hollow point slugs for hunting ?

Depends in the size of the bullet and size of the game. I use poly mags for raccoon hunting mainly because the pellets don't continue to pass through and damage the fence. If I am being honest there probably isn't a need for hollow points unless you are trying to minimize pass through. I've killed a lot of squirrels with regular domes and prefer them out in the woods. Now with big bores there may be significant advantages to hollow points but with my style of hunting I still wouldn't use them. I prefer a clean pass through to create a sucking chest wound. I have found that the deer run way less far and die quicker. I'm sure many here would disagree with that technique as it goes against traditional dogma however that dogma was created for powderburners. Some of the old muzzleloader hunters would remember the years long debate over expanding bullets that dump energy or getting a clean pass through and which is better. I think accuracy trumps all bullet construction debates unless you have a bullet that expands so quickly that it can't get to the vitals. Also airgun restrictions are getting better and better. Many places now allow the use of high power airguns. You can go on pyramid air for a map that shows where you can hunt in the USA with them. However you need to always check your local rules and regs. The pyramid air map is not comprehensive and you don't want your truck and gun impounded. 

Hollow points are great for several reasons one is they impart more energy into the game/pest which means better and faster kills especially with marginal shot placement. 

Another as has been mentioned is less pass through so less collateral damage and the projectiles don't fly as far once they hit as well.

But one must choose the projectile and the shot carefully according to the prey so as not to damage the meat also. 

A hollow point may not be the best option for larger more robust critters that need the penetration of a solid projectile

Hi Id like to add my thoughts ,I do alot of hunting and some larger game like 50 pound coyotes , I have lost only 1 coyote and it was with a hollowpoint , I will only use solid slugs as I found the hollow points do not penetrate especially it hits bone bone and many airgun slugs fragment , I guess this is fine for say small pests but not for larger game with a smaller caliber pcp

Now if we talking powder burner with alot of energy speeds of 3000fps and a copper bullet then yes I prefer hollow points as the jacket is hard so they will punch threw bone ,

on the accuracy sida any hollow point does lose some BC due to fact of aerodynamics

LOU

why people are using now hollow point slug in pcp air rifles considering that hunting with air rifles is very restricted ?

could be a ballistic improvment , because if you shoot some edible game with hollow point ammo with .22 or 25 ammo at 900fps. the size os of a pigeon or squirrel there will be no much meat left .. or is just for pest control ?

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I am down to only two ammos in my every day hunting/pest arsenal, NSA hollow point slugs and JSB round nose diabolo pellets.

I use the slugs on any birds I am not going to eat, it kills them so much more reliably and ethically. Basically any body shots are instant kills with very little fly offs and suffering. 

I also use the slugs on small game, with head shots, because they again are very forgiving. For instance if you hit a squirrel in the jaw with a round nose pellet, its going to run off and die weeks later from starvation. If you hit that squirrel with a slug in the jaw, its going to dump all of its energy into that bone and will absolutely die from the concussion force. I have never even tried a body shot on a squirrel with an air rifle, no idea what would happen. For pigeons if you are planning on eating them aim high and towards the back, basically right where he wing meets the body. You'll miss 95% of the meat and it will be dead before the slug exits the other side. 

The other time I use slugs is when I have a sensitive background. Cattle, houses nearby, maybe an iffy backstop if pesting. The slugs will flatten and dump so much energy when you hit a bird that even when they do pass through they are not going to do any damage most of the time. With a round nose pellet, it will go right on through and into whatever is behind it. 

The only time I use the JSB round nose pellets anymore is when I am shooting in an area where I need to be quiet. If you have shot a bird with a slug you know the sound it makes. It can be as loud as a .22lr going off. So times I need to be a little more quiet, I shoot the pellets when possible. 

I don't consider a pencil sized hole through the chest of an edible critter to be any waste of eating material whatsoever. 

why people are using now hollow point slug in pcp air rifles considering that hunting with air rifles is very restricted ?

could be a ballistic improvment , because if you shoot some edible game with hollow point ammo with .22 or 25 ammo at 900fps. the size os of a pigeon or squirrel there will be no much meat left .. or is just for pest control ?

Click to expand...

I use an NSA 142gr and 110gr for hunting and pest control for more power downrange at +100 yard shots on anything from coyotes to raccoons. Not all hunting is for food, sometimes it's just for the hide.

why people are using now hollow point slug in pcp air rifles considering that hunting with air rifles is very restricted ?

could be a ballistic improvment , because if you shoot some edible game with hollow point ammo with .22 or 25 ammo at 900fps. the size os of a pigeon or squirrel there will be no much meat left .. or is just for pest control ?

Click to expand...

I am down to only two ammos in my every day hunting/pest arsenal, NSA hollow point slugs and JSB round nose diabolo pellets.

I use the slugs on any birds I am not going to eat, it kills them so much more reliably and ethically. Basically any body shots are instant kills with very little fly offs and suffering. 

I also use the slugs on small game, with head shots, because they again are very forgiving. For instance if you hit a squirrel in the jaw with a round nose pellet, its going to run off and die weeks later from starvation. If you hit that squirrel with a slug in the jaw, its going to dump all of its energy into that bone and will absolutely die from the concussion force. I have never even tried a body shot on a squirrel with an air rifle, no idea what would happen. For pigeons if you are planning on eating them aim high and towards the back, basically right where he wing meets the body. You'll miss 95% of the meat and it will be dead before the slug exits the other side. 

The other time I use slugs is when I have a sensitive background. Cattle, houses nearby, maybe an iffy backstop if pesting. The slugs will flatten and dump so much energy when you hit a bird that even when they do pass through they are not going to do any damage most of the time. With a round nose pellet, it will go right on through and into whatever is behind it. 

The only time I use the JSB round nose pellets anymore is when I am shooting in an area where I need to be quiet. If you have shot a bird with a slug you know the sound it makes. It can be as loud as a .22lr going off. So times I need to be a little more quiet, I shoot the pellets when possible. 

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You are exactly right! Listen to this starling from 35 yards away take an NSA .25cal slug. Sorry for the video quality, thermal scope was in the extended magnification range.

https://youtu.be/DBhSRov-kiE

The other time I use slugs is when I have a sensitive background. Cattle, houses nearby, maybe an iffy backstop if pesting.

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The slugs will flatten and dump so much energy when you hit A BIRD that even when they do pass through they are not going to do any damage most of the time.

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With a round nose pellet, it will go right on through and into whatever is behind it.

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Kevin,

as I was planning my next pigeon shoot at the farm, I thought exactly the opposite..... Wow, so much to learn.

Would you please help me to understand these pass-through shots better?



And would you tell me: What slugs exactly are less dangerous for the cattle behind the bird (brand, weight, caliber)? I have to get me some of those!

Then: What muzzle velocity (or energy) are you shooting them at — and at what ranges do you count them less dangerous than round nose pellets?

If you have shot a bird with a slug you know the sound it makes. It can be as loud as a .22lr going off. So times I need to be a little more quiet, I shoot the pellets when possible.

Click to expand...

I would like to produce that kind of sound, Kevin — so again my question:

What slug and caliber, at what muzzle velocity and range will give me that?



Thanks for your help. This is super interesting!

Matthias

Lucky for you the same slugs that flatten the most and have the least excess penetration along with having the loudest *pop* is the fx hybrid. Keep them around 800fps and they will flatten to a pancake when they hit a critter. Even hollow bird bones flatten them out nicely. Now dont get me wrong i would never shoot any projectile where a passthrough or ricochet would hit another animal or someones property, but accidents happen. These are not something you can walk into a barn with and start blasting pigeons from 20yds, but if you happen to shoot one and the exiting slug goes 90deg sideways and nails a tractor window 50yds away it wont do any more damage than if you throw it by hand. I know because ive done it. 



Fx hybrids and nsa 17.5gr both flatten to a pancake and shed a ton of velocity after a strike. Ive even had the 17.5s Stay inside a chipmunk at 20 yards when tuned down to 650fps. Was all jelly inside but the flat disk of a slug and chunks of lead was still in there. 



Same also goes with concrete. If you do any shooting around concrete or gravel you probably know how pellets can ricochet, if you have a scope cam you will see that the ricocheting slugs are nearly flat and tumbling vs a pellet that will sometimes stay true and ready to damage something. Tumbling and flat spotted means shedding energy fast.



I will say if you shoot a pigeon on a tin roof with them, expect there to be about a dime sized hole in that roof. They arent magic fragmenting rounds, anything directly behind the bird up close is still going to get damaged. 

Kevin,

thanks for your pointers about concret/gravel ricochets and tin roofs — yeah, that's important, and easy to forget!



The .22cal FX 22 seem to really expand well. I'm glad that the expansion goes together with the loudest POP!

Now, I'd love to hear more about the .22cal NSA 17.5. Because the expansion tests I have seen so far are not that amazing. ( Though the NSA 17.5 is great in reducing wind drift, energy retention to targets way out there, and increasing my point blank range by flattening the trajectory!! ).

I'll attach two test results below.



Anyboy else having NSA 17.5 expansion test results on game or ballistic gel?

Matthias

I believe Steve's results to be absolutely valid, but all the 17.5 NSA slugs I have retrieved from critters (squirrels mostly, one chipmunk) are very flat. I don't think I have saved any pictures, if I happen to see one I definitely will post it for you. 

I don't know how flat they are after exiting a bird, but the two times I have gotten doubles had a huge entrance wound on the second bird. Big enough to put a finger through. I have experienced the same wound when I hit the wing bone, it seems these expand greatly when you hit the bone because the entrance and exit wounds are of the same size and very large. I don't have any pictures because there really isn't a place to share them when they are that graphic. On scope cam you can see them being very disformed when exiting a bird, I dont have a good enough camera to zoom in and actually see the shape of it, you can tell it is tumbling and not projectile shaped like in Steve's picture. 

Thanks a lot, Kevin, for your valuable input, from the laboratory of actual animals (vs. contrived animal flesh).  



Yes, I'd be very interested in any pics and the specs of your shots — I'll gladly make and publish an infophoto like the ones above.



Matthias

I just realized I need to clarify something, I shoot the OLD NSA slugs. Before he went to the mass production machines! My slugs are longer, have a deeper hollow point, and thinner hollow point walls than the current ones. I have some of the newer ones also, just havent had a chance to test them yet. i will dig up a photo I took showing the difference. 

Kevin,

thanks for your pointers about concret/gravel ricochets and tin roofs — yeah, that's important, and easy to forget!



The .22cal FX 22 seem to really expand well. I'm glad that the expansion goes together with the loudest POP!

Now, I'd love to hear more about the .22cal NSA 17.5. Because the expansion tests I have seen so far are not that amazing. ( Though the NSA 17.5 is great in reducing wind drift, energy retention to targets way out there, and increasing my point blank range by flattening the trajectory!! ).

I'll attach two test results below.



Anyboy else having NSA 17.5 expansion test results on game or ballistic gel?

Matthias

Click to expand...

Here is a video I made with NSA slugs and Polymag pellets in Ballistics Gel and in game. Only thing is, it is in .357cal.

Thanks for your post, estarkey.

Somehow I can't view the video, the webpage tries to force me to install an app....?

Matthias

why people are using now hollow point slug in pcp air rifles considering that hunting with air rifles is very restricted ?

could be a ballistic improvment , because if you shoot some edible game with hollow point ammo with .22 or 25 ammo at 900fps. the size os of a pigeon or squirrel there will be no much meat left .. or is just for pest control ?

Click to expand...

The other time I use slugs is when I have a sensitive background. Cattle, houses nearby, maybe an iffy backstop if pesting. The slugs will flatten and dump so much energy when you hit a bird that even when they do pass through they are not going to do any damage most of the time. With a round nose pellet, it will go right on through and into whatever is behind it. 

Click to expand...

I’m the complete opposite because I’ve been known to miss what I’m aiming at. Pellets run out of juice quicker than slugs when they are flying off into the wild blue yonder. But every situation is different so I don’t think there can be a blanket statement for what is safe for everyone. I certainly don’t want kids all shooting slugs in my neighborhood. I would rather get hit with an errant pellet. When I first ventured into slugs I was shocked at how far they were traveling compared to the million pellets I’ve fired on my range. Had to rethink all my backstops. But I do believe you are onto something shooting those light little slugs.

Are these slugs short enough to shoot in a FX Royale?

why people are using now hollow point slug in pcp air rifles considering that hunting with air rifles is very restricted ?

could be a ballistic improvment , because if you shoot some edible game with hollow point ammo with .22 or 25 ammo at 900fps. the size os of a pigeon or squirrel there will be no much meat left .. or is just for pest control ?

Click to expand...

The other time I use slugs is when I have a sensitive background. Cattle, houses nearby, maybe an iffy backstop if pesting. The slugs will flatten and dump so much energy when you hit a bird that even when they do pass through they are not going to do any damage most of the time. With a round nose pellet, it will go right on through and into whatever is behind it. 

Click to expand...

I’m the complete opposite because I’ve been known to miss what I’m aiming at. Pellets run out of juice quicker than slugs when they are flying off into the wild blue yonder. But every situation is different so I don’t think there can be a blanket statement for what is safe for everyone. I certainly don’t want kids all shooting slugs in my neighborhood. I would rather get hit with an errant pellet. When I first ventured into slugs I was shocked at how far they were traveling compared to the million pellets I’ve fired on my range. Had to rethink all my backstops. But I do believe you are onto something shooting those light little slugs.

Click to expand...

No doubt pellets slow down faster. But at 200yds a jsb 18.13 shot at 25fpe still holds 6fpe. 17.5gr slugs at same power holds 13fpe. Both are going to damage glass/buildings and hurt someone. Gotta be careful with all shots!