Using 12 Gauge Slugs for Bear Defense? Here's a slug review you'll want to watch.

Brobee

Brobee

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Happy New Year Everyone!

Furthering my ongoing YouTube series of 12 gauge shotgun ammo testing, I just finished editing my first gelatin review of a rifled slug: Winchester's SuperX Hollow Point Rifled Slug.


What made me start with this particular slug is a close range encounter I had with a large black bear where I put 3 of these slugs (with perfect placement) into his front shoulder as he was turning towards me, but after gutting and skinning him I was shocked to find that only one of them had made it into the vitals, and just barely.

Subsequently I did the big science project on shotgun slugs and definitely found some better performers, and now that I've got my YouTube channel up and running I'm re-doing a bunch of these tests for the camera so that others might also benefit. This video's the first one, and I've got another three slug reviews I'm still working on getting edited, so stay tuned!

Thanks for watching and your feedback!

Cheers,

Brobee
 
Last edited:
GunGuy34 said:
id like to see what a typical bush gun like the marlin 45-70 guide gun would do in that test with factory ammo.
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I did just about this exact test last winter with my 45-70 Springfield Trapdoor and some home-hard-cast .459 405gr hollow base bullets - unfortunately I did not have my video camera running, but was shocked when the first two rounds completely transited the two gelatin blocks I had set up pretty much identically to how they were set up in the above slug test. After getting another sawhorse and putting a THIRD block behind the first two, I recovered the slug from the 45-70 after it had penetrated approximately 42 inches. As it was a hard cast alloy, there was only some slight flattening/expansion of the slug. It was very impressive.

Maybe once the close-to-two-meters of snow is gone from my range, I'll see if I can't get organized to repeat the 45-70 test for the camera!

Cheers,

Brobee
 
Brobee said:
I did just about this exact test last winter with my 45-70 Springfield Trapdoor and some home-hard-cast .459 405gr hollow base bullets - unfortunately I did not have my video camera running, but was shocked when the first two rounds completely transited the two gelatin blocks I had set up pretty much identically to how they were set up in the above slug test. After getting another sawhorse and putting a THIRD block behind the first two, I recovered the slug from the 45-70 after it had penetrated approximately 42 inches. As it was a hard cast alloy, there was only some slight flattening/expansion of the slug. It was very impressive.

Maybe once the close-to-two-meters of snow is gone from my range, I'll see if I can't get organized to repeat the 45-70 test for the camera!

Cheers,

Brobee
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I dont reload but would love to see what some factory stuff does, its hard to find hard cast 45/70 bullets that are factory.
 
I also have a ruger gunsite scout. I have some FMJ .308 and some hunting stuff. I figure that has to have more punch then factory 45/70.
 
GunGuy34 said:
I also have a ruger gunsite scout. I have some FMJ .308 and some hunting stuff. I figure that has to have more punch then factory 45/70.
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The biggest issue with FMJ .308 is that once it starts to yaw, it's trajectory can deflect significantly from it's initial path. If this is not deep enough in the animal, your point of aim can become sort of irrelevant, and not representative of the path the bullet will take. A good hunting bullet should track straight.
 
Brobee said:
The biggest issue with FMJ .308 is that once it starts to yaw, it's trajectory can deflect significantly from it's initial path. If this is not deep enough in the animal, your point of aim can become sort of irrelevant, and not representative of the path the bullet will take. A good hunting bullet should track straight.
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shouldnt be that far off at bear defence distances. Im sure most decent .308 hunting rounds out there would do the job on a bear anyhow. I got some Federal Premium Gold Medal Match .308 Win 175 Grain Sierra Matchking BTHP as well. I just have the Marlin GBL and Ruger Gunsite Scout as my bush guns, even though i dont spend that much time in the bush anymore lol.
 
thanks for the vid

your testing is very well done !

a friend asked me to help him butcher some big hoggs on his farm, and he couldn't shoot them himself ( sort of became pets by the end of summer ) .... asked me to shoot them with a 410 slug imperial of similar design to the slugs used in the test. The bullets did penetrate the skull but came appart/fragmented ... ( he had read in some book that the 410 slug was the humane way to do it ) it was Not !! required a 2nd shell to finish the job (and this was using the standard butcher shot/cross )

i have used the challenger slugs target shooting and really like those ... maybe something you could test, aswell
 
I'd have to say that with that slug deforming like that and stopping within 14" , there is gonna be a lot of energy transferred to that animal, enough so that it'll slow down tremendously and easily allow for follow up shots.IMO

That has to be the equivalent of many Mike Tyson pokes!
 
Another hit from Brobee!!
Although I have to say working for Manitoba Conservation there are tons of black bears dispatched with these or the Federal equivalent and they are quite well respected for their killing reliability, especially in contrast to buckshot.
That being said, I'd like to ask my coworkers who work in the farther north about their experiences using these on polar bears, I'm pretty sure they'd use .308s instead.

Keep em comin :)
 
Can't wait to get home and check this out. Brobees stuff is always interesting.

PS after I did a bunch of tests into newspaper years ago I decided Brenneke slugs were far superior to any foster slug. I expect some similar results. Buckshot I won't even touch. :)
 
This production was a waste of my time. I don't care about problems. I only want solutions. Give me a better slug. I am curious how we'll challenger slugs fare in gelatin, but not enough to watch any more of this video series.
 
curseyou said:
This production was a waste of my time. I don't care about problems. I only want solutions. Give me a better slug. I am curious how we'll challenger slugs fare in gelatin, but not enough to watch any more of this video series.
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Busy guy eh....
 
Kelly Timoffee said:
I'd have to say that with that slug deforming like that and stopping within 14" , there is gonna be a lot of energy transferred to that animal, enough so that it'll slow down tremendously and easily allow for follow up shots.IMO

That has to be the equivalent of many Mike Tyson pokes!
Click to expand...


If I am shooting at a large bear threatening me, I am going to keep shooting, I am sure more than one may be necessary :)

Maybe use these or a solid slug through a open cylinder:

[video=youtube;PaL61Z0nzf0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=PaL61Z0nzf0[/video]
 
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