Slug .vs. Pellet- Good basic article in HardAir on-line mag

[hi-vel]

Following suggestions for reading from a month or so ago, I found the online publication of Hard Air, an airgun monthly.

They posted a good basic information article on slugs versus pellet ballistics. Always good to refresh... 

You can find it at: https://hardairmagazine.com/ham-columns/the-external-ballistics-of-slugs-in-airguns/

Shout out to Airgun Nation- If you haven't found the moving banners at the top of the page, jump onto a few of them. It helps support this site and I have found something interesting everytime I have looked at someone (business) I did not know. Try it, you'll like it!

Have a great day- Good luck and Good Shooting!

Hi-vel

 

[Xbowsniper]

Hi Vel,

I've been tinkering with slugs out of Field Target 12 ft. lb rigs for a few weeks. My main guns are the RAW TM1000, Steyr LG 110 FT, and Air Arms EV 2Mark IV, all at 12 ft Lbs. 

I've had some interesting results, that is forcing me to really investigate this for Field Target use. The one projectile that is factory made that showed the best promise, particularly with wind drift, was, believe it or not, the H&N Piledriver in .177 at 21 grains!!. The best wind drift at a 90 degree 15 mph wind of any projectile we normally use for Field Target goes between 7.5 inch drift to a 12 inch drift, and anything in between depending upon the projectile used and velocity. The Piledrivers drift a little bit more than THREE inches!!!! That's why I need to investigate this further.

I've been making my own slugs for testing at this power level, and found that anything that has a hollow base is useless, no matter what the weight. Put a flat base on a 15 grain and 21 grain flying anvil, and the results are very promising. I'll be making more in the next few days for this weekend's testing. Should be interesting 

Tom Holland 

Field Target Tech 

 

[Hobbyman2007]

Hi Vel,

I've been tinkering with slugs out of Field Target 12 ft. lb rigs for a few weeks. My main guns are the RAW TM1000, Steyr LG 110 FT, and Air Arms EV 2Mark IV, all at 12 ft Lbs. 

I've had some interesting results, that is forcing me to really investigate this for Field Target use. The one projectile that is factory made that showed the best promise, particularly with wind drift, was, believe it or not, the H&N Piledriver in .177 at 21 grains!!. The best wind drift at a 90 degree 15 mph wind of any projectile we normally use for Field Target goes between 7.5 inch drift to a 12 inch drift, and anything in between depending upon the projectile used and velocity. The Piledrivers drift a little bit more than THREE inches!!!! That's why I need to investigate this further.

I've been making my own slugs for testing at this power level, and found that anything that has a hollow base is useless, no matter what the weight. Put a flat base on a 15 grain and 21 grain flying anvil, and the results are very promising. I'll be making more in the next few days for this weekend's testing. Should be interesting 

Tom Holland 

Field Target Tech

That just goes to show ,you don’t need extreme power to reap the benefits of a solid bullet . Skirted pellets are dead to me . I cast my own bullets and the rewards when you find a combination that works is a lot more than just saving a few bucks . The trick is finding the right balance between twist rate, bullet size and velocity. I have a few bullets that shoot great at 700 fps and some others like 900+ you just don’t know until you try . 

 

[Xbowsniper]

Hobbyman,

100% correct. It is such a hit and miss thing, it's almost mind boggling. 

A 15 grain slug out of my rigs are useless. Bump that up to 15.2--15.5 grains, totally different results for the better. That's the beauty of it, I bump up or down a weight until it gets better. Then I change the base. It's a ton of tinkering, but I'll get it down in the long run. 

Tom Holland 

Field Target Tech 

 

[bandg]

"Skirted pellets are dead to me". Wow.

 

[Long_Shot]

"Skirted pellets are dead to me". Wow.

I'm with Hobbyman2007 too. I swag my own HP slugs. Each one is Match Grade. 

I just don't want to shoot anything else now........

 

[bandg]

Seems the advantage of a slug only shows up at what is commonly considered a long range for airguns. I don't shoot airguns at long ranges. If one does, then there might be lots of advantages to slugs. I'll stick with my pellets but it is good to have options.

 

[hi-vel]

Yes, the accurate guns are the interesting ones. A lot of the enjoyment I get out of airguns is in working with the variables to get them to shoot. Then I go out and shoot quantities at various ranges. With my current set-up I was pushing it to obtain acceptable critter hits beyond 125-150yds. My personal standard is 70-80% hits at the chosen range- above or below that and I start adjusting things. Of course the uncontrollable variable is always the wind...

Slug shooting has opened a whole new venue for airguns, at least for me.

Swaging is also an enjoyable option. I swaged a fair amount of 22CF (CenterFire stuff) and the principals are still applicable here. I will probably opt for others setting up for it, at least at this time, but at least it is a know commodity for me. Neilsen slugs that I have examined are a quality product, and I expect to use them for the foreseeable future.

And I will probably continue using pellets for the initial setup and paper punching that I usually start with each year. They should still tell me if something has gone drastically wrong since my last session.

Thanks for the input, it is encouraging and I enjoy learning from more experienced folks than myself. Hi-vel

 

[Hobbyman2007]

Here are some targets at 80 yards in .22 cal with some cast bullets from an NOE 225-39 FNGC mold . They were shot today from an Evanix K550 at about 880 FPS . At 30 yards and under they shoot just as well as any pellet I’ve tried from the same rifle . One hole ten shots . The trick is getting the balance between the bullet and rifle , that is something the FX Impact excels at . Just keep turning dials until the groups shrink . Most other rifles don’t have that luxury so it becomes tedious to find an accurate bullet . 

 

[hi-vel]

Hobbyman2007- Nice post! Are you using pure lead or do you use a mix? Any lubes? Thanks! Hi-vel

 

[Hobbyman2007]

I’m using a 40:1 mix from rotometals and started lubing with FP10. Great lube and can go hundreds of shots using it between cleaning the barrel. For cleaning I just run a few dry patches on a trimmer line until they come out clean which is usually less than 5 patches . I’ll be testing a shortened version of the same bullet soon in the Impact with the slug and pellet liner as well as Redmans barrel liner in .223”.