AirForce Texan 308: Precision Shooting 600+ Yards
Here at Shooter 1721 you will find trick shots, reviews, and some good family fun with firearms and knives. Join our family as we continue our amazing adventure
www.airgun101.com Airforce Long Range .308
- Thread starter 357cal
- Start date
www.airgun101.com 
The Airforce Texan LSSCF .510 will hold a 20" group at 600 yards all day long, and due to the travel time on your projectile/time in air, the challenge is in the wind and with reaching out beyond 600! Anything beyond 600 just seems to elude me as I can't get reliable hits beyond it.
Upvote 0
LOL, the farthest I have shot targets with a pcp is 220 yards (my range) 8-inch gong with consistently, AEA 357 and 308 Texan.
Upvote 0
Don't get me wrong, I can hit a 36" gong at 1,000 yards, I simply cannot hit it 3 times in a row/consistently. This is my Airforce Texan LSSCF .510. This pic is my 100yd target and groups are typically under 1", 200yds and the groups grow to 2.5", 400yd groups are in the 7" end of the spectrum. The attached video is my 600 yard shot in mild winds. Now... given enough time I know I can hit a 4' steel plate out at 2K yds. maybe even further, but I know from experience that I cannot repeat a hit like that multiple times in a row, and the ability to put multiple hits on a target at a given range is a true test of accuracy. FYI; I've seen the video of this 2058 yard shot, and I'd of liked it better if he'd repeated the shot two... maybe three times in a row, then I'd be impressed.
Last edited:
Upvote 0
I understand your point. At such a distance, a single hit is impressive, but a shift in the wind could thwart a second attempt, as the atmosphere can change in an instant.
Upvote 0
Wow excellent shooting .510 Texan.....Did you have to fire lap or hand lap your factory barrel? It seems the .510 lother Wather are the worst of the bunch....So I assume a good barrel and not much leading? Keep up the good work!!! Nice Rig
Upvote 0
Barrel has not been touched. I achieve extreme spreads of under 4fps because I put my time in on tuning the rifle to the specific slug I'm shooting. The pills are also given a lot of love, each one is carefully measured to make certain it’s perfectly round, each is weight matched, then sized before receiving a final coating of dry moly.
Last edited:
I'm sure that moly coating works well just like powder coating does...Used to moly coat slug for 8 twist 22 cal powder burners back in the day... With good results.. That's sweet your barrel is a good one... How are you measuring your slugs for consistently in diameter? Measuring or die? Trying to get better...
Upvote 0
I specially ordered some new airgun specific slug molds for long range .308 shooting. They are now available on the Arsenal order page:
arsenalmolds.com
arsenalmolds.com
I’ve got both and have so far only tested out to 100m, but my intent is to take them out to 500yd and 600yd.
308-150 BT
arsenalmolds.com 308-170 BT
arsenalmolds.com I’ve got both and have so far only tested out to 100m, but my intent is to take them out to 500yd and 600yd.
Upvote 0
Looks like a good mold. I believe the .308 may have some advantages over the .510 for long range applications, I’d like to get my hands on a .308 and a .45 one day for testing. As for home casting, I recently started experimenting with casting my own .510 and I have found it very challanging to get a perfect slug with proper form and weight. I’m still learning, and unfortunately, I only get about 10-20 perfect pills out of each 100 I cast. I call these my HPLRHC. They are a 342gr boat tail HP that are showing promos, but proving to be a real challenge to produce.I specially ordered some new airgun specific slug molds for long range .308 shooting. They are now available on the Arsenal order page:
308-150 BT
308-170 BT
I’ve got both and have so far only tested out to 100m, but my intent is to take them out to 500yd and 600yd.
Last edited:
Good questions, and slug selection is a process I put way too much time into.
1. I sort to remove all pills with any defects.
2. I use a digital micrometer to spot minor to major out of round issues.
3. I then weigh each round and organize by weight, with + or - of no more than 2gr. So anything with a variance greater and no matching brothers will go into the melting pot.
4. I then tumble in dry moly before pushing each through my sizing dye.
5. Then I visually inspect the sizing marks on each slug. If round you’ll clearly see the sizing marks leave a polish all the way around the slug with identical start points on the shoulders, this means a consistent start point where the slug meets the dye, and the sheen must continue around the slug 360°. Any low spots, or out of round will result in a dull appearance at areas that make minimal contact with a sizing dye.
6. The last step for me is to place the slugs back into the tumbler for a second coating before going into their respective storage cases.
Can you say ADHD? lol
20% sounds rough. Probably a temperature issue. I was casting pure lead last night and kept having to crank the temperature. Started the pot at 780f and ended up at 830f. Even then I had to regularly heat the mold with a torch to keep them filling out. Tapping the mold a bit right after filling seems to help as well. 175gr slugs, 90% were +/- 1gr. Having a good sprue plate that is held down on both sides really helps get flat bases free of flashing, and keeps the weight more consistent.
Looks like those boat tails were chamfered after casting. Was that due to a sharp edge?
Upvote 0
You can buy a PID controller for your regular Lee 4-20...like a $100.00 on castboolits.com. a member builds them there...You plug your pot.into PID controller set temperature and cast...I usually run between 800 and 850 degrees.. I started sorting slugs and got disappointed.... Slightly for the effort... At 50 yards with no sorting they will shoot....stack... At125 yards 3 moa consistently.. I don't know if it's my barrel but having hard time getting it better.. I have all the mitomito micrometer ,I just don't love using them
For my new longer range of at least 230 yards ,,I'm going to have to start letting my ADHD take over....Thanks friendsUpvote 0
PID is worth every cent. Going without it the swings are wide and results will vary just as widely.You can buy a PID controller for your regular Lee 4-20...like a $100.00 on castboolits.com. a member builds them there...You plug your pot.into PID controller set temperature and cast...I usually run between 800 and 850 degrees.. I started sorting slugs and got disappointed.... Slightly for the effort... At 50 yards with no sorting they will shoot....stack... At125 yards 3 moa consistently.. I don't know if it's my barrel but having hard time getting it better.. I have all the mitomito micrometer ,I just don't love using them
Same for me on 3moa. I've been trying a zillion different things in the hopes of improving that, and I've had a few good days, but going out to shoot my big bores I'm expecting 2-4moa and anything better has not been repeatable. If I learn the big secret I'll be sure to share it lol
I'm scared that you can spend $$$$ of dollars and not be able to get much better moa.....there's a lot of vibrations in a airgun.. especially mine with 650 grain slugs,,lol
Upvote 0
2-4moa... OUCH! If I'm not holding, or better than, 1 MOA, I'll stop and retune my rifle... or abandon the slug choice. By far the most difficult rifle I ever tuned was my Zeus .72 Cal. I played with 5 different slug weights and ran full step tune on each weight before I finally found the magic and the beast began producing one ragged hole. Fortunately, my Texan is much more forgiving than the Zeus. What steps have have you taken to tune your rifle?
Upvote 0
That particular three shot group was untethered using Mr. HP 385gr slug. Rifle was set at 4,175psi and shot 1 was 915fps, 2 was 919fps and shot 3 was 914fps. for my rifle at this slug weight its the sweet spot for stabilizing velocity and air consumption. Every rifle has a similar sweet spot for a selected ammo, ya just gotta put in the time to find it. See my post in the link below.
Airforce - Texan 457 tuning wheel
I just received my Texan CF bottle with TX2 valve and want to tune using the tuning wheel on my Texan 457. I see there are 5 marks on the barrel for the wheel. I watched a video with Ton Jones with airforce airguns saying the the max tune is only the second line. I am wondering what are the...
www.airgunnation.com Last edited:
Upvote 0
My Texan was about pie plate MOA when I got.it.....Mine likes the power wheel maxed out shot on the regulator at 3625psi. Its likes NOE 450 grain and Accurate Mold 650 grain...That's about it.
Upvote 0