Ok, I just couldn't lose the itch to try slugs in my Maverick VP. I tried a few different slugs in the past, got OK groups but never as good as my pellets.
Yesterday I decided to give it another try. My rifle is .25 cal and tuned to shoot 34 grain JSB's. It's hole in hole at 30 yards when I do my part.
To start my process I confirmed through the chrono that it likes the pellets to leave the muzzle at 890, I had the power wheel at 7.
So I turned the wheel to 6 and then upped the second reg until I was back at 890, this ended up being 119-120 on the rear gauge. Shot lights out.
Next I loaded up with NSA 29 gr slugs and power wheel at 5. At 30 yards I had quarter sized groups with an occasional flyer. As I turned up the power wheel they got smaller and even at 6 no more flyers. Went up to 7 and bam, groups as tight as my pellets. I didn't use the chrono as I didn't want to be biased in my tune. FPS didn't matter, only group size. After the initial tune I put 45 slugs through the rifle and all the 5 shot groups were a ragged hole.
Next I went across the street to a neighbors for a try at continuing my slug experiment on squirrels. His back fence straight out is 50 yards so at angles it's obviously a little longer. The squirrels like to run the ground along the fence. I felt squirrels at 50 yards plus would give me my final answer. Within about ten minutes four squirrels were down. All were head shots pretty much where I aimed. Two in the side of the head were pretty much missing the other side of the head when I retrieved. Two were head on. Three of the four dropped in their tracks without a flinch. One hit in the side of the head dropped then did two flops.
I'm pretty thrilled with the outcome and being able to switch back and forth between pellets and slugs with the turn of a dial.
FYI today I chono'd the slugs and was getting 937. One added benefit I noticed was a ten shot string had eight shots at 937 and two at 935 so a bit more consistent than the pellets.
Yesterday I decided to give it another try. My rifle is .25 cal and tuned to shoot 34 grain JSB's. It's hole in hole at 30 yards when I do my part.
To start my process I confirmed through the chrono that it likes the pellets to leave the muzzle at 890, I had the power wheel at 7.
So I turned the wheel to 6 and then upped the second reg until I was back at 890, this ended up being 119-120 on the rear gauge. Shot lights out.
Next I loaded up with NSA 29 gr slugs and power wheel at 5. At 30 yards I had quarter sized groups with an occasional flyer. As I turned up the power wheel they got smaller and even at 6 no more flyers. Went up to 7 and bam, groups as tight as my pellets. I didn't use the chrono as I didn't want to be biased in my tune. FPS didn't matter, only group size. After the initial tune I put 45 slugs through the rifle and all the 5 shot groups were a ragged hole.
Next I went across the street to a neighbors for a try at continuing my slug experiment on squirrels. His back fence straight out is 50 yards so at angles it's obviously a little longer. The squirrels like to run the ground along the fence. I felt squirrels at 50 yards plus would give me my final answer. Within about ten minutes four squirrels were down. All were head shots pretty much where I aimed. Two in the side of the head were pretty much missing the other side of the head when I retrieved. Two were head on. Three of the four dropped in their tracks without a flinch. One hit in the side of the head dropped then did two flops.
I'm pretty thrilled with the outcome and being able to switch back and forth between pellets and slugs with the turn of a dial.
FYI today I chono'd the slugs and was getting 937. One added benefit I noticed was a ten shot string had eight shots at 937 and two at 935 so a bit more consistent than the pellets.
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