's a lot harder to tune a gun for slugs than it is diabolo pellets, so you're going to have to work at it a bit.
Good luck. Stoti
When talking about projectiles settling down or self stabilizing, the center of mass of the projectile is usually in line with the bore axis. It's the tip and tail of the projectile that is stabilizing to the bore axis. The pitch, yaw and roll of the tip and tail of a projectile is usually nominal in relation to the center of mass which is in line with the bore axis,.This is why at our distances, pitch, yaw and roll of a projectile has almost no effect on group size. The center of mass of the projectile is going to hit the target in the same spot whether the tip and tail have "settled" or not. I hope that makes sense...It does in my head, not sure if I articulated it properly.
With all of that being said, yes lance, you can test slugs at any distance. If you can only shoot to 25-30yds in your yard, test them at that distance, find the smallest group and then when you can, test them at longer distances. It's a lot harder to tune a gun for slugs than it is diabolo pellets, so you're going to have to work at it a bit.
Good luck. Stoti
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Thanks for the info. Just starting out on the slugs. Its been interesting. Not a great shooter, so that's part of it. HAHA!!
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It’s funny but yesterday was the first time I try to shoot slugs, I shoot at 40m, the weather was calm and sunny and this is the result of the H&N slugs 21g:
but today... i retry to shoot these slugs but at 50m, it’s very very windy today, and :
So I don’t know what is the conclusion but the fact is that slugs group better today at 50m than yesterday at 40m
but today... i retry to shoot these slugs but at 50m, it’s very very windy today, and :
So I don’t know what is the conclusion but the fact is that slugs group better today at 50m than yesterday at 40m
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Any "tuning" effort on the gun from yesterday to today? If not, I would guess simply luck of the draw, expecially since you note that today was more windy than yesterday. How did the better slug groups today compare to yesterday's pellet groups?
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No tuning, same airgun, same power, same slugs, same shooter 
The pellets groups was just horrible today.. I shoots Jsb hades 16g and Jsb exact 25g and all impacts was far away from poi (+/- 10cm) and the groups extend to 10cm too
Hades:
Jsb exact 25g:
The pellets groups was just horrible today.. I shoots Jsb hades 16g and Jsb exact 25g and all impacts was far away from poi (+/- 10cm) and the groups extend to 10cm too
Hades:
Jsb exact 25g:
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It just shows that your gun is not consistent. That means no go at that tune. Those groups are bad at 40 and 50.
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I’m not a great shooter too, I’m a beginner in shooting but if the groups are bad at 40 and 50m, Finally it’s a bit better with slugs. 
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