NSA .20/18.9grain slug results

[Franklink]

Did a bit more testing (shooting) with the .20/18.9gr slugs yesterday evening, and then again just now.
Shot on paper a 135 yards both yesterday and today, and then at 98yards also this morning.
Here's the 135 yard scenario... (circles/aim points measure just under 1.5" across)

And from the "bench" up on my porch....

and with a bit of zoom.....

Left two target traps last night were used for pellets, but the right one was the .20 slugs.

And here is the right paper in the photo above, WITH another 4, 5 shot groups that I just shot. And some measurements.

So, that's 9, 5 shot groups, shot in two different sessions, both at 135 yards. I threw the top right group out last night as it was the first group and was used to find the hold point (sighter).

And then here is how they did at 98 yards....

This is an EBR target.

Two of the 5 shot groups at 98 yards are just at moa. I also shot an EBR card with .20/15.89 pellets @ 29fpe and .22/25.4 pellets @ 45fpe in the same 98 yard session. The .20/15.89 pellet scored a 214 and the .22/25.4 scored a 210. ie, the slugs kicked the pellets arses. And I don't say that lightly as I've tested a lot of slugs and in my experience, it's been rare to find a slug that'll shoot better than a high BC pellet at under 100 yards.

I think I can conclude that the .20/18.9grain slugs are averaging 5 shots groups a hair better than 1.35MOA at 135 yards, at least from this particular barrel and gun. This is all with them in the 870-880fps range, for about 32fpe. To be able to shoot five shot groups that are averaging under 2 inches at 135 yards with only 32 fpe is AWESOME!

Suffice it to say that I ordered another batch of them from NSA. I don't want to run out of this sweetness.

 

[jmsdad]

Great shooting!

Off topic, but what are in those target traps?

 

[Franklink]

Great shooting!

Off topic, but what are in those target traps?

Just rubber landscaping mulch. Cardboard circles cut from whenever I have extra cardboard around act as target backers and hold the mulch in. Three 10 penny nails through the side of the bucket at roughly 120 degrees at the height of the cardboard hold it in place. Tuck target paper under the nails also. Replace the cardboard when it gets too holey.

Works great for an easily moveable and manageable target trap. I stack those three on the back porch when it in use, they nest to take up less room/decresse clutter. I empty em when they get heavy.

 

[weevil]

Great shooting and clearly a very useful combo!

Regarding your BC estimation, I notice that your calculator shows the air pressure as 990mbar and temp at 25C. However, you stated that your test was at 5700ft ASL with a temp of 90F. Your actual air pressure cannot be that high, so the 990mbar must represent a reading that is corrected for sea level (as many meteorological stations do). Uncorrected, your actual air pressure is around 800mbar, or another way to put it is that you’re shooting at a density altitude of around 10,000ft. In simple terms, your estimate of BC is elevated by the fact that your slugs are meeting 20% less resistance from air than the calculator assumes. Perhaps you can rerun the numbers!

 

[Franklink]

Good catch, yep, looks like the EasyBC app reverted back to its defaults.

Here's what it looks like now.



And just out of curiosity.....AOAs calculator, which doesn't account for any atmospheric conditions.

NSA lists these. 20/18.9grainers with a BC of 0.078.

I've been using 0.09 in the Strelok profile for this gun and predicted is matching actual (at least out to 205yards) so I'm sticking with the 0.09 for real world shooting.

 

[weevil]

Great! Another mystery solved.

 

[Franklink]

Shot this "group" about an hr ago.

4 or 5 in a line, and then one maybe 1.5" high and another maybe 0.75" low. And those are .20 holes @ 24x, through a phone held behind a scope (sorry about the graininess).

Was aiming for this bleached spot on an old dead cottonwood.

Strelok was telling me 74 clicks but I determined 70 was what I needed on a spot further down the trunk before I shot the group (sighters not shown in photo). And I'm still using 0.09 as the BC in Strelok.

I'm REALLY excited about these for Xtreme Field Target. I'm hopefully not too optimistic at how it'll do, considering the power limit is 100fpe and we'll have some contestants in the 90+ fpe area.

The Ghost is sooooo chill to shoot these at only 32fpe, only a little more perceived "equal and opposite reaction" than shooting it at under 20fpe for regular field target.

Very enjoyable.

 

[Franklink]

I shot the .20/18.9grain NSA slugs from a different gun/barrel a week or so ago.

This from a Taipan Veteran Short, also a 12 land and groove choked Lothar barrel. This barrel is from the same batch as the barrel in the Ghost, my machinist friend calls them sister barrels.

With the hammer spring tension maxed out, and the reg at the 125-130ish bar that Taipan Vets come from the factor with (I've never adjusted this one)....it shoots the .20/18.9 at an average speed of 845-850fps. Which makes it about 35-40fps slower than all the testing with them from the Ghost.

So, slightly slower, but accuracy pretty similar: 1/2 inch groups at 30, 1 inch groups at 60, and 1.5-2inch groups at 90yards. And I'm talking 10 shot groups here. This was at 90, the last pellet is the lowest overall impact point, and I was quite a bit below reg pressure. No hold off's for wind, prevalent wind during this testing was right to left and quartering in.

Quite acceptable for hunting/pesting. Although I do think they're a bit better from the other gun/barrel (Ghost) going up around 885-890fps. And by "better" I mean slightly more accurate and a little less affected by the wind.

 

[Franklink]

Shared this elsewhere but since it's such a testament to the .20/18.9 from NSA, wanted to share it here as well.

100 yards. 53 shots (3sighters).

To break this down a bit....out of 50 non-sighter shots there are 23 "10s" and 16 "9s."
Anybody that has shot these EBR targets at 100 yards know how hard it is to consistently get 9s and 10s, yet these .20 slugs combined for 39/50 shots being in the 9 and 10 ring. Amazing. That only leaves room for 9/50 "8s" and 2/50 "7s".

So they're dang good on paper, but how about pests?
Well they are accurate enough and retain enough energy to go through an entire dove at the breast @ 120 yards And with this dove being broadside it means it went through the largest wing joint on entry side, as well as the bony keel/breastbone. Furthermore, I heard the slug "ting" off the pipe cross fence about 30 yards behind this dove after the passthrough.

I'm as impressed and happy with the performance of the .20/18.9gr NSA slug as I ever have been with an airgun projectile.

 

[Dairyboy]

Shared this elsewhere but since it's such a testament to the .20/18.9 from NSA, wanted to share it here as well.

100 yards. 53 shots (3sighters).
View attachment 391925


To break this down a bit....out of 50 non-sighter shots there are 23 "10s" and 16 "9s."
Anybody that has shot these EBR targets at 100 yards know how hard it is to consistently get 9s and 10s, yet these .20 slugs combined for 39/50 shots being in the 9 and 10 ring. Amazing. That only leaves room for 9/50 "8s" and 2/50 "7s".

So they're dang good on paper, but how about pests?
Well they are accurate enough and retain enough energy to go through an entire dove at the breast @ 120 yards And with this dove being broadside it means it went through the largest wing joint on entry side, as well as the bony keel/breastbone. Furthermore, I heard the slug "ting" off the pipe cross fence about 30 yards behind this dove after the passthrough.
View attachment 391926

I'm as impressed and happy with the performance of the .20/18.9gr NSA slug as I ever have been with an airgun projectile.

That's pretty awesome! If only manufacturers would actually make .20 airguns still. I'd love to own one.

 

[Franklink]

That's pretty awesome! If only manufacturers would actually make .20 airguns still. I'd love to own one.

As I've reported on the one-off .20 Ghost, you're not the first to comment something along those lines. I keep hoping BRK will see these comments and release a factory .20 Ghost or even test the waters with a preorder or special run.

These .20 slugs from NSA make the caliber even sweeter.

 

[Dairyboy]

As I've reported on the one-off .20 Ghost, you're not the first to comment something along those lines. I keep hoping BRK will see these comments and release a factory .20 Ghost or even test the waters with a preorder or special run.

These .20 slugs from NSA make the caliber even sweeter.

I had a custom barrel made for an Mrod in .20 before and was a great shooter with the 15.9gr. Only thing was I tried to get it to work with a mag and never could. Got tired of the single shot so sold it. Otherwise I'd still have it. But I do think if BRK or Daystate or hell any nice quality gun maker would do a .20 they would sell nicely. I know HW has some but there rare. One can go Airforce but not my cup of tea and also single shot.

 

[dv8eod]

The L2 can be ordered in .20, but it's more coin than most want to spend. I have the LW barrel, which has a choke, and it shot the NSAs with no problem. The issue I do have is the slugs are loose in the mag and have been working on a solution. All I really want to do is flair the cup a little to prevent them from moving around.

The weather has gotten better, @Franklink, so I should be able to get something more to post up from it soon.

 

[Franklink]

..... I have the LW barrel, which has a choke, and it shot the NSAs with no problem.

The weather has gotten better, @Franklink, so I should be able to get something more to post up from it soon.

Both .20 barrels I've tried them from have been choked LWs too, and both barrels highly agree with these slugs.

I'm excited to see results from your additional testing.

 

[dv8eod]

Both .20 barrels I've tried them from have been choked LWs too, and both barrels highly agree with these slugs.

I'm excited to see results from your additional testing.

Me too
The first set I posted were with them floating around in the magazine. Got what I feel are rather low numbers, so once I find a way to open up the base a little for them to snug into the magazine, hopefully it will bring the speed up. Accuracy was impressive even with the flop, so it can only get better.

 

[Franklink]

Compared the .20 slugs to the .22/25.4 grain Monster RD at 100 yards recently.
These were the conditions at the nearest weather station to my house, wind speed on the far right.

Wind direction, shooting from 6oclock to 12oclock.

The weather station is 3 miles from my house, and a couple hundred feet higher in elevation and in a much less wind-protected area than my house. Soooo, it was WINDY at my house, but likely not quite as windy as the recorded wind speeds at the station.

The .22/25.4 MRDs were 875-880, for about 43 foot pounds. BC of 0.05
The .20/18.9 were the same speed, but only about 32fpe. BC of 0.09.

It was a fun comparison, to get to "see" the ballistic coefficient in action. Shot off and on for a couple hours, taking breaks for life and running kids to and fro.
The takeaway was that the MRDs needed an average of 1-1.2 mils of hold off for today's winds, and the .20 slugs needed 0.4-0.6mils of holdoff.

The pellets, although in the top handful of best BC pellets, needed about double the hold off as the .20 slugs.

 

[Franklink]

As a. 20 fan, kinda cool that these are an option now.

.20 cal Benjamin Marauder Regulated - Airgun Revisions

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I've got no affiliation with them, just spreading the word that .20 Marauders are available.

 

[dv8eod]

@Franklink I got a chance to try both the 18s and 14s today for 100yd testing.
Two things stuck out. First, I need a slug mag if I'm going to continue with them. They are small enough to rattle around in the pellet mags as we are well aware. I figure there is too much blow by to make them move like they should.
Second, the 250mm barrel is just too short for any accuracy beyond 50yds. At 50, I managed an 1½ group.
I imagine that can be linked to the mags, also. I loaded up 15gr JSBs and had a little better luck in getting them out to 100yds, but at 50, was a jagged clover.
All shots were in variable winds 5-10mph blowing every which way.

 

[Franklink]

@dv8eod
Thanks for sharing your results, I've been curious how they'd do for you. Bummer that you're not getting the results that I am.

Shot this yesterday evening after a frustrating day with .22/25.4 pellets.
It was windy, left to right, so some got pulled that way. But still the best card of the day, by a large margin.

 

[dv8eod]

If I break down and get the slug mag, pretty sure I could tighten the groups up. Definitely a longer barrel would help, also. The final piece of the puzzle would be for me to swap jets. Currently, though, I don't have a need to go there. When I have to change orings or otherwise open it up, then I might pursue it further.
Or maybe get another buttstock and set it up so I don't spend more time on the bench than shooting.
Like I said, short range is very promising; long range not so much. Sorry I don't have anything more to offer.