Using 12 Gauge Slugs for Bear Defense? Here's a slug review you'll want to watch.

Excellent video Brobee, just sub'd to your channel also. :)

Not to hijack, but for those who were asking how the Lee slugs compare, I did a comparison using water jugs:
If I can get a hold of some other styles I will try them out this spring as well.

( curseyou don't bother wasting your precious time watching. )

:cheers:
 
I don't use regular rifled slugs in my bear guns. I much prefer a full bore paradox type slug as is offered
by Dixie. The crappy part is, Dixie slugs are hard to get up here and Lightfields aren't easily had as well.

If your gun has a rifled bore, then your best option would be the 1.25oz. bombs made by Slugs-R-Us.
These shoot very accurately from my H&R Ultra Slug Hunter and the thick plastic skirt supporting them
does not peel off when they plow through game. Bears are no sweat with these projectiles when loaded
at 1200-1350 fps. and taken within100 yds. In 3 inch mag ya can go to 1500, but they punch you
pretty hard and don't need the extra speed to flatten a bear.

For smooth bore guns, the Lyman 525 gr. cast slug is an accurate performer and holds together well when
cast from wheel weight lead. It is a big-assed pellet gun style 12 bore that you load into a standard 1oz.shot
cup and crimp over like a trap load and will do the job when used in about 75 yds. or less.
Of course, these are handloader options. For shmoes wantin' factory stuff, Brenekke are great full bore smoothies
as well,but not available everywhere.

Full bore for me, or go home.;)
 
supernova said:
I did a little digging on the author I mentioned and I was a bit off. He had set up a penetration test to try and mimic shooting game animals. It consisted of a box of bones, 18-19" of 10% gel and a block of dense ballistic wax. The DGS slug went through it all and rested 3.5" into the wax. The Lee slug did the same but buried itself 5" into the wax. That is a sizeable difference as the wax is very dense, stopping most of those loads in less than 10" without the bones and gel! His comment was that "The recovered slug looked almost good enough to be loaded and fired again."
Click to expand...

That's very interesting! Thanks for sharing the info, good sir!
 
Okay I cut a couple open and they are in fact very light and shiny compared to the dull, dark-colored Super X.
Does this mean the lead is harder?

kagia said:
Good video.
I'm interested to see how the others perform.

Will you be testing the new Score slugs?

I just picked up a case of 1oz and a case of 1 1/8oz.

I'd like to see how deep they penetrate, but I'm not expecting great results. The lead itself looks like it may be a bit harder, but the hollow point seems more aggressive than the Super X. Bigger, deeper cavity.

I might cut a couple open when I get home and see what the whole slug looks like.
Click to expand...
 
Brobee -- Nice work...I'll be waiting to see further testing episodes. BTW, your Hickok-style woods walk is a hoot.

This thread interests me as I have not only a Ruger Scout, but also a Gibbs Frontier in .45-70 and of course a CA Grizzly shorty. It will be a fun exercise to determine which is the best one for [wait for it...]...BEAR DEFENSE!
 
kagia - have you been able to field or range test any of the score slugs? just picked up a bundle and wondering, like you, how they hold up. Also noticed how the 1-oz are recessed considerably from the lip of the shell, compared to other brands.

cheers!
 
i have fired the remington sabot slugs meant for rifled bores through a rifled choke on paper and they appeared to tumble . i would imagine not enough rifling to spin them . has anyone had good results firing these or any other brand with a rifled choke ?
 
Based on the simple numbers, slugs are in no way a match for a rifle in terms of either penetration or energy. At close range, they offer no advantage over a rifle in terms of the required precision of fire.

I feel strongly that if slugs were an excellent choice for close encounters with dangerous game, either fresh or wounded, that legions of African PH's would arm themselves so. The only stories I can find of PH's using shotguns at all (other than for feathered quarry) is with buckshot on wounded Leopard. (I stand to be corrected here, as the fascination with African DG hunting is new to me.)

Not to detract in any way from your thread Brobee, as I really enjoy your YouTube stuff. Please forgive me if I chuckle when your narrative style reminds me a little of Red Green LOL!

@ GunGuy34: I haven't owned a 45/70 in several years, but I have some brass, and some AWESOME linotype hard-cast bullets left from that... for sure have some appropriate powder as well. When we get a chance to meet up, I'll cook you up some test rounds to try. The loads I shot from my Marlin Guide Gun were... stout. Certainly moreso than any slug you can buy.
 
Silverado said:
Based on the simple numbers, slugs are in no way a match for a rifle in terms of either penetration or energy. At close range, they offer no advantage over a rifle in terms of the required precision of fire.

I feel strongly that if slugs were an excellent choice for close encounters with dangerous game, either fresh or wounded, that legions of African PH's would arm themselves so. The only stories I can find of PH's using shotguns at all (other than for feathered quarry) is with buckshot on wounded Leopard. (I stand to be corrected here, as the fascination with African DG hunting is new to me.)

Not to detract in any way from your thread Brobee, as I really enjoy your YouTube stuff. Please forgive me if I chuckle when your narrative style reminds me a little of Red Green LOL!

@ GunGuy34: I haven't owned a 45/70 in several years, but I have some brass, and some AWESOME linotype hard-cast bullets left from that... for sure have some appropriate powder as well. When we get a chance to meet up, I'll cook you up some test rounds to try. The loads I shot from my Marlin Guide Gun were... stout. Certainly moreso than any slug you can buy.
Click to expand...

Just sold my Marlin to a friend who fell in love with it. :)
 
Great video Brobee. I have shot a number of bears with foster slugs and at least one of them was with the Winchester slug. I had considerably different results too, but I was closer to 25 yards with one shot in particular that completely passed through the bear. I think the 1 oz slugs are ok if you are not too close as they slow down considerably at that range and thus deform less and penetrate more. No one can guarantee the distance at which they are going to shoot a bear unless they are shooting from a tree stand and thus I agree that tougher slugs are much better for nasty bears. Challengers and such are the way to go for commercially loaded slugs. I did shoot an injured moose at about 25 meters with an Imperial long range 7/8 ounce slug with full penetration to surprisingly. Once again though, the slug would have slowed down and impacted at a much slower speed than a one once slug at 7 yards. Had to shoot a rotweiller (sp?) with the same slug at about 10 feet once too with completely different, and very intensely scary results. I only buy Challengers for personal use.
 
saskcop said:
Great video Brobee. I have shot a number of bears with foster slugs and at least one of them was with the Winchester slug. I had considerably different results too, but I was closer to 25 yards with one shot in particular that completely passed through the bear. I think the 1 oz slugs are ok if you are not too close as they slow down considerably at that range and thus deform less and penetrate more. No one can guarantee the distance at which they are going to shoot a bear unless they are shooting from a tree stand and thus I agree that tougher slugs are much better for nasty bears. Challengers and such are the way to go for commercially loaded slugs. I did shoot an injured moose at about 25 meters with an Imperial long range 7/8 ounce slug with full penetration to surprisingly. Once again though, the slug would have slowed down and impacted at a much slower speed than a one once slug at 7 yards. Had to shoot a rotweiller (sp?) with the same slug at about 10 feet once too with completely different, and very intensely scary results. I only buy Challengers for personal use.
Click to expand...

I got a few boxes of the Canadian made Challengers and I swear by them! However, the Winchester Rackmasters aren't too shabby in the accuracy department either:

Here's a couple fired from a smoothbore with IM choke at 25 meters using simple iron sights. Winchester Rackmaster Rifled Slug, 12 gauge, 3 inch, 1 1/8 oz, Muzzle Velocity: 1700 fps

5947590346_ce65765a51_z.jpg
 
Silverado said:
Based on the simple numbers, slugs are in no way a match for a rifle in terms of either penetration or energy. At close range, they offer no advantage over a rifle in terms of the required precision of fire.

I feel strongly that if slugs were an excellent choice for close encounters with dangerous game, either fresh or wounded, that legions of African PH's would arm themselves so. The only stories I can find of PH's using shotguns at all (other than for feathered quarry) is with buckshot on wounded Leopard. (I stand to be corrected here, as the fascination with African DG hunting is new to me.)

Not to detract in any way from your thread Brobee, as I really enjoy your YouTube stuff. Please forgive me if I chuckle when your narrative style reminds me a little of Red Green LOL!

@ GunGuy34: I haven't owned a 45/70 in several years, but I have some brass, and some AWESOME linotype hard-cast bullets left from that... for sure have some appropriate powder as well. When we get a chance to meet up, I'll cook you up some test rounds to try. The loads I shot from my Marlin Guide Gun were... stout. Certainly moreso than any slug you can buy.
Click to expand...
The advantage for me personally is I carry my benelli m4 in backcountry.
I can load up 7 three inch slugs, (8 2 3/4 slugs, as it can have an extra on the carrier) and with ghost ring sights I am far far quicker at close range targets than a rifle, plus the piston auto system makes follow up shots much quicker than any other rifle equivalent I've ever shot. The recoil is so low it's laughable. My 10 year old nephew was blasting away with it and had no issues.
I can put 7 shots through basically the same hole in less than 2 seconds at close range.

The only thing that I could think would be better would be a semi 308, like a hk g3 or similar. But then you're down to 6 rounds max. And I can't think of many suitable, good quality semi 308's that would fit that criteria.
So yes the rifle rounds would be better ballistics. But you'd have to be bloody quick with a bolt or lever to get off more than one round at close range.
So right now for me the semi 12g is the best all around.
 
What firearm you have or wish to carry is certainly a factor. It's not hard to shoot very quickly with a lever or pump action rifle with a little practice, and only a little harder to master a bolt. Not as quick as a semi obviously, but plenty quick enough I think.

As to a semi in 308, an M305S would make a good candidate, and not expensive.
 
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