I have said for years that the .22 Gauntlet barrel just does not do well with slugs. I say that from two different perspectives.
One is that the advantages of what slug offers a shooter in terms of ballistics which are not fully realized at 50 yards or less.
Two is just the geometry of a slug means it has more contact area with the bore which equates to more friction and in turn requires more energy to move that slug down the barrel. A stock .22 Gauntlet just does not generate enough power to effectively execute that energy requirement. That doesn’t mean there won’t be some that show that they shoot slugs out of their Gauntlet no problem but the question is, What is the performance data associated with that launch?
The Gauntlets relatively slow twist rate means that the spin stabilization that a slug depends on can only be achieved by a faster rate of travel down the bore thus spinning the slug faster. We have already established that the power Generation of a .22 Gauntlet is just not quite enough to get that done.
It has been my experience that the manufacturing process of .22 Gauntlet Barrel creates an acceptable pellet barrel. There a couple of reasons why.
One a pellet has a wasp waisted design that makes contact in two separate locations, the head and the skirt and therefore contact area is less and any deep grooves or anomalies imparted in the lead are not linear.
Two a pellet is drag stabilized so by just its design shape and geometry will right a lot of wrongs to a certain degree.
The leadin or chamber area of a Gauntlet .22 barrel is way too shallow in the chamber and also way to steep of a transition into the bore.
Here is a video that shows you exactly what I mean. That is the transfer port you see in the video. As you can see by the very shallow transition step which is literally at the transfer port’s edge means you are deeply engaging the rifling before your projectile is even past the transfer port.
Part of what I do in my barrel tuning service is push that shallow leadin deeper into the bore and also stretch out the transition for a smooth loading action.
Now looking at that transition and leadin can you understand how there would be considerable lead deformation and filings produced during the chambering of slug into that bore?
So while there will be some that will show that they are getting great results with slugs, I ask to see some Sub MOA or even MOA groups of these slugs prints. I have tested over 30 .22 caliber slugs in the .22 Gauntlet and have yet to find one that delivers acceptable results at distances that take advantage of the energy retention of a slug.
