Canadian Airgun Forum

Airacuda .25cal has been shooting pellets pretty well. Tried h&n slug. It was lousy. "Told you so" rang loud in my mind.

Got 100 fx hybrid slugs. First few shots weren't good either, but not as lousy. Disappointed, but to finish the mag anyway. Starting at 8th shot, it started to group. The 2nd mag brought it back to pellet level. Now I remembered the gun takes time to settle with new ammo, fouling shots perhaps.

Is it same for the h&n slugs? I just need to fire more fouling shots?

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Sometimes. Differs with EACH rifle and ammo as well.
Same thing with powder burners. Some make a big difference with a change of ammo, others none or at least less change.
Fouling patterns are different with each, rifling differences & how the lands and grooves react to different projectiles.
Change is change.
Clean the barrel and likely have to start all over again.
Change one thing at a time.
Some air rifles need 1/2 dozen shots to "re-condition" the barrel to a different pellet. Others perhaps more or less while others don't care.

_________________
Best Wishes
Daryl

never had much luck with slug in airgun i like pellets

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VE7SHM//VE7ZJ

Moderator

I've not had good luck with them either, lauchlin. My best results were with my .25 Condor with the 51gr. cast slugs at 906fps.
The setting for that test was 4 on the horizontal and 10 on the wheel - very low setting. I only fired the 5 shots though. It is
possible the accuracy would have improved, had I shot more of them. Too, I could have increased the velocity somewhat, to easily
something over 1,000fps maybe over 1,100fps, but that testing will have to wait.
What did shoot well/bast in the Condor, was JSB Hades at the same setting for 1,034fps and great accuracy to 120yards.
Had an opportunity to sell that rifle some time back, glad I didn't.

_________________
Best Wishes
Daryl

I will need a slug liner (barrel) if I want to shoot slug. That's the advice I have been given. Makes sense as the stabilization mechanisms are different between pellet and slug. But those liars on YouTube have given me false hope so I have to try it. The higher BC is good for shooting longer range.

FX hybrid slugs are supposed to be better. They are designed for pellet riflings. It seems working but they are rather expensive.

The hybrid slug has windage setting very different from the pellet. That puzzles me.

-TL



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As far as point of impact, it's all about harmonics. Change projectile, changes to the point of impact are likely.

All slugs with the Hybrid included, have higher BC, which means less wind drift and less drop for a given velocity.
It appears that some .22 cal. pellet barrels shoot slugs fairly well, others not so well. This seems to be the
norm, with FX barrels, with the .22 cal. modern superior pellet liners shooting some slugs fairly well. I have not found
a slug that shoots well in my .25 Dreamline, neither Hybrids or NSA slugs. The 51gr. cast slugs did better, but were 1 1/2"
at 55 yards. More testing is needed, on those.
That noted, I've not tried shooting more than a 1/2 dozen at a time. It is possible with more shots fired, they would begin
to shoot better. This is also the "case" with moly coated jacketed bullets in powder burners. More shooting is necessary.
As well, there are a number of different sizes in them and all should be tested to get an accurate result.
The ROT's listed in most air rifles are too slow, imho, however, testing is the only positive way of knowing, and accurate testing
is necessary.

_________________
Best Wishes
Daryl

Windage was off by 4" at 25yd, or 16moa. It is way more than what I had expected. The slug weighs 26gr, same as the pellet. MV is 20fps (2%) slower. However at 110yd (100m) the elevation is 5moa less.

Didn't have time to shoot group at that distance. I can crack a clay duck at that distance 50% of the times with pellet. The hybrid slug seemed slightly better. It was most probably limited by my inability to call the wind.

-TL

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4" at 25 yards is not really that much for two totally different friction profiled projectiles.
Moly coating is an option, ya know.
I use Lyman's Super Moly lubricant. It is also a bullet coating-type moly spray, goes on X-tremely thin liquid and quickly dries. It does not rub off easily.
I've done this with the .25 calibre FN bullets I cast from the NOE mould. The moly might be the reason for the good velocity with such a low setting on the power wheel.
I also spray ALL of my bullet moulds with this stuff. Great mould release.
The mould below, is a pellet mould by NOE. Mine does not have the hollow-base projections.

_________________
Best Wishes
Daryl

Thanks. I haven't tried moly coating bullets, although I read about it. It used to be very popular. Doesn't it cause sort of fouling that is very difficult to rid of?

My experience with powder burners is a bit different. A freshly cleaned barrel requires fouling shots, 10 shots or more to settle is not unheard of. Once fouled, changing ammo requires fewer, or even none, fouling shots. Changing from pellet to slug is more drastic, I suppose. Fin/drag/flare to spin stabilization.

Don't know enough about pellet riflings. Is it too slow, too shallow, in wrong direction, for slug?

-TL



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Direction is not important, except as knowledge to long range shooters, for natural drift caused by rotation direction.
Depth and rate are important factors, rate of twist, more-so than depth.
Modern rifles are also to themselves in what they prefer. One rifle of mine needs 8 shots of moly coated, changing from bare bullets, while the other doesn't care and groups identically
when switching back and forth.
Moly will build in a barrel to a certain point, then stop building. It does not need to be removed, but can be a bear to do so with normal solvents - they will not touch it.
Another bullet coating that works well, is Lee's white wax case lube for sizing cases, applied to bullets, let dry and loaded.
It also does not build up to where it needs to be removed, but 5 shots of non-coated bullets will remove all of it, unlike the moly.
There is a LOT to this "shooting" game. Some shooting "games" have similar rules.
In most pellet rifles, the rate of twist is too slow for slug shooting.
I have heard that slugs do not like a choked barrel. This may be so, or just to particular slug lengths/weights.
Trial and error for success or failure, rules the game.
Too, just in .22 calibre, slugs are available from .216" to .218 or 9". NSA .216's do not shoot well in my M97, but it shows promise, so now I need to try .217's and .218's. It's only money. lol
Now, do I NEED to try slugs? No, but do I want to try slugs? Of course, it's all in the search for knowledge. I could quite happily just shoot the Hades, which it loves and shoots exceptionally well, or I could experiment to see what else it might want to shoot.

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Best Wishes
Daryl

1. The twist rate of liner. As pellets and slug are working in different twist rates. Slug is different in aerodynamic shapes. The pellet is self-stabilize by the skirt however, most slugs, although do have a tiny skirt the shape is spin-stabilized and they simply need more twist to reach the optimize spinning rate from the liner--usually much faster than the pellet. Some pellet rifle might come with a higher twist rate barrel so that they do shot certain slugs OK.

2. The barrel itself. If you want shoot slugs, you better need a heavier and longer barrel. As the slug are usually heavier, they will need bit more time to accelerating and less damping of barrel to avid change of the POI. Some pellet rifle have longer and heavier barrel, did better job, even not with slug liner, especially in shorter ranges up to 100-120 yards. And it is also why springer/gas ram are not capable to shoot slugs--their barrel usually much shorter than PCPs in order to fit the power plant.

3. Slugs are meant for long range shot. Which refers to 80 yards, 100 yards, 150 yards or even 200 yards. The longer the distance, the heavier slugs (and same reason, pellet) you will need. If you shoot within 70 yards, I'd say why shoot slugs, pellets are your best friend and they perform much better than slugs in this range.

4. The fps. Slug`s optimal fps usually is 960-1100fps. DO NOT GO SUPERSONIC with slug as 99% air rifles simply not capable of doing that even with a slug liner, as well as the slug itself is not good enough to overcome the shockwave going into and exit the supersonic. By the same time, most pellets' optimal fps is from 800-880fps. (another optimal range is 580-650fps, which most competition rifle or springer uses)

5. The power. In order to reach the optimal speed of the slug, you will need a higher-power rifle. For .22cal, the minimum shall be 28-30 ft-lbs by using light-weight (16-18gr or so) slug. For .25 you will need at least 70-80 ft-lbs to shoot 30gr slugs.

6. The ammo itself. Like pellets, your rifle may love some slugs and you need to find out that. Keep shooting different brand, weight, and shape. JSB, FX and wildman are better quality and Nielsen is the best cost-effective.

And for the same reason, a slug air rifle need to have a good tune down if you want to shoot pellets good.

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A Bunch of
495fps Springers/CO2/PCP
PAL Rated plinkers and target rifles
Finally get my PAL after 1 year waiting

There are FX rifles with pellet liners that do shoot SOME slugs well, others not so well. Those rifles are usually .22 calibre, which calibre also has the greatest variety of
slugs & slug sizes available & some rifles of which have fairly fast rates of twist as well. If you want to shoot only slugs, then it would be best to purchase a slug liner.
If a slug shoots well, it will be superior to any pellet, at any range as far as drop and wind drift is concerned, not just past 70yds. or some other arbitrary yardage.
.22LR's shoot well at sub sonic and even though the high vel. rounds are ALL super sonic, they still shoot well, and do so well past 100 yards where they are now subsonic. Some are barely supersonic to start with, however it would take quite a power plant in a PCP to drive decent weight slugs to super sonic speeds.
The condor just might, especially if it had a "heavy" hammer. I'm currently running 906fps with a 51gr. slug right now, at a very low hammer setting(93fpe). If the rate of twist is only a little bit too slow for the slug desired, increasing it's speed if possible, might be able to achieve stability. That is the current situation with my Air Force rifle,
maybe.
If there is a .177 springer/gas piston that could possibly shoot slugs well, it might be an HW90. It's probably the only springer (kinda) that will drive an actual pellet over 1,300fps.
I suspect with a 10 to 12 grain slug, it might make 900fps to maybe 1,050fps. That might do it? Maybe not.

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Best Wishes
Daryl

I agree if slug shoots well it will good for all ranges. The point is, if it is close range, you really don't need to use slugs, as pellets will do the same job and slugs are more expensive.
My FX .25 with stx superior heavy liner 700mm (pellets) do shoot NSA 26.8gr slugs well at 100 yards (didn't test other slugs and further distance) so that I didn't even put the slug liner on yet.

_________________
A Bunch of
495fps Springers/CO2/PCP
PAL Rated plinkers and target rifles
Finally get my PAL after 1 year waiting

Thanks gentlemen for the info. There isn't really a reason for me to shoot slug, other than better ballistics and me being silly.

Twist rate could be slow. But there is no sign of tumbling at the least. A longer barrel is always nice. With 18" barrel, my rifle is considered a carbine. With FX hybrid slugs it is basically shooting same as JSB king pellet up to 110yd. What lies beyond that could be the real difference. I'm trying to hit a soda can at 150yd. It has been my emulated long range training with .22lr. An airgun will make it more challenging.

FX hybrid slug is more expensive than JSB pellet, but not by a whole lot.

-TL

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The only trouble with pellets is they absolutely suck in any sort of a breeze. In comparison to slugs, they also have a lot more drop, mind you the biggest differences are
past 40 to 60yards.
If the hybrids shoot as well at 100yards, they should shoot even better, past that.

_________________
Best Wishes
Daryl