LOW VELOCITY, HIGH IMPACT

While air rifle slugs have been around for quite a few years, they seem to have enjoyed a massive boost in popularity over the past 18 months or so, possibly because there seems to be a corresponding increase in popularity in the number of air rifles operating at FAC levels.

And while it was the norm not that long ago to have an FAC rifle running anywhere from 26 to 30 foot pounds in .22, there’s now a staggering choice of power levels and calibre options, with air rifles with a muzzle energy of 80 foot pounds or even higher no longer being unusual.

Mat Manning and Roger Lait have already reported their findings in Airgun Shooter after testing slugs in their FAC rifles, and I decided to carry out some testing of my own – but with a twist. I chose to shoot some slugs in a regular sub-12 foot pound rifle – and in .177 calibre as well. I thought it would be interesting to see whether the benefits offered by slugs would still be present at this lower power level. And I was hoping that whatever my findings might be, the results would upscale well to the larger calibres