Inferno Air Rifle Slugs
Air Rifle Slugs have recently become very popular as the industry is delivering more powerful air rifles almost on a daily basis. Air rifles shooters have realised the advantages that slugs bring over traditional pellets when used at the longer distances than these air rifles are capable of.
Inferno has not just jumped onto this “new bandwagon” as some new manufacturers have, by cloning some of the existing slugs of other manufacturers, as to take advantage of the new, developing slug market. We have produced, precision, hand swaged, jacketed, center fire bullets for top competition shooters as well as hand swaged, jacketed, premium bonded bullets, for the hunting industry. Using swaging processes also does not guarantee a precision bullet or slug. As with any manufacturing, it takes lots of time and dedication to gain the experience to deliver a guaranteed and quality product consistently. We have used the experience we have gained over many years and our own shooting to develop slugs with specific ogives, nose and base configuration to ensure we deliver a proven, quality product in every slug we make. Unfortunately some of the “new manufacturers” will flood the market with inconsistent and inferior products that might work the one day but not the next, however this is expected and as always will fizzle out over time.
The best advice we can give consumers is to ensure that the manufacturer you choose, uses the cleanest of lead and not recycled lead from scrapyards as not any lead can be used for pellets and slugs. You are guaranteed to ruin your barrel over time should the lead used in the pellets or slugs you shoot in your air rifle not be top quality. This happens much more than expected, especially within a new market as is the case with air rifle slugs.
Slugs are manufactured in various ways i.e. casting or swaging.
Inferno air rifle slugs are hand-swaged. The same method used for bullets manufactured for center rifle shooters competing at the highest levels. Bullet swaging is a method of using very high pressure (approaching 80,000 PSI) at room temperature to force a lead core into a copper jacket to form a bullet. Our slugs are manufactured using the same process, but as slugs do not consist of a copper jacket the lead core is swaged directly into precision, diamond lapped dies. Unlike casting, no heat or molten lead is used. The high pressure is applied with special, powerful presses; each designed to hold a precision, diamond-lapped die.
Inferno precision swaged slugs almost always have better concentricity than cast or mass-produced slugs, they have an extremely high degree of uniformity and density, and the process allows for very excellent repeatability. Being able to make the same slug time after time is very important and swaging excels at this. The end result is the most accurate slug possible.
Our slugs are exact caliber diameter, measured up to 5 digits after the comma, i.e. 0.21700″ diameter at the bearing surface. By using precision equipment we ensure that weights are very consistent, less than 0.1 grain variance of the intended weight. There is absolutely no reason to weigh and handpick these slugs in batches for competition use, as is the case with the top brands of pellets and casted, or mass manufactured slugs.
” We constantly add new calibers to our range of slugs. The air rifle industry is developing at a very fast pace and air rifle manufactures launch new calibers all the time. We try our best to ensure that we can serve the industry for most of these calibers. “
We make various nose and base configurations in each caliber. This is important when choosing a slug. As in centerfire bullets there are not one bullet that can do everything.
“Choosing the correct slug for the correct application will dictate the configuration needed. “
Flat bases have slightly more bearing surface area, while boat tail bases are more aerodynamic and have a slightly higher ballistic coefficient (BC) than flat bases.
Boat tails have slightly less bearing surface and less dynamic core pressure, which provides less friction in the barrel. This increases their velocity from flat base bullets of the same weight and they are more stable for longer distance shooting, because they have a lower drag coefficient and produce less air turbulence. Boat tails are less precise than flat base bullets, as adding the boat tail there is potential for imperfections, i.e. making the boat tail off center (Depending on the quality of dies used). Also, boat tails are more susceptible to muzzle blast and may cause the bullet to pitch and yaw, and they require a higher twist rate to stabilize. The reason why boat-tails are sometimes preferred, over other base configurations, is that at extended ranges, the aerodynamic benefits overcome atmospheric variations better than flat bases, and make up for the marginally compromised precision potential.
“Inferno precision swaged slugs have been tested extensively over the last year by International and South Africa’s top air rifle shooters, in many different air rifles and have proved to shoot under MOA accuracy when rifles are setup correctly.”
As the slug weight, bearing surface, ogive, differs from each slug, you must experiment with different power settings, seating depth etc. to find the slug that suits your specific rifle the best. Although most manufacturers would like you to believe that their air rifles, pellets or slugs shoot MOA groups at 100 meters “out of the box”, be sure that this is rarely the case. As with pellets you have to put in the time to test different combinations in YOUR air rifle, don’t expect one hole grouping right out of the box until after you’ve done your experimenting with all the variables.
A major advantage you will have with our slugs is that we will constantly update our website and social media pages with exact specifications of all our slugs, rifles they have been tested in, true BC’s measured and the exact setups that have been accurate. This will not only give you a starting point reference of what will work in your rifle but will also save a lot of time in testing and costs to find the right combination for your air rifle.
“We endeavour to be always available to assist you in selections and advice to make the correct choices.“
