FX Hybrids .30 - terminal ballistics

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Seeker

Seeker

Member
Jan 23, 2022
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Europe, Poland
Hi,

A friend of mine came across the following picture posted on FB:



The fragments were retrieved from a rabbit shot at 30 yards with a hybrid slug .30. The ones in the lower right corner are Hybrids .30 retrieved from a target at 130 yards.

Is the fragmentation good or bad? What is your experience with Hybrids .30 and fragmentation in general?
 
Hi,

A friend of mine came across the following picture posted on FB:



The fragments were retrieved from a rabbit shot at 30 yards with a hybrid slug .30. The ones in the lower right corner are Hybrids .30 retrieved from a target at 130 yards.

Is the fragmentation good or bad? What is your experience with Hybrids .30 and fragmentation in general?
Click to expand...



I’m skeptical of photos like pancaked airgun slugs. I question them. I’ve shot enough of them to know that my guns don’t do that to slugs under normal circumstances. Whether shooting wood, metal, paper, flesh, or a combination of the aforementioned. As for fragmentation, in my opinion expansion and lead fragments are good for killing. Expand, break apart and rip tissue and vessels. The downside is that lead fragments destroy potentially edible meat. If I intend to harvest an animal for food, I don’t want to shoot any projectiles that I know or think might have the effect of the first 3 photos. The last photo looks realistic considering how some of my slugs look after striking wood. If you looks closely at the fourth photo you can see what appears to be wood fragments in the recovered slugs.

I’m no ballistics expert, but I can’t see a .30 FX hybrid slug staying in a rabbit shot at 30 yards unless the rabbit is struck around the point of the slug’s terminal descent and I’m not sure if I’m using the correct terminology when I say “terminal descent;” what I mean is the tail end of a projectile’s effective velocity. If the end of a slug’s effective range is thirty yards I’m subject to chuck the gun and save the lead for ingots or shoot them from another gun. Maybe if the gun is tuned way down the projectile might not pass through, but I can’t see it in a .30 caliber. I’ve shot rabbits in smaller calibers and in my experience the projectiles passed through. I realize that velocity and distance to target come into play among other factors, but we’re talking 30 yards here. I certainly don’t believe an FX Hybrid slug hit a rabbit, expanded like anything in any of those 4 pictures (not including the unfired projectiles), and stayed inside the carcass. I’m calling BS. Maybe someone else can enlighten us with their expertise. I remain skeptical of some of these claims I read online and the one you posted definitely falls into that category. 
 
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 Haven't seen or ran across fragmenting hybrid, but I see your point, I believe a number of YouTube testers would be talking about this phenomenon. It would be nice to know for sure. In the examples you have giving it is hard to compare as water acts like a lot of mass and a small mammal has little mass to slow a projectile down. Interesting to say the least.
 
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I remember when Rat Sniper advertised his slugs would not exit a squirrel up to 40 fpe. In .22 caliber. I bought them and was getting full penetration most of the time at 30 fpe on squirrels but body shots on rabbits seemed to stop them. These later became FX Hybrids . I would agree a .30 cal 45 to 50 grain HP slug at say 850+ fps is going to penetrate a tender rabbit . I have two .30 Airguns I have been shooting pellets out of but haven’t shot a rabbit with them yet. Been giving them some slack since the neighbor got a cat. He has been hitting the nests hard and we don’t have many anymore. Guess I’m going to have to try some Hybrids out of my .30’s and see what they do.
 
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I have just had a similar experience from a similar distance with the Fx Hybrid Slugs in .30cal from my Maverick VP. Take a look at the video shown below:



https://youtu.be/WzzQ1jtwfBM



I did not retrieve any fragments from the squirrel, but there were certainly two distinct exit wounds at that distance.

I also was able to use the same round on a squirrel at 73 yards, and it zipped right through the shoulder and made a full passthrough:



https://youtu.be/X7hhD70_0SU



I have been very impressed with both the accuracy and terminal performance of the Hybrid Slugs at distances over 50 yards. The flat meplat on the Hades seems to deliver more smack on the smaller game, but the Hybrids have also shown their effectiveness with one and done bodyshots on groundhogs.



https://youtu.be/H9yRk0YERMM

All shots were at 930fpe/85fpe from the muzzle:

I have detected some raccoons on the trail cam at my rental property messing with things, so as soon as I get my thermal scope sighted in on my Maverick, I'm going to give the Hybrids a try on the raccoons. If they are successful there, I will be ordering another 1000 rounds and make these my default ammo for the foreseeable future.

I must also admit, before the FX Hybrids were announced, I was trying to make something similar than that for my Benjamin Bulldog. The reason I tried to do this, was I wanted a thinner sidewall and a lighter weight slug to promote expansion, while at the same time, having a longer slug that worked with my Bulldog's twist rate. It's great to see my ideas come to fruition, which lets me know I was on the right path. The only potential downside of this design is performance on larger game, like coyote and hogs, so there may still be a place for 54.5gr NSA slugs in those applications. I'm going to do some more ballistics gel testing to see what things look like at 960fps.


 
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