I hunt in some thick brush and I've bagged a nice 8pt buck and several does with a .30-30. Most of my shots have been taken at less than 30 yards, and max of about 50. I can shoot Winchester rifled slugs and hit a 6" target 100% consistently at 50 yards with my shotgun.

My questions are:

1) Are slugs any good for deer? They don't expand or yaw, so even though they'd make an enormous hole I'm wondering if they have the wounding ability needed to make an ethical kill

2)  Is there a range at which buckshot would be ethical to use?
2a) Why is it called buck shot? Everything I've read said it's almost pointless for use with deer.

I know I can get a rifled barrel and still use a shotgun, but I'd just use a rifle if I was going to do that.

12ga. brennekee slugs work very well

I used to hunt with 20ga slugs.  Always worked fine.

Yes..

Brenneke Black magic slugs are the primary choice of Alaska fish and Game.   A slug designed to be effective against a brown bear is surely going to be suitable for deer.

Brenneke slugs always worked well for me.  

Under  40 yards 00 buck shot will knock the snot out of a deer.  If it is real thick #4 buck shot is very effective.

1.  Yes, they are.  They weigh 437 grains, and make (at least) a .73 caliber hole.  They don't need to expand.  They absolutely have the ability to make an ethical kill, and typically do so very quickly.

2.  Yes, buckshot (00 anyway) is pretty effective on deer inside say, 30 yards.  I would consider it ethical, based on the deer I have seen killed with it.  None of them have run anywhere, just DRT.

3.  Probably because it was used for bucks?  Most typically for shooting running deer in areas where dogs and/or drives are/were popular hunting methods.  Everything you've read was not necessarily written by people with firsthand experience.  I much prefer rifles, but would not feel undergunned if I had to use a shotgun within your 30-50 yard limits.

That said, the .30-30 seems to be working for you...why fix what isn't broken?

I would think that at the distances your are hunting a 12ga slug is gonna drop a deer where it stands, especially if you can take out both lungs.

Every deer I've shot with a 1oz slug has been DRT. When I switched to a rifled barrel and sabot slugs I noticed that the deer had a more likelihood of running off after the hit.

Hunted with slugs for years and never had a deer run more than 100 yds after whacking them. I will say that slugs are not magical and plow right through everything. I have had a few hit branches and deflect

rifled slugs are what I'd use, buckshot can do it but are very susceptible to range and brush.


eta: slugs absolutely expand, you should look at the various types, there are lead solids, alloy solids, copper solids and various sabot rounds to choose from.

12 ga Federal Truball slugs have been great for me.  Longest shots for me are around 50 yards. Usually they drop right there or only a short run before they are down.

Find a slug your gun likes.  I’ve had some guns shoot brenneke/aero slugs well.  My current Benelli shoots Federal truball well.  Brand doesn’t really matter.  A 1oz chunkmof lead will drop just about anything if you hit it well.  Just make sure it groups well.

My benelli SBS groups around 2-3” @ 50 yards with a 14” smooth bore (no choke).  I have it sighted in for 75 yards and it’s good out to 100.  My longest kill is 80 yards.

SBS are damn handy in brush and blinds.

Slugs are very effective stoppers out to about 100 yards with a smoothbore, and perhaps 150 max with a rifled & scoped shotgun firing sabot slugs.

Buck shot is very effective at close range 30 yards or less (bow hunting distances).  I recommend you Stay with the larger pellets of 00 and avoid the 12 pellet loads for the 8 or 9 pellets.   More pellets usually equals slower pellet speed & less energy on target.  It isn't how many pellets you launch, it is how many HIT effectively.  Also avoid low recoil or "Tactical" buckshot, because they are often downloaded for less recoil (and thus produce less velocity & energy)

SHOOT your shotgun to sight it in for your Slugs and PATTERN with various buckshot and chokes.  

Every Shotgun Barrel - Load is a unique beastie so find what YOU gun likes.  Remember that what shoots excellent for Sam, may suck for Steve...

Slugs are absolutely effective and deadly on deer.  But as with anything, you have to hit them in the right spot. Look at how many guides carry them when they are taking guys after bear.......

A 1oz slug weighs well over 400grns.  People kill deer every day with bullets as light as 55grns, with most being well under 200 grns.  Granted those are being slung at 1000fps more than most slugs.....

The slugs I shoot are 375grn (or 385 grn maybe?) Nosler Partitions @1900 fps.  They hit HARD.  On my shoulder and on the deer.  On the property I primarily hunt in OH, I could easily set myself up for 100-150 yard shot.  But I know it well enough that I usually don't have to shoot past 50.  But with my setup, the ability is there if the opportunity presents itself.

I personally would probably not use buckshot, but that is not to say it isn't effective if used properly.

For your scenario (30-50 yards in thick terrain), an open sighted shotgun with slugs, would/could be a very good choice.

Shoot behind the shoulder and they may run a bit. If you want to anchor them where they stand shoot a shoulder.  The only real downside is the gun is bigger and heavier than a rifle. If you’re only shooting 30-50 yards use a pistol. Can’t get better than that. I’ve hunted deer for 40 years in slug only state. Now that we can use straight wall rifles I do prefer rifles. The QC of rifled slugs can be iffy, that’s why you have to try several brands

I've had good luck with Winchester 3" 1oz 1760fps (15rd white box), and PMC 2¾" 1oz 1600fps.

Those Winchester shells will rattle your teeth, and hit deer somewhere between a freight train and semi-truck. They will also knock over my 12x20" steel targets at 35yds.

Yeah, they don't really expand, but when they cut a ¾" hole clean through a deer, they don't get very far. I strongly suggest you take broadside or quartering away shots. That slug will drill a straight line through the deer, so if there's guts in the path, it's going to be nasty. When I learned this the hard way, it about jellied the shoulder, definitely jellied the heart/lungs, and had guts coming back out the shoulder by the time it fell in 10 yards. Had the ground covered in blood.

If you have to take a head on or quartering to shot, aim for the neck so the pass through goes over its back and not in the guts.

I zero the RMR (9moa dot) on my 590a1 to have the shot group centered on top of the dot at 50yds. Hold center mass out to 50, and beyond put the top of dot on their back. Accuracy drops off around 75yds so that's as far as I'll hunt with it, but can hold a man-size target out to around 125yds.

All of my smoothbores seem to like Brenneke slugs and shoot them well.
The Black Magic 3" magnums are simply brutal in the recoil department. Unless you are looking to dispatch a brown or grizzly, the Green Lightning 2 3/4" will work just fine with about 60% of the recoil.

While it is not a magical death ray, most of the deer I have shot with a slug did not go very far at all with quite a few DRT.
With a smooth barrel I try to keep my shots 50-60 yards max.
With a rifled barrel and scope 100-120 yds is doable with a 12 ga. A 20ga will reach out a little further (150-160yds) due to the slugs having a better BC.

I have killed several deer with slugs,they work great.

But why? Your 30-30 is an awesome brush rifle. Given the choice, I would use the 30-30

I quit using slug guns now that we can use the 450 Bushmaster.

Here in PA some state parks have shot gun hunts where you may only use 000 buck shot. Out to 40 yards they are deadly with a good choke.  I use my Mossberg 835 with turkey choke and every deer I shot dropped dead.

Was 000 a typo? Do stores actually carry 000 in your area? I think I've only seen it on a shelf in 410 loads.

Yeah, I bet a load of 000 buck through a turkey choke would put the hammer down on anything on this continent at close range.

I've killed well over 50 does and bucks with slugs hunting MN's shotgun zone. NEVER had I had one go more than 50 yards when catching at least 1 vital organ (lungs, heart.)  Most are nose down in the dirt within 20 feet, if not DRT.  Just depends on whether they are standing still or running.
For the past 10 years my slug setup has been winchester SX2 12 gauge, Briley rifled choke, shooting Remington buckhammer 1.25 oz slugs.  I'm pieplate accurate to 85 yards with single fiberoptic front sight.  Before that I shot all my deer with remington 870's in 12, 16, & 20 gauge with 24-28" bird barrels & factory chokes.  Screwed around with a scoped mossberg, fully rifled, with sabots for a few seasons, but it didn't fit the style of hunting I used to do.  Now, with less hunters in our group, less doe tags, and a longer season, I sit on stand with my scoped muzzleloader which allows me to shoot to 200 yards.  I still shoot the 12 on deer drives though.  I miss the days when we had 20 doe tags and cornfields full of does to fill them on.  Was nothing for 2 posters on the end of a cornfield to have 7 or 8 does laying in the stubble by the time the walkers came out the end.

I though only people that live in states that restrict bottle neck centerfire rifles used shotgun slugs. If OP is using a 30-30 why change?

Frankly, I just want to try something different.

The .30-30 is a great rifle. It's also a "better" deer gun, but I would like to try to take one down with my Shotgun.

I hunt in a lot of different parts of the state.  One section was shotgun only for ever but has switched over to rifle now.  I started hunting on rifle areas first and was actually surprised by the "attitude" of slug gun hunters when I first started there some 20+ years ago.  I am lucky in that I only hunt private property.  Rifle areas we know where the 3 or 4 of us hunting are.  Typically all you would hear is a single shot.  Then you KNEW you had to go drag a deer out for Pops.

Shotgun areas were pow...pow....(then 5 seconds pass) and pow/pow/pow....empty.  I would ask what the hell was that all about and the common answer was "I shot twice accurately, then let the other 3 go on principle".....lol.  It has changed a lot with the use of rifles but on Opening Weekend my friend (landowner of 290 acres) wants only shotguns to be used.  Don't know if its because he doesn't want to buy a more capapble gun or that now we have the next generation hunting or he thinks shotguns are safer, it doesn't matter his land his rules.

I actually love carrying the shotgun there.  I have the luxury of exclusively using rifles in other areas and will switch over to the rifle after opening weekend, but theres something special in being in THAT place with the shotgun.  I still use a Remington 870 smoothbore slug barrel with a 1.5-5X scope and prefer to run plain old Winchester 2 3/4 rifled 1 oz slugs.  Amazingly it shoots 2-3 inch groups at 50 and easily pie plate at 100.

I've shot deer up there out to 90 yards but also have whapped deer at 30 feet.  I can tell you with confidence that a 1 oz slug into the boiler room at 50 yards will bulldoze a deer into the dirt.  The shot at 30 feet was incredible.  I saw the slug hit right behind the shoulder and actually HEARD all the air come out of that deer as he grunted and his knees buckled until his nuts were scraping the ground.  He took 3 steps, his balls dragging before he fell over DRT.  I don't feel undergunned at all with that shotgun...

Today's slugs ain't your grandpa's old Foster style.


Youngest son's first deer, lil old Mossy 20 ga.

Attached File



Funny thing, we DO still use cheap old Foster style slugs when hunting spots where shots are within 50 yds

Awesome!

Think the deer gives a damn whether you drilled a ? or ¾ hole through it? I don't.

THAT was youre sons 1st deer?  I don't like him already.....