The thoughts & questions from a Nobody thats been around a while

[Northeastbeast]

Hands down the two best slug offerings in 2026 (Pictures below) in my humble opinion

These 2 brands are light years ahead of there competitors. Crazy high BC and accuracy once thought off as impossible at impossible ranges.

Now are standard hollow point slugs obsolete? No they have there place and always will.

To me the future of true long range airgunning is in this shape of slug. Round nose slim line boattail slugs.

As someone who has been around long enough to have been laughed at when I was shooting Rat Sniper slugs (Now known as Fx Hybrid slugs) that slugs would never catch on with in the airgunning community. I dont think it was the slugs it was more the barrels that needed to catch up for smaller bore slug shooting.

There were a select few airgunners pushing the limits with slugs long before they were mass produced. More in the big bore realm. Calibers such as 257 308 401 457 etc etc. Not alot of small bore stuff was avaliable.

Legands of the game. Dennis Quackenbush & Jack Haley making big power on 3k psi fills where a 1 year wait for a rifle was the norm. There rifles were works of Air powered Art.

I digress. How much farther can air powered rifles go? With small bore stuff suffering from avaliable surface area to be pushed. Will we ever see super sonic air rifles " Stable super sonic air rifles"

With the most accurate slugs being pushed between 800 and 900fps will we ever see a extremely accurate air rifle pushing slugs in the 1300 range? Now im sure there are some guys that have done it but, will it ever be main stream and accepted by the masses?

Was not long ago 500 foot pounds seemed like a ton of power. Now we are seeing rifles capable of well over 1k foot pounds. So where does it end? Have we peaked?

3k psi 4500psi 5k psi & now we are seeing 7k psi fill pressures. Is it necessary? Are we seeing more power? Better efficient? Larger shot counts? Do the benefits out weight the consequences?

Pcp technology has come so far, how much farther can it go?

Just the thoughts & questions of a nobody who has been around a little while.

 

[hameditor]

Great, thought-provoking post. Thank you

But I take issue with one thing. You are not a "nobody "!!!!!!!

 

[Northeastbeast]

Great, thought-provoking post. Thank you

But I take issue with one thing. You are not a "nobody "!!!!!!!

Thanks

 

[Pumacarl]

I don't have a clue where it will end up. Even I have changed my position on slugs, and me changing my position on anything is almost unheard of. Lol

I just hope that it stays subsonic, and suppressed. The squeaky wheel gets greased.

 

[Danman]

Great, thought-provoking post. Thank you

But I take issue with one thing. You are not a "nobody "!!!!!!!

Yip he's a pretty bad liar....I watch his videos on YT. We have a thread (The future of pcps) that touches on these questions.

I believe we are starting to plateau for sure for power/speed/range for pcps (and i see absolutely nothing wrong with that!).
Companies have doubled the fill pressure....that didn’t give double the power.
They have doubled the plenum size, that didn't double the power.
The increases are real and tangible don't get me wrong, but their not getting out quite what they are putting in.

I love slugs & what they can do for airgunners but see zero 'value' in pushing them supersonic. Don't need the noise, the attention (regulations), the danger (gear blowing up @5k+ psi OR unsafe shots). To quote @Luis Leon....just get a .22LR or a .17HMR at that point. Far far cheaper, less stress on gear, similar accuracy, more power/range. Enjoy the ear muffs lol.
I enjoy shooting my .22 Ghost against my brothers rimfires occasionally but my airguns are the "underdog". Coming out on top once in a while puts a big smile on my face! And I can do a whole plinking session vs him on one 480cc tank.

I would equate an electric pickup truck with the power of a diesel to a pcp with the power of a rimfire. Oh you have the same power do ya?
- How many shots per fill?
-How much extra expensive/dangerous gear you need to run that?
Can it be done? Sure.
Should it be done? Nah.

 

[Rick64]

If it's like everything else it'll take 4 times the pressure to see twice the power

 

[SpindleB]

If it's like everything else it'll take 4 times the pressure to see twice the power

The issue is the physics of using air. You can only accelerate the pellet close to the acceleration of the gas used.

Helium would probably get you more acceleration than breathable air. I believe Bob Sterne did some experiments with Helium some years ago.

If you are shooting at 1000fps with air I could see a 10-20% increase in FPS, if not more, using Helium.

Problem is Helium has become a critical resource and is expensive.

 

[Danman]

The issue is the physics of using air. You can only accelerate the pellet close to the acceleration of the gas used.

Helium would probably get you more acceleration than breathable air. I believe Bob Sterne did some experiments with Helium some years ago.

If you are shooting at 1000fps with air I could see a 10-20% increase in FPS, if not more, using Helium.

Problem is Helium has become a critical resource and is expensive.

Yip its like nitrogen for your tires. It works, yes. It's better (on paper)? Yes. Is it convenient/free to obtain like air? Nope. So its not a big seller. Convenience wins in the end. I remember the FX boys showcasing this absolutely beautiful Dutch made and very powerful pcp. They were hunting geese at a farm. That gun made one or 2 episodes that's it. Why? It only got a handful of shots on a fill to reach that power. Had to stay close to home-base for refilling.....No Bueno.

 

[SpindleB]

Yip its like nitrogen for your tires. It works, yes. It's better (on paper)? Yes. Is it convenient/free to obtain like air? Nope. So its not a big seller. Convenience wins in the end. I remember the FX boys showcasing this absolutely beautiful Dutch made and very powerful pcp. They were hunting geese at a farm. That gun made one or 2 episodes that's it. Why? It only got a handful of shots on a fill to reach that power. Had to stay close to home-base for refilling.....No Bueno.

The point was more about acceleration of a heavy slug to supersonic. Can you do it with Air, probably but you need a long barrel and higher PSI than we use right now.

Helium may be able to do it with a current gun like a Texan.

But you are going to be hauling around tanks if you are shooting big bore.

 

[Grunt64]

Hands down the two best slug offerings in 2026 (Pictures below) in my humble opinion

These 2 brands are light years ahead of there competitors. Crazy high BC and accuracy once thought off as impossible at impossible ranges.

Now are standard hollow point slugs obsolete? No they have there place and always will.

To me the future of true long range airgunning is in this shape of slug. Round nose slim line boattail slugs.

As someone who has been around long enough to have been laughed at when I was shooting Rat Sniper slugs (Now known as Fx Hybrid slugs) that slugs would never catch on with in the airgunning community. I dont think it was the slugs it was more the barrels that needed to catch up for smaller bore slug shooting.

There were a select few airgunners pushing the limits with slugs long before they were mass produced. More in the big bore realm. Calibers such as 257 308 401 457 etc etc. Not alot of small bore stuff was avaliable.

Legands of the game. Dennis Quackenbush & Jack Haley making big power on 3k psi fills where a 1 year wait for a rifle was the norm. There rifles were works of Air powered Art.

I digress. How much farther can air powered rifles go? With small bore stuff suffering from avaliable surface area to be pushed. Will we ever see super sonic air rifles " Stable super sonic air rifles"

With the most accurate slugs being pushed between 800 and 900fps will we ever see a extremely accurate air rifle pushing slugs in the 1300 range? Now im sure there are some guys that have done it but, will it ever be main stream and accepted by the masses?

Was not long ago 500 foot pounds seemed like a ton of power. Now we are seeing rifles capable of well over 1k foot pounds. So where does it end? Have we peaked?

3k psi 4500psi 5k psi & now we are seeing 7k psi fill pressures. Is it necessary? Are we seeing more power? Better efficient? Larger shot counts? Do the benefits out weight the consequences?

Pcp technology has come so far, how much farther can it go?

Just the thoughts & questions of a nobody who has been around a little while.

A lot of great points in here. One thing I’ve seen in my own shooting is that once you get into the big‑bore side of PCPs, the rules change a bit. At the subsonic speeds where most accurate slugs live (850–1000 fps), the long, high‑BC boattail shapes don’t always outperform the simpler flat‑nose designs. My .308 Texan and .357 Challenger both shoot flat‑nose slugs more consistently because they stabilize easier and seal the bore better at those speeds.
On the power side, I agree we’re hitting diminishing returns. Pressure alone doesn’t make power — airflow does. A well‑designed valve at 3k–4.5k psi will out‑perform a restricted valve at 5k–7k psi every time. Big bores have already proven that.
Supersonic is interesting to think about, but as long as the most accurate slugs stay in the 800–900 fps window, subsonic is still where the real precision is.

 

[Scriv]

I'm so nobody that I don't even have a thought.

 

[Miles_M]

Round nose boat tail slugs are not really new. This is what we (Gerald Cardew and myself) were testing in 1990.



The shape is almost identical to the new ones, just the structure is different. It was a lightweight slug for 12FPE guns.

There was zero interest from manufacturers at that time.

 

[Madhatter]

I think it will be like trying to reach the speed of light. The closer you get to it the amount of power to increase your speed increases Exponentially.