All the slugs in this review are 22 grain .22 caliber slugs with the exception of the JSB monsters that I use as a control. I chose the JSB pellets as my control because they are the most precise pellet in my gun. My goal is to find a slug that can outperform the JSB Monsters at all ranges.
Slug Details
I’m including the following details in case anyone is interested in swaging their own. I don’t recommend swaging any slugs exactly like the ones here because it would be cheaper just to purchase them from the dealers. However, if like me, you are interested in going maverick and experimenting on your own, it is nice to know what dimensions you don’t need to try.
Methodology
One of my pet peeves of people making claims about the accuracy or precision of a particular projectile out their gun is that the testing methodology is never explained. I understand why. It is B-O-R-I-N-G. If you don’t care, I fully understand and won’t blame you for jumping below to the Results section. However, I suspect most people shoot one or two groups at a few velocities and make definitive claims based on statistically insignificant data. Getting good data is hard. Even slight changes in wind direction and speed make very noticeable differences in group size. Ideally, the shooting conditions would never change when shooting hundreds of groups to get reliable data. Realistically, this isn’t possible. Which is why I always view claims such as “My gun likes the 36 gr. Slugs shot at 1000 fps” with a large dose of skepticism. You should too.
I’m including all the data I have remaining that I collected using 22 grain slugs. I can’t seem to find the 100 yard data I collected, but no matter. I recall the 50 yard data presented here reinforced the data I found at 100 yards and was even better because the data was even more consistent (probably owing to less error introduced by the wind).
The test data was collected as follows:
The gun, a Taipan Veteran Long with CZ barrel, was set on a Caldwell Stinger benchrest and adjusted so that the crosshair rested on the bullseye with the bubble level showing the gun to be level.
Each shot was taken without the gun in contact with the shooter's body to eliminate shooter error caused by heartbeats and breathing.
Each projectile was loaded individually using a single shot tray.
A 5 shot group was fired consecutively with each of the 5 slugs and JSB Monster Redesigns (the control group) at a target with 6 separate bullseyes.
The velocity was recorded for each shot to determine FPE using a FX chronograph and the five shot group average velocity was also recorded.
Calipers were used to measure the center to center spread of each group and rounded to the nearest millimeter.
Twelve groups were shot using each projectile. More would be better!
The two worst groups for each projectile were eliminated from the data (shown in red in the data table below) leaving the 10 best groups for each to be averaged. This was done to try to reduce error introduced by slight variation in wind conditions. Although I tried to shoot in calm or near calm but steady conditions, wind is a variable that is near impossible to control for. My thinking is that by eliminating the 2 worst groups for each projectile, I am eliminating the two groups that most likely were tainted by wind.
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Precision Results:
Raw Data:
Summary:
None of the slugs show precision as good as the JSB Monster Redesigned pellet. The JSB monsters are significantly more precise. Groups almost always consisted of all 5 pellets touching each other.
It is clear that the AVS, Griffin, Talon, and FX Hybrid slugs all have equal stability and precision. None of the 4 slugs distinguish themselves from the pack in terms of precision and fall comfortably in the range of error.
By far the least precise was the custom slug I swaged for the test. Group sizes averaged a bit over an inch and were noticeably scattershot.
****Perhaps a better visual than the graph above would be a dime representing the Monster groups, a nickel representing the AVS, Griffin, Talon, and FX Hybrid Groups, and a quarter representing my custom slugs.
Muzzle Energy:
This is one of the most interesting differences between the slugs. Notice how much less energy the FX Hybrid slugs have than the others. The Taipan Veteran CZ barrel has a strong choke. This causes the harder alloy of the FX Hybrid slugs to have a more difficult time passing through and results in a lower muzzle velocity than other slugs with a softer alloy. The most important factor in muzzle velocity for the Taipan Veteran alloy hardness.
The smaller differences in muzzle energy can be accounted for by the diameter of the slugs. Notice that the Talon and Griffin slugs have a slightly larger diameter than the AVS and Custom slugs and a correspondingly lower muzzle energy. Again, I believe the larger diameter makes it more difficult for the slug to pass through the choke. My Veteran seems to prefer slug diameters of about .2155 inches (5.48mm).
Ballistic Coefficients
With the exception of my custom slugs (50 yards), the BC for each slug was measured at 104 yards with a FX chrony recording muzzle velocity and a Caldwell recording velocity at target. Before testing I calibrated the two chronographs by shooting 100 pellets through both and determined that the Caldwell reads an average of 4 fps faster than the FX. I subtracted 4 fps from all Caldwell data to reflect this in my calculations. I have since lost the raw data, but twelve data points were collected for each slug with the highest and lowest measured BC thrown out for each to try to eliminate outliers.
The data was plugged into the Airguns of Arizona Ballistic Coefficient calculator found here: https://www.airgunsofarizona.com/Calcs.html and averaged to find the measured BC.
I am not a BC expert by any means and it is my understanding that BC changes based on weather conditions and projectile velocity. To make the test fair, I adjusted my gun to shoot each slug at approximately 850 fps. The calculator does not ask for elevation, humidity, pressure, or temperature variables which I believe can affect the results. I don’t recall the weather conditions, but the BC data was collected at 4500 ft above sea level.
It was no surprise that all the projectiles had a very close BC. The heavier weight of the JSB Monsters makes them competitive with the slugs in regards to BC. The Rebated boat tail helps give the Griffin slug a slight advantage over the other slugs, but it is so small that it is not really noticed on target. My custom slug had the worst. In addition to only being measured at 50 yards instead of 100, it has a larger meplat nose which likely caused the lower measured value.
Kudos to the FX Hybrid for reporting a BC that is close to that I measured. I suspect the advertised ballistic coefficient of the AVS is significantly inflated for marketing purposes.
Expansion and Penetration Test
Penetration was similar for all 5 slugs. This was surprising, because I expected the Talon slug to explode on impact and barely penetrate. A retest showed similar results in regards to penetration.
The AVS and FX slugs both expanded to 10mm and stayed in one piece. Both showed similar penetration and wound cavity size. These would be great hunting slugs because the slug does not fragment inside the animal making recovery easier.
The Griffin LDC fragmented into 3 pieces with the light weight core attached to the main body of the slug and two fragments pushed off to the side. It had the widest wound channel. This slug would be ideal for pesting as the damage it causes is extensive. It is less suitable for hunting as it is likely to cause more damage to the meat and the two small fragments might be a challenge to find.
The Talon slug did not fragment but was mutilated into a scorpion shape. On another test the Talon fragmented into 4 small pieces. I was disappointed in the results of the Talon. In addition to more penetration than expected, the wound channel was never as devastating as expected. Best suited as a pesting slug.
My Custom slug with its wide and deep hollow point acted much like I expected the Talon slug to. It exploded into multiple pieces and spread out in a wide wound channel on impact. The fragments were found in over an inch diameter area. Pesting slug only.
The Monster pellets did not expand and penetrated through the entire clay block (100 mm). The Monster pellets would be a great hunting pellet because even though they do not have as wide of a wound channel as the slugs, the monsters have more muzzle energy and are likely to pass through the entire animal. This would arguably cause just as much damage as the slugs.
Cost
JSB Monsters: $.04 each Three times cheaper than the cheapest slug!
AVS: $.12 each
FX Hybrid: $.12 each
Griffin LDC: $.25 each
Talon: $.27 each
Custom: $.71 each (so far). Will need to swage 50,000 slugs to reduce cost to $.04
Summary
Gold Medal: JSB Monster Redesigns
None of the slugs can touch the JSB Monsters out to 100 yards. The JSB pellets are both the most precise and cheapest option. There is no reason to punch paper with anything else. They produce the most power at the muzzle than any of the slugs and their heavier weight gives them a high enough BC to compete with the slugs. They are effective at both hunting and pesting and not likely to leave any lead residue behind. They start to spiral at some point after 100 yards which leaves the door open for slugs.
Silver Medal: AVS Slugs
Since all the slugs have the same precision, the silver medal goes to the least expensive slug with the greatest muzzle velocity in my gun. It would be my pick for a hunting projectile and targets out past 100 yards.
Bronze Medal: Griffin LDC
With the best BC and most devastating impact on prey, the Griffin only falls behind the AVS because it is twice the cost. If pesting, the additional cost is probably worth it.
I'm very interested in the BC data! Excellent how you calibrated your chronos! For more precise BC calcuations there are some good options that allow to enter meteorological conditions and even the use of the GA drag function (applicable to pellets):
