Sunday Slugfest PCP style

I love shooting high-power PCP air rifles. I've made several posts on them. One of the new things being hyped up is the use of slugs vs. the traditional pellets that most of us grew up with.

The concept is that these are typically lighter, more aerodynamically shaped, so they theoretically will fly flatter and be more accurate at longer distances.

Is that true? Let's experiment.

I normally shoot .357 caliber (9mm) JSB exact 81.0 grain Domed pellets out of this rifle. One of the differences is that pellets have this soft skirt around the bottom that helps it fit tighter in the chamber, and it doesn't take much rifling to get it spinning to stabilize it in flight. Barrels designed for these typically have a fairly slow twist in the rifling. Most folks shooting slugs are using replacement barrels that have a faster twist rate, and deeper cut riflings to grab and spin the harder slugs.

9mm FX Hyrid 68 grain slug on left, 9mm JSB 81 grain pellet on right.

Slugs on the other hand, typically do not have that skirt in order to be more aerodynamic. These FX Hybrid are called that because they have a semi-skirt, which is supposed to allow them to shoot well out of standard pellet barrels.

Here we have from left to right, .177 (standard BB gun) pellet, .22 pellet, .30 cal JSB domed pellet, .30 cal Hades Hollowpoint pellet), then the 9mm FX Hybrid, and the 9mm JSB dome. Quite a difference in size and weight, the picture doesn't do it justice. The .30 cal Hades are my favorite so far, they weigh and fly very similar to the domed pellet, but with impressive expansion on target.

This rifle has a nice 18 round magazine, and both pellets and slugs fed nicely in it. I can usually get 2-3 magazines worth out of an air fill at full power before it starts to drop off.

I used LabRadar to measure the velocity of both. This was then fed into Strelok App to help determine bullet drop and energy ratings.

I tested multiple 5 shot strings for each. Pretty much as expected. The FXHybrid was faster, and the heavier weight of the JSB carried a bit more energy.
The JSB averaged 861 fps with Ke133 at muzzle and still had 730fps and 94 Ke at 50 yards, then 729 fps and Ke95 at 100 yards. Standard deviation only 1.48 fps.

The FXHybrid averaged 916 fps with Ke 126 at muzzle and still had 835 fps and Ke105 at 50 yards along with 761 fps and Ke87 at 100 yards. Standard deviation only .9 fps.
JSB chart below.

FXHybrid chart below.

Also as expected, when I plugged this information into Strelok Pro app, it showed that when both were zeroed at 50 yards, the FX Hybrid slug would only drop 36 inches at 150 yards versus the JSB dropping 47 inches, nearly a foot difference!
FXHybrid Strelok below.

JSB Strelok below

So far, it all sounded great, the FXHybrid Slugs were faster, very consistent velocity wise, would shoot flatter at distance. As they say though, the proof is in the pudding, and this pudding tasted bad..
Due to my barrel having the slower twist pellet rifling, the Slugs did not seem to stabilize properly and groups were not what I consider good.

Below is the first grouping at 50 yards. I've circled the FX Impact Hybrid slug groups in Red, the JSB in Blue. The orange squares are one inch. As you can see, the FX Slugs are easily 2-3 times larger than the JSB groups. Not something I would consider good for target, or even small game, over half of those Slug shots would have completely missed a squirrel or rabbit size target, let alone give an accurate shot to the vitals.

Now when we go to 100 yards in below pic, it becomes even more pronounced. While the Slugs shot a foot flatter, they spread even further apart. Yikes, they are all over the place. That "group" is over 18 inches, while the JSB still holding about 4 inches, neither is fantastic, but the JSB at least semi-reasonable. I would not hesitate to take a shot at a coyote with them at this distance.

**Overall summary: **This does not mean that the FX Hybrid Slugs are not good quality. Most reports I've heard are that they are generally consistent in weight, shape, and the packaging protects them from getting too banged up or damaged in shipping or carrying about. What it does mean is that they don't shoot well out of my particular rifle, and that to make the best use of them may require a barrel designed for that purpose. Something to consider if you are in the market to purchase a rifle.

This is my rifle, a FX Impact MKII with Vortex 5-25x50 scope, a DonnyFL Suppressor, and the GoPro SideShot scopecam mounted on the side. I did take some videos of the shoot, but they were unfocused. I previously took the sideshot off to swap lenses, and haven't been able to quite get the focus back properly yet.

Now if you're still with me after all this.. Here's a nice video of the .357 cal (9mm) PCP in action on an Apple, Coke can, and Pine Board at 50 yards just to end it on a fun note.