All the slugs in this review are under 22 grains and might be chosen as an option for a standard powered .22 air rifle. As such, all testing was done with my Taipan Veteran Long tuned to shoot at 29.5 FPE, which most .22 cal airguns are capable of. I chose the 16 gr. Air Arms pellets as my control because they are the most precise lightweight pellet in my gun. My goal is to find a slug that can outperform the Air Arms pellets 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.
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 16 gr. Air Arms Field pellet (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:
None of the slugs could match the Air Arms pellets in precision. Average groups with the pellets could easily be covered with a dime. Roughly tied for second in precision were the H&N and NSA pellets that could on average be covered with a penny. The Griffin and AVS groups could be covered with a nickel on average.
Muzzle Energy:
Both the 17.5 gr. and 20.2 gr. NSA slugs have a much lower muzzle energy than the other slugs. This is due to the harder alloy of the slugs that get hung up on the tight choke of the Veteran test gun. Keep in mind that most airgun barrels have a choke and are likely to similar results.
Of note are the H&N slugs. H&N pellets use a harder alloy than JSB pellets and I expected the trend to continue in the slugs. However, the H&N slugs seem to have very soft lead that slips right past the choke on my gun! A very pleasant surprise.
Ballistic Coefficients
All these ballistic coefficients were measured at 50 yards using 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. 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. I didn’t bother adjusting the velocity of each projectile. Each was fired with the same FPE as shown above. 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 because they are all about the same shape. The lighter weight of the 17.5 gr. NSA is the reason those slugs have a lower BC. All the slugs have approximately double the BC of the Air Arms pellet.
Note that both the H&N and AVS slugs grossly overstate the BC of their slugs. I’m sure they are taking advantage of the fact BCs are variable with the intent of marketing the slugs as being better than they are. Kudos to NSA for reporting a reasonable BC.
Expansion and Penetration Test
The harder and slower moving NSA slugs failed to fully mushroom at this power level. The AVS, H&N, and Griffin slugs had no such trouble.
Cost
Air Arms Pellets: $.03 each
NSA 17.5 gr.: $.05 each
NSA 20.2 gr.: $.05 each
H&N: $.06 each
Griffin: $.22 each
Only the Griffin slugs are not affordable for everyday bulk shooting.
Summary
Gold Medal: Air Arms Pellets
I don’t see a reason to shoot slugs at this power level. In my opinion, if you have a gun that shoots at 29.5 FPE or less, stick with the most accurate projectile which is likely your guns preferred pellet.
Silver Medal: H&N Slugs
There isn’t much that separates the slugs under 22 grains in weight. The slightly better precision of the H&N and NSA slugs give them the edge. The higher muzzle energy of the H&N slugs make them the clear winner over the NSA slugs.
Bronze Medal: NSA slugs
Accuracy is king. The NSA (along with the H&N) are a hair more precise than the AVS and Griffin slugs. They are also the cheapest. I just wish they weren’t made of such a hard alloy...
