How to Start With Slugs

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Jerkeejoe

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May 8, 2024
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I'm relatively new to PCP airguns and have been loving shooting pellets out of my impact. I want to try out some slugs and see what they can do, but I am reluctant to dive in based on the general feedback I've seen around the site that slugs are a pain in the butt to figure out.

I'm not going to let the comments stop me from trying them, but I thought I'd ask for suggestions on the best starting point for getting into slugs. The number of slug options is overwhelming and the tuning advice varies widely. Any consensus on the best way to get into slugs?
 
Sample pacs! Lol. find land and groove measurements and go over by 00.1. does the barrel have a choke? It might like a tad under groove diameter, I would try to start at as close to your best shooting pellets and go from there. Each gun is a individual and will tell you what it likes. One that will chamber easy but snug. I roll my slugs between soft wood and a mill file as a sizing operation of sorts and roll it in a bullet lube wax and it has made chambering easier and seems more consistent. I would also consider bearing surface on the bore. I shoot slugs in a Hatsan flash with a choked bore, I never did measure the choke but by the standard thought slugs don't like chokes but they shoot just fine to fifty yards anyway.
 
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Buy a tin of H&N hollow point heavy slugs in a weight you like or a couple weights. Thats what works best in my 2 impact m3's and my panthera. One impact is a .22 the other is a .25 and the panthera is a .22. the .22 impact and panthera both love the .218 34 gr. H&N and the .25 loves the .250 38 gr. H&N. It took about 2 hours with each rifle to tune. Been working great for 4 months.
 
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Depends a lot on what gun you're considering slugs out of....
Historically, and still largely true, airguns have barrels and power levels that are much more conducive to pellets. Again, depends on gun, as there ARE some now that have barrels that are better matches for slugs.

If you're starting with a pellet gun and hoping for slug joy, this is a good starter pack.

 
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I second the notion of sample packs. They aren’t always available in the sizes you want from all vendors. Oh and you may also want to buy a melting pot, molds, and learn to cast because it’s likely that by the time you find the good ones you’ll have slugs you have zero use for laying around just taking up space.
 
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Buy $500 worth of various slugs and then throw/give them all away when none of them work. They love to go fast. It's a branch of the Rabbit Hole® that is as nasty and evil as they come. Good luck and I hope the stars align. Remember the key is not too much air, just enough to get the speed and not a molecule more.
 
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Jerkeejoe said:
I'm relatively new to PCP airguns and have been loving shooting pellets out of my impact. I want to try out some slugs and see what they can do, but I am reluctant to dive in based on the general feedback I've seen around the site that slugs are a pain in the butt to figure out.

I'm not going to let the comments stop me from trying them, but I thought I'd ask for suggestions on the best starting point for getting into slugs. The number of slug options is overwhelming and the tuning advice varies widely. Any consensus on the best way to get into slugs?
Click to expand...
Do a search in the forum, lots of impact shooters .
 
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Jerkeejoe said:
I'm relatively new to PCP airguns and have been loving shooting pellets out of my impact. I want to try out some slugs and see what they can do, but I am reluctant to dive in based on the general feedback I've seen around the site that slugs are a pain in the butt to figure out.

I'm not going to let the comments stop me from trying them, but I thought I'd ask for suggestions on the best starting point for getting into slugs. The number of slug options is overwhelming and the tuning advice varies widely. Any consensus on the best way to get into slugs?
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What gun and caliber do you want to shoot slugs out of?
 
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H&N Hollow point heavy .218 34 gr. @ 960 FPS. Thats in my Impact M3. First Reg set around 170 - 190 psi second reg 145 - 150 psi. I cant remember exact numbers and I am at work. Micro wheel around 4 ish and valve about 4 lines so not fully open. I will look at the settings when I get home and update. I know each Impact will require something a little different but its still valuable info. My .22 Panthera shoots the same slug but at 1018 fps. The Impact didnt shoot as good at 1000 fps and up. Could just be my particular impact that didnt like the higher velocity the panthera did.

Sorry for the wall of text coming but its necessary to explain how I did my tune on my rifles.

Run all the groups thru a chronograph. You will see the ES Numbers tightening in the final part of the tune and use it to judge how much impact the valve adjuster is having and also if the ES is tight enough for long range work. plus you will have your velocity for the final tune as well for entering in your ballistics app if you use one.

For tuning Set the plateau at 1020 - 1040 fps if you want to try for 1,000 - 1,020 fps or lower. Make sure the valve adjuster is set fully open so 4 lines and 1 .5 turns more or 6 lines if you have the adjuster with 6 lines. I also believe you need the slug power kit installed. You can keep the pellet probe if you dont like the pin probe but install the heavy hammer and lighter valve spring.

Once you have a plateau of 1020 - 1040 start lowering the macro wheel two clicks at a time and shoot a group at every two clicks down. Make notes of what the macro setting is for each group. You will see groups closing and eventually opening back up as you drop below the velocity it likes. Dont touch the reg setting, valve setting or micro at this point just shoot every two clicks on the macro. Go back thru the groups and pick the best and set the macro back to that setting.

Now you will focus on the micro wheel. I changed the micro by two clicks as well and shoot a group. Follow the same steps so adjust down two clicks and shoot a group. One of two things should happen. Groups will either tighten or get worse. If they get worse then go back to the first micro wheel setting and work up instead of down. Which ever scenario pans out you will see the groups starting to shoot 3 or 4 shots into a nice tight round group and throwing one or two of the shots. When you see this pattern its time to adjust the valve.

Turn the valve adjuster in 1/4 turn and shoot a group. Rinse and repeat until the flyers pull into the groups and you get nice consistent round tight groups. You might need to go from 1/4 turns to 1/8 turns as groups tighten to hit that exact sweet spot. The groups will tell you if you went to far.

I followed this procedure on both of my impacts one is .22 and one is .25 both with H&N slugs. Both impacts reacted the same to the adjustments and both exhibited the 3 or 4 shot tight pattern with 1 or 2 flyers and both tightened into 5 shot round tight groups finishing off with the valve adjuster. The panthera went exactly the same way except no valve adjusting cause it doesnt have it. But using the macro until groups tightened up and the micro until the flyers were gone.

The tuning went so easy with the 3 rifles I figured it was a fluke. I have taken the panthera out and made cold bore headshots on ground squirrels from 85 - 110 yds on multiple occasions, days and locations. The impacts have done the same on starlings with cold bore kills out to 93 yds. So I feel they have been proven. Before using H&N I tried Zan, NSA, JSB and patriot and tried different weights from those manufacturers. None of them shot as accurate and the ones that came close didnt have as good of consistency or group size. My experience could be completely unique but I know Gerard has won comps with the H&N and his videos show more consistency in his POI than other influencers using other projectiles. So my experience isnt totally unique.
 
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Headshots said:
Just lay 50 bucks on the ground and burn it .
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Then keep it going with more of them.....the booze bill from frustrations a killer, pun intended. LDP is 100% in his technique. Not every barrel/liner likes slugs of any sort. Personally I've had THE best results with the RMR/FX Hybrids, not the heaviest but they do work well.
 
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95% of the time, I shoot slugs out of my airguns. My primary shooter is the FX Maverick VP in .30cal, and I use my airgun primarily for pesting groundhogs out to 100 yards and beyond.

I currently shoot FX Hybrid Slugs and H&N Slugs II in 50gr. Both of these Slugs are accurate, with the Hybrids being the best of the two, but the H&N are a very close second. Neither are as accurate as JSB Exacts, but they deliver up to 40% more power at 100 yards

You haven't really stated what goal you want to accomplish using Slugs. Do you want more terminal performance for pesting? Do you want more expansion in game by using hollow points? Are you trying to get a projectile that fights the wind better? Or do you just wanna ring steel louder?

With the Impact, get some FX Hybrid Slugs, and you're gonna get good, accurate results with a STX superior liner. These don't work well for getting deep penetration, as they expand quite fast upon impact. But if you are worried about over penetration, these work quite well. Here is a slo-mo accuracy example from a pesting video at 92 yards.

The terminal performance of the H&N Slugs have been quite impressive, but they blast completely through groundhogs even at 80 yards.
 
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My advice is to try some Nielsen slugs in a weight that is similar to what you are already shooting for pellets. For example, if you are tuned to shoot JSB 18.13g pellets at 880fps; try the 17.5g Nielsen. Slugs have more contact area so weight for weight they are almost certainly going to go slower with the same tune. They do usually like to go fast, but not always. FX liners seem to be on the tight side, so a 0.216" or 0.2165" diameter is a good place to start.

I shoot Hades and Nielsens out of several liners and different rifles with great hunting accuracy. I always make sure my setup is able to hold at least a golfball sized group well past the desired hunting range. I dont shoot paper for groups very often, as my FX rifles have all been way more accurate than I can hold.

If you want to dial in the smallest groups possible for paper punching or benchrest competition, slugs might drive you crazy. Most people never find a good match up, even after spending hundreds of dollars and hundreds of hours. But with a little ballistic understanding, and a lot of luck you can find an accurate combo....probably lol.
 
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