Bolt Action Exploring the Western Bushpig

[Ezana4CE]

These NSA 350 grain rebated boat tail slugs fly great and produce my tightest long range groups, after having tried several manufacturers' designs and weights in a couple of 45 caliber airgun's. They have OK expansion, and because it doesn't turn into a flat ashtray in the shoulder bone and meat the slug actually carries momentum for an exit hole through the offside hide.

45 cal | 350 gr | 50 Slugs | $0.67 / Rd

Our ammo is only for use in Air Guns. Our air gun pellets/slugs are swaged from soft lead to give excellent expansion for effective and responsible hunting. This is a hollow point nose with a dish base. Most accurate slug for Airforce Texan big bore air rifle and LONG RANGE SHOOTING. 350 grains...

nielsenspecialtyammo.com

@Airgun-hobbyist Those have been out of stock for months in .452 and .454. I may have a box laying around. I have to look. It would suck if they shot great only to run out of them and can’t buy anymore.

 

[Airgun-hobbyist]

@Airgun-hobbyist Those have been out of stock for months in .452 and .454. I may have a box laying around. I have to look. It would suck if they shot great only to run out of them and can’t buy anymore.

I see your issue now. If they get a phone order, NSA will likely make them. It's a good selling slug. I buy them in large batches, 500-600 at a time and he always delivers. I size mine down in sized dies in a press to what feeds and shoots well. I can size some down to .454 for you.

 

[Ezana4CE]

The NSA site does not say that on my end. It lets me put them in my cart and pay. If they get an order, Nick will make them. It's a good selling slug. I buy them in large batches, 500-600 at a time and he always delivers.

@Airgun-hobbyist When I click that link it automatically shows .457 slugs and the option to “add to cart.” It’s been doing this for months.


Once I change it to .452 or .454 it shows “sold out.”



Is this not what you see when you use the drop down menu to change diameters?

Leading up to the Air Venturi deal, items have been out of stock and seemed to have remained that way. I was under the impression some items wouldn’t be made any more.

 

[Airgun-hobbyist]

@Airgun-hobbyist When I click that link it automatically shows .457 slugs and the option to “add to cart.” It’s been doing this for months.
View attachment 15939

Once I change it to .452 or .454 it shows “sold out.”
View attachment 15941
View attachment 15940

Is this not what you see when you use the drop down menu to change diameters?

Leading up to the Air Venturi deal, items have been out of stock and seemed to have remained that way. I was under the impression some items wouldn’t be made any more.

I'm not sure what the "Air Venturi deal" is, so I'll do a search on it. Yes, I get the same message only different format, "out of stock." So I'd buy bulk of 457 as is in stock and size them down. When they stop making them I'll swage my own. My corbin die is for 457 so I can size them down to what each barrel likes.

 

[Ezana4CE]

I'm not sure what the "Air Venturi deal" is, so I'll do a search on it. Yes, I get the same message only different format, "out of stock." So I'd buy bulk of 457 as is in stock and size them down. When they stop making them I'll swage my own. My corbin die is for 457 so I can size them down to what each barrel likes.

@Airgun-hobbyist I checked a little while ago. I have some in .452. As for the deal, there’s a recent HAM article about the Air Venturi/ NSA deal. It should still be on the home page.

 

[Airgun-hobbyist]

@Airgun-hobbyist I checked a little while ago. I have some in .452. As for the deal, there’s a recent HAM article about the Air Venturi/ NSA deal. It should still be on the home page.

I was just looking into it. Thanks for the info. I hope the partnership contnues to make all the stuff they used to. As of late, NSA seems to only make bulk of what is popular. They had developed a good bunch of accurate rebated boatbtail ammo in 357 and 457 calibers years ago but because of the cheapness of cast ammo and an influx of cast airgun slug sales, these swaged slug sales dropped. So as a business aspect of things, I can see not producing as much specialty sizes. Also, years ago when they got statted they were hand swaging and sizing all the big bore "custom" RBT stuff, and that is obviously not economical and feasible now.

 

[Ezana4CE]

What type of sizing die that works with the S Press should I be looking into to size down .457 ammo?

 

[Airgun-hobbyist]

What type of sizing die that works with the S Press should I be looking into to size down .457 ammo?

I'm not sure if they'll thread into the Corbin press. I have a Lee 90588 Breech Lock Challenger Press and varous dies, including Lee .454 sizing dies I use specifically for sizing NSA slugs. Tje Lee dies have common threads, which Corbin may use, but I don't like messing up the settings on the swage press to size stuff so I have a dedicated sizing press that easily interchanges sizing dies.

 

[Airgun-hobbyist]

What type of sizing die that works with the S Press should I be looking into to size down .457 ammo?

Here's the .454 sizing die kit on ebay. LEE Bullet Sizing Kit .454 Diameter New in Box FAST SAME DAY SHIPPING 90056 | eBay

 

[Ezana4CE]

I’m considering which scope to use on this rifle. Right now I have an Athlon Helos on there that was on another rifle. I have used all of the elevation on this scope in these rings so there is no dialing for close range shot, I have to hold. It’s close to zero as far as elevation goes at 50 yards. I want an FFP on here and my choices are: A Hawke Sidewinder 4-16x50 FFP IR, A Sightron S-Tac 4-20x50 FFP IR, Athlon Helos 2-12x42 FFP IR (but I’d need to use an adjustable mount which would be heavier or buy more adjustable rings). I have to look and see what else I have that might work on here, but those are the front runners. I do like the magnification range of the Helos, but I’m really biased towards the Hawke Sidewinder 4-16x.

I’ll eventually try to work my way up to 100 yards and beyond target shooting with this rifle. There are only a few areas where I would even have that type of shot opportunity. I really only have confidence in shooting in one of the few. In the majority of those areas I usually stalk close to the animal. So with that said, I intend to be shooting 70 yards an under once I get comfortable with this rifle. Of the scopes mentioned, which scope pairing do you like? Why do you like it or think that you would like it paired with the Bushpig?

 

[Ezana4CE]

Working with air bolts today. This has been interesting. I trashed the first two and learned quick. The first shot was just over 700 fps and that wasn’t even from a full reservoir.



Still working with it…

Edited 9/20/25 to add another photo.

This is how it looks with a bolt fully inserted. The air bolt’s ferule rest against the thread protector. Part of the ferule (silver piece between the tip and the shaft) bulges and is too wide to be inserted any further. That is what rests against the thread protector.

 

[Ezana4CE]

Now I’m getting closer to where I want to be. This is still from 50 yards out.



Last 2 shots of the evening.


Here’s the entire target. Maybe you can see the POI for the day from the smudges.


I shot these bolts today. The two on the bottom half of the photo got trashed on their first shots. The other two I shot over and over. It took a little while to get comfortable shooting leaving one in the target. I didn’t want to tear up any more bolts. I may have taken 20 shots today.



I’ll try to update with more data a little later.

 

[Ezana4CE]

My first shot was on high power for a 250 bar fill. It traveled at over 700 fps. So the bolt blew through the target past the nock and into the hay bale backstop.


There was really only one way to pull it out and that’s all the way through the back. First I had to separate the target far enough from the backstop.


When I got it out, the fletching was mangled and the nock was gone. I think it’s inside of the target.


This happened to two bolts before I realized that unless I back up to 100 yards, shooting these on high power from 50 yards was going to keep trashing my air bolts. The strange part about it was that I’m only shooting from 250 bar/3600 psi. The rifle’s reservoir had 250 bar from my last session shooting slugs. I figured I’d shoot a couple of shots to get the reservoir pressure down to around the reg set point. I had no idea what the reservoir pressure was before taking my second high-powered shot.

Below are the velocities recorded by my ProChrono DLX.


Below are velocities from the same two high-powered shots recorded with my Athlon Rangecraft.


As I transitioned from shooting on high power to low power, I figured out that the air bolts were skipping off of the ground into the target using the same holdover in my reticle used for the high-powered shots. I think it took me 2 shots to realize this prompting me to make turret adjustments.

Pictured below is the first low-powered shot. I found a skid mark in the dirt approximately 7’ in front of the target. The POI on this shot is where the bolt stuck into the target after bouncing off of the ground. My POA was pretty much dead center of the target. I didn’t photograph the mark on the ground on this shot. You should be able to see the dirt on the nock if you zoom in.


This was my next shot. I think it hit the ground in the same spot and I recorded it. These low powered shots were traveling around 400 fps. The Seneca (Air Venturi) air bolts weigh 410 grains with the field points that they come with according to what’s printed on the box.


I was unable to upload the video, but here are a couple of frames taken from the video of this shot. The bolt in flight is circled. The arrow to the right of the frame is the splash in the dirt that measured 7’ away from the target.


As you can see the bolt is still wiggling rapidly after impact. The splash hasn’t dissipated and is still visible to the right.


As a result, I adjusted my elevation some before taking the third shot in this low-powered string. It skimmed the ground a little from approx 3’ in front of the target as. Where the bolt stuck at ground level in the target was the POI. This shot didn’t bounce and rise, so it was easier to make elevation adjustments from here.


The photo below was taken when I first began shooting. I think I used a total of 10 bar worth of air pressure from my 60 minute SCBA tank for all shots taken today. I don’t know how much air I used as far as volume is concerned.


Pictured below is my final low-powered shot string shooting 410 grain Seneca air bolts from my Western Bushpig tethered to the SCBA tank and external regulator with the reg set to 3000 psi. Shot string recorded by my ProChrono DLX.


Same shot string recorded by my Athlon Rangecraft.



An interesting observation is that I didn’t clean the barrel before shooting. I think I put about 20-25 slugs through the rifle on my last outing. The leaded barrel did not tear up the fletching on my air bolts. It only left black streaks. I like that. I can switch from slugs to bolts afield without having to worry about cleaning the barrel first. That’s great!! Next time out I’d like to see how many usable low-powered shots I can get on a fill.

It really seems like some thought went into designing a carbine version that shoots airbolts well. I’ve shot airbolts from my Benjamin Bulldog and I enjoy that, but the Bushpig is easier to shoot airbolts from. I like that there are two power settings for airbolts. The Bushpig seems like it may be an absolute monster on high power. I have a lot more testing to do, but so far I’ve been having fun. This shoot was actually enjoyable aside from recording data and taking photos.

Edited 9/19/25, 5:48am to correct typos, reorganize 2 photos that were out of order, and add 2 more photos.

 

[Airgun-hobbyist]

Here's a fetching tool I use to build, and fix my arrows with. The diameter of those airbolt shafts will determine which of the tools is needed. I use the aluminum tool on my large diameter crossbow bolts because that tool is for fatter arrow shafts.

ezfletch

ezfletch

ezfletch.com

 

[Ezana4CE]

I'm not sure as to how much larger the bore may be to make them shoot that way. But my experience with a Challener 457 with too big of a bore for slug diameter (and unstabilizing, short slugs) had exactly the same shot pattern. Bigger diameter and longer slugs that fit the bore tighter and length/weight acceptable to the twist rate fixed the pattern to tighten the groups.

I would try the larger diameter .456 slugs. I have shot those diameter in my Rattler with fairly tight groups, even though they fit tight. Tight fitting slugs seems to be way better than loose, because loose throws them everywhere down range. I use a Lee .454 sizing die on my slugs.

High Arc Hunter High Arc Hunter .45 Caliber Hollow Point 365 Grain - Airgun Slugs

For Big Bore Airguns in .45 Caliber. Heavier weight for Magnum .457 caliber airguns! Large Hollow Point for high expansion and better transfer of energy.

www.airgunsofarizona.com

Here is what my Carbine likes....

I shot these at RMAC big bore and hit targets out past 300 yards with them.

I was able to get 4 shots inside a silver dollar at 110 yards........4100 PSI fill. 1st shot 775 FPS for about 480 FPE and the 2nd at 725 FPS. Then I have to refill so 2 "good" shots before refill.

I do use the Emperor Moderator on it when I shoot. It adds about 25 FPS compared to not having it on...

Tony P.

@Airgun-hobbyist @Pesty3782 After reading over y’all’s advice, do you two think I should wait to use a moderator on ammo after I’ve determined that it shoots well in this rifle? I’m thinking that undersized ammo may clip the moderator internals. Does this sound like a safe assumption?

 

[Airgun-hobbyist]

@Airgun-hobbyist @Pesty3782 After reading over y’all’s advice, do you two think I should wait to use a moderator on ammo after Iv’ve determined that it shoots well in this rifle? I’m thinking that undersized ammo may clip the moderator internals. Does this sound like a safe assumption?

Yes, it is worth the testing. Barrel's are like fingerprints, no two are exactly alike; especially in how they shoot with different air pressures and with a moderator attached. You've got the right idea to do some testing with the thing without a moderator first to check it for accuracy, with both the .452 and .454 slug sizes. (I'm betting on the .454" slugs being more accurate). Then check it with both slugs and the moderator. I've seen a moderator effecting groups even without actually clipping if it is not concentric to the actual bore, because it will get more blowby on one side of the slug. While this effects lighter projectile's way more, but it could still be throwing them off some in your's because of the air volume.

 

[Ezana4CE]

I just remembered that I forgot to add this but it’s useful information regarding the safety on the Western Bushpig. To cock the rifle, the safety must be switched off (to the “fire” position). Once the bolt is cocked the safety can be switched on before closing the bolt. I’ve gotten in the habit of doing this.

 

[Ezana4CE]

Today sort of sucked for working with the Bushpig. The first thing that occurred was that I connected the Bushpig to my Benjamin Traveler portable compressor to top it off around 4100 psi. The compressor got there without an issue. The issue occurred when I bled the line to disconnect the rifle from the compressor. The air didn’t stop bleeding. Because of the tampon filter it wasn’t all rushing out, but When I felt that the Bushpig’s reservoir was cold I knew it was emptying the reservoir. Then came the large, but brief burp of HPA when a cylinder is just about empty or equal to atmospheric pressure.



I was able to refill the reservoir starting with a small buddy bottle to about 150 bar. I let the reservoir cool off and finished filling it to about 250 bar.

I took a good amount of time to setup for testing and things just kept coming up: phone calls, animals acting up, devices needing batteries that I’m out of, scale started acting up, etc. I selected 2 slugs to shoot both by Mr. Hollowpoint: a 365 grain HP with a tapered neck, a 325 grain wide hollow point. I got velocity reading on the 365 grain slugs, but I didn’t get on paper in 5 shots because I never reset my turrets after shooting air bolts. By the time I realized my adjustments were still far off I didn’t want to shoot and waste any more heavy slugs. I was also running just below my external reg pressure and needed to switch SCBA tanks. After I figured out what was wrong with my scope settings, I made the turret adjustments and switched to the 325 grain slugs. Then I swapped tanks. The other was maybe 255 bar to start which didn’t give me much to work with, so I shot 5 shots. The tank pressure ended at 3400 psi (around 240-245 bar). I got velocity readings for these as well with two different chronographs. Both shot strings read errors in each shot string.

Mr. Hollowpoint 325 grain slugs.454 HP slugs.


Here’s are some measurements for the Mr. Hollowpoint 325 grain .454 slugs. These wide "mouth" 325 HPs mic between .453 - .454.



I still have not taken time to change scopes. I shot seated behind my tripod. Prone position was out since it rained yesterday. Here’s my target with the 325 grain slugs. The first shot was about 6” high holding dead center. Then I held under using a point on the reticle that brought my POi down a couple of inches. Next I looked at the actual distance from the first shot to my POA on the target and put the center of the reticle that far down. The next shot was a little low and right. Then I consciously held the rifle tight into my shoulder pocket and I held the forestock tightly with my other hand while the rifle was mounted to the tripod and pressed the trigger. That shot was about ¾” high and ¾” left. The following shot I held the rifle loosely and the POI rose again a a couple of inches. After these 5 shots my reservoir pressure was down to about 3400 psi which is lower than I'd like to be for my current testing purposes. I wasn’t feeling it today, packed everything up, and headed in.


I just wanted to get some of this out. I’ll add shot string data and a little more info later.

Lessons for the day - make an conscious effort to hold this rifle tightly when shooting. Check SCBA tank pressure on before setting up to shoot. Hopefully I’ll show some improvement on the next outing.

 

[hameditor]

@Ezana4CE Thank you for an outstanding series of posts here!

 

[Ezana4CE]

@Ezana4CE Thank you for an outstanding series of posts here!

@hameditor Thanks for dropping in to read it. I suck with this rifle. I'm trying to figure what works for the rifle and what will help me shoot it better.