Pellets vs. Slugs

[Xindaris]

I shoot a lot of calibers in Airgun, center fire and rimfire. I think the real place for Airguns .177 to .30 is with pellets. A 22lr can exceed what a .30 with slugs can do. What I love about pellets is I don’t worry about the pellet going long distances if I miss. Pellets really start shedding velocity after 50 yds. Making them ideal for predator control where a firearms range would create safety problems. I also think as we develop Airguns that compete with firearms Airguns will be regulated. For the above reasons I hope slugs become a fad that passes.

 

[EdinGa]

I shoot a lot of calibers in Airgun, center fire and rimfire. I think the real place for Airguns .177 to .30 is with pellets. A 22lr can exceed what a .30 with slugs can do. What I love about pellets is I don’t worry about the pellet going long distances if I miss. Pellets really start shedding velocity after 50 yds. Making them ideal for predator control where a firearms range would create safety problems. I also think as we develop Airguns that compete with firearms Airguns will be regulated. For the above reasons I hope slugs become a fad that passes.

That's exactly why I love airguns at home. I can shoot pellets and slugs in any direction I want to but I limit myself to shooting into a back stop with firearms.

 

[Danman]

I agree with that Xindaris, EXCEPT the thing about .22 lr....they suck for long distance! Zero it at 50 and let me know the drop at 150....lol. Give me a good shooting air gun (.22) 45+ fpe in slugs any day. 22lr drops plenty. Hmr 17 or 22-250 etc would crush the air rifle for sure longe range. I definitely love where air guns are at but yeah nobody wants the regulations that can come with that! (I shake my head at the full autos! ) I just love not crying after every shot. I can literally shoot all year for $50-100...and that is alot of shots!!

 

[Bladebum]

I agree with that Xindaris, EXCEPT the thing about .22 lr....they suck for long distance! Zero it at 50 and let me know the drop at 150....lol. Give me a good shooting air gun (.22) 45+ fpe in slugs any day. 22lr drops plenty.

Sorry my friend , but that is inaccurate data. Here are 6 of my own ballistics charts, top 2 pellet, middle 2 airgun slug and last 2 are 22lr. These are practical airgun tunes, you can absolutely get a 40 grain airgun slug with the same BC as a 22lr going the same speed and your results will be, matched. Hopefully my images show up clear.

 

[Bladebum]

Hopefully you can see above, that high BCs win for long range. Whether or not you need an airgun for long range, is subjective. I spend almost all of my airgun trigger time shooting pests of all kinds, at various distances in all different weather conditions. I can tell you without a doubt even at 50 yards, if the winds are more than 5-8mph, shooting pellets becomes a challenge. Slugs drastically change that. To argue against that, is just arguing against physics.

On all this note, listen folks both pellets and slugs are great. They both have advantages and disadvantages. You'll never see a football team of all running backs or all lineman, you need both. They both have different skill sets for the different jobs.

 

[Soren Drost]

I have been shooting slugs in my .177 rifles for 4 years now and in the smaller caliber they are a game changer !

Started out swaging my own 13 gn and 16 gn slugs using die sets from GMI Engineering, but now it is a lot easier with a good selection of slugs being available from various makers

 

[Danman]

Those are some nice charts! For sure 22 lr would be better I just meant it wouldn't be my first choice if I had to reach out past 150...which I have never done. I'd rather get much closer to my quarry or just don't take the shot myself. I have shot pellets in windy days just for some real world testing. in .177 past 40y it's been useless.

I have been shooting slugs in my .177 rifles for 4 years now and in the smaller caliber they are a game changer !

Started out swaging my own 13 gn and 16 gn slugs using die sets from GMI Engineering, but now it is a lot easier with a good selection of slugs being available from various makers

And I'll bet in .177 the difference is phenomenal! They are getting into some real heavy .177 slugs now. We shot the 10.03gr KO slugs out of my brother's 350 mag springer and they were going about the same fast as 11gr pellets! Was surprised.

 

[Soren Drost]

Those are some nice charts! For sure 22 lr would be better I just meant it wouldn't be my first choice if I had to reach out past 150...which I have never done. I'd rather get much closer to my quarry or just don't take the shot myself. I have shot pellets in windy days just for some real world testing. in .177 past 40y it's been useless.

And I'll bet in .177 the difference is phenomenal! They are getting into some real heavy .177 slugs now. We shot the 10.03gr KO slugs out of my brother's 350 mag springer and they were going about the same fast as 11gr pellets! Was surprised.

 

[Guinn]

I thought it would be interesting to start a pellets vs slugs discussion. This isn’t meant to determine a winner its meant to figure out why the big push for slugs, why no new pellets are being developed.

For starters I have bought many different slugs and pellets to find the magic one that always works. I’m still looking! Most of my shooting is targets and field target with a little hunting when opportunities arise.

The idea that the airgun was once a backyard plinking gun is gone. I shoot 100 yard comps and for reference since many of you only live on farms that is all the way across the yard of the 4th house down the street in my neighborhood (big lots), could be at least 5 houses in other neighborhoods. So the idea of needing slugs to reach out and hit the target way out there is a bit strange. Could you possibly walk further than 2 steps from your truck when hunting? If you get out of it all

Slugs, I have tried 3 different calibers .117, .22 and .25 I have only found one slug in one of those calibers to even come close at 50 yards to a pellet in terms of scoring accuracy. As an engineer I see the tooling for slugs is way easier and less costly to produce then tooling for pellets. Under the microscope the slugs still suck, in consistent shape and weight, The current airguns seem very inconsistent and not very accepting of the slugs. Yes I know some of you have found perfection and will send pictures of that perfect group, but how about doing a bunch groups then showing your work. So why does one need a slug? A 250 yard shot in the neighborhood is 2 and a half blocks away.

Pellets, I have tried even more weights and sizes and some things are just wicked tough as shooting pellets in the wind can make you cry shooting 100 yards. I must also say that the range of pellets is quite large as well. For I have hit target all the way out to 264, even if it was large.

Is there something better like a combo slug pellet? Should we pay more attention to our sport and stop making long distance shooting the thing to do? Should we go all out and find longer and longer ranges to practice at and have our comps on?

I agree with everything you said about slugs. Your shooting conditions sound the same as mine. You did not however mention a key factor concerning slugs…..why punch 15 cent chunks fo lead at a piece of paper when a 5 cent (or less) pellet will get the job done just as well if not better?!

 

[pan60]

i dont know but does the weight help the BC?
i ask because shooking 14 gr out of the wifes BRK verse the 44's out of my .30 is a big diferance with some wind. the .30 seems much less effected.
plus i can see the slug rather weight was a factor or not haveing a better BC?

my interest is slugs has been non existant but i am looking at how less the heavey pellets are effected by wind and it has me thinking about lookig more into slugs.

 

[Danman]

Speaking of which, look what just rolled in from AGS....SLUGS N PELLETS!! The jsb/AA is tried n true and the JTS I'm gonna try in the S510 thanks to all you folks recommendations. The slugs weeeell i have no idea if they'll shoot good but man they shiny

 

[Farmplinker2]

They do alright for plinking. I'm shooting them around 350 fps and they knock big holes in cans.

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"Here mouse, here mouse".

 

[EdinGa]

"Here mouse, here mouse".

"Here mouse, here mouse".

That could get messy in a hurry.

 

[Xindaris]

I tested a lot of slugs in my rifles in .25 and .30 and found pellets much more accurate. But this is before they started making dedicated barrels for slugs. As far as accuracy they should be able to make barrels that will match pellet accuracy but I doubt barrels that are advertised for both will really shoot both that good. But my use for Airguns is predator control. The guns have to be quiet, be around 22lr performance and good out to 50 yds. After 50 yds I want the pellets to shed velocity fast since at night livestock and other farm animals might be close by and after 50 yds it is really hard to see and identify them. A 22lr does all of this with the exception of the range issue. Plus if you have to dispose of pests in residential areas it is much safer and airguns are not as heavily regulated allowing their use where firearms are excluded.