Shotgun/Deerhunting Advice Needed

Crazy Chaingun

Crazy Chaingun

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Hello Gunnutz

My Dad and I recently took up shooting sports earlier this year.

I am currently saving up to buy a Benelli Supernova and should have it in time for the November deer season.

I'd like to buy a rifled barrel for the Benelli once I have bought the gun, but I probably will not have it in time for deer season (the are kinda pricey). I live in south-west ontario and cannot use a rifle to take a deer in our WMU.

So I am faced with a decision: Should I use buckshot and if so what kind? Should I use the expensive rifled slugs? Should I consider buying a different shotgun with cheaper barrels?

Any advice you can give me on this gun, barrels, shot, slugs, and deer would be greatly appreciated.

Ps. If you have a Benelli Supernova for sale please tell me, thanks.
 
Rifled slugs aren't that pricey, certainly not as pricey as sabot slugs. Their accuracy can improve/degrade based on the choke you use though.
 
I find more dead deer in our area that have buckshot in them, I feel buckshot should be band for deer hunting. I hunt in area 93 and have hunted since the early 80's. I have tried most setups from muzzle loaders to rifled shotguns. The one I favor the most is my 870 smooth bore 20" barrel with a screw in extended rifled choke,I have a 1.5 x4.5 scope mounted on the receiver using the cheap winchester 2 3/4" slugs ($ 3.69on sale at TSC) I can print clover leaf groups at 50 yards and 5" groups at 100 yards. The same set up can be used for turkey just switch the rifled choke for undertaker turkey choke and my dwindling supply of remington #6 Hevi-shot.
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn220/rthook21/IMGP0436.jpg
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http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn220/rthook21/IMGP0437.jpg
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Chaingun,

You can get a smooth bore barrel for your shotgun and use rifled slugs which are not that expensive.

The cheapest SABOT slugs I've seen are $10 for a box of 5. They are used on RIFLED barrels only. They give better accuracy at longer distances than the rifled slugs but you pay more per round.

Hope that helps.

SH

Crazy Chaingun said:
Hello Gunnutz

My Dad and I recently took up shooting sports earlier this year.

I am currently saving up to buy a Benelli Supernova and should have it in time for the November deer season.

I'd like to buy a rifled barrel for the Benelli once I have bought the gun, but I probably will not have it in time for deer season (the are kinda pricey). I live in south-west ontario and cannot use a rifle to take a deer in our WMU.

So I am faced with a decision: Should I use buckshot and if so what kind? Should I use the expensive rifled slugs? Should I consider buying a different shotgun with cheaper barrels?

Any advice you can give me on this gun, barrels, shot, slugs, and deer would be greatly appreciated.

Ps. If you have a Benelli Supernova for sale please tell me, thanks.
Click to expand...
 
RThook,

Interesting. I haven't thought of doing that with my turkey barrel. What brand of choke do you use and what are the specs? Doesn't the rifling in the choke counter the rifling on the slug?

BTW nice den! I'd love to see that on my wall one day. My wife too...NOT! :)

Cheers.

SH

rthook said:
I find more dead deer in our area that have buckshot in them, I feel buckshot should be band for deer hunting. I hunt in area 93 and have hunted since the early 80's. I have tried most setups from muzzle loaders to rifled shotguns. The one I favor the most is my 870 smooth bore 20" barrel with a screw in extended rifled choke,I have a 1.5 x4.5 scope mounted on the receiver using the cheap winchester 2 3/4" slugs ($ 3.69on sale at TSC) I can print clover leaf groups at 50 yards and 5" groups at 100 yards. The same set up can be used for turkey just switch the rifled choke for undertaker turkey choke and my dwindling supply of remington #6 Hevi-shot.
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn220/rthook21/IMGP0436.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn220/rthook21/IMGP0438.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn220/rthook21/IMGP0437.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn220/rthook21/IMGP0433.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn220/rthook21/IMGP0434.jpg
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buck shot vs slugs

X2 on Rthook's statement.

I've only ever found one deer that was shot with buckshot (not by me!), and it wasn't pretty. It was an old doe who'd been hit in the face and neck, and She was floating in the shallow end of a pond by my parent's house. Sure, that can be blamed more on the hunter than the buckshot, but it still did nothing to improve my opinion.

I hate buckshot for anything other than coyotes & paper. That opinion is shared by almost everyone I've ever hunted with. Out of curiosity I've patterned 00 & 000 buckshot out of my 870 express (26" barrel) with all choke constrictions. I find it is the tightest with Modified or improved cylinder, and terrible with both full choke & cylinder bore. I also found that after about 30 metres, the spread has opened up to about 18", and I would not feel comfortable shooting that at a deer. You have to realize that with 00 buck, you're basically shooting a bunch of subsonic .22 bullets at the animal. Even 000 buck (.36 cal.) pellets are going a lot slower than any .30 cal bullet, and don't have much more energy than a .22. Doesn't sound so effective now does it? :p

I have a designated slug gun for stand hunting, and an 870 with a rifled barrel/open sights that I use for pushing the bush & still hunting. I use sabot slugs in both, and both are more than accurate enough for their tasks. I used to use an extended rifled choke tube with sabot slugs on my 870, but it only shot "minute of deer" out to about 75 metres. That was probably the lack of sights more than anything, but regardless, I decided to upgrade.

So, you want a gun for deer season. You don't think you'll be able to afford the SuperNova in time. My advice is to go with an 870 package, or find an 870 with just a rifled barrel on the EE to save some money. You can easily sell it afterwards, but you might decide you don't want to! I have a 20" rifled barrel with open sights, and I have used the 20" rifled cantilever barrel. Both shoot very well, and Hornady makes a good sabot slug that isn't even that expensive, around $10 for 5 last fall

That's my advice. If you are really sold on the supernova, then it will work with rifled slugs. If you do go with a slug gun, you'll be happy you did. But for your sake and the sake of any deer you come across, don't use buckshot.

Cheers.

Tim H
 
Spearhunter said:
Chaingun,

You can get a smooth bore barrel for your shotgun and use rifled slugs which are not that expensive.

The cheapest SABOT slugs I've seen are $10 for a box of 5. They are used on RIFLED barrels only. They give better accuracy at longer distances than the rifled slugs but you pay more per round.

Hope that helps.

SH
Click to expand...

Spearhunter

Where can I buy inexpensive rifled slugs? A gunshop owner told me that rifled slugs are going to be at least $5.00 per slug:mad: Shooting $5 bills out of my gun seems absurd though.
 
Crazy Chaingun said:
Spearhunter

Where can I buy inexpensive rifled slugs? A gunshop owner told me that rifled slugs are going to be at least $5.00 per slug:mad: Shooting $5 bills out of my gun seems absurd though.
Click to expand...

Either he was an idiot, or he was trying to rip you off. A box of 5 rifled slugs can be had at any Canadian Tire or Walmart for about $6 plus change. You can even buy the bulk packs and save even more.

What IS expensive are the SABOT SLUGS for rifled barrels. As already stated, the cheapest ones are usually around $10 for 5, the ones I usually use are $15-$20 for 5, and I guess some of the new ones are even more expensive. And yeah, it does seem absurd now. And when you're zeroing, it will be even worse! :p but when you have a deer 120 metres away that you KNOW you can drop, those $4 dollar slugs are worth their weight in gold!

Cheers.

Tim H
 
The choke is a remington rifled special sabot choke, but I find that winchested rifled slugs shoot great out of it. 23/4" shoot better them 3" for me I don't know why they just do. Last year after the season was over TSC had there slugs on sale for $3.69 for 5 I bought 10 boxs so I am good now for several years. You can buy them at walmart, Canadian Tire, Lebarons for a buck or less a shell.
 
Crazy Chaingun said:
Where can I buy inexpensive rifled slugs? A gunshop owner told me that rifled slugs are going to be at least $5.00 per slug:mad: Shooting $5 bills out of my gun seems absurd though.
Click to expand...

rifled slugs are for smoothbore, Challangers are an example are are cheap and very accurate.

Sabots are for rifled barrels. not cheap, at $3/ round but thats what i use.
 
Canadian tire has Winchester rifled slugs in a 15 pack for 12.99-14.99 last year...

Personally I have hit dear with these fancy slugs $20 a box for 5 and they have failed to drop them on the first shot... the fact that they are jacketed and normally get little expansion on deer unless they hit bone... only deer I have ever taken was with those cheapy winchester slugs from canadian tire...

Myself and dad both use remington 870's scoped with rifled barrels last two seasons we didnt get any deer... I was questioning weather we both where just lousy shots but my time on the range suggest otherwise... I have been experimenting with lee cast slugs and will be using them on this years hunt 20-130 yards they are performing well... first time I took them out for long range testing guestimated what I though was 100 yards then pulled the range finder it was 130 cold bore fired 3 slugs all hit the target and would have hit a deer.

Two bigest things about hunting is practice they way you will hunt and try and shoot or simulate moving targets... the way I have been practicing is starting at 20 yards and walking away from the target peroidcally turn and face the target and fire... gun comes up and fire quickly... as this is how you normally end up shooting when hunting your walking see the deer gun up and fire... unless its far away you dont really have time to take your time... or your stationary hunting...

Dont discount buckshot either my dad has taken more deer with buckshot and this year well be using it again.

And just because you dont have a deer gun means nothing one year I used my browning gold hunter 30" with winchester slugs first day 5 min after legal light deer jumped over the fence landed bam deer down hunt over...
 
i have hunted witg a group of guys in southern ont were shot guns are a must all thy use in buck shot thy load there own .thy have shot many deer over the years most years limit out all with buck shot .very rrarely lose a deer .you must now your limits and your gun .i have seen more guns lose deer with slugs trying to shot way to far a deer that are running to the next county .you cannot blame buck shot on people losing deer it is thew shootter every time .buck shot is just not made to shot 100 yards .and i have see many deer do the bang flop at 50 yards with a good load of buck shot .double odd buck is the worst choice .that is the most comen becoues of the moves .pattern oyur guns with what ever you are going to use >most guys would be well off with a good smoth bore shot gun with good sites and challenger slugs DUTCH
 
buckshot in heavy bush for safety if your in a group,

Slugs everywhere else, They ain't gonna get back up if you hit them anywhere,

I saw I guy in our group shoot a deer at 10 yards in the head with a slug as it came over a fence right where he was sitting, it wasn't pretty but saved a lot of meat
 
Crazy Chaingun,

Follow the advice that has been stated here. But one thing most haven't said is that you must try different kinds of slugs to find the best suited for you and your gun. Not all brands of slugs shoot well in everygun. As for shooting sabots vs rifled slugs, how far do you thing you need to shoot. If your hunting large fields, go with sabots and a good shotgun scope. You can take down deer out to 200 yards. if your mostly hunting bush and small fields, then all you need is rifled slugs. They are great out to 125 yards.

As for buckshot, like others have said anything over 30 yards and it's no good to shoot. And for shooting it in heavey brush, it don't cut through it all that well. And I've seen lots of deer that had been previously shot with buckshot and not go down.
 
Benelli products offer great value....I assume that you've Waterfowl hunting in mind as well? If no, then a rifled bbl Benelli Slug Gun shouldn't be hard to locate - believe Epps still has a few Super Novas. As you stated, it starts to get really expensive when it comes to acquiring an additional bbl for a Benelli.

Should that interest you....in the Equipment Exchange (under Shotguns) there is a nice looking 12ga 870 Express combo with 26in smoothbore + 20in rifled bbl with sights. Refer to the following link......you may need to request the site admin for access if you are unable to do so.

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=362038
 
Hussar_ca said:
Crazy Chaingun,

Follow the advice that has been stated here. But one thing most haven't said is that you must try different kinds of slugs to find the best suited for you and your gun. Not all brands of slugs shoot well in everygun. As for shooting sabots vs rifled slugs, how far do you thing you need to shoot. If your hunting large fields, go with sabots and a good shotgun scope. You can take down deer out to 200 yards. if your mostly hunting bush and small fields, then all you need is rifled slugs. They are great out to 125 yards.
Click to expand...

A bit off topic and not being skeptical or anything as such - seeing that you are from SW Ontario - from your experience, how practical is it to attempt a shot out to 100 yards with a smoothbore given the accuracy factor of a slug at such range?

At present, I'm just an Upland hunter and have zero experience in deer hunting, well, here in Canada so to speak. Hoping to start this season and with Controlled hunt in mind as well, I've acquired the following (USH 20ga topped with a 2x Leupold shotgun scope) instead of a smoothbore only because of the accuracy issue that I notice as commonly mentioned.

Haven't had an opportunity to zero the firearm yet....shall attend to that within the next few weeks.

USH.jpg
 
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