slug advise

[roosterslayer]

Hey guys I am hunting a new lease close to home and its a slug zone. I haven't taken a deer with a slug ever. I do have a 12 gauge fully rifled slug barrel and I am looking for some sabot advise anything will help, Thanks

[skee0025]

Hornady SST

[picksbigwagon]

Rooster, I responded to you PM, but for the rest of you wondering he is what i said: I used to shoot Winchester Partition golds out of my 870, they grouped the best and worked really well at the ol' bang flopperooney. The problem was the price, over $4 each time I pulled the trigger. Being a big fan of hornady bullets, I tried their SSt's two years ago and they shoot just as well as the Win.'s, and are about half the price, especially at FF right now. A ffriend of mine has a newer 870 and his loves the federals with. Barnes expandables ( blue tip ).....each gun is dupifferent, but maybe start with the hornady's

[Gordie]

Hornady SST

Yep these

[MJ1657]

My 12 ga. likes the Remington Premier Copper Solids. They are spendy but it shoots tight groups with it. I have a friend who's gun wouldn't shoot them well at all so she switched to the Hornady's.

Shoots them great.

[mntatonka]

I'm a fan of brenneke green lightning slugs. They're not sabots, so they don't really have that really long range, but chances are you're not shooting hundreds of yards anyway. They've got some serious knockdown power.

[roosterslayer]

any experience with the barnes blue tip expander, a buddy just gave me four boxes. 2 3/4" 3/4 oz tipped expander. Going to shoot them tomorrow. my longest shot is between 65 and 80 yards.

[96trigger]

Remington accutips are a good slug out of a Remington barrel. Rem has a $5 rebate per box right now on up to 4 boxes. Hate rebates bit the just about cuts the price in half.

[harvey lee]

In my 12ga when I slug hunted, mine shot the best with the Benneke's.

I purchased a Browning BPS 20ga slug gun this year for my granddaughter and have shot 4 brands of slugs to see which was the best.

Well, from $3 a shell to the Winchester 1600fps cheap shells, I have found next to no difference in the patterns.

So, I will be having her shoot the less expensive Winchester shells that come 20 to a box for $10.50. These are not the better sabot's but the run of the mill foster slugs but I cannot get the sabot's to shoot any tighter of a grouping.

With that said, we have shot then gun out to 50 yards and that will be the longest shot she will have in the woods we are hunting. She is spot on at 50 so, good enough for what we need to do. I believe if I remember correctly, the few shots we took at 100 yards, she was like 4-6 inches low.

Over the years I have shot slugs, the better ones, the Sabots in a rifled barrel were always a bit better than the foster type.

With this Browning BPS, it seems to make zero difference, the gun is that accurate.

Most of these shotguns all like a different slug with the rifling to be at thier best.

It does cost a bit but your best bet is to buy a few brands and try each one to see which will hold the tighest group and which is better for long range shooting. Some do well at shorter ranges and then drop bad, some are much better. Your rifled slug barrel will know which one is best.

[96trigger]

I don't know if Harvey's BPS is a rifled barrel or not. You should not shoot foster style slugs our of a rifled barrel. You will foul the rifling and basically ruin it's effect. If that is OK with you, then have at it. I personally would never wreck a perfectly good/expensive rifled slug barrel.

For me, the difference between a rifled barrel and smooth bore are night and day difference. At 50 yards, a smooth bore does just fine. Lots of people shoot them and love them. When you get out past that is where the difference really lies. I don't want to hit a pie plate at 100, I want to have 3 inch groups at 100. That is the difference between foster and rifled.

I took 3 shots at 150 yards with my set up, (rifled barrel and Nikon scope with Accutip slugs)all were in the target. I didn't have the greatest group, but all would have likely been a kill shot on a deer.

[harvey lee]

I just got off the phone with the gun smith and the gun shop I deal with in regards to the Foster slugs hurting a rifled slug barrel like on my BPS slug gun.

He told me the Winchester 1600fps hybryd Fosters I am shooting in the rifled barrel at this time will NOT damage the rifling at all in the rifled slug barrel. Exactly what another gun smith explained to me when I asked while I was shoping for a slug gun for my granddaughter.

With that said, maybe with the very cheap foster slugs you may possibly run into a issue but he said he has never seen that issue to date.

I also asked if the Foster fouls the barrel worse than a sabot and the answer was NO. They said you will need to clean your guns barrel after every use whether you use either of the salugs we are discussing.

Also expalined to me that they would stand behind the rifled barrel if it got any damage from shooting the slugs I am.

I have a Rem 110 with a hastings slug barrel and have also shot both type slugs through that barrel and no issues to date. Granted m,aybe only a few hundred rounds through it, but zero issues. This gun does shoot the sabot's much better than the Foster type. The BPS does not seem to mind up to 50 yards or a tad longer. I am taking my granddaughter shooting this aft after school and I am going to shoot a few rounds at 100 yards just to see how they do even though we will not be shooting at that distance where we are hunting.

So, I have no worries or issues at all using these Foster slugs.

I have dealt with this gun shop for close to 35 years and they have always been spot on when I had issues or questions addressed.

[mntatonka]

you'll end up with lead in the rifling instead of plastic like sabots leave. Either way you've got to clean it, and chances are you'll end up with enough lead in your barrel to reduce accuracy quicker than you'd end up with plastic from the sabots.

I don't imagine you'd be taking more than a dozen shots in a year anyway, and you should clean your gun after the season, so it really wouldn't matter which slugs you use if they shoot good from your particular gun.

I plan on using the Brenneke's, which are just chunks of lead like the Winchester foster slugs, and I don't have any problem cleaning my shotgun after every season. Heck, some years I clean it during the middle of the season, especially after a rainy/snowy day.

[harvey lee]

I clean my guns after every outing, well my rifles and slug guns I do. Cannot clean the barrel too much to get the crud out for better accuracy.

[96trigger]

I have yet to ever read anything that says you should shoot a foster/rifled slug out of a rifled slug barrel. Many say you can, but you are not getting the full effect out of the barrel and I believe that you will lose accuracy over time. I have no proof, but lead is a soft metal and the barrel twist has to be chewing that up a little bit. Many of your sabots are jacketed. If that's all you are going to be shooting is 50 yards and under you will be just fine with that setup.

[harvey lee]

Just what the gun shop, gun smith and Browning dealer explained to me.

I agree about the accuracy beyond say 75 yards. My 1100 likes the sabots but the BPS could care less out to about 60 yards.I have to long range shoot in a half hour to see if that will make a noticable difference with this gun.

[harvey lee]

Just got back from shooting the slug gun or I should day my 12 year old granddaughter.

First 4 shots were at 50 yards and one hit 2 inches high if a tad more. Next 3 hit the heart area with 2 shots touching each other.

We were going to do the next 4 at 100 yards but it started to rain. Looks like Wed will be the next pratice day after her school.

I have a lifesize cardboard target and it shows the outline of the vitals so when she shots at a real deer, she has a good idea where to aim on the deer.

3 of her 4 shots hit the pop can sized end of the heart and I was very pleased with those shots as she has only shot this slug gun 3 times. Yes, I have a scope on it.

I am hoping the 100 yards shot are close to that area but we will know more come Wed.

After the 100 yard shot's, I will then know how well these Fosters shoot long range and I have some Lightfield sabots to try also to see just how much difference it will make in this slug gun. Darn rain, it could have waited 15 minutes.

I purchased a recoil pad for the gun as she said it kicked a bit and I think that was bothering her. Today after she saw where she hit, she said Grandpa, I have all the confidence I will need now and that deer will be dead. I chuckled inside.

Our shots will be ubnder 50 yards in the woods we are going to hunt but I do want to see where the shots hit at 100 yards incase we hunt a different woods next year.I may get suprised but I will have to wait and see.

[Comit 2]

Buy a few types. Go to the range see what type you gun shoots best. Use that one. In other words, don't ask us, ask you gun.

[RangerJack]

I shoot the Hornady SST's (12ga.) and every deer I've ever hit with them hasn't gone more than 20 yards. I've shot 4 deer with them, all bucks actually, and 3 out of 4 hit the dirt where they stood, and the other stumbled about 15 yards until he burrowed into some cattails. Something about them makes me smile! They shoot fast and hit hard out of my Remington 870 Magnum w/ a fully rifled barrel, and my Nikon scope helps me get out to 200 yards.

Like others have said, try a few different brands and see what groups the best out of YOUR gun.

Good luck.

[huntnfish]

I have found that there is no gun on the planet worse to sight in than a slug gun. I remember my first time sighting in my smooth bore and trying different brands and loads. I couldn't wait to be done. I should have stopped when I shot the Winchester Sluggers. They were what I shot first and also the shells that grouped the best. I had way better luck with the 2 3/4 that the 3" out of my smoothbore.

[picksbigwagon]

I have had nothing but problems with 3" shells, jamming on the ejection

[96trigger]

I quit shooting 3 inch years ago. Recoil was awful and there wasn't much gain. I liked the SST shells a lot but my gun likes the accutips. Shot SST out of my Winchester and beretta iron sights, got a cantilever Hastings barrel and the Remington's are the hands down best with that combo.

[roosterslayer]

Shot New federal trophy copper slugs, and was amazed. Three shots touching at 50 yards about one inch to 1.5 inches high dead center. Heading to the woods with these. Thanks for all advise

[PurpleFloyd]

I bought my first rifled slug barrel when they first came out for my winchester ranger pump and that must have been 20-25 years ago and shot foster slugs for several years because i couldn't afford sabots at the time ad they shot just fine. Even with practice as long as the barrel was cleaned the volume of slugs was never enough to see any type of dropoff in performance. Now, had I taken it Prairie Dog hunting..... Who knows.

Over the years I have tried a lot of slugs. For me one of the most important things that I look for is for a quick knockdown. For that reason many years ago I settled on a slug called the Polywad Quik Shok. They are priced very competitively at 1.30 per round and to me their most important feature is that they are segmented and break into 3- 60 grain petals when they hit the deer and I have never had a petal exit. When these guys hit the vitals of a deer I can attest to the fact the internal damage they do is impressive and deer do not go far when touched. At 150 yards there are more accurate sabots out there but if you are shooting under 100 yards I will take this slug any day of the year.

You can also see their benefit in personal and home defense.

[roosterslayer]

Currently I am shooting with a red dot. I will be switching to a scope next year for sure. Hopefully I can pull my groups a little tighter too.

[CodyDawg]

A couple of notes on this thread. Federal is not making the Barnes Expanders any more because Barnes was bought out. So the Trophy Copper replaced it and it looks like it will behave almost exactly like the Expanders.

I have been shooting the Expanders for 16 years and I have shot a lot of deer with them. 3 others in my group have the same Hastings Barrel with a cantilever scope mount. We all shoot about 2-3" groups at 100 yards.

The Hastings barrel come with a warning not to shoot Remington Solid Copper slugs out of them.

The other difference between Fosters and Sabots at distance is the energy. At around 100 yards the Fosters kind of [PoorWordUsage] out. Due to the difference in speed (MV of 1900 fps for Federal Barnes Expanders vs most Fosters in the 1400 fps range), there is a huge difference in energy (remember the V is squared in the energy equation).