Pellet testing JSB 18, Hunter Extreme, Hades, Polymag, Slug in ballistic gel

[JungleShooter]

Thank you sharroff, for testing and sharing your test results with us!

Matthias

 

[qball]

There is no doubt the hybrid slugs expand amazingly well but they are also crazy expensive. Me being cheap I would shoot NSA slugs, from my experience with larger games like rabbits the NSA does amazing job. In fact it does the job a little too well, I shot a rabbit at about 30 yards at lowly 830 FPS MV and it picked up the rabbit off the ground couple of inches. The shoulder and spine were completely destroyed like a 17 HMR hit it, crazy damage and lost good amount of meat. Maybe the pigeon doesn't have enough mass to really expand the NSA slugs but the rabbits I shot weren't really big either maybe 2 lbs. When I used .22 hades at 880 FPS they would still run for a bit with vital shots and I've lost a few in the bushes that way but after I switched to .22 slugs I haven't had one move more than a few inches, the difference is night and day! Unless I have to use pellets because of collateral damage I will not hunt with pellets at all. 

 

[sharroff]

Thank you very much, JungleShooter! I've got a good supply of the Hades and NSA 20.2 slugs now (just received 10 boxes of NSA), and have nice weather here in Ohio over the next few days. My plans are to test accuracy at 30 and 50 yards with JSB 18, Hunter Extreme, Hades, and NSA. I'll then make a scope turret (see my icon) with the two most accurate out to 75 yards. Once I have it dialed in, I'll do ballistic gel tests at 50 yards with the two most accurate projectiles.

I'll be repeating this test with .25 caliber projectiles from my FX Impact into ballistics gel with a variety of projectiles. Which velocity is more important to capture accurately, muzzle or point of impact?

 

[AirgunBill]

There is no doubt the hybrid slugs expand amazingly well but they are also crazy expensive. Me being cheap I would shoot NSA slugs, from my experience with larger games like rabbits the NSA does amazing job. In fact it does the job a little too well, I shot a rabbit at about 30 yards at lowly 830 FPS MV and it picked up the rabbit off the ground couple of inches. The shoulder and spine were completely destroyed like a 17 HMR hit it, crazy damage and lost good amount of meat. Maybe the pigeon doesn't have enough mass to really expand the NSA slugs but the rabbits I shot weren't really big either maybe 2 lbs. When I used .22 hades at 880 FPS they would still run for a bit with vital shots and I've lost a few in the bushes that way but after I switched to .22 slugs I haven't had one move more than a few inches, the difference is night and day! Unless I have to use pellets because of collateral damage I will not hunt with pellets at all.

I don't know if you watched any of my videos on slug expansion into ballistic gel and dead pigeons. My testing revealed that the NSA slugs do not expand in the gel or flesh. The Hybrid .22 cal. only ( not their 25 caliber) and also the Griffin LDC's and Varmint Knockers do expand. I have also shot the NSA into heavier 5 pound blocks of 20% ballistic gel and the NSA's do not expand. I have heard NSA uses pure soft lead to make their slugs so the lack of expand must be due to design of another factor. The idea of expansion testing for me is to gauge expansion that result in shooting into flesh and vitals not bone. Just about any slug will expand when hitting bone and do more damage as it allow more of the slugs energy to be transfer to the game. As far as calling rabbits larger game of course they are larger than pigeons but rabbits are one of the least tough and easy to kill critters out there. I have shot hundreds of pigeon with non expanding slugs and dome pellets that don't expand and watch them fly off and not drop for 50 to 100 plus yards plus. When you say the rabbit you shot was lifted off the ground a couple of inches I believe you as you said you hit bone which as I said allows more energy to be transfer to the rabbit. However in many videos I have seen many rabbits jumping up into the air when shot just because of their sensitive nervous system. I am not trying to start an argument here but my testing IMO clearly shows the NSA slugs do not expand in the ballistic gel or flesh when not hitting major bones. Bill

 

[JungleShooter]

You ask, which velocity is more important to measure for the purpose of projectile terminal ballistics testing? ➔

The impact velocity — because it has a huge "impact" on expansion and penetration.

And it is the one factor that can be influenced easily by the shooter in the field.



Many other important factors are more fixed:

▪width and depth of the hollow point (HP) cup

▪hardness of lead

▪ballistic tip (point or ball or none)

▪thinner walls of the HP cup



If a shooter has the impact velocity at which a certain projectile expands* significantly in animal tissue (or a suitable simulant, e.g., ballistic gel 10%) — then a simple ballistic calculation will tell him/her what the maximum range of a gun with a certain power level has, and adjust hunting ranges (or choice of gun/ power settings) accordingly.

Sure, that gun could be shot a longer ranges, but there will be little or none expansion.

➔ And expansion is why we use HP in the first place!



* I would include as valuable expansion not just the expansion of the total diameter of the projectile, but also the expansion of the meplat (the flat part of the projectile's nose, think wadcutters and also the cup area of HP's). Because a nose that has a part that is flat crushes more tissue than a nose that is pointed or domed.





There is a series of articles on



▪what kills a quarry,

▪the factors that help projectile expansion,

▪how much more tissue is crushed if I have a x inches (or y milimeters) of expansion,

▪a Hollow Point Specs and Performance Chart (27 pellets: BC, features to favor/hinder expansion, effective ranges / power requirements)

▪projectile expansion and penetration tests for pellets, and

▪the same for slugs.



The first article in the series is at the
link below, with links to the others.

Matthias



Link to the articles:

https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/%f0%9f%92%80-quarry-what-killsem-dead-the-mechanics-of-killing/

 

[sharroff]

Bill,



I'm with you regarding cost and being cheap. At single tin price, FX Hybrids are at like 15 cents a shot vs NSA's and pellets around 4 or 5 cents a shot. Since most of my pesting is under 50 yards, I have a hard time seeing paying 3 to 4 times more for a FX hybrid slug when 95 times out of 100 my Hunder Extremes did the job very nicely. The other 5 times were my fault on shot placement. For the guys taking shots at 100 plus yards and are 'professional pesting' I get paying for the FX hybrid to ensure its dead right there.

 

[Gerry52]

I've been shooting Hades from my Royale 500 (.25 cal) for a little over a year now. I've witnessed only 1 pass through in that time (19 yd shot). Prior to that I mainly hunted with Hunter Extreme but the accuracy I get from the Hades & the incredible energy dump makes it my pellet of choice for that gun. Can't wait for the .30 Hades to get here. Really hoping to get the same type of accuracy in my .30(FX Boss). THANKS for your research! 

 

[JungleShooter]

Did you guys do any more expansion tests?



I haven't been able to follow everybody and search every site, so just let me know/ PM me a link.

I'll do more graphic summaries of your test results!

Matthias

 

[sharroff]

JungleShooter,

I have not done other tests as I'm still using the same air guns and ammo. 

I have a Impact M3 and some Patriot Javellin .22s in the 34 grain flavor on order. When they get in, I will redo my .22 pellets and slugs in 10% gel.

 

[JungleShooter]

That's great, sharroff.

And congrats on the GUN!!!

Matthias