Posted: 8/5/2007 5:20:18 PM EDT
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Saw I got a new shotgun, and got a rifled slug barrel with it. Never hunted with slugs before, nor do I really know anything about slugs. I searched for a bit, looks like barnes expander slugs are good ones. Anyone else recommend some? The bbl has rifle sights, plan on sighting it in for 100 yards. Opinions? |
| I have a rem 870 with a rifled barrel for a specific place I sometimes hunt where only shotguns are legal. I hate slug hunting, I find the limited range to recoil ratio disturbing. But, I sampled every slug and sabot round I could get my hands on (Federal, Winchester, and a few others). After trying 20 different types of rounds, I found the remington buckhammer slugs or the regular remington slugger had the best range performance. I haven't scored a buck with the slug yet so can't comment on terminal performance. But my personal experience showed great groups from the cheapest most easily available ammo. |
if you have a fully rifled barrel..you have options. you can shoot saboted rounds which are excellent or try your luck are numerous types of regular slugs. |
The Remington Buckhammer slugs performed the best out of my Remington 870 with fully-rifled barrel. I shot a rather large buck with one at 60 yards, and he collapsed into a heap right where he stood. Here's a slug test I performed two years ago: Test Equipment: Remington 870 SPST 12-gauge with thumbhole stock Cantilever fully-rifled slug barrel Nikon 3-9X40 scope Solid shooting bench Two 25-pound sandbags - one front, one rear Test Method I fired 5-shot groups per brand, with about a minute between shots. Distance was a laser-measured 100 yards. Shotgun was allowed to cool while I changed targets. I ran a dry boresnake through the bore between different brands. All shots were extremely steady with no movement of the shotgun whatsoever during firing. Test Results: Hornady SST 5-shot: 7" ; 3-shot: 5 1/4" Winchester Platinum Tip 5-shot: 10 1/4" ; 3-shot: 6 3/4" Federal Vital-Shok 5-shot: 3 1/2" ; 3-shot: 1" Remington Copper Solid 5-shot: 3 3/4" ; 3-shot: 2 1/4" Winchester Partition Gold 5-shot: 9" ; 3-shot: 2" Remington Buckhammer 5-shot: 3 1/2" ; 3-shot: 1 1/8" Every shotgun likes a particular round better than the others. It's just a matter of finding out which one. My groups got tighter as the slugs got heavier in weight. The 547-grain Buckhammers performed the best. I would not recommend shooting foster type (pumpkin balls) out of a fully-rifled barrel. I'd stick with the sabots only. Luckily for me, Indiana just legalized certain rifles for deer hunting for the first time since Indiana first opened a season on deer in 1951. My wife and I immediately ditched the slug guns in favor of something better. 
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| Regular foster type slugs are undersized enough (they must function in full choke) to be useless in rifled slug barrels- plus they will lead the barrel up like no tomorrow(they skid). The advice here has been good. Ive been using sabot slugs in a rifled barrel shotgun for years. My gun happens to like regular speed Lightfields- will group at about 2.5" at 100 yards. These type of slugs will put the hammer to any white tail if hit in anywhere near the right spot. Most of my shots are at less than 100 yds. I have not had to shoot a deer more than once in the last 10 years, have not had to track further than 30 yds. |
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You dont need a rifled barrel for accuracy. I shot an 870 with fully rifled barrel, Rem copper sabots for several years with ok accuracy. Couple inch groups at 50yds at best. The smooth bore barrel for this gun shot 1ft left at 50yds with cheap slugs. Finally got fed up with feeding problems with 3"shells, $12 a box sabots and just wanting an auto loader I got a Beretta al391. So i shoot some $2.00 a box federal slugs thru the smooth bore al391 and the holes were touching at 50yds, shooting point of aim. My wife got a 20ga al391 soon after and it shoots just as well. I will save enough on slugs to pay for the guns in no time. I believe the sabot slugs are mostly HYPE. I watched 2 friends shoot up $90 in slugs trying to site there guns in last year day before deer season. Both had Mossberg guns with rifled barrels, new scopes and 1900fps Win sabots. They couldnt hit SHIT. |
Like I said earlier, each shotgun has its preferred load. Perhaps it has something to do with barrel harmonics. Who knows? But I can guarantee you that rifling makes better accuracy. Otherwise our AR-15's would be smoothbores. My fully-rifled slug gun would get 1" 3-shot groups at 100 yards with the Buckhammers. I've never personally witnessed a smoothbore getting that good of accuracy even at 50 yards. Notice how poorly the two types of Winchester sabots performed in my gun as well -- 9" and 10" groups at 100 yards. 
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I agree, I think every gun likes a different factory round better than others. I had the same result as above, with the expensive winchester sabots flying all over the target, while the holes from the buckhammer were literally touching each other. I don't get the entire need for slug guns, a 30-30 has a decent limited range, and I have a 45-70 with a huge bullet drop after 100 yards. Plus the place I hunt that is only shotgun legal is far less densely populated than the areas I hunt that are rifle legal.... go figure edit: On smoothbore accuracy, never tried it, but I hunt with a friend who can drive tacks with his 20 gauge 870 and plain ole sluggers; but he has been hunting with this damn gun since before he was shootin' dog water. |
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Being from Illinois and other than muzzleloader the shotgun is the only legal deer hunting long gun you are allowed to use when taking a deer I can shed alot of light on this. #1 foster type slugs (rifled) are meant to be shot through a smooth bore...thats why they are rifled! If you shoot them through a rifled barrel barrel the rifling will get leaded up real quick and cause accuracy to completely drop out of the picture. #2 All type slugs will start to show horrible accuracy after around 6-10 slugs are shot through your barrel without it being cleaned. #3 as said a few times from others...each shotgun barrel has its favorites. #4 anyone that says sabot slugs are hype either can't hit the broad side of a barn or hasn't ever used them! I use a Remington 11-87 auto with a 1100 21" slug barrel rifled with rifle sights. I use Remington Copper Solid 2 3/4" sabots OR Remington Core-lok sabots. (solids are solid copper and the core-locs are copper bonded to a lead hull). Which yields ZERO lead buildup on your rifling. You of course end up with copper and nylon sabot fouling but this does not affect accuracy as severe as lead slugs cause after 6-10 shots. My usual is the copper solids and most shots are less than 60yds. I have taken deer on the run at 60yds, standing still at 25-50yds and the deer seldomly make it more than 5yds before they drop DEAD. The copper solids leave a fist size exit hole and then they keep on truckin'. Highly reccomend a autoloader! The core-locs will abuse you and your pump! You can of course use a scoped shotgun and take deer alot further than 60 yds. Heck it is printed right on the core locs shotgun sabot box...200yd range! I wouldnt do it since I am rather sneaky and get alot closer. The last 2 shotgun seasons ('05 & '06) I filled 2 permits each year on opening day and within 1 hour of sunrise. Copper solids took them all. $7.99-$8.99 per box of 5. You only need 1 per deer if you can shoot! |
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have a 1300 rigged with a winchoke and sights. i spent 2 weeks trying out loads and chokes. i wanted to maintain a smoothbore so i can use the same gun without changing chokes when i blood trail for people and stoke 000 and 00 in it. i tried every load possible. i settled on winchester foster slugs. 2 3/4 loads. i am able to shoot 1 3/4 to 2 inch groups routinly at 50 yards. the less i shoot..the better the grouping. i chalk it up to heated barrel and a tad a recoil flinch. try every brand..and you will find one that you like. |
| My Mossy will shoot one box of the cheaper Winchester sabots realy well then the next box wont print very well. Same lot too. It does like the Rem copper solids, I am going to try some of the reduced recoil copper soilds too in case my sholder and back havent healed up unless I can come up with the dough for a rifle or upper. |
You are comparing a rifle to a shotgun? Non rifled shotgun slug barrels(smoothbores) have been around alot longer than you or I. People have killed many deer, etc. with smoothbores. I do prefer a rifled slug barrel but to say a smoothbore slug barrel is not accurate is purely not true and anyone saying so makes it utterly apparent they have never shot one themeselves and no nothing about the history behind shotguns and the way they have evolved. The reason a rifle has rifling is because they would not be remotely accurate shooting a non-rifled bullet. Just like if you try to take shots with a smoothbore at long distance you would not even come close to target let alone hit it. The bullet would need to be rifled to cause spinning action which stabilizes the bullet in flight. Moral to the story is Smoothbores shoot rifled slugs just fine. Whether or not they can reach ACCURATELY (at long distances) as a rifled slug barrel shooting a sabot.....well Id vote for the sabot. I am sure there has been numerous tests comparing the 2...google it....im too lazy 2. |
I thought the poster above, who I snipped the quote from, was claiming that good old pumpkin balls shot just as well as any rifled sabot and I can simply not agree with that. And to reply to this portion: People have killed many deer, etc. with smoothbores. I do prefer a rifled slug barrel but to say a smoothbore slug barrel is not accurate is purely not true and anyone saying so makes it utterly apparent they have never shot one themeselves and no nothing about the history behind shotguns and the way they have evolved. I'm one of those people that have killed a lot of deer with smoothbores; however, I consider it to be a 50 yard and in gun if you are concerned with hunting ethics. This is just my experience. And yes, I do have a lot of slug gun experience. In my years, I have owned or still own a Winchester 1300 w/ smoothbore, a Winchester 1400 w/ smoothbore, two Remington 870s (one smoothbore, one rifled), three Remington 1100s (two smoothbore, one with a Hastings Rifled bbl), one rifled 1187, a Benellis Super Nova Smoothbore, a smoothbore H&R Topper, and fully rifled NEF ultra slug hunters in both 20 and 12 gauge. Every single one of the rifled barreled guns would perform better than the smooth barreled ones when compared side by side at 100 yards. I searched hell and high water trying to find a slug gun that would perform as well as my muzzleloader and I found that the most accurate out of all those I've owned were the NEF ultra slug hunters. I've hunted with the 20 gauge for the past several seasons and it has been fired at deer seven times and has downed seven deer. All of this matters no more to me, however, because I have a .458 Socom on the way 
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