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Slug accuracy

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TNairgunner.3

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Nov 28, 2020
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Tennessee, United States
Let me start by saying this is my (and my fathers) first foray into slugs as projectiles. I’ve always had HW springers and love those guns but we are now moving into pcps and the issue of slug accuracy at closer ranges (under 50-75 yards) is perplexing. Could anybody provide an explanation as why pellets can see one hole accuracy at 50 and below but slugs just don’t seem to perform to that degree?



thanks!!
 
 



https://youtu.be/Ur6iIcVhHmM





The video explains a lot, start there.

Many factors that affect slugs, the barrel is probably the first place to start. Slugs really dont do well in barrels not made for them usually cause the choke and the diameter of slug and barrel twist rate etc.Not to say people have had good results with slugs in all kinds of barrels. Speeds is a big factor, and the slug needs some distance to stabilize.


 
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Well, slugs can perform at 50 with laser beam precision. It all comes down to the power ( speed) barrel ( twist, choke, length ) , and slug ( weight, shape , size) combination and balance of these factors . The skirt on a pellet takes care of super fast stabilisation after leaving the barrel hence shorter distances are a good match for pellets. Slugs do need to find their stabile course by fiddling around a bit more with the mentioned factors but they can be very accurate at any distance as pellets are but do beat pellets in a stabile trajectory when distances get over around 50 meters . In case you cannot shoot hole in hole with your slugs there is still some work to do ... However if your rifle is shooting hole in hole with pellets and you intend not to take on longer distances than 50 meters pellets are still a very viable option for all kind of shooting.
When I may ask.. what are you and your father experimenting with ?
 
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All pellets will not shoot good groups at 50 yards in your gun anymore than all slugs will shoot poorly. A few of each will likely be laser like if your gun is tuned for them. So find a slug or pellet that shoots reasonably well from your barrel and tune your gun to shoot it like a laser. 

My Impact will shoot many one hole groups at 50 yards and many .5 inch groups at 100 yards with NSA 33.5, 36.2 or VK 34gr slugs. It will shoot near the same with the JSB 33.95 MK2 pellet at 50 yards.

So if you do the werq likely you will get the groups with pellets or slugs. It's all about finding the right projectile for your individual barrel and shooting it at the right speed.

I don't go for the slugs will stabilize thing. If a slug does not shoot well at under 50 yards it is sure not going to shoot any better at 100 or 150. Never seen it in my many years all of my groups always get bigger as the distance grows.


 
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I'm guessing you are shooting slugs out of a normal barrel made for pellet. It doesnt work like that. You need a barrel made for slugs. Aka fx slug liners to shoot slugs accurately. I have a fx slug liner A and its just as accurate as jsb pellets.
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Wrong, plenty of guns can shoot slugs just fine with barrels made for pellets. That's why NSA has different size, weight and style to adjust for that...the key is to find what works.
 
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So if you do the werq likely you will get the groups with pellets or slugs. It's all about finding the right projectile for your individual barrel and shooting it at the right speed.

I don't go for the slugs will stabilize thing. If a slug does not shoot well at under 50 yards it is sure not going to shoot any better at 100 or 150. Never seen it in my many years all of my groups always get bigger as the distance grows.
Click to expand...

Good points all. I’m with you on this “distance to stabilize” BS. You’re 100% correct. If it won’t stack slugs at 50 yards it certainly won’t shoot MOA at 100. Also, this “wobble” or whatever the scientific names are (Precession and Nutation?) has been scientifically shown to always be less that the projectile diameter, and to self correct in a very short distance, definitely less than 50 yards. You’ll NEVER shoot better groups at 100 yards than you do at 50...
 
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Much of the problem with slugs that are typically being shot is that they have a very short wheelbase. Some of the light 22 cal stuff is extremely short wheelbased or under square...meaning that the contact surface is shorter than one caliber. It is very difficult to get under square slugs to enter the barrel perfectly straight. If the slug is slightly crooked in the barrel it will leave the barrel in yaw. If the slug is dynamically stable, this yaw will manifest itself in an ever decreasing cone of precession. With enough distance and a dynamically stable slug...this precession will damp itself out.

These undersquare slugs will often perform decently at longer yardages while shooting proportionally worse in terms of MOA at shorter yardages. An example of this would be a 2 Moa grouping at 100y while only grouping 2.5 Moa at 50. It can even be more dramatic than that.

Dynamically stable means that the nose of the slug will always correct itself to point into the airflow.

Mike 
 
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