Which shotgun to slug hunt with?

OldSavage

OldSavage

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I am getting more serious into deer hunting and want to start target shooting and determining what load to use and what distances I could take an ethical shot.

I would like to have a scope installed on the gun i'll be using. Here are the options I have in the stable:

1. Winchester SXP Waterfowl with an 28" barrel.
2. Old Mossberg/Lakefield 500 with a cut down 18 inch barrel threaded for chokes. I bought the barrel on the EE and have yet to shoot it as it has no sight (not even a bead).

I may go out for goose once or twice this fall and I intend on using the SXP which may complicate things if I have a scope on it. The SXP is also my turkey gun and it wouldn't be a bad idea if it had a scope. I have a beretta silver pigeon V I could use for geese if I had too.

I will need to have the shotguns drilled and tapped but do not want to pay to have both done.

Your thoughts?
 
Take them both out and bench shoot them to see which shoots best. You might find one or the other can't hold a tight group.

You could also just purchase a dedicated slug gun with a rifled barrel. Search around enough and you could probably find one, with a scope, for $300 brand new (H&R possibly?)

Epps lists them at $265 for just the gun. I know ive seen packages for not much more then that
 
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I would think that a longer barreled shotgun shooting slugs would give you more distance and accuracy . The shorter barrel would give you less weight , and would be easier to move into firing position in dense brush........it might be a trade off depending on where you are planning to hunt , but neither smooth bore is ideal for slugs......
 
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Buy an h&r slug hunter and keep your gun for they intended purpose or buy a slug barrel for you mossberg. Hunting with the right equipment is not cheap. The sxp is back bored and slugs are not recommended.
 
Thank you for the advice. I'm not looking to buy another gun at this time as I have these two sitting in the cabinet. For the type of hunting I do a smoothbore will suffice.

The manual, and winchester themselves state that these barrels are fine for shooting slugs. I believe it's the larger backbored barrels like the mossberg 835 where the issue is.

pbonura said:
Buy an h&r slug hunter and keep your gun for they intended purpose or buy a slug barrel for you mossberg. Hunting with the right equipment is not cheap. The sxp is back bored and slugs are not recommended.
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The longer barrel. Foster slogs are not that accurate beyond 30-40 meters. Brenneke type are a bit better. longer barrel helps.
 
One more thing. If you are going to pick a rifled slog barrel like some posters have suggested, why not spend a little more and get a dedicated economy deer rifle? There are some good ones in the market right now, which will not cost you a lot more than a new rifled barrel + some sort of sights. Marlin X7 goes for $360 at Epps and Savage 11/111 combo with a basic but functional Weaver scope for $499 (I think) at Al Flahety's. Both competent rifles.
 
shot your 500 with cheap rifled slugs like challengers or rackmasters even Winchester cheapys you can get at wallmart .thy may shot a lot better then you think 75 to 80 yards should not be a big problem I have the same gun for dogging this year .Dutch you can have a bead put on it for less then 20 $
 
Home3 said:
One more thing. If you are going to pick a rifled slog barrel like some posters have suggested, why not spend a little more and get a dedicated economy deer rifle? There are some good ones in the market right now, which will not cost you a lot more than a new rifled barrel + some sort of sights. Marlin X7 goes for $360 at Epps and Savage 11/111 combo with a basic but functional Weaver scope for $499 (I think) at Al Flahety's. Both competent rifles.
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in Southern Ontario you can only hunt deer with bow, black powder or shotgun so depending where he's hunting, the deer rifle doesn't do him any good.
 
You make a good point but I should have specified that I was referring to the shotgun hunt. I have some great moose rifles that would double for deer but only hunt deer with the bow or shotgun. If given the choice between a shotgun and rifle I'd be packing a rifle no matter what the cost difference.
Home3 said:
One more thing. If you are going to pick a rifled slog barrel like some posters have suggested, why not spend a little more and get a dedicated economy deer rifle? There are some good ones in the market right now, which will not cost you a lot more than a new rifled barrel + some sort of sights. Marlin X7 goes for $360 at Epps and Savage 11/111 combo with a basic but functional Weaver scope for $499 (I think) at Al Flahety's. Both competent rifles.
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I actually decided to go with the Mossberg. Main reason is I love that SXP and don't want to have to remove the scope and mount every time I want to use it for waterfowl and what have you. I have the Silver Pigeon which I use for trap, skeet, and sporting clays but its nice to have the SXP as a back up or loaner gun. I won the SXP at a DU dinner and I never thought I'd like a pump but it is by far the nicest one I've shot yet. The Mossberg was also free and in fair condition. I sent it in today to be drilled and tapped. I used the SXP last year with a simple rib mounted sighting system. It was ok but this could also be a result of my eyes and inexperience with iron sites.

The 1300/SXP is an extremely underrated pump for the price. I find the quality much better than the Mossberg's, Remington's, Weatherby's etc... As good as a Wingmaster or Nova but at the end of the day it's still a pump.

TheCoachZed said:
My Winchester 1300 is hell on wheels with 1 oz lead Winchester brand Foster slugs, with either a 28-inch duck barrel or an 18-inch slug barrel. It's more accurate than several rifles I've owned. I would try that SXP and see what happens.
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I just hit a 12 inch plate at 100 yards 3 out of 3 aiming at tye top of the plate with bead sight. That was with cheap super x slugs. Brennekes performed best in my SXP using the stock mod choke.

I'll get this trapped into a rest and see what she can do in a few weeks at 100 yards.
 
I ended up buying the following slugs to test:

1) Federal Deep Penetrator Truball 2-3/4 $1.10 per slug
2) Rottweil Xact (Brenneke style) 2-3/4 - $1.60 per slug
3) Challenger (Brenneke Style) 2-3/4 - $2.00 per slug
4) Kent Ten Point (Brenneke Style) - $2.20 per slug
5) Rem Sluggers 3" (foster) - $1.20 per slug
6) Rem Sluggers High Velocity 3"(foster) - $1.20 per slug
7) Winchester Super X 3" (foster) - $1.40 per slug
8) Winchester Rack Master 3" (brenneke) - $2.00 per slug
9) Seller Belliot Super Slug 2-5/8 (foster) - $0.80 per slug

The slugs within the Challengers and Rottweils look almost identical although the Rottweils are cheaper. The Kents look like the same slug that Score is using but much more expensive.

My money is one the Truball's. We'll see
 
OldSavage said:
I ended up buying the following slugs to test:

1) Federal Deep Penetrator Truball 2-3/4 $1.10 per slug
2) Rottweil Xact (Brenneke style) 2-3/4 - $1.60 per slug
3) Challenger (Brenneke Style) 2-3/4 - $2.00 per slug
4) Kent Ten Point (Brenneke Style) - $2.20 per slug
5) Rem Sluggers 3" (foster) - $1.20 per slug
6) Rem Sluggers High Velocity 3"(foster) - $1.20 per slug
7) Winchester Super X 3" (foster) - $1.40 per slug
8) Winchester Rack Master 3" (brenneke) - $2.00 per slug
9) Seller Belliot Super Slug 2-5/8 (foster) - $0.80 per slug

The slugs within the Challengers and Rottweils look almost identical although the Rottweils are cheaper. The Kents look like the same slug that Score is using but much more expensive.

My money is one the Truball's. We'll see
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NICE variety. So far the Rottwell Brenneke is the best in mine, but I haven't tried all the ones you have. I will definitely pay attention... Cheers!
 
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