slug selection

[Keyman62421]

starting to plan slug use. 25 cal. cricket and will be getting 700mm slug barrel for Impact.

What weights would you suggest. I am currently tuned in both guns to 870 -880 w/ Mark II. shooting basically MOA @ 100yds. 

I would think just as important, wouldn't the concave "feet" of the slug be advantageous over the flat bottom rds.

any other considerations such as hollow point vs. normal "bullet head" rds.? which brands are best? 

Impart your knowledge here , please. I shoot , predominately, for my own pleasure with a little critter subjugation when appropriate. 

 

[cosmic]

thebanker4 make the AVS slug did a video when he started swaging.. When he tested on a video he did, the cup or dish based were more accurate..



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYb65Cq5y5E

 

[mtnGhost]

What are you looking to do? Long distance target shooting? Hunting? If you're hunting, what are you looking to hunt?

 

[cosmic]

AVS also make .25's ..

 

[Bigredhunter]

Varmint knockers 33gr small hp 25 cal

 

[stoti]

I’ve just finished testing a whole bunch of Nielsen and Varmint slugs in my RAW and my Impact with a 700 slug liner. The most accurate in the Impact were the VK 32.8, 34.0 and the Nielsen 33.5 and 36.2. I was shooting the 32.8, 33.5 and 34.0 between 920-940fps and the 36.2 at about 900fps. These would be a good place to start. For whatever reason I cannot get any of the dimple nose slugs to shoot well, the large hollow point slugs work best in the Impact, also slugs with a flat base or modified flat base(dished). I tested all of the slugs between 830fps and 950fps and these are the velocities my gun shot them the best. I tested over 30 different slugs in my Crown with a 600mm liner, they also shot best at similar velocities. My Crown also liked flat base, large hollow point slugs. One other thing, if your gun can't reach these velocities or you don't want to turn up the reg. and hammer spring, VK makes a 30.4 and a 31.5 and Nielsen makes a 31.7 that shot well out of my Crown. I want to use heavier slugs and have the power to push them with my Impact so I haven't tested them in it. I'm assuming since the liner is very similar, they'll shoot well too. Hope this helps.

Cosmic... when did AVS start making .25? Oh, I see he said he's made some but I talked to him via eBay last week and he wasn't selling any yet. I can't speak for testing in those guns but for my FX guns and RAW, the flat base, dished base or other modified flat base work best.

Pictured below: just some of the many slugs tested, my test guns and one example of a 100yd group! Stoti

 

[biohazardman]

stoti

I’ve just finished testing a whole bunch of Nielsen and Varmint slugs in my RAW and my Impact with a 700 slug liner. The most accurate in the Impact were the VK 32.8, 34.0 and the Nielsen 33.5 and 36.2. I was shooting the 32.8, 33.5 and 34.0 between 920-940fps and the 36.2 at about 900fps. These would be a good place to start. For whatever reason I cannot get any of the dimple nose slugs to shoot well, the large hollow point slugs work best in the Impact, also slugs with a flat base or modified flat base(dished). I tested all of the slugs between 830fps and 950fps and these are the velocities my gun shot them the best. I tested over 30 different slugs in my Crown with a 600mm liner, they also shot best at similar velocities. My Crown also liked flat base, large hollow point slugs. One other thing, if your gun can't reach these velocities or you don't want to turn up the reg. and hammer spring, VK makes a 30.4 and a 31.5 and Nielsen makes a 31.7 that shot well out of my Crown. I want to use heavier slugs and have the power to push them with my Impact so I haven't tested them in it. I'm assuming since the liner is very similar, they'll shoot well too. Hope this helps.

Cosmic... when did AVS start making .25? Oh, I see he said he's made some but I talked to him via eBay last week and he wasn't selling any yet. I can't speak for testing in those guns but for my FX guns and RAW, the flat base, dished base or other modified flat base work best.

Pictured below: just some of the many slugs tested, my test guns and one example of a 100yd group! Stoti

Nice job on the post. That's a good number of slugs you tested. I read about the NSA and VK slugs and started there only trying a couple of others here and there that did poorly. I got the same results as you with the exception of the dimple nose slugs shot well from my gun, for the most part, like the others you mention. When shooting the dimple nose slugs I would sometimes shoot two through the same hole at 100yards then one an inch and a half high or low usually. This happened like twenty-five percent of the time. I chocked that up to leading of the barrel but I am not sure of that as yet. They also seemed to shoot a few inches higher than the HP slugs.

 

[stoti]

Thanks, my experience, obviously different guns shoot some slugs better than others! When I was testing my Crown with slugs, I tested a lot, Dale at VK was making all different hollow point, base, bearing surface combinations for me so I learned a lot about what worked and what didn't. Most of the slugs shot very well but then there were the random fliers that would kill groups. When I talk about great groups, I'm talking 3/4" or less at 50yds and 1 1/2" or less at 100 yds. with no fliers when testing...preferably better though. That's kind of what I'm looking for before I fine tune my gun for a particular slug. You can usually tell what is going to be accurate or not before you even start messing with the gun much. Nick Nielsen also sent me a whole lot of slugs to test a while back and all of them shot great, (except the dimple nose/fliers) as long as they were shot at the right velocity. Nick is onto something with his new machinery, it's pushing out some consistent slugs that are very accurate. I'm going to stick with the 32.8, 33.5 or 36.2 for now until I can power up my Impact a bit and shoot the 38gr at about 940fps. 

Stoti

 

[Long_Shot]

stoti - " I can power up my Impact a bit and shoot the 38gr at about 940fps. "

Do that and work on 3/4" or less at 100yds and 1 1/2" or less at 200 yds. with no fliers. 

Here's the two slugs I make for two different guns. A 30.5 for a stock Cricket .25 cal. 52 FPE and a 37.8gr. for a modified Cricket .25 cal. 75 FPE.

They both are just stupidly accurate. 

 

[stoti]

I don't even mess with a particular slug unless I can get 3/4" at 50yd and 1 1/2" at 100yd. pretty easily. That's just the starting point to see if I want to do more testing with that particular slug or skip it. Dale from VK made me four different slug designs for each weight of slug he sent me, I had so many, I had to find a way to sort through them fast. I had 38 different VK slugs, 4 Rat Sniper, 4 AONCO, 8 Nielsen and a few other random slugs too. Just too many variations! If they look like they'll shoot the 3/4" and 1 1/2" groups at those distances without being fussy, then I'll dial in my guns for whatever slug it is I'm shooting and test them thoroughly at various velocities and reg. settings. I've changed the settings and tunes on these guns so many times that I'm about done testing slugs, I'm going to pick the final slug I want to use for each gun, validate my drop out to 250yds and call it good. I've tested so many slugs that I'm getting a little tired of it actually. I want to get back to fun shooting with my boys. All I've done for months and months is test all these slugs off a bench or shooting mat. I do have some AONCO 25.4, VK 30.5 and 31.5 that shoot very well and I'm still thinking about, but I want to shoot heavier slugs to reap the full benefits of the higher BC and most energy down range. In any case, I think I'm going to use the VK 32.8 in my RAW and probably the 36.2 or 38 in my Impact. I'm going to test the Nielsen 36.2 and 38 tomorrow. Nick's new slugs are not only cheaper, they're weights are very consistent and they're really super accurate in my Impact. I opened the TP and bolt probe today on my FX which should gain me some good power for now. I'll turn up the regulator if I have to too, but first we'll have to see what the mods. I did today will get me. I don't think 940-950fps should be a problem unless when I turn up the regulator I don't have enough weight behind the hammer to get the valve open correctly for the power gains I'm looking for. I should be fine, I think my reg. is only at 155BAR right now. I'm going to get some parts here from Edosan that will give me all the power I'll need, but that might take a while to get here from Chile. I'm off to bed. 

Have a good one! Stoti