Slugs versus Pellets under 100 yards

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Centercut

Centercut

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Jun 9, 2017
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I’ve been playing around with slugs for over a year now. And I’ve heard on here (AGN) and in person that slugs are only more accurate than pellets at ranges greater than 100 yards.

Honestly, I respect everyone’s opinion. But I never accepted that slugs couldn’t be as accurate as pellets sub 100 yards…

So today, I shot two guns with two different calibers and two different slugs. First after much testing and discovering that the .25 NSA 43.5 grain slugs at 895 FPS in my Impact PP with Slug A liner shot the best of every slug I’ve tried. This is one of the 5 shot groups I shot at 73 yards. Other groups were similar but this was the best. Wind was light maybe 3 to 4 MPH gusting to 6 or 7. It’s also very interesting that two slugs that look almost exactly the same would shoot so differently. The second group is only 4 shots because is was so poor I just quit with the NSA 38.5 grain at 950 FPS. Ten ring is 0.485 inches.

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The I went hunting for ground squirrels for a few hours. When I returned, wind had picked up to 10 to 12 MPH gusting to 15 to 16. These two groups were shot with Bleu, my .22 DS Red Wolf HP, JSB .217 Knock Outs at 990 FPS. The first group was 73 yards. The second group I moved the bench back ten yards. Both groups five shots. Bleu wanted to make sure I knew who was the Top Dog in my stable…

Note: while the .25 Impact group was kinda cherry picked (but the others were only slightly larger), the groups below were the only two groups I shot with Bleu.

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So my point of all this is IMHO, yes, slugs can be just as accurate as pellets at any distance… Takes much more time and effort, but it can be done.
 
Yes, I would have to agree with you 100% slugs are every bit as accurate as sorted, rolled and weighed, pellets at any distance once your gun is tuned for them. I have not seen a difference in the accuracy of slugs vs pellets in my .25 700mm slug A barrel. With one exception the pellet groups increase substantially more than the slugs at anything over 40 to 50 yards even in a slight breeze.

Seems there is a difference even in the slug liners. Mine shoots the .250 slugs in 33.5, 36, 36.2 and 38.5 as well as the VK 34gr all pretty much the same as the JSB King Heavy MKll pellets with less than MOA groups. I have as yet not tried anything heavier.

But since I do not have to sort, roll and weigh my slugs I seldom shoot pellets these days. Only two of ten groups are .5 MOA now that I have have moved my valve spring outside of the plenum and applied tension to my barrel. So more tuning yet to do.
 
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Centercut, I have forgotten the details of this very special Daystate "Blue" you won. is it a 700mm Polygonal chocked barrel?

As always, thank you for sharing your real world experiences and knowledge.

Patrick
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Thanks Patrick. It’s a special Daystate LW ART barrel that was one of the Delta Wolf prototype barrels. It’s a Poly barrel but only 5 sided not 6, so the JSB KOs might not work exactly the same. It’s the most accurate air rifle I’ve ever shot. And the KO slugs are just as accurate as the RD Monster pellets. 
Mike
 
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That is obviously one special air rifle you have there in all respects, performance and looks. I have an Impact MK1 like yours that has evolved into a current version in .22 and it as well loves the JSB RD and the KO equally in the Slug A and the Superior Standard out to a 100. I have just added the Superior Heavy with the new FX dual TP and the oval porting along with the FX Power Pin Probe. Not had it out yet to see the results.



Patrick
 
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Patrick, nice!!! The only slugs I’m waiting to test with the Impact are the .25 JSB KOs when they are released, and I have a .25 Superior liner to try with those.

Just for those that don’t realize how involved the testing is to find the most accurate slug and speed, here are all the slugs I tested. Once they grouped under a 3/4 inch at 50 yards (nickel size), I would test those at various speeds every 25 FPS from 900 to 1000 FPS. The best speed for that slug was then tested at 100 yards. And the JSB KO .217 won at about 975 FPS but I ended up bumping the speed to 985 to 990 FPS.

.216 and .217 JSB KO, .217 and .218 H&N 21, 23, 25, 27, and 30, NSA 23, 24.8, 27.5 and 28.5 in .217 and .218. So that’s about 20 different slugs, some at four different speeds. The only ones that were close to the JSB KOs were the H&N 27 grain in both .217 and .218.

Its certainly not as easy as buying a tin of RD Monsters and shooting them at 980 FPS. ;)
 
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Are you all seeing the common 4 touching and one out pattern when testing 5 shot groups? There just seems to be that one! Pisses me off very big!! .... nice shooting though, keep up the good work,

now go test your perfect slug tune in 40 deg colder temps, that’s when pellets, for me, keep their value🤔..

slugs day to day seem to be like a box of chocolates? but they do keep us on our toes, if it wasn’t for all this testing, slug sales would be way lower in my cart anyway, fun though! 🖖🏼
 
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I’ve also been getting some really good groups at shorter distances with my Impact .22 PP 600mm. Long distances have been phenomenal but now even shorter distances are starting to challenge my pellet based groups. Shot a 7 shot group measuring 6.5mm ctc, with 27gr .217 H&Ns, at 960, yesterday, pulled the 8th shot unfortunately out of sheer excitement. And similarly to Mike, I have tested many slugs at many different speed settings, over too many days before I got to this tune. 


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A friend asked me to tune his friends Impact last week, which he has had for 6 months and could not get slugs to shoot accurately. Only slugs he had available were .216 JSBs, and only had one tin left for me to start the journey with. I told him this may well take a few days and many more slugs. Then got started.

Blow me away, but 80 slugs in, I stumbled into the best tune yet. Ragged holes up to 50 m and sub MOA up to 130m. This was just plain luck. Usually takes a bit more time and money. He thinks I am an Impact Whisperer now😂

Kurt
 
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Are you all seeing the common 4 touching and one out pattern when testing 5 shot groups? There just seems to be that one! Pisses me off very big!! …. nice shooting though, keep up the good work,
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Yes with the .25 Impact but that one not touching isn’t far away, maybe 1/2 inch from the cloverleaf group. It’s not quite as accurate as the Daystate Red Wolf HP with JSB KO slugs, but then what is?
wink_smile.gif

 
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Geoff, we never said slugs were more accurate, but they CAN BE just as accurate. And at longer ranges slugs are more “real world” accurate since we don’t shoot in a vacuum and have to deal with wind...

it’s not hype, it just takes much time, knowledge, experience and money to get slugs shooting accurately...

Pellets are very accurate at all distances, however, slugs are much less affected by wind plus as you said they retain more energy downrange. Even though I’ve shown above that slugs can be as accurate as pellets, I still hunt with pellets when shooting under 100 yards, or in the vicinity of houses.

Here’s an example of retained energy. In my .30 cal shooting 44.75 grain pellets at 895 FPS, my energy at 250 yards is 19 FPE.
With my .25 cal shooting 43.5 grain NSA slugs at the same speed, my energy at 250 yards is 40 FPE. That’s DOUBLE what the pellet retained, same weight, same muzzle velocity. The difference in wind drift and elevation drop s just as dramatic.

I do agree with you Geoff, slugs are not for beginners... If you don’t have a good knowledge of how Airguns function and how to effectively tune them it’s best to stick with pellets until you do...
 
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I'm a pellet shooter over slugs by a vast amount because they suit my needs but I agree with Centercut on this. Slugs will perform better than pellets at longer ranges and IF THAT IS NEEDED BY AN INDIVIDUAL then slugs have a distinct advantage in that situation. Seems the question is can a slug be as accurate as a pellet at shorter ranges. I'd say sure they can or they wouldn't be accurate at longer ranges. But pellets may be much easier for a person to shoot accurately (in terms of effort on set up) at shorter distances.
 
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It’s much easier to find an accurate pellet to shoot than an accurate slug, but once you find that accurate slug, the difference in accuracy at closer distances is minimal and at longer distances the effect that wind has and retained energy is noticeable. I mostly shoot pellets as my range is short but when I get to stretch out the distances depending on the wind I now have an option. Plus the price difference is closing rapidly especially with NSA’s smaller caliber offerings. Good time to be an airgunner.
 
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