So I paid close attention to the last thread on slug barrels including Matt's input. I thought I would add a little more to the thought process to the retail buyers.
I had a great heart to heart conversation with a salesman I trust and they supply a lot of out FX toys to the retail market. However they would like to be nameless right now cause it did not look good for anybody trying to sell the product.
I decided to just order an Impact the way I wanted it and just leave my Crown the way it is for now. My plan was to buy the Impact .25 and have the slug barrel put on there and tune it for me right there. That way I would get what I wanted and better than I can do!
I was told to save my money for now. That there is just not enough baseline information yet and even they aren't sure? They too are waiting for info from the field to get an idea where to start?
They said for whatever reason FX Corp. is not letting loose of the info yet and also the Power kit in their opinion was at least a year away.
In the meantime I contacted Nick from NSA for info who was really helpful. Here is the jest of his email reply.
"Yeah we are slammed with orders and I don't like taking money and not being able to deliver the slugs. This problem will be fixed in the up coming months because we bought a high speed machine to make our slugs. Should be here in my facility soon and once we have it up and running and production started we will be offering slugs at a cheaper price too.
As for the weight, generally slugs are going to be heavier. A diabolo pellet has the wasp waist and hollow tail. That removes a lot of the weight of the projectile. This design is accurate but the trade off is the BC of the pellet is terrible. The BC effects two things, how fast the projectile slows down because of drag and how much the wind pushes the projectile because of it's lack of ability to slice through the air efficiently.
So keep in mind that because you come out of the gun slower does not mean down range at 100 yards it is still going slower. Pellet slow down very quickly where slugs do not near as much. Of course that does not mean it makes up for 300 fps difference but you can do some playing in Chairgun or other ballistic software and see how much it effects it.
Those light slugs you see for sale will not have as high of a BC of heavier slugs. The heavier slugs of similar design will always have the higher BC and shooting slugs is all about the BC advantage, otherwise why shoot them.
As far as what weight, the FX testing in 25 caliber showed the 39 grain slug shot the tightest groups. All of the slugs should shoot fairly well since they are all sized the same but normally you will get one that is better than others. This may change from barrel to barrel in an FX liner.
I see a lot of people writing their opinion on slugs and everyone has a different outlook on them. I personally like slugs to fly fast, over 900 fps. Not all guns can do that and some guys shoot in the 800s and enjoy the fact the slugs don't get pushed in the wind as much which greatly increases your hunting accuracy. In the FX guns, they can be turned way up and if you have the upgraded regulator you can shoot 40+ grain slugs at good speeds.
Another thing to consider about speed is that slugs may leave the barrel at a lower speed because of their weight but they retain much more of their speed. So a diablolo pellet has to be launched fast to try and shoot flat but most of the air you used to do so is wasted because the pellet slows down so quickly. You will be able to shoot a slug slower and still have the same vertical poi as a pellet launched at a much higher velocity at 100 yards. Plus at 100+ yard shooting the slug groups stay tight were pellets generally open up quite a bit.
Hope this helps but glad to answer questions.
Nick"
I hope this will at least help others with this on going problem with the .25 slug barrels and help if you are thinking of getting one now.
Eamon
I had a great heart to heart conversation with a salesman I trust and they supply a lot of out FX toys to the retail market. However they would like to be nameless right now cause it did not look good for anybody trying to sell the product.
I decided to just order an Impact the way I wanted it and just leave my Crown the way it is for now. My plan was to buy the Impact .25 and have the slug barrel put on there and tune it for me right there. That way I would get what I wanted and better than I can do!
I was told to save my money for now. That there is just not enough baseline information yet and even they aren't sure? They too are waiting for info from the field to get an idea where to start?
They said for whatever reason FX Corp. is not letting loose of the info yet and also the Power kit in their opinion was at least a year away.
In the meantime I contacted Nick from NSA for info who was really helpful. Here is the jest of his email reply.
"Yeah we are slammed with orders and I don't like taking money and not being able to deliver the slugs. This problem will be fixed in the up coming months because we bought a high speed machine to make our slugs. Should be here in my facility soon and once we have it up and running and production started we will be offering slugs at a cheaper price too.
As for the weight, generally slugs are going to be heavier. A diabolo pellet has the wasp waist and hollow tail. That removes a lot of the weight of the projectile. This design is accurate but the trade off is the BC of the pellet is terrible. The BC effects two things, how fast the projectile slows down because of drag and how much the wind pushes the projectile because of it's lack of ability to slice through the air efficiently.
So keep in mind that because you come out of the gun slower does not mean down range at 100 yards it is still going slower. Pellet slow down very quickly where slugs do not near as much. Of course that does not mean it makes up for 300 fps difference but you can do some playing in Chairgun or other ballistic software and see how much it effects it.
Those light slugs you see for sale will not have as high of a BC of heavier slugs. The heavier slugs of similar design will always have the higher BC and shooting slugs is all about the BC advantage, otherwise why shoot them.
As far as what weight, the FX testing in 25 caliber showed the 39 grain slug shot the tightest groups. All of the slugs should shoot fairly well since they are all sized the same but normally you will get one that is better than others. This may change from barrel to barrel in an FX liner.
I see a lot of people writing their opinion on slugs and everyone has a different outlook on them. I personally like slugs to fly fast, over 900 fps. Not all guns can do that and some guys shoot in the 800s and enjoy the fact the slugs don't get pushed in the wind as much which greatly increases your hunting accuracy. In the FX guns, they can be turned way up and if you have the upgraded regulator you can shoot 40+ grain slugs at good speeds.
Another thing to consider about speed is that slugs may leave the barrel at a lower speed because of their weight but they retain much more of their speed. So a diablolo pellet has to be launched fast to try and shoot flat but most of the air you used to do so is wasted because the pellet slows down so quickly. You will be able to shoot a slug slower and still have the same vertical poi as a pellet launched at a much higher velocity at 100 yards. Plus at 100+ yard shooting the slug groups stay tight were pellets generally open up quite a bit.
Hope this helps but glad to answer questions.
Nick"
I hope this will at least help others with this on going problem with the .25 slug barrels and help if you are thinking of getting one now.
Eamon
