Shotgun ammo for noobs?

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rob350

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Im pretty green when it comes to shotgun ammo. Planning to get a grizz mag when they come, so im looking for some clarification.


I think i got the basics:
"shot" consists or many small pellets. Good for bird hunting.
"buck shot" shoots larger sized pellets/ basically balls (meaning fewer of them), good for deer hunting or home defe... i mean zombie attacks.
"Slugs" Basically shotgun's bullet, a single large heavy item being lobbed. Good for... deer hunting? anything else?

Also, in general what is each worth? (assuming they are all priced different)

What is the very cheapest (in terms of 12ga) for simply breaking in a shotgun/learning and operating it/ cheapest shooting for some fun.

I remember seeing box's ("case"?) of shotgun 12ga shotugn ammo at whole sale sports, it was the only ammo that was not behind the counter. I think 250 rounds for $68 was the price i saw. Did not look what exactly it was though.

:cheers:
 
Pretty much. The bulk target loads are going to be the bulk of your shooting, just because they're the cheapest. At $68 for 250, I'd recommend you get back in your car, and drive back to the store at top speed to buy at least 2-3 of them, as that's a really good price these days. Likely #7.5 or #8 trap loads, don't bother keeping the empty hulls, but they'll certainly do for blasting milk jugs and stuff.

Buck shot, is the stuff you want to keep with your zombie supply. 2.75" 00 buck, is likely the best stuff for this purpose. If you can find reduced recoil, or tactical buck-shot, all the better. Certainly when you're in a field with your buddies, seeing who's the biggest man, the 3 inch 000 stuff is fun, but for any serious zombie defense, the most important thing, is controllability, and the quicker you can back on target to dump another round in, the better. Despite the name, unless compelled by government regs, I'd recommend you do not try to kill bambie's mom with buck shot.

Slugs, can be used for deer hunting. Rifled slugs in a smoothbore shotgun, or sabot slugs in a rifled barrel shotgun. Sabot cost mucho $$$, and have no tangible benefit in a smoothbore, they are pretty much exclusively for hunting. Rifled slugs can be used for shooting, pretty much whatever you want, they cost roughly the same as buckshot. The max range with rifled slugs, is typically 75 yards, sabotted slugs range can be upto 200, depending on optics and the loose nut behind the bolt.
 
Thanks, i think this is what I saw
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Both reviews, guys complained about them being hard to eject, so I think i would get a case of them and a handful of buckshot to keep on hand for zombies along with checking to making sure that it is the case ammo causing any problems and not the new gun.

Thanks for the tip on the 2.75" vs 3" buckshot, makes sense. I would have probably just grabbed the 3" stuff thinking your getting a better bang for your buck. But i can see how control is more important than the bit of extra power.

Now i hate to bring it up as i know someone will chew me out for not using the search button, but what do you recommend using for bear defense? 2.75" 00 buckshot?



Once again thanks for the info man!
 
Bear defense??? Best bet is a single shot 22 short. Shoot your buddy in the knee, and run away.

Those rounds will only be hard to eject, at first when your gun is new. The bases of the shells, I believe are made of nickel or steel (I could be wrong), which expands when firing, but does not contract. Most of my guns, were a little sticky with those types while new, but once broken in (500-1000 rounds), the work just as fine as anything else. You could also polish the chamber to speed that up, but I don't feel that's really necessary. Again, those hulls are not worth saving, pick them up, but put them in the trash. That is a very good price for target loads these days. If I didn't have a whole bunch (that I paid more for) I'd go stock up as well.


If you look in the hunting section, you should be able to find at least 2 bear defense threads, per every week, going back to 2004. Have fun reading them.
 
I just picked up my first shotgun a few weeks ago, here are my thoughts to date...

First - yeah, buy the big boxes of cheap target loads. I picked up a gouple 25-round boxes at first, and the 100+ cases are on my shopping list next time I head out to the store. Best 'bang for buck' by far if you're just plinking and familiarising yourself with the gun. Why bother with expensive, hard-kicking 3" magnum super-mega-velocity ruin-your-shoulder mini-nuclear shells for that? I think more time spent with cheap shot is probably a better bet than five shots that cost you $10 any day. A hit with something cheap is better than a miss with a $4 sabot.

If you've a mind to shoot slugs, I've had a lot of fun with the Remington Managed Recoil rifled slugs. Call me a pansy (don't answer that) but while I don't find most rounds unbearably hard-kicking, I do like these as I find I can shoot for longer before my arm starts to hurt...I'm skinny, I have no natural padding :p They don't even kick as hard as the bulk 'heavy target load' you find in big cheap boxes. But keep in mind, even basic 1oz rifled slugs aren't cheap....looking at a little over a dollar per round for most, in my brief experience. Remington sells the managed recoil stuff in buckshot as well, but I've yet to find a Canadian distributor that sells it. Again, witht he slugs, I'm just blasting water jugs and whatnot at close range....my gun is a cylinder smooth bore with a bead sight....I'm not hitting jack if I try to shoot at 75 yards. These have also been great for introducing new shooters to something more taxing than my .22LR....I've had my brother, female friends, cousin, and a 70ish year old former nun all try these rounds and want another! You don't want to be giving someone a 3" magnum buckshot shell for their first ever shotgun experience if you want them to come back and try again later.

As I disclaimer, I have no real hunting experience, and certainly no self defense experience - I bought a cheap Norinco 870 clone to blast jugs of water and innocent pumpkins and whatnot when I get tired of paper punching with my .22. I like curtmg's advise regarding bear defense ;)
 
Thanks for the info, ya I see what your saying, slugs aint cheap eh. The Remington managed recoil rifled slugs, they have more or less recoil than a normal "shot"?

I know about the endless bear threads, I was just hoping to get his opinion on it as i could tell he had a general idea of what he was talking about, compared to listening to a bunch of random people with random ideas.
 
rob350 said:
Thanks for the info, ya I see what your saying, slugs aint cheap eh. The Remington managed recoil rifled slugs, they have more or less recoil than a normal "shot"?
Click to expand...

I've found that in my gun they seem to be the lightest-kicking load I've fired to date....I have fired a few varieties of buckshot, standard 1oz slugs, two brands of bulk 'heavy target load' ...I'd say the managed recoil slugs kick less than any of the above. One of the girls I was shooting with confirmed that for me - I assumed the slug would punch me harder than the cheap target stuff, but I was wrong. She agreed after firing both.

First time my brother fired my gun with a 3" 000 buckshot magnum shell, he inadvertently pulled back on the slide and ejected the spent hull as it recoiled...didn't even realise he'd done it until I told him. As a fellow shotgun newbie, I can say that those things can catch you off guard...
 
"Bear" in mind, my personal experience with bears, is the black kind at great distance. I've never killed a single living thing with any gun, so despite the fact I know fairly well the things I do talk about (generally, well, usually, or at least when I'm not talking out my ass), I can't really comment on things I don't know anything about. I've seen guys like first 2 rounds buck, then the rest slugs, that'd be my uninformed guess. The only thing I know for sure, is shooting bear bangers out of a choked shotgun, is apparently a big no-no, as they can get stuck at the point of constriction, then you have no gun, and a bear.

A rifle would likely be a better choice for the brown bears, a hotrodded 45-70, will do things a shotgun can't begin to dream of.

Of course the best advice, would just to be very bear smart, alert, and avoid places where there's lots of bears.

When you're judging the random people with random ideas around here, you'll quickly get a good grasp on who knows what they're talking about, and who's talking out their ass. I won't tell you who I feel to be talking out their asses, but I'll PM you a quick list of guys I feel are the real deal as far as knowledge goes.
 
From Wiki...

Larger shot numbers mean smaller pellets:
The diameter of birdshot is equal to .17" minus the shot number; #4 shot is .13" in diameter.

Same goes for buckshot; 000 is .35", 00 is .33", #4 buck is .25".
Larger shot penetrates deeper, so it is used on larger animals.

Small critters: doves, squirrels, or the clay pigeons used in competition, can be taken with shot as small at #8. Some people like to use larger shot because it can kill at slightly longer range and reduces the number of pellets you have to remove from your food.
Larger critters, such as pheasants, turkeys, or rabbits should be taken with slightly larger shot such as #6 or #4.

Even larger critters, such as ducks or geese, require larger shot, compounded by the use of steel, #4-BB is recommended for for ducks, #1-TT (TT = .21") for geese.
The largest critters that buckshot is suited for, such as deer, coyotes, men, or perhaps already wounded lions, should be shot with pellets no smaller than #4 buck.
Steel shot is less dense than lead, so it loses speed faster in air and penetrates less in tissue. Larger shot (rule-of-thumb: 2 birdshot sizes bigger) is required to get performance similar to lead.

The pattern - how and how much the load spreads out during flight - of a load of shot changes depending upon the existence of a choke in the barrel. The choke does two things:
Dents lead that passes through it. This is usually considered a bad thing, as it makes the pellets disperse more - and disperse erratically, making for uneven patterns.
The tighter the choke, the more the lead will be dented.
The more lead in a shotgun load, the more serious this effect is.
The softer the lead in a shotgun load, the worse the pellets will be damaged.
Buffered shotgun shells pack padding around the lead pellets to protect them. This results in tighter patterns.
Helps make all the pellets stay in one cloud. Tighter chokes do this to a higher degree. Yes, this is opposite to the previous affect.
Most chokes anymore are interchangeable; the inside of the end of the barrel is threaded, and chokes can be screwed in and out at will. Generally, the following chokes are the most common:
Cylinder bore, which has no restriction, throws open but very uniform patterns; it is useful for close-range shooting
Skeet choke
Improved cylinder
Light Modified choke
Modified choke
Improved Modified choke
Light Full choke
Full choke, which has a lot of restriction, throws very tight patterns when fed quality shot. However, when fed soft lead, a full choke tends to shoot awful patterns: uneven and possibly larger than those produced by a looser choke.

Slugs, as mentioned, are large pieces of lead propelled by powder, loaded one per shell.

Slug power is determined in the same way as buck shot, with standard, magnum, and super-magnum loadings. With magnum and super-magnum are often loaded with heavier slugs.
The "rifled" slug, used in smooth-bore shotguns (most) has rifling or ribs on the slug. These ribs are designed to prevent damage to the gun if fired through a barrel with some choke.
A properly constructed (durable and made of hard lead) 12 gauge slug essentially transforms a shotgun into a .73 caliber rifle capable of taking all game animals on the North American Continent, though the range is somewhat limited.
"rifled" slugs don't work well in rifled barrels.
Sabot slugs are for rifled barrels.
A sabot is a covering for an object which is smaller than the bore of which it travels through. That is, sabot slugs "wear" a plastic jacket that is discarded after they leave the barrel.
Sabot slugs are generally more accurate, higher velocity, and more aerodynamic than "rifled" slugs, but they require a rifled barrel to be fired accurately.
Both types of slugs are fairly low velocity, and thus have rainbow-shaped trajectories that are not helpful to long-range shooting. It is fair to say that "rifled" slugs can reach out to 100 yards without too much difficulty; sabot slugs about 150 yards.
Note that generally buck shot and slugs in the same size as bird shot will have much more recoil than bird shot. So, the first time firing slugs or buck shot, be prepared for extra kick (if you use magnums or super-magnums, be prepared for a lot of extra kick).
 
Also, just so you don't look like a dork later, you need to know, in case you don't, that rifled slugs don't spin. The rifled slug, has the rifling, so that it can swage down to fit safely through chokes. The best accuracy with rifled slugs, is typically with open or cylinder bore chokes. Some old timers will tell you that full chokes work best. Don't bother arguing with them, they've likely got a lot of good information you'll miss if you quibble about stuff like that. Rifled slugs get their stability from a nose forward weight distribution, as they typically have hollow bases, thus, they do not keyhole as one would expect from a non-spinning projectile.
 
I agree with all of what curtmg has posted, my thoughts exactly. I love the remington managed recoil for my pistol gripped maverick 88, but theyre still over $1 per round. Winchester super X 2 3/4" 1 oz slugs dont kick a whole lot more and can be had in the 15 rd. value packs for $15 at my local canadian tire. SFRC also sells bulk packs of S&B slugs for less than $1 per round but you need to pay shipping as well. As far as bear defense goes all I will say is use what youre most comfortable with and practice with it. 12 ga. slugs and buckshot do massive damage at close range so dont get hung up on which brand or type. The best bear defense is avoiding trouble all together. Bear bangers will send the biggest bears running like hell with no intention to return, and letting them hear you from a ways off prevents spooking them. Just be careful and you will be fine. Bear attacks are less common than anything else you should be worried about in the bush. Oh and have fun!
 
Exhaustive tests by USFS in Alaska, if you are using a shotgun for bears, use slugs, followed by slugs, followed by more slugs. At ranges where buckshot is effective, there is no spread worthy of mention, and so no "shotgun effect". At ranges where shot dispersion gives a larger striking radius, individual buckshot pellets are reduced to rather pathetic little .33 caliber round balls of less penetration capablity than a 9mm LRN, and frequently hang up outside the ribcage of an adult, fat, wet bear. but suit ourself. And, does the OP have a PAL? Did he pass his written test? Or read the CFSC manual? The entire discussion of laods, pellets, slugs, etc. is covered therein.
 
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