Check out air velocity sport on youtube. Stephen is shooting a modded ATI nova liberty in .22 at 100yards at less than an inch for 10 shots with his slugs. His and mine are making 50 fpe +.
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Slugs, Modern PCPs and Caliber Selection for long range shooting…
- Thread starter Vana2
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I'm also with Bob and the others on this one. Shooting greater than 100 yards, and I've seen up to almost 300 yards on AGN posted video, is pretty cool. But lets face it, at anything much over 100 yards, are you shooting for the kill zone/head shot, or are you shooting to hit the general shape of the target? My bet is the latter more than the former. Don't get me wrong, I like trying to hit targets in excess of 100 yards, its fun. And shooting slugs makes it much easier if the gun/slug/speed combination is correct. But as Bob says above, the "just throw one out and see" mentality isn't my style either. Have I done it? Yep, that's why I know its not my style, and I always felt guilty when I know I hit the animal, but couldn't find it later on since the general target at that range is just an overall shape. It may be a little more palatable with birds that frankly die pretty easily, but ground squirrels are very tough, and require a head or heart/lung shot to anchor them close to the POI. For the shot to be "one shot deadly", you need to be able to hit a one inch circle (head) or 1.5 inch circle (heart/lung). And buddy, if you can do that repeatedly in the wind at longer than 100 to 125 yards with your first shot, you are one infreakingcredible shot, and should shoot RMAC in 2020 to claim your $20K.
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I'm with you guys as well. I don't take shots at live animals/birds beyond my Maximum Effective Range... the range that I can put 25 of 25 shots in a 1 inch circle. I've settled on a .22/700mm Impact MKII and think that the gun is capable of 1 inch groups at the 75 to 125 yards in ideal conditions, I expect that it will be a while before I'll be doing any pesting at anywhere near that distance.
"One shot deadly" yup, that is the only way to do it - shoot and pray doesn't cut it. I've helped recover too many deer where the guy shot at the whole animal instead of picking a spot. I bow hunted whitetails for years and always waited for the ideal shot. Sometimes that shot doesn't present itself and the animal walks - I'm ok with that, maybe tomorrow it will happen. I passed up a huge buck that was well within my normal effective range because it was too windy and I didn't want to chance a poor hit. Saw him a couple more times but never got a shot, guest that it is why they call it "deer hunting" and not "deer shooting" eh?
I was working on clearing brush to extend my shooting shooting lane - have to measure it but it looks like I have a good 130 yards to a natural backstop. Happy with that.
Scope and bipod are in hand, gun is ordered and should be in mid December. I'll shoot it a bit regardless of the Canadian weather but I suspect it will be a long wait until the warmer weather in April.
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When you get your Impact I would use some JB bore paste and Kroil or Ballistiol on a bore mop and polish your liners for about an 100 strokes. That way your liners bore will be polished and not foul quickly or require a few hundred pellets or slugs to break in. From there you will get consistent accuracy quicker once you find the best slug weight and velocity to shoot. Also get a ballistic program like Strelock Pro or Chairgun and enter your rifles info velocity, scope height etc and start practicing in all conditions and wind. I found out very quickly with some practice and good ballistic entries you will easily be hitting pigeons at 100 plus yards. I am not slinging or whatever disparaging term the slug haters want to use. I have and shoot rimfires and centerfire rifles at various pests and distances and shooting an slugs in an air rifle just fills another niche. Slugs are very accurate and have good power beyond pellet and not as loud as rimfires and does not carry as far. ChairGun has an maximum range calculator depending on incline and will give you distance carried. I then go on Google maps and check out the silos or roof lines i will be shooting and determine safety. Another good accessory to buy is adjustable mounts like the FX No Limits particularly if your scope does not have a lot of elevation adjustment. Bill
Below is the table for maximum range for my .22 cal Impact shooting the NSA 23's .218 diam.
Below is the table for maximum range for my .22 cal Impact shooting the NSA 23's .218 diam.
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@AirgunBill
Some excellent suggestions Bill, thanks for posting! Both the JB paste and the FX No-Limit mounts are on order -never tried them before,
I've been using Chairgun for a couple of years and found the "optimum zero" tool to be very useful for setting up to a specific Kill Zone size- a lot more convenient than doing it manually through trial and error. To bad that Hawke is no longer supporting the program.
Like your idea of using Google Maps to check the area where you are going to shoot. The maps are not always 100% current but are a good starting point anyway... I always question the land owner and do a walk-about before shooting on a new permission. Would be a good thing to bring a copy of the map to make notes on as well.
Some excellent suggestions Bill, thanks for posting! Both the JB paste and the FX No-Limit mounts are on order -never tried them before,
I've been using Chairgun for a couple of years and found the "optimum zero" tool to be very useful for setting up to a specific Kill Zone size- a lot more convenient than doing it manually through trial and error. To bad that Hawke is no longer supporting the program.
Like your idea of using Google Maps to check the area where you are going to shoot. The maps are not always 100% current but are a good starting point anyway... I always question the land owner and do a walk-about before shooting on a new permission. Would be a good thing to bring a copy of the map to make notes on as well.
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If I'm reading that max distance table right, I'm seeing right under 1100 yards..... 3300feet..... 62.5% of a mile!!!!!
That's even further than I would have guessed
. That's not shooting at a bird in a tree unless there's nothing downrange for a LONG ways. Some of those dairy bird pesting vids show shots that make me really nervous (when I can see subdivisions in the background). Slugs in that scenario would be downright scary.
Out of curiosity did the same scenario with an 18.1gr .22 pellet going 900fps and getting about 600 yards max distance with a "terminal energy" of 0.72fpe.
Also ran the numbers for the terminal energy of the slug-2.13fpe.
Interesting stuff.
In fact, slugs or pellets would be scary with a subdivision downrange and taking shots at elevated targets. I guess the slugs would just need the houses quite a bit further away.
That's even further than I would have guessed
. That's not shooting at a bird in a tree unless there's nothing downrange for a LONG ways. Some of those dairy bird pesting vids show shots that make me really nervous (when I can see subdivisions in the background). Slugs in that scenario would be downright scary.Out of curiosity did the same scenario with an 18.1gr .22 pellet going 900fps and getting about 600 yards max distance with a "terminal energy" of 0.72fpe.
Also ran the numbers for the terminal energy of the slug-2.13fpe.
Interesting stuff.
In fact, slugs or pellets would be scary with a subdivision downrange and taking shots at elevated targets. I guess the slugs would just need the houses quite a bit further away.
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Franklink you are reading the table wrong as the first column is for total range traveled which includes the total arc of travel. The third column is the one you want to taken into account depending on the angle of the shot. For example most of the angles on my silos shots are less than 20 degrees. That would make the horizontal distance of travel for the slug at 667 yards. That still is much less than a .22 rimfire but still something to plan for. Also look at the travel for lower angles of say 5 degrees for say shooting off a roof ridge. There the down range horizontal travel would still only 365 yard but still have more retained energy to take into account. I shoot pests at all different ranges and at times am shooting setups with 12 to 20 fpe for in and around buildings. Then when shooting off silos which many are quite tall, the angle to see and get shots at the birds puts you at 80 to 100 yards plus away. Once again its just a matter of picking the right tool for the job, knowing your rifles and taking safety into the equation. Bill
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Ahh makes sense. I was looking at the pellet flight path (arc) as the total distance. Thanks for the clarification.
Still a good ways for it to travel.
Still a good ways for it to travel.
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Vana2 I shoot the NSA 23 grain .218 flat base slugs in my Impact. Oh I forgot to say I have the 600mm barrel. They say .218 dia might shoot better than the .217 dia with the lighter and shorter slugs because they have a smaller bearing surface or less area for the rifling to engage. For me that was true but now it seems the only sell the dish base 23.0 grain but they still shoot just as well for me. For me I like to stay under the 27.5 grain slug weight because as the slug weight goes up it becomes harder to get the velocity needed to stabilize the slugs. It seems that many shooting the heavier slugs have modified their Impacts for more power. The other thing to consider if you are wanting to lesson downrange power going with the lighter slugs will help. To send lighter slugs down range at the required fps will require less power, and hammer strike and will give you more shots per fill. If most your shots are around 100 plus yards you should still get the job done. Bill
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@AirgunBill
I have the .22/700mm on order so I am hoping that I will be able to shoot up to 30ish grain slugs in a stock configuration. I will likely do the TP mod and want to make up a couple of custom pellet probes with a center pin instead of the standard "tube" design.
Plan "A" is JSB 18 grain pellets; the Hades and then try some Redesigned Monsters to see how they work. The Hades are more for curiosity as I plan to use them in my "medium" pesting gun (HW100S FSB - I use a scoped FWB300SU as my "light" pesting gun around the house). My idea is to put a couple of thousand pellets through the Impact to break it in and for me to get used to it. Never shot a bullpup gun before so I figure it is going to take a bit of shooting to get used to it.
I'll definitely be trying slugs but not likely before mid summer. By then the technology will be more settled and I can see which are recommended.
Cheers!
Hank
I have the .22/700mm on order so I am hoping that I will be able to shoot up to 30ish grain slugs in a stock configuration. I will likely do the TP mod and want to make up a couple of custom pellet probes with a center pin instead of the standard "tube" design.
Plan "A" is JSB 18 grain pellets; the Hades and then try some Redesigned Monsters to see how they work. The Hades are more for curiosity as I plan to use them in my "medium" pesting gun (HW100S FSB - I use a scoped FWB300SU as my "light" pesting gun around the house). My idea is to put a couple of thousand pellets through the Impact to break it in and for me to get used to it. Never shot a bullpup gun before so I figure it is going to take a bit of shooting to get used to it.
I'll definitely be trying slugs but not likely before mid summer. By then the technology will be more settled and I can see which are recommended.
Cheers!
Hank
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