Understanding Slugs...

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I have a Remington 870 Rem-Choke 23" smoothbore turkey barrel with tru-glo sites I bought for turkey hunting. I wanna know what kinda slugs I can shoot out of it accurately for deer in southern Ontario. It came with an x-tra full turkey choke so im sure I will have to get something else for it.

What slugs would work best in a smooth bore?? Also what choke should I use imp cyl or smooth bore for best results??

I dont understand the diff between Sabot and Rifled and Challanger and all the other types, and what I can shoot in a smooth bore. Thanks
 
Simplified version.....Basically you have two choices.
1) Use an improved cylinder choke and shoot a foster type slug such as the challenger that has "fins" molded into the slug which cause it to spin and stabilize when it travels through the air.
2) Use a rifled choke tube and then select a sabotted slug designed to shoot through rifled shotgun barrels.

You will need to try a couple of different types of each as shotguns generally show a big difference between brands and will definately have a favourite. The other question is how much do you want to spend on slugs. Good sabotted slugs will run $20 or more per box of 5 while foster type can be as cheap as $3.95 for a box of five
 
What slugs would work best in a smooth bore?? Also what choke should I use imp cyl or smooth bore for best results??
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A bit of confusion there.
Anyway, the "ribs" on a slug are not designed to create spin but to collapse during passage through the choke. If I remember correctly you can shoot Brenneke slug even through a full choke.
 
dudu said:
A bit of confusion there.
Anyway, the "ribs" on a slug are not designed to create spin but to collapse during passage through the choke. If I remember correctly you can shoot Brenneke slug even through a full choke.
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You are correct about the ribs in that they are designed to collapse and fit the bore. Most bores are not to a uniform measurement so a slug is slightly over bore size and will squeeze to fit. Some are hollow at the base to preform or aid this same function. Rifled slugs are designed for smooth bores and will safely pass through most choke restrictions up to full choke. Nothing is written in stone. Different slugs will preform better with different restrictions.

The basic rule is sabot slugs are designed to be fired from rifled bores or smooth bores with a rifled choke tube. Sabots are safe to fire out of a smooth bore but do not shoot worth ####. Rifled slugs are designed to be fired out of a smooth bore. Rifled slugs can be shot out of a rifled bore but also do not shoot well, and in addition lead will quickly build up inthe rifling and be difficult to remove. BTW, plastic build up from from sabots is also difficult to remove. Sabots preform like a rifle and groups around 2 1/2 inch at 100 yards are not uncommon. Sabot are expensive and Rifled Slugs are cheap.

Brenekke slugs have the reputation of being the best.
 
I have found (sort of puzzling really) that Remington 'foster' style slugs shoot very poorly out of my 870 with 20" remchoke barrel and an IC choke screwed in. I have had a lot better success with the Winchester 'foster' style slugs. I haven't used anything else to really tell much about them, I suspect the Federal 1-1/4oz slugs would shoot okay out of my gun, will have to try that.
 
x2 on Winchester. Buddy of mine has the same setup which I have borrowed and tested at the range. You should of course do your own testing. I hit one dead center in the target at 50 yards, so my buddy wanted to a repeat. Second round was right on top of the first. Just use an improved cylinder choke. This setup is really good out to 75 yards and you will probably find it acceptable out to 125. If you need more range, get a rifled choke and shoot sabots. Sabots cost more and the recoil is much more too! When you shoot them you need to pull that stock in to your shoulder as hard as you can!
 
Well I've been shooting slugs for years.

Smoothbore barrel, you need rifled slugs. And yes they do spin, otherwise they tumble and fly any direction. There would be no difference between shooting them and sabots if this were not the case. I've always used modified chokes or straight bore to shoot slugs, so I don't know how they would fly through a turkey full.I have also found more accuracy and less flyers shooting 2 3/4" 1oz. vs 3" or even 1 1/4 oz. slugs. Dunno why.

The big thing no one has stated here is distance for shooting slugs. If your going to shot rifled slugs, your majority of shooting should be 100yds or less. If your going to shot sabots, well your distances grow out to 200yds. Depending on your abilities anyway. With rifled slugs, shooting distance is hard. They start to drop fast after 80 yrds, so you end up having to pull over your target after 100 yds. With sabots (and pratice) you can just pull on your target at150 yds with no worries.

I disagree with Brenekke being the best. Ever gun shoots differently, you just have to find the ones you shoot best.
 
I don't mean to split hairs over this or anything, but just as a point of interest regarding Foster slugs and the purpose of rifling and how they fly so straight here is part of the shotgun slug article from Wikipedia. For more info hit up wikipedia and search on "shotgun slug".

"A Foster slug, invented by Karl Foster in 1931, is a type of shotgun slug designed to be fired through a smoothbore shotgun barrel.

The defining characteristic of the Foster slug is the deep hollow in the rear, which places the center of mass very near the tip of the slug, much like a shuttlecock. If the slug begins to tumble in flight, drag will tend to push the slug back into straight flight. This gives the Foster slug stability and allows for accurate shooting out to ranges of about 75 yards (about 70 meters). Most Foster slugs also have "rifling", which consists of thin fins on the outside of the slug. Contrary to popular belief, these fins actually impart no spin onto the slug as it travels through the air. Since the slug is fired at a supersonic velocity, the nose of the slug pushing a shockwave creates a vacuum on the side of the slug, where the fins are located. The actual purpose of the fins is to allow the slug to safely be swaged down when fired through a choke, although accuracy will suffer when such a slug is fired through tighter chokes."
 
savage-man
Winchester 2 3/4" should shoot well but the best results I have seen were with the Federal tru ball. My dad shoots a smoothbore 870 and with the Federal slug his groups were as good or better than my fully rifled 870.
As mentioned above the imp cyl choke would be the ticket.
Good luck
 
Re: Do "Foster"-type slugs spin ?

Wanted to find out for myself. Skipped a few across dead-calm water in a very remote location. Yes, I would say they do spin, by design or not, as they quite noticeably curved on their outbound flight ( to the right IIRC ) across the water.
 
Rifled slugs fly more like a shuttle-#### or badminton birdie(having all weight forward to provide stability in flight), yes they will spin slightly...but not the design ment by the rifling fins.
Challenger slugs on the other are safe to be fired thru rifled or smooth bores.
I too have found Winchester 1oz slugs to be very accurate out of my Win 1200 smooth bore deer bbl with RTC, At 50yds I was able to get all holes touching and open up slightly to 75yds. I have one box of Challengers to try out.
 
Covey Ridge said:
You are correct about the ribs in that they are designed to collapse and fit the bore. Most bores are not to a uniform measurement so a slug is slightly over bore size and will squeeze to fit. Some are hollow at the base to preform or aid this same function. Rifled slugs are designed for smooth bores and will safely pass through most choke restrictions up to full choke. Nothing is written in stone. Different slugs will preform better with different restrictions.

The basic rule is sabot slugs are designed to be fired from rifled bores or smooth bores with a rifled choke tube. Sabots are safe to fire out of a smooth bore but do not shoot worth s**t. Rifled slugs are designed to be fired out of a smooth bore. Rifled slugs can be shot out of a rifled bore but also do not shoot well, and in addition lead will quickly build up inthe rifling and be difficult to remove. BTW, plastic build up from from sabots is also difficult to remove. Sabots preform like a rifle and groups around 2 1/2 inch at 100 yards are not uncommon. Sabot are expensive and Rifled Slugs are cheap.

Brenekke slugs have the reputation of being the best.
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I think all this talk of plastic build up from sabots is nothing more than talk. Having shot thousands of sabots from rifled shotgun and muzzleloader barrels, I've yet to see any significant build up. Occasionally you'll get a small amount of plastic residue left behind but it's nothing a brush can't easily take out.

To take things a step further.....sabots shot from rifled barrels are typically much more accurate and better suited to long-range shooting than rifled slugs as well. Some of the new offerings from Remington and Winchester that I've played with have no problem printing 1-1.5 inch groups at 100 yards and with velocities cracking the 2,000fps mark, 200 yard shots are becoming an ethical reality.
 
sheephunter said:
I think all this talk of plastic build up from sabots is nothing more than talk. Having shot thousands of sabots from rifled shotgun and muzzleloader barrels, I've yet to see any significant build up. Occasionally you'll get a small amount of plastic residue left behind but it's nothing a brush can't easily take out.

To take things a step further.....sabots shot from rifled barrels are typically much more accurate and better suited to long-range shooting than rifled slugs as well. Some of the new offerings from Remington and Winchester that I've played with have no problem printing 1-1.5 inch groups at 100 yards and with velocities cracking the 2,000fps mark, 200 yard shots are becoming an ethical reality.
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I doubt if there is any big difference between sabotted slugs and wad build-up from shot wads?:confused:
Cat
 
The thing is the 'rifling' on the rifled slugs (more of a spline I guess really), is not straight they have a pitch to them so if your slug is contacting the water they might be acting as directional vanes, water being a much denser medium than air. (never tried it though to be honest) Best regards Tony. :wave:

I have not seen the Federal Truball slugs anywhere around here, I have seen the Challenger slugs, they are $20/box of 10 :eek: at Hnatiuks (only place I have seen them sold) for the price the Winchester's are probably the best unless you started reloading of course. - Has anyone ever got the Remington foster slugs to shoot okay? - maybe with a modified or full choke tube? :confused:
 
catnthehatt said:
I doubt if there is any big difference between sabotted slugs and wad build-up from shot wads?:confused:
Cat
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It seems to be the same type of built up, however the longest tubes on my smooth bore are only 3 1/2 inches and a fully rifled barrel is quite a bit longer. The tubes on my smoothbore do not clean easily with a brush and I usually add a little blade work and drill power.
 
sheephunter said:
Other than wads are rarely fired from a rifled shotgun barrel.
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The sabot that holds the projectile is very similar in construction and material to plastic shot cup wads, and is what is intended to be fired from a rifled bore. The rifled bore not a shot gun barrel. It is a rifled 12 bore or rifled 20 bore or whatever.
 
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sheephunter said:
I think all this talk of plastic build up from sabots is nothing more than talk. Having shot thousands of sabots from rifled shotgun and muzzleloader barrels,
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Those thousands must have mostly be out of your muzleloaders? I have shot well over 100,000 shot shells in my life and countless center fire and rimfire rounds, but I can not even imagine the need or the want or the desire to shoot more than a handfull of sabots, let alone thousands? and to not notice a plastic build up? That seems like all talk? Just talk!
 
Why would my rifled slugs shoot better with a modified choke? Could I use a modified choke? The IC choke with 2 3/4 winchesters, just didn't print better then 12" groups at 50 yards. I change over to modified and I start printing 2" or less at 75 yards.
It's wierd.
 
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