Why Such Explosive Damage?

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N2 Shooter

N2 Shooter

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Oct 14, 2018
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Youngstown,OH, United States
The title says it all!

For the life of me, I just don't understand what I'm witnessing in the least! Now I know I'm sending a bit of power down range (100fpe) compared to many airguns, but I've never seen prey displaced at right angles of the projectile flight path. These .30cal H&N SLUG IIs are really something to behold!


As far as the young Starling that got slung completely out of frame, I didn't see that in the least in real time, and when I saw two starlings down when I walked down range, I thought it might have got in a fight with a squirrel or something!

So what gives?
 
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Conservation of momentum says that if the slug didn't pass through it would send the bird straight back and spin it around based on how far the poi is from the birds center of mass. If the slug blows through and redirects off of something hard as it passes through that could send the birds body moving somewhat sideways (think billiard balls) but I’m struggling to think what part of starling anatomy would actually be sturdy enough to redirect a slug.

But let’s not forget the starling weighs very little and a slug at 1000fps has a ton of momentum so any redirected energy would send that bird carcass flying.
 
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dgeesaman said:
Conservation of momentum says that if the slug didn't pass through it would send the bird straight back and spin it around based on how far the poi is from the birds center of mass. If the slug blows through and redirects off of something hard as it passes through that could send the birds body moving somewhat sideways (think billiard balls but I’m struggling to think what part of starling anatomy would actually be sturdy enough to redirect a slug.

But let’s not forget the starling weighs very little and a slug at 1000fps has a ton of momentum so any redirected energy would send that bird carcass flying.
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Not to mention a .30 slug to a starling is like you or I being hit with a bowling ball at a thousand feet per second
 
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When we shoot small frail things with our airguns, cavitation occurs. When they explode from cavitation, that determines the direction the parts fly. I don’t think you’ll be sending a groundhog out of frame with a measly 100fpe. Small things just go pop when hit with large projectiles.
 
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Gerry52 said:
. 30 cal Baby!!! Even with "just" a Diabolo domed pellet (let alone a hunting pellet) the damage my FX Boss creates is devastating. Using Hades or Polymags it's almost ridiculous carnage. Can't imagine if it were able to shoot slugs. Overkill? No, Betterkill!!! ;) (y)
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A slug has nothing on a Polymag out to a Polys maximum effective range. Nothing. Polymags are bad news on animals if you have a barrel that likes them.
 
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Thanks everyone for the thoughtful replies. It's just so crazy that one carcass went flying to the left, while the other even more mangled carcass flew to the right, that my brain could not determine the physics I was witnessing. If I think of the birds like cans of pop, it starts to make more sense as to why they received dramatic wounds, but I still have no idea how I could fling one bird one way, and doing the opposite to the other. I may have to investigate this further with some physics simulations to shed additional insight on this.
 
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The HN Slug II are basically pure lead and very very soft with a huge cavity. They are designed to open up a lot, and as soon as possible. In contrast previous airgun slugs have been made with harder lead alloys and have a tiny shallow cavity. Kinda like comparing an FMJ to a HP/SP in powderburner world, with a pellet acting more like a wadcutter haha. So I think you will notice less pass throughs and a lot more energy dumped into your target with the HN Slug II's, especially if you hit a bigger pest like a pigeon opposum or racoon.
 
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N2 Shooter said:
Thanks everyone for the thoughtful replies. It's just so crazy that one carcass went flying to the left, while the other even more mangled carcass flew to the right, that my brain could not determine the physics I was witnessing. If I think of the birds like cans of pop, it starts to make more sense as to why they received dramatic wounds, but I still have no idea how I could fling one bird one way, and doing the opposite to the other. I may have to investigate this further with some physics simulations to shed additional insight on this.
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It just depends on where the rupture first occurs that determines how the parts fly. You probably aren’t getting much more expansion on a small bird than you would get shooting at a wet ball of cotton. But as that large projectile for the mass off the animal enters the body and cavitation occurs, the bird is already rupturing before the projectile exits the other side. With the cavity surrounding the projectile as it goes through the bird pushing outward, the thin skin just can’t expand enough it it goes pop. Simple.
 
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I’ve only had 2 bird explosions in my lifetime so far. One was on a collared dove on a powerline at about 20 yards with an old Glenfield .22. Literally just a big puff of feathers. The second was on a mourning dove with a 7STW at a hair over 500 yds. All that was left was a wing and 1 leg. Pretty neat though as the leg was driven half way down in the soil.
 
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