Slugs and Slug Liners - what is the state of the technology??

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Vana2

Vana2

Member
May 11, 2015
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Ontario, Canada
I just viewed Matt's video - The Ultimate Guide to FX SLUG LINERS ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLK5j2urOJ0 ) for the third time and got to thinking that there has been a lot of development and tweaking to get a functional barrel and slug combination.

With 100 years of history, the diabolo pellet is very accurate within its effective range. With the current technology for rifles and slugs, airguns now have the potential to double that range. Seems that it has been a chicken & egg thing for a while but we are now at a balance point with more slug-capable guns being available and large scale production of slugs pending - exciting times!

Think that the popularity of shooting slugs is going to hinge on getting the costs down to match that of pellets - the current (local) cost for .22 caliber slugs is $0.25 EACH and that is enough to dampen my enthusiasm to the point that I am going to wait to buy a slug-liner until the slug prices are reasonable. Slugs (and their dies) are simpler and less expensive to make than pellets so it is just a matter of volume to bring prices down . Again, a chicken & egg situation.

Lacking a crystal ball, I am wondering if slugs will be designed to suit the current barrels or if slugs will be optimized and the barrels be redesigned to accommodate the slugs... guess that it will probably be a bit of both. 

So my question is: What is the state of the technology?? ...Are we (relatively) stable or are major changes pending?

Just curious what people's thoughts are on this.

Hank
 
Well?? It’s a can of tuna I’ll tell you. Neilsen is producing a rather wide variety of slugs and he’s REALLY trying to help this quest along. Barrels? seems that FX is right now at the leading edge.

I’ve been trying to find a slug that really lights my fire out if my FX impact MK II 25 cal and after shooting several thousand slugs I’m not there yet.

My experience to date is that I can shoot pellets predictably but not slugs.

I think it’s gonna happen but we aren’t there yet. Or maybe I should say I’m not there yet. Others may be . I’m not giving up on slugs but let’s say I’m with you thinking a little more time and development may be required.
 
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Slugs are basically lead bullets, right?? and for well over 100 years people have come up with very accurate barrels and bullet combo's to shoot them out of.

A fault I see in most air rifles is they are somewhat frail in the way the barrel is attached into the receiver, like with little screws,and how thin some of these barrels can be, like a liner is. For serious accuracy I think we need over built PCP slug guns with "high quality" optimized slug barrels, such as Bartlein and Krieger, that are threaded into the receiver with the same care taken just like when a benchrest gunsmith builds a 6mmPPC capable of agging in the .1's at 100Y.

A huge strength I see with PCP's is the low extreme spreads they are capable of, like 5 fps, this verses a 22 rimfire which even with the expensive ammo can have 30 -40 fps ES. Low ES really helps the vertical the farther the projectile gets away from the barrel. My expensive 22rf with expensive ammo will shoot .88" on average at 100Y but because of the poor ES combined with the low velocity it does 4" vertical at 200Y. I like pushing the limits and shooting as far as the system is capable of so I envision doing even better than that with a future PCP designed for slugs.

I know most people are content with what I consider mediocre accuracy, and that's fine for hunting or general use, but I am not. In other words my 22rf is paid for and I'm not spending thousands of dollars for an air rifle that can't at least equal or defeat it in most aspects. I guess what I'm saying is I need a concrete reliable and accurate slug shooting system, void of frailty and fault, and extreme in build quality, before I get on board. I've got 1500 pounds of lead waiting for the day to come!

My current air rifles are fine for launching pellets and for now I will comply with that purpose and design. 

I think the tech is available, it all just needs to come together correctly.






 
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Bubblerboy, I recently received a JSAR Raptor with TJ slug barrel and just recently have been tuning for slugs as JSB pellets are laser like out to 60yds my max distance I have shot. I have found one slug so far that has shown promise grouping well but not as accurate as pellets so far, getting 1/4” groups C to C @ 20yds so far. I think speed combined with weight and twist rate along with which slug it likes takes TIME to figure out! A labor of love 😉👍.
 
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Bubblerboy, I recently received a JSAR Raptor with TJ slug barrel and just recently have been tuning for slugs as JSB pellets are laser like out to 60yds my max distance I have shot. I have found one slug so far that has shown promise grouping well but not as accurate as pellets so far, getting 1/4” groups C to C @ 20yds so far. I think speed combined with weight and twist rate along with which slug it likes takes TIME to figure out! A labor of love
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I can get great results out to about 75 yards. After that it starts to get interesting. 

My PCP rifles are close to my anschutz rim fires at 100 yards. Under ideal conditions.
 
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Although I consider the state of the technology of slugs to be fairly new there are several brands of guns that they werq quite well in with the proper barrel, proper slug and proper tune. If one is not willing or able to spend the time, like hours of it and money for several hundred slugs, to harmonically tune the gun correctly then they would likely be better off sticking with the factory tune and shooting pellets which are usually very accurate from the guns right out of the box. I have had my gen2 Impact with a 700mm .25 slug barrel shooting mostly sub MOA groups with several NSA and Varmintknocker slugs at 100 yards at several velocities so have first hand knowledge of what it takes to tune and what they are capable of. Speaking of capable I can often shoot spray paint cans off of the 200 yard ram target frame at the local range. I can usually hit two or three in a row before conditions change and I have to figure them out before I can hit the cans again. So, the technology is mature enough to be more than usable at this time. To me slugs are nirvana although I am constantly changing my gun and slugs, to find that perfect balance between speed, accuracy and range, which means constantly tuning. It doesn't help that NSA keeps coming out with the newest and possibly the greatest slug for me to try out over and over again. ;^) Cheap slugs with a good tune = nirvana

Several of the NSA .25 slugs are in .06 - $.07 range now and the new .22's just came out and are even less.


 
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Biohazardman, all what you said is true about slugs...one needs lots of different slugs and time to tune in order to shoot them accurately I am learning. You also need a powerful platform to work with in order to be flexible enough to have such wide tuning capabilities. But I’m sure we’ll worth it when you find the right slugs and tunes! FX owners are blessed to have many people tuning with the slug liners to get a baseline to start with slugs!
 
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Biohazardman, all what you said is true about slugs...one needs lots of different slugs and time to tune in order to shoot them accurately I am learning. You also need a powerful platform to work with in order to be flexible enough to have such wide tuning capabilities. But I’m sure we’ll worth it when you find the right slugs and tunes! FX owners are blessed to have many people tuning with the slug liners to get a baseline to start with slugs!
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Not so sure how powerful a platform is required I did sub MOA at 740fps at 100 yards with the NSA 33.5 HP in my Impact. I did not even know I was shooting so slow for two weeks. The slugs looked like they might be keyholing at 150 yards when I checked a target though. So, I checked the speed on the chrony that's when I saw the 740fps. 😲 I turned it up and re-tuned to just under 920fps and it started shooting well out to 200+ yards. 

Yes, with so many people shooting the FX guns it makes it easier to get a good baseline of projectiles, reg pressures and velocities to try.
 
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Biohazardman, all what you said is true about slugs...one needs lots of different slugs and time to tune in order to shoot them accurately I am learning. You also need a powerful platform to work with in order to be flexible enough to have such wide tuning capabilities. But I’m sure we’ll worth it when you find the right slugs and tunes! FX owners are blessed to have many people tuning with the slug liners to get a baseline to start with slugs!
Click to expand...

Not so sure how powerful a platform is required I did sub MOA at 740fps at 100 yards with the NSA 33.5 HP in my Impact. I did not even know I was shooting so slow for two weeks. The slugs looked like they might be keyholing at 150 yards when I checked a target though. So, I checked the speed on the chrony that's when I saw the 740fps. 
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I turned it up and re-tuned to just under 920fps and it started shooting well out to 200+ yards. 

Yes, with so many people shooting the FX guns it makes it easier to get a good baseline of projectiles, reg pressures and velocities to try.
Click to expand...

Biohazardman, LOL...that is great! I’ve shot them slow and fast and have found fast to be better so far. Just found out my slug barrel is 1:14 so I need to shoot them fast. I do like what you did at high 700’s with your slugs @ 100yds! That is what I’m talking about! That is what I’m trying to accomplish! Excellent group!
 
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