Testing the new .177 / 16 grain H&N slugs

[Peashooter]

Did a little testing on these new slugs with my Vulcan 3 this time ( 500 mm CZ barrel ), and it seem to like those too, though i did not shoot any super tight groups for a couple of reasons.

1: I was shooting 100 M or to be very exact ( leupold rangefinder exact ) 98.7 M, and there was also a little wind, with gusts strong enough to some times move POI a little Right.

2: I was shooting from what we call the bell tower position, i think it is the bottom of something that was once a silo, it is on the top of a small mount on the property so give excellent view all over the field. in this case it also level out the slight uphill shooting we do shooting from from the shed.

I was reluctantly pushed to this shooting position as about 15 people found their way to my friend place with their radio controlled 1:5 scale offroad cars, so i was also shooting to a cacophony of mad chainsaw noise from 23 to 30 CC motors, some with very sporty exhausts on them.

3: This elevated position dont really lend itself to tweaking much on the gun, not least a gun like the Vulcan 3 where nothing are accessible without taking something off, also i did not have my chorono in play but the gun was shooting 13.43 KO slugs a little over 900 FPS last time i shot it. And sitting in what is essentially building waste, it is not a place i want to "wrench on a rifle.

I feel pretty good that i will be able to tune for even tighter groups with the 16 grain H&H slug, but today they was about tennis ball large, and a bit disorderly.

For your viewing pleasure, and to be able to see what i say about the shooting position being far from a comfortable bench, i shot the 3 selfie i ever made.

 

[ThomasT]

Hello plingpling,

I cannot find any dealer here state side that has these in stock, but will surely give them a try when I can. Thanks for your review and have a great day,

ThomasT

 

[Peashooter]

No they are also scarce over here in EU ville, so far i have only been able to source 5 tins of the 16 grain ones. The states will probably take a little longer due to the shipping and other things combined nightmare.

In regard to ZAN i have 13 and 20 grain heading my way in the mail, and 16 grain on pre order at another place.

I will also pick up a few tins of the 13 and 20 grain from H&N, looking for availability daily, even on weekends.

13 grains are probably what i will be shooting day 2 day, but like to have a little heavier stuff at hand too that work.

On Sunday i had a good old time shooting first 13 grain KO, then 15 grain NSA and finally 150 or so of the 16 grain H&N, due to the challenges it was not every shot that hit where i aimed but it happened often enough that it was enjoyable, and the ones that drifted was not far and probably for good reasons.

The 15 grain NSA and the 16 grain H&N behaved about the same in regard to accuracy, and their difference in speed cant have been that different, though i did notice chambering the 16 grainers took more effort than the 1 grain lighter NSA slugs, Unsure if that is material composition or diameter of the rounds, but there was a clear difference for sure, i am somewhat fearing chambering the much longer 20 grain slugs. ( BTW i did not notice this shooting the same slugs in my Maverick )

Also shot a few pellets, and had 2 kids, with the youngest one only 8 years old squeezing off a few rounds as me shooting was much more interesting than their parents ripping around with RC cars,,,,, of course with parent permission and in the case of the youngest one also supervision by the mother.

I am looking forward to getting back to the bench as this old shooter dont fold up as good as he use to do, and i had to take several breaks hobbling around the spot as sitting like that my one leg fell asleep getting starved from blood circulation.

 

[Str8tshooter]

Look forward to to trying out the H&N .177 Slugs, the holdup is the Tins with the screw on lid. Hopefully H&N in the meantime keeps cranking them out and will be able to send a large quantity to the US. 

So are your initial impressions that the H&N 16 G outperformed the JSB KO 13 G? 

Looks like you had a fun day, thanks for sharing.

 

[Peashooter]

On my Maverick which i have shot slugs with the most, it do feel a little like the H&N perform better, but my testing both have been a bit rapid and i think both could be better taking smaller hammer / regulator / FPS steps, so it might just be that i have been more lucky getting these 16 grainers into a sweet spot.

I have seen others also shooting a 700 mm barrel with a FX gun shoot the 13 grain KO slugs better than i can so for, so if it is not a barrel lottery thing, then i have clearly not been at the sweetest spot yet with those.

I am going to bring spreadsheet in my testing to come, but i also need very calm days to be absolutely sure what i see is the gun / slugs performance, on these days the gun will also get clamped down, so there should be no shooter influence.

So far it have been cold autum days and not super dedicated testing, that will change with long hot summer days / nights,,,, CUZ i do also have the option to shoot at night if need be.

With a clamped down gun, i could really shoot in darkness and just turn on a flash light to see the result, and nudge the rifle over to a new clean piece of paper.

With the new 700 mm barrel on my Maverick i have felt good about any slugs aside for the 10 grain KO i have sot in that rifle, i think i can get them all to fly well, though some of them might end up flying really well, but i am highly optimistic so far.

The Vulcan 3 on the other hand, it seem to shoot everything well, even the 10 grain KO, but this was supposed to be my pellet gun.

The hunt for what it will shoot really good out of the Vulcan 3 have just begun, on the maverick i am several 1000 shots ahead.

Shooting slugs here have been very dirty and quick, like just stuff some in there, but i always had a good feeling, something i did not have with my Maverick and its original 600 mm barrel, unless i shot beasts, cuz those it liked and still like.



I think what i am saying is, i think it is safe for you to try these in your gun, i have tried pellets in my Maverick that was outright disasters to a degree i was thinking " why the hell do they even make these "