Slugs and slower speeds🤔

[Redick]

Wondering if anyone has had any good experience testing slugs at slower speeds? Slower meaning less then 900fps more like 860-880fps. I'm curious to know which slug if any would do go at the slower speeds. I do not have a plenum and just wanted to play around with different ammo. 

 

[MrP]

I saw a very interesting article I think it was here or GTA about how amazingly well boat tail slugs do at low velocities. This was by the “bob’s boat tail” guy and he was surprised to discover how well these perform at sub-sonic velocity.


I have been shooting these very heavy boat tail bullets / slugs out of my TalonP. .25 cal, 47 grains. At 50ish fpe are moving along at about 715 FPS and are the main thing I shoot these days since I can just recycle shot pellets. I am not shooting over long distances - suburban air gunner confined to 12m range in garage...


The only 25 caliber mold I was able to get at the start of this outbreak (and my new airgun hobby) was for these bullets. I cast these myself, you can also buy them on eBay. They are designed for choked air gun barrels, specifically LW barrels.



When one of these is perfectly cast, I don’t have any pellets that beat its accuracy. The person who designed this pellet to work with Huben rifles has a video about it on YouTube, it is definitely confirmed to be very accurate at low velocity. 


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CodtHHnTT9o


https://www.mp-molds.com/product-category/molds/air-rifle-molds/

 

[vmaxpro]

Ive got a .25 brocock with a fx liner that shoots nsa 26.8gr like a tack driver at 800 fps. 

 

[0akhonor]

I've a uragan. 30 that shoots 49 grain nielsens at 880 fps.

After 70 yards, pellets can't touch the consistency of the slugs.

Shooting yesterday- 100 yards, 44 grain pellets were 1.5-2.5" groups off of my sticks. Slugs were a consistent 1.5" ( some groups were smaller but aberrations)

This was shooting rough- simulated hunting: standing, kneeling and a chair w sticks. Both were being affected by side winds, but when doping, the slugs were more consistently predictable.

great YouTube videos out there about slugs and sub 12 ftlb results. 

One of the FT guru's is making slugs for his Crosman 1720T that are showing promise as well. 

No special barrels, off the shelf product.

My buddy Steve has a taipan compact that is a laser w slugs, doing the low 800's I think. He's squirrel accurate at 80 + yards off of sticks.

 

[8thman]

My impact mk2 25cal tuned for nsa36.2@910 on max but lately I have been shooting on power wheel setting #4 @820fps very accurately and on pests very dramatic. I have not shot them slower but I have heard that they do well as low as the 700fps.

 

[stoti]

No offense, but on a dead calm day, a slug’s accuracy can’t compare to a pellet’s at 70yds, 100yds or 150yds. Slugs perform in wind, on a calm day there is no comparison.

Stoti

 

[Redick]

No offense, but on a dead calm day, a slug’s accuracy can’t compare to a pellet’s at 70yds, 100yds or 150yds. Slugs perform in wind, on a calm day there is no comparison.

Stoti

Interesting! Anyone have any opinions about the above statement? I too am a pellet shooter, but i wanted to try a few slugs out of curiosity to see if any differences on pest like squirrel and raccoons. My go to pellets are the Predator Polymags for sure! 

 

[0akhonor]

I'm not qualified to judge; I'll defer to others.

Where I shoot is mostly windy,and I'm not using anything close to bench rested conditions- I defer to those who who've the history and data.

I'm interested in dropping animals as humanely as possible, simplifying holdover, wind doping and other variables. For the conditions here in NorCal, the slugs have been the most consistent, but only with the one gun that shoots them well.

All of my other guns do best with pellets- they don't like slugs at all. 

 

[biohazardman]

I shot plenty of half MOA groups at 100 yards with the NSA 33.5 and VK 34gr at 740fps so they are accurate from an impact STX 700mm slug barrel anyway. Managed to match the groups with pellets once but that was about it as there is always a little breeze at the range. 

https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/installed-my-new-700mm-slug-liner-on-my-impact-and-started-tuning/

 

[DesertSilver]

IMHO, pellets will shoot as accurate as slugs when there is no wind but if just a little bit of gusty wind and the slug will out shoot the pellet. It's all a matter of sectional desity and BC.

 

[stoti]

Yup, exactly!

 

[Wayne52]

I've had excellent results shooting my cast BBT's in the mid 800fps range.

 

[8thman]

Sounds like some shooters have been a little bit luckier with the tune for shooting slugs than others. I know how time consuming and aggravating it is to find the correct tune, but once you found it slugs will as if not better than pellets in calm moments. Since I found the gun’s choice of tune I have not changed a thing just changing my power wheel for speed . I shot 8000-10,000 slugs with no need to adjust.

 

[Vetmx]

My TJ barreled P15 will shoot a VK slug crazy accurate under 800fps. I have taken many animals at around 100yrds with it. Loopy trajectory but if you have your trajectories dialed in, the slug will hit its mark. When I bump the velocity up to closer to 900, I have to switch to a .254 diameter slug because the VK’s are no longer accurate. As far as raccoons go, I have blasted a ton of them with all calibers and projectiles. Nothing changes. A .25 pellet or slug going 900+ still requires the exact same shot, the head. A raccoon can take a .22mag to the body and run off full speed. Our airguns are a complete joke compared to a .22mag. No power plenum, 900mm barrel or magic tuning tricks are going to bridge that gap.

 

[wimpanzee]

I've been searching for a slug for my wildcat mkIII sniper .25

I finally landed on AVS 38 grain slugs. At my limited 25 yard back yard range, they are more accurate than JSB kings or heavies, and are running around 61fpe, 850fps. I can usually get 3 shots into 1 round hole, but past that and I start eating at the edges and making it a bigger hole. 

 

[Guest]

My AA S500 shoots the NSA .177 15.5g slugs very well at 720fps and up. It will shoot a consistent 3/4 group in up to 3mph winds at 55yds. 18g start grouping almost as well, 7/8-1"starting around 800fps. 

I've tried Griffin slugs, and Tom Holland's but found them lacking. It's NSA slugs for me.

 

[RabbitBlaster]

I have a .25 Crown Continuum and have been shooting NSA slugs (26.8, 29, 33.5, 36 and 38). So far everything apart from the 26.8 does very well. The 26.8 flew way off to the side, so I will try some different settings to see if I can make it work better. I shot a possum from 115 yards the other night, with a 29gr slug going at 1000 fps, dropped him right away. The larger slugs doing even better. The heavier slugs I shoot slower, low 900s to high 800s, and they have been fine as well. The 33.5 shoots at around 950 fps, but the 36 and 38 sit in that low 900 to high 800 range. I have shot a few on lower power settings as low as 700ish fps and had good results. I actually accidently shot an FX Hybrid at just over 700fps when I had the transfer port set to low power, and even then it still went through a 19mm bit of plywood at 88 yards, so still carrying plenty of energy. So far the accuracy of all but the 26.8 have been very good and I am keen to try some boat tails. Does anyone have any suggestions on boat tails I can try? My gun is shooting 70-80 FPE on Max.

 

[MrP]

Here's a random question. Why doesn't anyone sell high ballistic coefficient projectiles made out of that light lead-free alloy? Get the aerodynamic slug shape but much lighter weights. Not saying I like those ultra light pellets but I can't help but wonder. Seems like it would let people shoot slug shapes out of a slightly lower energy guns with enough speed to work well

 

[qball]

FX superior liner in .22 shoots NSA like laser @840fps.