slugs or 00 buckshot

E

elijah_lee

Regular
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
14   0   0
Location
Sadly south of highway 40
im going out for deer next week and i tryed to shoot 4 kinds of rifled slugs from my smoothbore h&r pardner pump and the groups were garbage,i tryed 3" federal power-shok 00 buckshot, shoots great tight patterns all the way out to 60 yards.my max shot at the stand im in is 40 yards

what would you use?
:shotgun::shotgun:
 
Avpoid bucksot at all costs in my opinion... A deer's vital area is roughly 12 inches... Look at hitting it centrally with a slug... At 40 yards you should definitely be able to keep the groups tight...
 
Try a 2 3/4 inch slug. My 870 wingmaster (smoothbore, rifle style sights) does a three shot group thats a hair away from a cloverleaf at 50m with Winchester Rackmaster 2 3/4".

The only time I load buckshot is when im pushing a very tight swamp with shots less then 15m.
 
I like 00 buck for close shots at deer. I mean 30 yards or less. Having said that I have found 3" slugs to shoot poorly compared to 2 3/4" loads. These are Foster type shot in smooth bore guns. I have no experience with rifled bores or sabot type slugs.

Darryl
 
Not trying to be a #### here but if you are going to chase deer you should have a firearm suitable to the task... Even my smoothbore 870 can do an easy 6" group at 100 with regular fosters.... Wondering what you are shooting if you can't get that... At 40 you shpuld have it easy peasy..
 
if you can get multiple pellets in a pie plate constantly at 40 yards id go with buck buckshot has been used for well over 100 years and it has put alot of meat on tables everywhere
 
antiqueguy said:
if you can get multiple pellets in a pie plate constantly at 40 yards id go with buck buckshot has been used for well over 100 years and it has put alot of meat on tables everywhere
Click to expand...

Lots of things have been used over hundreds of years... As hunters we should give our prey better... Not a buckshot fan...
 
Slugs, without hesitation. If 40-50 yds. is your max range you should get decent groups using ordinary 2 3/4" foster type slugs such as what you will find in Winchester slug loads. As mentioned you should be getting 6" groups at 100yds, and 2"groups and 50yds. without much effort.
#00 buck is a close range load, max 20 yds in my opinion. Where a slug is very effective from the muzzle out to 100yds. I have always used just good old Winchester 2 3/4" standard slug loads and they have worked nicely.

If you have time and some extra money you could by different brands and loads and test then out through your gun to see what the barrel likes best.
 
I have to agree with the opinions of the others on Buckshot, save it for coyote hunting.

As for slugs,
#1 thing, in any slug shooting is to keep a VERY clean barrel and use a plastic residue cleaner in the barrel if you use sabots or lead cleaner in smooth bores.

2 3/4 slugs will normally shoot better groups then a 3 in slug, because the powder in the shells are different and the slug barrels are so short that the 3 in shell has not enough time to burn all the powder, leaving a large amount of foul in the barrel and action and sloppy groups on target. Most times the 3 in will not use up that extra powder and will give an inconsistent shooting.

As a smooth bore shooter you only need the foster type slugs and slower shooting slugs like the cheaper Winchester, Federal or Remington maybe the better choice. Challengers make a great slug for smooth bores and work well too. 60 yards is a normal grouping max range for smooth bore gun thus the reason the Rifle barrel came to the market in the late 70's and sabots and were the new rav of the slug world.

Over the years I found the sabots barrels the same and they got finicky with slugs, as the faster burning powder and speed came into effect and barrels like the Hasting paradox barrels became a thing of the past as they could not group the fast speeding slugs on the market. Barrel twist (lands and groves) is the problem and they would toss slugs all over the place.

When it comes to sabot barrels there can be bad ones too, as I experienced that with a Brand new Remington barrel and $200.00 in different slugs to find out the barrel was no good. After an exchange in barrels with the retailer it was a complete different day at the range. The new 100 yard slug guns are great and well worth the money if you want that added 40-50 yards from a smooth bore barrel.

I've built 2 sabot slug guns since the late 70's and now in 12 and 20 ga and I now only carry a 20 which is shorter and lighter. The most important thing I can forward to any slug shooter/hunter is Clean that barrel every 6-8 shots and you'll see a difference in groupings...
 
I'm surprised you guys can still use buckshot on deer. It's been banned for use on big game here for longer than I've been hunting.
 
Try the Canadian made Challenger slugs. They are 2 3/4" and group amazingly well in ALL my smooth bore guns and make the same size hole as any 3" or 3.5" shell without all the recoil and noise.
 
Buckshot like many other things has been used beyond it's practical limits by morons for years. That is where the bad rep comes from. Good buckshot scenario: deer pushed by hounds in heavy cover, shot taken at under 30 yards. Bad buckshot scenario: deer running across corn stubble pushed by humans shot taken at over 50 yards.... I like buckshot and I use buckshot but mostly scenario #1.

Darryl
 
So last year I shot a blacktail at 20yrds with 3 1/2" 00 buckshot, the only thing I could see was the bucks head so I let er rip, caught it with three in the neck, 3 in the head and one busted off one of his antlers. At first he dropped in his tracks, 30 seconds later he jumped up and took off, so I gave him a few minutes as to not push him and it was about 1500yrds later I found him.

A month later I was hunting black bear and was in a very similar situation and shot a black bear in the head with a 3 1/2" slug, I've never seen a animal fold that fast. He was hit in the temple leaving a 1" entrance wound, no exit wound. Slugs all the way.

ET
 
from my experience with slugs im going to use the buck shot and to remmy700
if you shoot for the head with buckshot you should have your tag revoked
aim for the chest or dont aim at all
a wounded deer is a wasted deer
my shots are 40 and under
 
madtrapper143 said:
Buckshot like many other things has been used beyond it's practical limits by morons for years. That is where the bad rep comes from. Good buckshot scenario: deer pushed by hounds in heavy cover, shot taken at under 30 yards.

Bad buckshot scenario:
Click to expand...

Remmy700 said:
So last year I shot a blacktail at 20yrds with 3 1/2" 00 buckshot, the only thing I could see was the bucks head so I let er rip
Click to expand...


Madtrapper you're completely right. Why does buckshot get a bad name? Oh ya, people who take head shots at deer with it (at 20 yards you have a 15-25'' spread depending on your gun, its not accurate enough for a head shot), and people who shoot at 40 yards+ who don't have a clue what its patterning like at that range. If your buddy is telling you the deer he shot at was right in front of him and wasn't more than 25 yards away and you've been tracking it for a kilometer, your buddy is full of s**t. Don't blame buckshot for the actions of your stupid friend.
 
Last edited:
Remmy700 said:
So last year I shot a blacktail at 20yrds with 3 1/2" 00 buckshot, the only thing I could see was the bucks head so I let er rip, caught it with three in the neck, 3 in the head and one busted off one of his antlers. At first he dropped in his tracks, 30 seconds later he jumped up and took off, so I gave him a few minutes as to not push him and it was about 1500yrds later I found him.

A month later I was hunting black bear and was in a very similar situation and shot a black bear in the head with a 3 1/2" slug, I've never seen a animal fold that fast. He was hit in the temple leaving a 1" entrance wound, no exit wound. Slugs all the way.

ET
Click to expand...

yeah that's what id call poor hunting practices right there never and I mean never shoot a game animal in the head with anything the head is constantly moving it don't take much to leave a animal without a jaw go for the vitals or don't hunt
 
Ah to each their own, I've hunted with many old timers and have seen head shots, neck shots and shots to the wheel house. I'm not worried about a 20yrd shot with buckshot and if I doubted my ability I wouldn't have squeezed the trigger, I was simply informing of some of my expirences with both loads in question. Each scenario is never the same and I prefer for vital shots, and to clarify both events the deer was frozen staring straight at me and the bear was acting aggressive and only presented a front shot, call me a "poor hunter" if you like, been doing this for many a moons and I'm not concerned about a few Internet police.

ET
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom