Slugs: What if?

[Grunt64]

Well said, I think we call this hobby the "rabbit hole" or the "black hole" often but chasing slugs IS the the ultimate black hole!
Yet...here I am with 4 excellent pellet shooters ready to jump off the edge and shake (mess?) things up.
However....a good slug barrel should shoot more than one slug (weight) well albeit with a different tune.

Yep, slugs are the real black hole. You change one thing and you’re tuning all over again. A good slug barrel can shoot more than one weight, sure — but each one still wants its own speed window and its own tune. Pellets don’t drag you through all that. It must be I like a challenge, because with my PCPs I’ll take slugs all day long.

 

[Solo1]

That's true. I tend to forget that fact being that I live in the black hole of air gunning. That looks like so much fun.

Field target and high power ft are a great way to spend a day!

 

[FL22]

If a barrel or gun manufacturer was hypothetically able to start making barrels that simply shoot slugs well, would more of us be interested? Something like a "we tested a bunch of our barrels with these identical specs, and they all shoot x slug at x speed very well."

Pellets are largely plug and play. Buy a quality airgun, feed it quality ammo, and reasonably acceptable accuracy is highly likely. Current state of airgun barrels and slugs? Not so much.

So is the low percentage of successful slug barrels the primary deterring factor to slugs for many of us? Or, even if there were turn-key slug barrel options, we still don't have a need/use-case for slugs and their high BC/long range capabilities?

Yes I would, but I would also say the same thing if a manufacturer guaranteed the same for a particular pellet as long as it would meet my needs and wasn't ridiculously priced. (My subjective ceiling for any Airgun is 2k, new or used.)

I purchased my Taipan because of the success that @Solo1 has with his. Regardless, if it was able to shoot slugs well, I still felt that it was an excellent value.

The NSA slugs that are showing some promise right now are actually .001 cheaper than the JTS semi dome which is the only pellet that it would shoot well.

I have an excellent backstop and up to 156 yard range on my property. I hope to eventually take full advantage of that distance shooting an Airgun.

 

[Cantona256]

Slug tuning isn’t that hard y’all. I’ve been doing this for a year know and I’ve successfully slugged 3 different barrels.

I hate to be that guy but for most of y’all you’re not having success with slugs because you’re not doing the work.

I have found that most people get a new gun, run on here “what’s a good slug tune for this gun” and then get pissy when it doesn’t work out exactly the same way.

How much work are you putting into this? How much thought? Do you slug your barrel before trying slugs? If you do slug the barrel are you matching bore diameter, going oversized or undersized? Does your barrel have a good enough twist rate? Is it long enough to derive the power you want? What’s the length of bearing surface on your slug? Is it traditional rifling, poly or FX? Which is like poly but “smoother” if you will.

The fact of the matter is that if you’re going for long range accuracy most of these questions are one you’ll encounter in the powder burner world too… or you will if you’re serious about ERL.

I get than some of y’all are OGs set in your ways and this is way more than you’re looking for out of this hobby. That’s fine. You guys are keeping BRK, Daystate and all the springer companies in business. There’s nothing wrong with that. Enjoy.

But if you’re trying to do any serious longer range hunting pellets just don’t cut it. Don’t @ me with some “I’m more accurate with my JSB ____ at 100y than….” Sorry but nobody cares. No one in the top 10 at RMAC was shooting pellets. I for one, am not looking to shoot anything that requires a 6MIL holdover at 100y… despite what your anecdotal evidence tells you the physics doesn’t lie…Ballistic Coefficients matter and pellets will never compete.

I maybe a “noob” to this but I’m out every weekend trying to call coyotes in the deserts of southwest Utah. And I’m doing it with my custom built karma EQ that I just finished building…. I machined a 28” Lothar Walther barrel with poly rifling, specifically so I could get the performance I wanted with the slug I wanted.

I understand experiences will vary but talk to the other successful slug shooters and they’ll probably tell you similar things. We all have our own “style” of shooting and for what purpose so settings will never be universal but the thought/work required is real.

Or if that doesn’t work just send me your gun and you can pay me to set it up for you haha.

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[Grunt64]

Slug tuning isn’t that hard y’all. I’ve been doing this for a year know and I’ve successfully slugged 3 different barrels.

I hate to be that guy but for most of y’all you’re not having success with slugs because you’re not doing the work.

I have found that most people get a new gun, run on here “what’s a good slug tune for this gun” and then get pissy when it doesn’t work out exactly the same way.

How much work are you putting into this? How much thought? Do you slug your barrel before trying slugs? If you do slug the barrel are you matching bore diameter, going oversized or undersized? Does your barrel have a good enough twist rate? Is it long enough to derive the power you want? What’s the length of bearing surface on your slug? Is it traditional rifling, poly or FX? Which is like poly but “smoother” if you will.

The fact of the matter is that if you’re going for long range accuracy most of these questions are one you’ll encounter in the powder burner world too… or you will if you’re serious about ERL.

I get than some of y’all are OGs set in your ways and this is way more than you’re looking for out of this hobby. That’s fine. You guys are keeping BRK, Daystate and all the springer companies in business. There’s nothing wrong with that. Enjoy.

But if you’re trying to do any serious longer range hunting pellets just don’t cut it. Don’t @ me with some “I’m more accurate with my JSB ____ at 100y than….” Sorry but nobody cares. No one in the top 10 at RMAC was shooting pellets. I for one, am not looking to shoot anything that requires a 6MIL holdover at 100y… despite what your anecdotal evidence tells you the physics doesn’t lie…Ballistic Coefficients matter and pellets will never compete.

I maybe a “noob” to this but I’m out every weekend trying to call coyotes in the deserts of southwest Utah. And I’m doing it with my custom built karma EQ that I just finished building…. I machined a 28” Lothar Walther barrel with poly rifling, specifically so I could get the performance I wanted with the slug I wanted.

I understand experiences will vary but talk to the other successful slug shooters and they’ll probably tell you similar things. We all have our own “style” of shooting and for what purpose so settings will never be universal but the thought/work required is real.

Or if that doesn’t work just send me your gun and you can pay me to set it up for you haha.

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​

Slug tuning definitely takes work. Most of us who’ve been at this a while have already lived through the bore‑slugging, sizing, twist‑rate, bearing‑surface, velocity‑window cycle more times than we care to admit. It’s part of the fun… and part of the headache.

The only thing I’d add is that the ‘work’ isn’t the same for everyone. Some shooters want to machine barrels and chase every variable. Others just want a consistent 75–100 yard setup without needing a lathe, a spreadsheet, and three weekends of testing. Both approaches are valid.

Slugs absolutely bring more variables than pellets — diameter, length, alloy, rifling type, tune window — and that’s exactly why results vary so much from barrel to barrel. Even when you do everything “right,” one barrel will love a slug the next barrel hates. That’s not laziness, that’s just the nature of slugs.

Long‑range hunting? Sure, slugs win that game. No debate there. But not everyone is stretching past 100 yards or calling coyotes in the desert. For a lot of shooters, pellets still make more sense: cheaper, easier, and far less tuning drama. Different tools for different jobs.

Glad your setup is working — that’s the payoff. Just remember there are plenty of folks here who’ve been tuning PCPs and sizing slugs long before YouTube made it fashionable. We’re not all first‑timers.

 

[Cantona256]

​

Slug tuning definitely takes work. Most of us who’ve been at this a while have already lived through the bore‑slugging, sizing, twist‑rate, bearing‑surface, velocity‑window cycle more times than we care to admit. It’s part of the fun… and part of the headache.

The only thing I’d add is that the ‘work’ isn’t the same for everyone. Some shooters want to machine barrels and chase every variable. Others just want a consistent 75–100 yard setup without needing a lathe, a spreadsheet, and three weekends of testing. Both approaches are valid.

Slugs absolutely bring more variables than pellets — diameter, length, alloy, rifling type, tune window — and that’s exactly why results vary so much from barrel to barrel. Even when you do everything “right,” one barrel will love a slug the next barrel hates. That’s not laziness, that’s just the nature of slugs.

Long‑range hunting? Sure, slugs win that game. No debate there. But not everyone is stretching past 100 yards or calling coyotes in the desert. For a lot of shooters, pellets still make more sense: cheaper, easier, and far less tuning drama. Different tools for different jobs.

Glad your setup is working — that’s the payoff. Just remember there are plenty of folks here who’ve been tuning PCPs and sizing slugs long before YouTube made it fashionable. We’re not all first‑timers.

I totally understand that. You’re exactly the kind of “successful” slug shooter that I reference in my comment. You understand exactly the work needed for a top level setup.

But also I argue that with the newer guns coming out it’s easy to find that 50-100yard setup. I’m gonna call out @PestPlasteringPlinker as a perfect example. Got a barra 250z a few months ago as a first pcp. Initially came to the forum for minor tuning and pellet advice. Read through the info went to slugs and is now using his gun to explode rats and other pests out to 100 with 33gr slugs. Even with the info he got on the forum he still had to work a little to tweak it just right for his style of shooting. It wasn’t “easy” but it also wasn’t some daunting task that took a lot of mods and heartache.

The first thing is “can you read the spec sheets of a gun to see if it’s slug capable?” I think a lot of people buy a gun or already have a gun that isn’t a known slug shooter and then say “I don’t buy all this slug hype.” Dudes will buy a Daystate and then say “I can outshoot ______ with my pellets.” lol don’t buy a .25 cal gun with a 1:24” or 1:30” and a 24” choked barrel barely pushing 40fpe if you wanna shoot slugs. And when slugs don’t work out of that gun don’t run to the forums and say “it’s all BS.”

You’re not that guy. But cruising these forums super tough for the last year a ton of the “I don’t bother with slugs” dudes I see around here are like that. Those are the people I’m calling out. The ones who didn’t make it work and now actively try to dissuade people from trying. The same dudes who tried to talk me out of trying to slug tune my barra last year lol.

Second unless I was shooting high level benchrest or hunting past 100yards I probably wouldn’t bother with slugs either. There are some exquisite pellet shooters out there and they 100% have their place.

My whole point is that it ain’t rocket science but it sure helps when put some thought into the whole process and set yourself up for success. For all the golfers out there it’s about the “approach play” haha. Decide what you want to shoot slugs for. Buy or build a gun to suit those needs. Then be prepared to shoot a lot and a wide variety of slugs to get the results you want.

And if someone doesn’t want to do all that then that’s great. Just don’t be salty when the rest of us are dropping varmints at 200y with ease.

 

[Franklink]

Slug tuning isn’t that hard y’all. I’ve been doing this for a year know and I’ve successfully slugged 3 different barrels.

I hate to be that guy but for most of y’all you’re not having success with slugs because you’re not doing the work.

I have found that most people get a new gun, run on here “what’s a good slug tune for this gun” and then get pissy when it doesn’t work out exactly the same way.

How much work are you putting into this? How much thought? Do you slug your barrel before trying slugs? If you do slug the barrel are you matching bore diameter, going oversized or undersized? Does your barrel have a good enough twist rate? Is it long enough to derive the power you want? What’s the length of bearing surface on your slug? Is it traditional rifling, poly or FX? Which is like poly but “smoother” if you will.

The fact of the matter is that if you’re going for long range accuracy most of these questions are one you’ll encounter in the powder burner world too… or you will if you’re serious about ERL.

I get than some of y’all are OGs set in your ways and this is way more than you’re looking for out of this hobby. That’s fine. You guys are keeping BRK, Daystate and all the springer companies in business. There’s nothing wrong with that. Enjoy.

But if you’re trying to do any serious longer range hunting pellets just don’t cut it. Don’t @ me with some “I’m more accurate with my JSB ____ at 100y than….” Sorry but nobody cares. No one in the top 10 at RMAC was shooting pellets. I for one, am not looking to shoot anything that requires a 6MIL holdover at 100y… despite what your anecdotal evidence tells you the physics doesn’t lie…Ballistic Coefficients matter and pellets will never compete.

I maybe a “noob” to this but I’m out every weekend trying to call coyotes in the deserts of southwest Utah. And I’m doing it with my custom built karma EQ that I just finished building…. I machined a 28” Lothar Walther barrel with poly rifling, specifically so I could get the performance I wanted with the slug I wanted.

I understand experiences will vary but talk to the other successful slug shooters and they’ll probably tell you similar things. We all have our own “style” of shooting and for what purpose so settings will never be universal but the thought/work required is real.

Or if that doesn’t work just send me your gun and you can pay me to set it up for you haha.

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Your post is an excellent explanation of how "slugs aren't plug and play," as I stated in the OP.

 

[PestPlasteringPlinker]

I totally understand that. You’re exactly the kind of “successful” slug shooter that I reference in my comment. You understand exactly the work needed for a top level setup.

But also I argue that with the newer guns coming out it’s easy to find that 50-100yard setup. I’m gonna call out @PestPlasteringPlinker as a perfect example. Got a barra 250z a few months ago as a first pcp. Initially came to the forum for minor tuning and pellet advice. Read through the info went to slugs and is now using his gun to explode rats and other pests out to 100 with 33gr slugs. Even with the info he got on the forum he still had to work a little to tweak it just right for his style of shooting. It wasn’t “easy” but it also wasn’t some daunting task that took a lot of mods and heartache.

The first thing is “can you read the spec sheets of a gun to see if it’s slug capable?” I think a lot of people buy a gun or already have a gun that isn’t a known slug shooter and then say “I don’t buy all this slug hype.” Dudes will buy a Daystate and then say “I can outshoot ______ with my pellets.” lol don’t buy a .25 cal gun with a 1:24” or 1:30” and a 24” choked barrel barely pushing 40fpe if you wanna shoot slugs. And when slugs don’t work out of that gun don’t run to the forums and say “it’s all BS.”

You’re not that guy. But cruising these forums super tough for the last year a ton of the “I don’t bother with slugs” dudes I see around here are like that. Those are the people I’m calling out. The ones who didn’t make it work and now actively try to dissuade people from trying. The same dudes who tried to talk me out of trying to slug tune my barra last year lol.

Second unless I was shooting high level benchrest or hunting past 100yards I probably wouldn’t bother with slugs either. There are some exquisite pellet shooters out there and they 100% have their place.

My whole point is that it ain’t rocket science but it sure helps when put some thought into the whole process and set yourself up for success. For all the golfers out there it’s about the “approach play” haha. Decide what you want to shoot slugs for. Buy or build a gun to suit those needs. Then be prepared to shoot a lot and a wide variety of slugs to get the results you want.

And if someone doesn’t want to do all that then that’s great. Just don’t be salty when the rest of us are dropping varmints at 200y with ease.

Dang. Called right out. Crows are the current target. They've been 'washing' the mice in the watering troughs out in the fields. Nothing is more disturbing than going to bust up the surface ice, and staring at intestines sloothing at the bottom of the trough.

Yeah, pellets, are awesome for a slower tune gun, or heck an unregulated budget gun too. But if im walking from the calf barn, to the barn with the dairy stalls, look out, and see that bobbing hop out in the field, I want to make that mf bounce like a tennis ball regardless of the distance. Slugs just tickle the itch the best for me.

 

[Dogowski]

Personally, I have zero interest in slugs. Any game I could play, or game I could shoot that required slugs would get a bullet. I shoot airguns so that I can experiment with pellets in the confines of my property. Not to say I won't take my airguns elsewhere, I have, but slugs just hold no interest for me.

It's expensive to try an assortment of different slugs to see which work best in your particular barrel. It can get quite costly to go down that rabbit hole. I shoot mainly AEA and JSB pellets in most of my guns including my FX rifle as that's just what's the most accurate.

 

[Dogowski]

Yes I would, but I would also say the same thing if a manufacturer guaranteed the same for a particular pellet as long as it would meet my needs and wasn't ridiculously priced. (My subjective ceiling for any Airgun is 2k, new or used.)

I purchased my Taipan because of the success that @Solo1 has with his. Regardless, if it was able to shoot slugs well, I still felt that it was an excellent value.

The NSA slugs that are showing some promise right now are actually .001 cheaper than the JTS semi dome which is the only pellet that it would shoot well.

I have an excellent backstop and up to 156 yard range on my property. I hope to eventually take full advantage of that distance shooting an Airgun.

If my property allowed me to shoot at 156 yards or even 100 I would be a very happy camper!

 

[Dogowski]

Your post is an excellent explanation of how "slugs aren't plug and play," as I stated in the OP.

If you put in the time and money testing slugs you will find the right one for your particular rifle. I have sixteen pcp rifles now so you see my delema! My FX Dreamline Tactical 25 caliber is out for delivery this morning back from Utah Airguns warranty center and I've got an assortment of slugs to try in it to see what kind of results I get with it. Now I just have to wait for the weather to warm up where I can set outside and shoot! It's twelve degrees right now on Monday morning but it's supposed to be 48 degrees on Friday for one day then Saturday 18 degrees and snow.....oh well!

 

[Grunt64]

If you put in the time and money testing slugs you will find the right one for your particular rifle. I have sixteen pcp rifles now so you see my delema! My FX Dreamline Tactical 25 caliber is out for delivery this morning back from Utah Airguns warranty center and I've got an assortment of slugs to try in it to see what kind of results I get with it. Now I just have to wait for the weather to warm up where I can set outside and shoot! It's twelve degrees right now on Monday morning but it's supposed to be 48 degrees on Friday for one day then Saturday 18 degrees and snow.....oh we

I hear you on the weather. I used to pack half the house to spend a day at my range up near the VT border. It’ll be 34°F at my place, then you get up there and it feels like you accidentally drove to Canada. Usually 15–20 degrees colder and the wind has an attitude. I think I’ll wait for temps that don’t require survival gear.

 

[Franklink]

If you put in the time and money testing slugs you will find the right one for your particular rifle.

What I've found is that even putting in the time and money doesn't guarantee success. At one point I had 27 different flavors of .22 slug and I had run them all through 40+ different .22 barrels and can count on (less than) one hand the combinations that were acceptably accurate.

I'm down to about 20 different types of .22 slug in my inventory now. Altaros is the path of least resistance for an enjoyable slug experience, if one can stomach the price/shot.

 

[Cantona256]

If you put in the time and money testing slugs you will find the right one for your particular rifle. I have sixteen pcp rifles now so you see my delema! My FX Dreamline Tactical 25 caliber is out for delivery this morning back from Utah Airguns warranty center and I've got an assortment of slugs to try in it to see what kind of results I get with it. Now I just have to wait for the weather to warm up where I can set outside and shoot! It's twelve degrees right now on Monday morning but it's supposed to be 48 degrees on Friday for one day then Saturday 18 degrees and snow.....oh well!

… and part of my point is that this is exactly the kind of thing one would do with a brand new firearm too! Lol guys wanna act like it’s such a chore but that’s kinda just how rifles work…my buddy got a new rimfire for 22LR benchrest and this was his text to me yesterday:

 

[Cantona256]

Your post is an excellent explanation of how "slugs aren't plug and play," as I stated in the OP.

I had to really think about this comment because obviously you’re correct about the current state of slugs, but it made me think of your original proposal.

I’m not sure that a “plug and play” slug barrel/gun ect is really feasible. I say this because it’s not really a thing in the firearm world either. Yes, yes, on the most basic level it’s infinitely easier than an airgun because powder burners are all essentially slug guns…However, for anyone looking for serious accuracy the process is actually the same no?

One either goes and buys a bunch of different factory ammo to test or they hand load a bunch of different rounds and then go shoot groups. The process is simplified because a firearm doesn’t have a variety of settings that one can/has to play with.

My overall point being that there must be some kind of limitation that prevents the need to do some kind of tuning. Someone more knowledgeable than me please correct me if I’m wrong! If I had to bet my money I’d guess it’s a materiel science issue. I’m a machinist, we do Swiss turning specifically and I even make had ground tooling down to .00005” (fiber options is a B****). Even at that level of precision there’s a ton of variation. A lot of time it’s not even the machines. One bar of beryllium copper maybe very different from the rod we just ran, but they’re labeled exactly the same way.

I would be incredibly interested to see what the results of a “plug n play” system would be. I think just making the slug tuning much easier would open the doors to the slug game for a lot more people. Which personally I would encourage but I’m admittedly a zealot. I came to PCPs to tune/shoot slugs. Since march of last year I’ve shot about 6k-8k slugs through my guns and maybe 2 tins of pellets total. If they’d let me go door-to-door to preach the gospel of Sluggers I probably would .

 

[Franklink]

Back when a "powerful" airgun was 30-35fpe, shooting the JSB .22/18.13 was an almost guaranteed enjoyable shooting experience, often 1/2-3/4" groups at 50 yards straight outa the gates. Exceptional examples could do even better of course, but 1/2 to 3/4" groups @ 50 is better than a lot of guys are capable of doing very regularly anyway.

For AAFTA field target, where we're restricted to <20 fpe, and pellets, a .177 will 9 times out of 10, shoot best with either 10.34 or 13.34 JSBs.

For WFTF field target, with a 12fpe limit, 90% percent of the shooters are using the same 2-3 pellets.

That's what I'm talking about when I say plug and play.

 

[Cantona256]

Back when a "powerful" airgun was 30-35fpe, shooting the JSB .22/18.13 was an almost guaranteed enjoyable shooting experience, often 1/2-3/4" groups at 50 yards straight outa the gates. Exceptional examples could do even better of course, but 1/2 to 3/4" groups @ 50 is better than a lot of guys are capable of doing very regularly anyway.

For AAFTA field target, where we're restricted to <20 fpe, and pellets, a .177 will 9 times out of 10, shoot best with either 10.34 or 13.34 JSBs.

For WFTF field target, with a 12fpe limit, 90% percent of the shooters are using the same 2-3 pellets.

That's what I'm talking about when I say plug and play.

Yeah that makes sense and sounds very achievable.

 

[JungleShooter]

If a barrel or gun manufacturer was hypothetically able to start making barrels that simply shoot slugs well, would more of us be interested? Something like a "we tested a bunch of our barrels with these identical specs, and they all shoot x slug at x speed very well."

Pellets are largely plug and play. Buy a quality airgun, feed it quality ammo, and reasonably acceptable accuracy is highly likely. Current state of airgun barrels and slugs? Not so much.

So is the low percentage of successful slug barrels the primary deterring factor to slugs for many of us? Or, even if there were turn-key slug barrel options, we still don't have a need/use-case for slugs and their high BC/long range capabilities?

Yeah, I would be pulling out my credit card if a slug/barrel manufacturer could state —
with reasonable certainty that 80% of —
Y-barrels shoot
X-slug with 1—1.5 moa
at 50y , with
Z-velocity.

Matthias

 

[EdinGa]

All 7 of my .177 SPA guns shoot 10.03 Knockouts well. My Bullshark spits them out at close to 1000 fps and it will do moa at 100. The sound of those little bombs hitting a pest is addictive.

 

[Soren Drost]

I get than some of y’all are OGs set in your ways and this is way more than you’re looking for out of this hobby. That’s fine. You guys are keeping BRK, Daystate and all the springer companies in business. There’s nothing wrong with that. Enjoy.

My BRK and Daystate air rifles shoots slugs very well at longer distances