Slugs in a 22 Maurauder?

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badger5th

badger5th

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Has anyone tried slugs in a 22 M-rod? My thoughts are the lengths may be too much for the thickness of the magazines. What about the barrel twist? I know longer projectile = faster twist to stabilize. I know that's true with powder burners.. Would be grateful for some feedback before I buy some. Looking to shoot at 100-150 yards, maybe 200.
 
badger5th said:
Has anyone tried slugs in a 22 M-rod? My thoughts are the lengths may be too much for the thickness of the magazines. What about the barrel twist? I know longer projectile = faster twist to stabilize. I know that's true with powder burners.. Would be grateful for some feedback before I buy some. Looking to shoot at 100-150 yards, maybe 200.
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I don't know much, but sending a Mrod 200 yards sounds impressive as hell! I hope you find some slugs that work out, my best advise it purchase many different slugs and shoot what your rifle likes best.

My flashpup in .25 prefers H&N 28grain, but I'm not confident at 150-200 even though I'm sure my rifle could do it, I prolly can't. Hell, I may have to try tomorrow now.
 
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I would also suggest what Swing360 said on purchasing many different slugs. Some people try just a couple different weights or brands and if they don't work, conclude thier gun does not like slugs. If you are serious about shooting slugs at longer distances it would be worth the effort to try different brands, weights, diameters and gun settings to get the results you want. It does take patience but once you find the right slug and the right setting on you gun all your hard work and $ will pay off. I don't know what the maximum slug length is for your mrod magazines but I would start with slugs in the 22-26 gr. range because you will want to keep your velocity up to shoot out to 200 yds which is very doable. As far as selecting diameters; just push a slug through the barrel to see how tight they are in the barrel. You don't want real loose or real tight. Ignore the choke portion of the barrel. Doing this might eliminate buying unnecessary diameters. The barrel twist should be fine.
 
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rappert said:
I would also suggest what Swing360 said on purchasing many different slugs. Some people try just a couple different weights or brands and if they don't work, conclude thier gun does not like slugs. If you are serious about shooting slugs at longer distances it would be worth the effort to try different brands, weights, diameters and gun settings to get the results you want. It does take patience but once you find the right slug and the right setting on you gun all your hard work and $ will pay off. I don't know what the maximum slug length is for your mrod magazines but I would start with slugs in the 22-26 gr. range because you will want to keep your velocity up to shoot out to 200 yds which is very doable. As far as selecting diameters; just push a slug through the barrel to see how tight they are in the barrel. You don't want real loose or real tight. Ignore the choke portion of the barrel. Doing this might eliminate buying unnecessary diameters. The barrel twist should be fine.
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Thanks, I want to try some. The only concern I have is the physical length of typical 22 slugs and if they will fit the standard M-rod magazines. I'll look into it more next trip to my air gun shop. Lucky to have a good one next town over.
 
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. The man that knows, watch this video series. I have asked this question for a friends Marauder in .22. My friend currently is not successful with a slug. but is killer with pellets 50 yards or less. I suggest the same as Swing360, purchasing an assortment in weight and diameter as well. trying the smaller diameter first due to the choke or push good shooting pellets thru and measure the diameter before and after to see the change in od and rifling engagement.
 
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Does your gun have a Lothar Walther Barrel? Then sure. I have a ton of LW barrels on AA and Daystate guns, and I've been able to slug them all.

Retailers and manufactures want to make you think slow slugs do not work or only with their special barrels or over 100 yards, but empirical testing always wins.

You do not need to buy a 3k rig to shoot slugs. Your gun does not need to shoot slugs 900 -1000fps to work well. You do not need to buy a 3k rig to shoot monkeys at 150M with 34gr. 218 Javelin slugs in South Africa. Who does that, unless you are sponsored with all expenses paid?

Lothar Walther barrel twist rates are very similar to FX superior heavy liner twist rates. In short, all you need is a twist rate similar to the below, and I bet you can shoot slugs out of that PCP, extending your range considerably:

https://fxairguns-usa.com/fx-superior-stx-liner-twist-rates/

https://www.lothar-walther.com/gun-barrel-blanks/airgun-barrels/

Don't know what twist rate your Chinese gun has such as an AEA? Have a cleaning rod that swivels? Then you can find out the twist rate with any barrel:

https://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/gunsmithing/how-to-determine-barrel-twist-rate/

I think a Maurader is a 30 - 35FPE gun? It will most likely group 20gr - 25 gr. slugs in that power range. I've had the most luck with the 20.2 & 23 in the 35FPE guns, such as a Daystate Wolverine/Air Ranger and AA 40x and 50x guns.



 
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badger5th said:
Has anyone tried slugs in a 22 M-rod? My thoughts are the lengths may be too much for the thickness of the magazines. What about the barrel twist? I know longer projectile = faster twist to stabilize. I know that's true with powder burners.. Would be grateful for some feedback before I buy some. Looking to shoot at 100-150 yards, maybe 200.
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Before you go down the rabbit hole and get overwhelmed with information, I may have a formula for you. You will have to "tune your Mrod". There is a group of 22 Mrod shooter at the local range that have had great success with NSA .217 20.2 and 23.0 grain slug; out to 200 yards. I recall that they changed the 177-22 valve out for a 25 cal valve that was purchased from "Archer air" for less than 40 bucks. Changed out the stiff inner return spring in the valve for a softer spring. Opened up the restriction/regulating plug and balanced the hammer. There may have been some transfer port tuning, but I doubt it with some of those guys. I know for fact that they're using that ammo and reaching to those distances with the changes that I mentioned.
 
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Blankshot17 said:
. The man that knows, watch this video series. I have asked this question for a friends Marauder in .22. My friend currently is not successful with a slug. but is killer with pellets 50 yards or less. I suggest the same as Swing360, purchasing an assortment in weight and diameter as well. trying the smaller diameter first due to the choke or push good shooting pellets thru and measure the diameter before and after to see the change in od and rifling engagement.
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Thanks, will check the vid's. I'll check in at the air gun store next town over and pick up a tin of the lighter ones.
 
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sonnysan said:
Does your gun have a Lothar Walther Barrel? Then sure. I have a ton of LW barrels on AA and Daystate guns, and I've been able to slug them all.

Retailers and manufactures want to make you think slow slugs do not work or only with their special barrels or over 100 yards, but empirical testing always wins.

You do not need to buy a 3k rig to shoot slugs. Your gun does not need to shoot slugs 900 -1000fps to work well. You do not need to buy a 3k rig to shoot monkeys at 150M with 34gr. 218 Javelin slugs in South Africa. Who does that, unless you are sponsored with all expenses paid?

Lothar Walther barrel twist rates are very similar to FX superior heavy liner twist rates. In short, all you need is a twist rate similar to the below, and I bet you can shoot slugs out of that PCP, extending your range considerably:
Click to expand...
No, it's the factory standard barrel. I saw the LW barrel option when I ordered the Mrod but it wasn't in stock. At that point I just got inpatient and ordered the standard rifle. I figured was related to twist rate, it makes sense, similar to 223 in PB's that need a 1 in 7 twist to stabilize the long 70 grain plus long range bullets.

Let's suppose I ordered a replacement LW barrel. Would it still work great with conventional pellets?
 
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Swing360 said:
I don't know much, but sending a Mrod 200 yards sounds impressive as hell! I hope you find some slugs that work out, my best advise it purchase many different slugs and shoot what your rifle likes best.
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Well, I'd certainly like to TRY 200 yards. With H&N FTT pellets I'm getting 4-5 inch groups at 100 yards with a 5 mil hold over, a bit under 1" at 50 yards, single holes at 25-30 yards. That last 50 yards is really dispersing the group. For now I'd like to get something out of the Mrod at 100 yards on par with my Ruger 1022 PB with match ammo.
 
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At this point you'll need to determine the twist rate of your gun from the link above. I can say for a fact if the barrel is 1:24 like my career/sumatra guns it will not group slugs. It's just too slow of a twist. Believe me, I tried in three different Korean guns (two careers and a sumatra) without success. They are simply pellet guns, unless you want to swap the barrel with a faster twist one: However, they all group with JSB beasts or redesigns perfectly.

 
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FLgunner said:
My MRod shoots the .22 FX Hybrid slugs extremely well out to 50 yards, but at a muzzle velocity of 779 FPS, I'm not so sure it would do well out to 200 yards. It stacks slugs in ¼" groupd at 35 yeards with no problem at all, and are deadly at dispatching rats!
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Hello Mr. FLgunner,
What type of mods have you done to your rig?
 
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davhowrd said:
Hello Mr. FLgunner,
What type of mods have you done to your rig?
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I have added a Tim Hill Matched Parts Kit (see below) and a Huma Air Fill Poert w/Guage. When I bought the Tim Hill Kit, it included the regulator, it doesn't appear he offers regulators anymore and I don't recall what brand he included in his kits. But any good Marauder Regulator will work.

Tim Hill Kit: https://hillairgun.com/product/premium-regulated-matched-parts-kit/

Huma Air Quick Fill With Guage: https://www.huma-air.com/Benjamin-Marauder-Quickfill-With-Pressure-Gauge

Huma Air also make several different Regulators, depending upon what you are trying to achieve. I added the quick fill adapter so I know the actual pressure in the cylinder since the regular gauge will only show the regulated pressure once the regulator is installed. The Tim Hill Kits include everything you need for a mod that works well together and is easy to install.
 
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I shoot NSA 31.2gr. .2165 and put all 5 in the same hole at 25 yards. Benjamin/Crosman barrels are very forgiving, out of the 15 different pellets and the 3 different slugs I've shot the NSA are my Marauder and Akela favorite's. proof is in the video at 30 yds. I hold dead nuts out to 50, never shot it further. Goes clean thru 5/8inch plywood at 30 yds.

 
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