Shotgun Slugs

Hi-Standard

Hi-Standard

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Just looking for some opinions on hunting larger game with slugs. Black Bear, Caribou, up to Moose sized game. What kind of penetration can one hope to expect from a smoothbore barrel and rifled slugs? How about sabots and rifled barrels? Maximum shooting distance? Just debating on rebarreling my Remington 1100 with a slug barrel for a dual purpose role.
 
Foster slugs kill things very well, the properties that make them unsuitable for very large animal like grizzly makes them great for thinner skinned light game.

Deer shot are usually through and through with quick incapacitation as the slugs deforms quickly and when you start with something .729 that equals alot of energy transfer.
Work within the limitations (range mainly) and you shouldn't have any problems.
 
Smooth bore good to about 40 yards. Limited by accuracy of slug. Good knock down power and good penetration. Within range the 1 oz.slug is bad news for the largest species.

Rifled bore and sabot slug turns shootie into an actual rifle. Accuracy is really quite good. I've seen 2 inch 3 shot groups at 100 yards. I would expect 150 yard shots would be well within reasonable. Some sabots can be had with traditional premium bullets, so performance should not be an issue, BUT I have never seen an animal killed with one of these sabots!

That said, I see no point in using one unless hunting in a shot gun only area. If not so required, a rifle will always be my choice.
 
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Wildfoot said:
how well to rifled chokes work? Will a rifled choke be more accurate than a smooth bore? Is it worth the cash to buy one?
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A rifled bore works very well with sabots. A rifled choke? They were designed so that sabots could be shot out of a tubed smooth bore. Sabots really do not do well out of a smooth bore, but some I know claim that they preform almost as good as a fully rifled bore when the rifled tube is used. I know one fellow who casts slugs and handloads them using an altered shot wad and claims 3 inch groups with a tubed and scoped 870. I havn't actually seen this and he is too good of a friend for me to ask for proof;)
 
I personally used Brenneke Rotweill Classic 2 3/4 inch 12 gauge slug on a wild boar and got the bugger at 75 yards. This is the original design with the felt wad screwed to the base of the slug.
A full through and through of the lungs....
I used a 20 inch smooth barrelled Ithaca Deerslayer and its iron sights.
(much practice too!)
 
I tried Rem's 2 3/4 hi-velocity Sluggers the other day to sight them in for deer season, out of a smoothbore 18" wingmaster with ghost ring at about 50 yards.
There was a 12-15" diameter spruce a couple feet back of the target... after maybe 25 rounds a quarter of it was chewed off, some rounds went straight tru the widest point. I know spruce isn't very hard but penetration seems more than good enough for a whitetail.
 
if you want to turn you shotgun into an almost rifle use a fully-rifiled barrel
with a rem. copper solid saboted slug or win. partition gold slug 3-9" groups
@100-150yrds.(scoped)
if you want just to slightly improve range and accuarcy 75-125yrds 6-10" group try a rifled choke tube with rem. buck hammers.
if you want a 50-75yrd gun 8-12" group short smooth bore barrel try lots of different mfg'ers ammo (federal tru-ball worked in my win 1300) 8-10" at 75yrds.

Thing to keep in mind 90% of all whitetail deer shot(at least in the East) are
dead within 50yrds or closer NO B/S
 
Oh yeah, stick to the 2 3/4" shells 3" mags just make more noise hurt more
to fire(recoil/muzzel flash). and generally accuarcy suffers if for nothing more
than flinching. In most cases you will only gain 100-175 feet/sec. If you hit a
deer with a slug they will know it even if hit non-fatal the damage is beyond
destructive. It will not be able to go far and in most cases will be recovered.
at least that has been my experience. Hunted deer with slug guns going on
8yrs now.
 
Check out the offerings from Dixie Slugs.
For some reason he can't export finished shells into Canada, so we are working on getting some kits shipped up. The kits will include everything but the hull, primer and powder.
Very impressive hitting power.
www.dixieslugs.com
 
Hi-Standard said:
Just looking for some opinions on hunting larger game with slugs. Black Bear, Caribou, up to Moose sized game. What kind of penetration can one hope to expect from a smoothbore barrel and rifled slugs? How about sabots and rifled barrels? Maximum shooting distance? Just debating on rebarreling my Remington 1100 with a slug barrel for a dual purpose role.
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Check your regulations to see if a shotgun with a single projectile is legal in your area for big game. In BC, it's illegal to shoot moose with a shotgun...
 
Canadian made Challenger 2 3/4" magnum 12 gauge slugs is all we use for bear control here in town. For the few a year we have to use on bears they are hands down the most effective we've seen in our 870 and 1100 slug guns. Accurate and never need more than one. We'd used standard Foster type slugs in the past and there is no comparison.
We stake our lives on them.

Ricky
 
Do the Challengers need a rifled barrel? Looking for something a bit more common than Brennekes to use in my 14" HP9. Thanks.
 
I appreciate all of your input guys, but we don't have deer in Newfoundland. We are permitted to hunt big game with slugs down to 20 gauge, have been for a few years now. I'm just wondering what kind of penatration one could expect from a slug to a maximum of 100 yrds. Game hunted would include Black Bear, Caribou, or Moose. How difficult is it to get sabotted ammunition? I never seem to see it a Canadian Trash or Wally World? How would a sabot perform in a smoothbore with a rifled choke?
 
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has anyone found a cheap(er) canadian source for brenneke slugs? my last box of 5 3" brennekes cost me $15.99.

slugs out of a smoothbore shotgun are more accurate than people think:
last time i tested them offhand from a short 18.5" IC barrel with ghost ring sights (nova) both the 3" brennekes and 3" remington sluggers hit a paper plate at 100 yds about 4/5 times. the difference is that the brenneke is a hardened slug that retains far more energy at 100 yards, and will not deform - it will penetrate clean through.

keep in mind thats with quality rifle sights on the gun - i tried with a 20" IC barreled mossberg 500 with just a front brass bead sight and couldnt hit the plate once.

as for sabot slugs from a rifled shotgun barrel, i dont really see the point unless you are a hardcore shotgun-nut or want to use a "rifle" in an area where there is a shotgun-only season. even mild rounds out of cheap rifles will vastly outperform sabot slugs in terms of accuracy, retained energy, and economy.
some of the savage bolt-action 12g shotguns intrigued me for awhile but again unless you NEED to use a shotgun for some reason youd be far better served with a rifle. all they are is a substandard rifle that shoots expensive ammo.
 
easy said:
What kind of slugs would you use in a smoothbore with a rifled choke?

Thanks.
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rifled chokes were made for sabot slugs. do not use rifled (foster) lead slugs through a rifled choke.

i honestly think that you would get equal accuracy by shooting foster slugs through a modified choke than you would putting sabot slugs through a rifled choke, and at a fraction of the cost while still retaining all of the utility a smoothbore shotgun provides. sabot slugs perform well in fully rifled slug barrels but most people ive talked to were pretty let down by the performance of their rifled chokes.
remington slugger foster slugs are slightly oversized so i personally wouldnt go tighter than an IC for those, but the accuracy of most other foster slugs benefits from the slightly tighter choke. same goes for brenneke style since they are hardened.

you have to shell out (no pun intended) for a variety of different boxes of commercial slugs and hit the range and see which works best in YOUR shotgun though.
 
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