Others Slug Swaging - Testing - Tuning and Experimenting

[Pumacarl]

The MK3 JSB KO 10.03gr .177 slugs are the best thing ever for shooting Starlings and Chipmunks. Unbelievable performance, especially compared to their first versions, the MK3's just blow up!

 

[Danman]

I told you I shot .177 exclusively until 16 months ago. That’s 50 years of .177. The Barra 250z in .22 was my first venture outside of .177. The .177 is still the international king when it comes to choices in ammo. But they’re not making the super high BC slugs in .177 yet.

You and me both, just teasing
.22 is just an excellent starting place to shoot slugs given all the different barrels/twists, slugs, etc to choose from. I think .25/.30 will catch up in offerings eventually but never surpass.
You have to be pretty hard core to be swaging your own .177 slugs vs just buying them! Being able to fine tune weight and diameter would be pretty sweet though.

 

[Billm]

You and me both, just teasing
.22 is just an excellent starting place to shoot slugs given all the different barrels/twists, slugs, etc to choose from. I think .25/.30 will catch up in offerings eventually but never surpass.
You have to be pretty hard core to be swaging your own .177 slugs vs just buying them! Being able to fine tune weight and diameter would be pretty sweet though.

Fine tuning the diameter of a swaged slug is an expensive and time consuming prospect. You have to order the die with a fixed diameter for $590 each. If you want a custom diameter the wait can be a year. Choose the wrong diameter and your out over $600 with shipping and wasted a year. Want to change the base type, it’s another $92. Try a different nose profile and it’s another $100. With one set of dies the only thing that you can change will be the length which determines the weight. I think Corbin’s profit center is shipping: $22 to ship a 3” punch that weighs maybe 2ozs.

 

[Solo1]

Fine tuning the diameter of a swaged slug is an expensive and time consuming prospect. You have to order the die with a fixed diameter for $590 each. If you want a custom diameter the wait can be a year. Choose the wrong diameter and your out over $600 with shipping and waisted a year. Want to change the base type, it’s another $92. Try a different nose profile and it’s another $100. With one set of dies the only thing that you can change will be the length which determines the weight. I think Corbin’s profit center is shipping: $22 to ship a 3” punch that weighs maybe 2ozs.

Exactly why i shoot more pellets than slugs ! Lol

 

[Grunt64]

Exactly why i shoot more pellets than slugs ! Lol

Pellets are too limited for what I’m doing — sizing lets me run slugs at the perfect diameter the barrel needs, and at a low cost.

 

[Billm]

The MK3 JSB KO 10.03gr .177 slugs are the best thing ever for shooting Starlings and Chipmunks. Unbelievable performance, especially compared to their first versions, the MK3's just blow up!

I would think that expansion is where lead hardness really makes a difference.

 

[Pumacarl]

I would think that expansion is where lead hardness really makes a difference.

The MK3 are little flying buckets, they would probably expand great with anybody's lead, but with JSB's it's really special! lol

 

[Danman]

The MK3 are little flying buckets, they would probably expand great with anybody's lead, but with JSB's it's really special! lol

Yip its a combo of the lead hardness and that big ol hollow ogive on the Mk3. I have no idea why JSB is slow in the .22 slug department, esp since they nailed it with the .177 offerings. Expansion (in .22) is fairly poor vs Zans, Hybrids, and Patriots.
We need an Mk3 for the .22 calibers and something heavier than 25.39gr!
Competitions would be won, pests would be slain.....I'd buy some for sure.
The Halos may never come out, lol but Jsb Mk3 slugs are real hype!
Daystate howlers are NSA but Rangemaster Juggernauts are Jsb....now that the black Wolf is out maybe Daystate will coax JSB to make some heavier .22 slugs

 

[Billm]

They shipped my cup base punch yesterday. I will swage slugs with both bases and maybe powder coat some of both and compare them all.

 

[Danman]

They shipped my cup base punch yesterday. I will swage slugs with both bases and maybe powder coat some of both and compare them all.

And I just ordered a Brk .22 slug barrel for my ghost!!!!
Beyond excited but dealer said possibly a few months....oh well im fixing up my "new" summer car so ive got time Honestly it was cheaper than I thought....just ordered the barrel/shroud no probe or mag.

 

[Solo1]

And I just ordered a Brk .22 slug barrel for my ghost!!!!
Beyond excited but dealer said possibly a few months....oh well im fixing up my "new" summer car so ive got time Honestly it was cheaper than I thought....just ordered the barrel/shroud no probe or mag.

Barrel comes with probe and mag. If your letting the dealer keep them thats like $150

 

[Pumacarl]

Yip its a combo of the lead hardness and that big ol hollow ogive on the Mk3. I have no idea why JSB is slow in the .22 slug department, esp since they nailed it with the .177 offerings. Expansion (in .22) is fairly poor vs Zans, Hybrids, and Patriots.
We need an Mk3 for the .22 calibers and something heavier than 25.39gr!
Competitions would be won, pests would be slain.....I'd buy some for sure.
The Halos may never come out, lol but Jsb Mk3 slugs are real hype!
Daystate howlers are NSA but Rangemaster Juggernauts are Jsb....now that the black Wolf is out maybe Daystate will coax JSB to make some heavier .22 slugs

Well @Danman I'm going to keep beating this drum, in case someone hasn't heard it already, but the .22 .216 (and I don't care what size your bore is, try this one) JSB KO 20.83gr slug does have excellent expansion compared to the Hybrids and the Zans that I shot. They are phenomenal. They were more accurate than the Hybrids too. The deep thin skirt seals the bore, imparts the spin and they fly fast and well. On anything bigger than a squirrel I use the Zans because they don't expand as much as the KO's. These particular ones, in this size, and weight, work. As you are aware, you can't mix and match features, even in the same brand, and expect the same results. Dairyboy recommended them to me after trying a lot of dead ends and finding success with them, or I never would have thought to try them in .216 size. Their expansion properties were just a bonus.

 

[FL22]

And I just ordered a Brk .22 slug barrel for my ghost!!!!

Glad that you were able to get one ordered finally and I hope that it is awesome, one of the +4s on the Frank scale .

 

[Billm]

I received the Corbin .30 cup base punch. I swaged 52gr .30 slugs with both cupped and dish based. I didn’t shoot enough to really make any concrete opinions. But, the same weight AEA Slugs still out shoot my slugs. I’m pretty confident it comes down to friction.
Top photo left to right: Corbin cup, AEA cup, Corbin dish
Middle photo: AEA in center with Drive Bands
Bottom photo: Notice larger Meplat on the AEA slug.

 

[Billm]

I think I screwed up and took the Sonoran out and assumed it was fully charged. It fell off the regulator quickly. But, I did confirm that the AEA 52.2gr slugs are 20fps faster than similar weight swaged slugs from my dies. I shot 8 dish based slugs, then 4 cup based and then 4 AEA cup based, then 4 powder coated cup, 4 powder coated AEA and 4 powder coated dish based. But I’m pretty sure it fell off the reg during the powder coated strings. Maybe I’ll try it again at a later date, but for right now I’ve lowered the reg back down and going back to experimenting with pellet speeds. It would take some work and to really determine if powder coating is of any benefit with slugs. It is difficult to get an even application and would require trying different brands of powder coating.

 

[Solo1]

Bill get yourself a 1/2” fender washer and chuck it up in drill press on a bolt and grind it down to 1 3/8” outside then you have close to 10&9 ring on a 100 yd target just run a sharpie around out and inside cheap targets

 

[Billm]

Bill get yourself a 1/2” fender washer and chuck it up in drill press on a bolt and grind it down to 1 3/8” outside then you have close to 10&9 ring on a 100 yd target just run a sharpie around out and inside cheap targets

I’ve 3d printed stencils, but I’ve been getting lazy. What’s funny. I went out and used the stencil about an hour ago with a sharpie. I usually just do a quick spray, but again, I got lazy. This us a shot of one from a while ago. It doesn’t look like it, but it’s based on the 100yd specs and colored for visibility.

 

[Billm]

I lowered the reg to a random setting, turned out to be around 147 bar. Cleaned the barrel and shot a 6 shot cold group. I didn’t change the hammer or scope settings from the slug test. The POI shifted a lot as expected. But the group from random settings pleasantly surprised me. But, I messed with them anyway lol. I didn’t take any bore shots after cleaning, but I did prior to cleaning.

 

[Billm]

Bill get yourself a 1/2” fender washer and chuck it up in drill press on a bolt and grind it down to 1 3/8” outside then you have close to 10&9 ring on a 100 yd target just run a sharpie around out and inside cheap targets

Continue providing input/ideas , I’m always open for ideas or criticism. It all helps.

 

[Billm]

I resolved my Corbin swaged slugs velocity issues. My self swaged 52.2 gr slugs are 29-30fps slower than AEA 52.2gr slugs. Originally I thought the swaged slugs were under sized. Then I thought the difference was caused by using a dish base instead of a cup base like the AEA. I ordered a cup base punch, but that made no difference. So, I had a custom resizing die made so that I could try a smaller diameter slug. I took a guess at what size to try. We’re talking about a difference measured in thousands of an inch. The die came in today and wham, not only are my own slugs as fast as the AEA slugs, they’re actually a little bit faster. Now, I’m debating having another two sizes made to try for the perfect bore seal. I shot 8 AEA, then 8 reg swaged, then 8 resized. I need to try some resized cup based.