Shotgun with Slugs

[cancerbeater]

I recently had to hang up my rifle now that I will not be hunting out west this year. I am going to start hunting NJ and obviously cant use the 30-06 here.
My question is, Im probably going to get a Remington 870 or a Benelli 12ga. I need a good slug to go along with it. I shoot a Federal 1oz Rifled Slug Police series at work and it has about 6in drop at 200 yds but I dont know the fps or any of the specifics.
I need a good slug. Any help would be great.

[Pagrizz]

There are alot of good slugs on the market .Lightfields, Hornady, Federal Barnes X bullet, and Winchester ,but you have to try some of each to see what your gun likes.When I had my shop people would think I was just trying to make a bigger sale until they found out I was telling them the truth.You can have two of the same make of guns and they will not shoot the same slug.

[Nitrous SwampRat]

dont over look a 20 ga. lighter gun , lighter recoil. and inside 125 yards the 20 ga slug is just as deadly as the 12 ga slug ( my own honest opinion).
some rounds in the 20 are flatter shooting as well than the 12 ga slugs.

Nick

[ACEarcher]

I agree 100% w/ pagrizz. Rvery gun likes something different. The best thing is to try out several brands and see how they shoot.

[Setterman]

I would pick the GUN you like first, then tailor your selection of slugs to see what it shoots the best. There are multitudes of slug varieties to pick from today. Someone once said; "Only accurate rifles are interesting rifles". The same should be said of a slug gun.

[Rickhem]

I've gone through a few exercises like you are about to undergo. Slug Barrels are like .22s in that each has a specific preference for what it seems to like best. Those Federal Tactical slugs are the low recoil ones, right? They will work just fine to hunt with, although you might want to recheck the part about 6 inch drop at 200 yards. Shotgun slugs are not very efficient ballistically, and out past 125 yards the trajectory starts falling off fast.....real fast. Getting a slug barrel for one of the shotguns you mentioned is probably your best bet. And if you are going to do that, then get one with a rifled barrel, and a scope mount on the barrel. Once you have your slug gun decision made, you'll just have to go out and try a variety of different slugs to see which ones group best for you. That is both painful to your wallet, and to your shoulder, but it's really the only way to know for sure. Then again, if your tactical slugs will hold under 5 inches at 100 yards, you could save yourself a lot of aggrivation and expense by sticking with them.

[H&R slugger]

ive had great results with the hornady sst's. lightfields grouped ok. but again you have to find what "your" gun will shoot. iam shooting an h&r ultra slugger 12 ga. and with the sst's its a tack driver at 100yds. my pops fully rifled mossberg 500 doesnt like the sst's. it likes the lightfields better. the cool thing about the lightfields is you can hear them zipping down the barrel. and they punch i nice hole, wish my gun would shoot them better

[bighunter301]

HAve to agree about the mossburg and the lightfields. took a lot of time at the range and tweeking this and that but the lightfield exp 2 3/4 1 oz flys straight out of my moss. 500 with rifled barrell. I have a 2 inch group at 100 yards and have killed many deer out at 125 yards with this set-up.
But 125 yards is the most I would try and get out of my slug gun 200 yards is quite far.

[jross]

I had at least one tumbler with Coppersolids, Lightfields, Winchester Partition Golds, Brennekie's, Federal Sabots, but no tumblers with Remington Buckhammers. Mossberg Gold Crown 20 ga. I say tumbler because unless the hole is round, either the slug is tumbling or the sabot has not discarded. An hourglass hole with Lightfields is a dead giveaway and finding sabots further than 20 yards indicates at least one half stayed on the slug too long, unless one is using impact discarding sabots.

[Flintlock]

I have had real good luck with nice groups out of my Mossberg 835 with a fully rifled barrel/scope using the lightfield EXPs. It really put out some nice groups at 100 yards.:shoot:

[The Ridge]

I used 3" Remington's one day at the range could not hit the broad side of a barn at 50 or 75 yds. Changed back to the Rem 23/4" right on target.I have had nothing but bad results with the 3" slugs no matter on what mfg.
I do very little if any slug hunting anymore since I can use my muzzy but will always stick with the 23/4" shells.I have shot Federal and Rem's out of my Remington 870 with a screw in rifle choke and scope and both shot the same.

[booner]

I shoot a mossberg 9200 cantilever. The best slugs I have shot out of that gun are 2-3/4 Remington copper solids.

[baccala]

I recently bought a Savage Bolt Action Slug Warrior. I absolutely love it. I had been shooting a pump gun which had a fully rifled barrel. The Savage Slug Warrior handles much better and the recoil is markedly better. The price at Cabela's is excellent too. The accuracy is exceptional. I would highly recommend this gun. If you wanted something different, I could also recommend a Benelli semi-auto with the fully rifled barrel. Check out the price on that gun and you'll pick the Savage every time. I'm currently shooting a Federal Barnes Expander HP sabot slug. They don't make that exact sabot anymore. When I run out I plan to switch to the new Winchester XP3 slug. It shoots a 300 gr slug at 2000 fps. Its very accurate but the recoil is brutal. That being said, I never notice recoil while shooting at game, only notice it at the range.

[Pagrizz]

I recently bought a Savage Bolt Action Slug Warrior. I absolutely love it. I had been shooting a pump gun which had a fully rifled barrel. The Savage Slug Warrior handles much better and the recoil is markedly better. The price at Cabela's is excellent too. The accuracy is exceptional. I would highly recommend this gun. If you wanted something different, I could also recommend a Benelli semi-auto with the fully rifled barrel. Check out the price on that gun and you'll pick the Savage every time. I'm currently shooting a Federal Barnes Expander HP sabot slug. They don't make that exact sabot anymore. When I run out I plan to switch to the new Winchester XP3 slug. It shoots a 300 gr slug at 2000 fps. Its very accurate but the recoil is brutal. That being said, I never notice recoil while shooting at game, only notice it at the range.They still make the Federal Barnes Expander HP.I just bought ten boxes of them.

[Pagrizz]

I used 3" Remington's one day at the range could not hit the broad side of a barn at 50 or 75 yds. Changed back to the Rem 23/4" right on target.I have had nothing but bad results with the 3" slugs no matter on what mfg.
I do very little if any slug hunting anymore since I can use my muzzy but will always stick with the 23/4" shells.I have shot Federal and Rem's out of my Remington 870 with a screw in rifle choke and scope and both shot the same.Try Lightfield slugs with your screw in choke.I shot them for years before I bought a fully rifled barrel.I could shoot cloverleafs at 75 yards.

[jross]

My buddy and I each dropped a buck in their tracks with 20 ga. 2 3/4 buckhammers.

[Liv2hunt]

Just don't shoot rifled slugs through rifled barrels, the unmatched twists of the barrel and slug are like throwing a knuckle ball;)

[KILBO]

Just don't shoot rifled slugs through rifled barrels, the unmatched twists of the barrel and slug are like throwing a knuckle ball;)

I shoot a Rem. 1100 with a rifled barrel and shoot 2 3/4 Brenneke's. I get great groups with this set up and made one of my longests kill shot ( 196 paces ) on a whitetail this year.:thup: Now before anyone starts yelling about the distance:eek: I practice with this gun and many others a lot during the year. I felt very confident in the shot and was resting the gun. Now as far as shooting a rifled slug in a rifled barrel you will get lead fowling in between the grooves of your barrel rifling so you will have to clean your gun more than you would shooting sabots. I'm willing to put in the elbow grease on cleaning for the accuracy I get from the Brenneke's.:D

BRIAN

[Liv2hunt]

KILBO, hey whatever works for you. Years ago I aquired a large amount of rifled slugs when my department switched to the AR-15 rifle. Shot decent in my Mossberg 835 w/cantalevered scope mount rifled barrel, but the groups were far from what others were getting and there were occasional oddballs out of the grouping. I blamed it on myself, even though I shoot really well with everything else I own.

Did a little reaserch and felt like an idiot when I heard about the rifling / slug twist difference. It made since to me, just never crossed my mind before. Example: 1 in 48" barrel shooting 1 in 24" slug. I feel like the barrel controls the spin while its in the barrel, but the rotation tries to change speed when the slug rifling hits the air...the knuckle ball affect I mentioned. I'm no expert, but also, do all slugs and barrels have the same rotation direction? That would really be a knuckle ball.

This year I switched to sabots and it instantly changed everything, 4 shots at 100yds all touching each other. Maybe your barrel and slugs just happen to have the same twist, which sounds like it would be the best of both worlds.

The last gunsmith I talked to about it laughed and said smooth bores bets rifled slugs and rifled barrels get sabots.

Oh yea, 196yds!! your the man:thup:

[KILBO]

Hey Liv2hunt it's possible because the guy I bought the gun from said that he had someone custom make the barrel for him. He told me that it was deadly with Brenneke's so that what I stuck with. I still might try out some sabots with it someday just to see how they perform. It sure is a pleasure to be able to shoot cheaper slugs and get great groups thou.Thanks for the compliment, 196 yds is a pretty far shot with a slug gun so I don't think I'll be able to top that anytime soon. As a side note I want to just say that if anyone is thinking about taking far shots like this that you owe it to yourself and the game you hunt to practice shooting long range shots at different distances. Only take shots that you know you can make and you'll never regret taking those shots. Happy Hunting,

BRIAN

[jross]

Two shots, two bucks dead in their tracks with 20 ga Buckhammers, at ten and 40 yards. Mossberg 500 20 ga and Encore 20 ga.

[guzzo1bowhunter]

iv got a benelli super nova pump12 ga, rifled barrel with federal peremium slugs. I shot my deer this yeaar at 140 yards. puts wounds in it the size of my fist