200 yard slug?!?!?!??!

T

triggerhappy2006

New member
I heard about this new sabot style slug in some hunting magizine it says it can be shot accuratly up to 200 yards. anyone hear anything about this?? and while we are on the topic anyone hear anything about Hevi Shot Dead Coyote?? Should I just go with buckshot rather than Dead Coyote??
 
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Saboted slugs in a rifles barrel are much more accurate than the old-style "rifled" slugs. A 200-yard shot wouldn't be out of the question but might be pushing the envelope. A scoped, fixed barrel bolt-action slug gun, in my opinion, would be the only gun I would consider this kind of shot from.

Good ol' buckshot is still your best bet as it is much cheaper than that "designer" shot.
 
The sabot rounds are indeed much more accurate than the Foster type at extended ranges. Depending on the brand there is a wide range of velocities available too. In the past 2 years I have shot close to 100 boxes of all the various brands available to test the differences between them and possibly do a research report on the various brands. I shoot 2 guns, a Remington 870 rifled barrel and a Ithaca Deerslayer II, with a fixed, heavy weight rifled barrel, both have 1.5x to 5x scopes installed. From what I have done so far, I have no doubt that a 200 yard shot at a deer is possible. The qualifiers are: The gun needs to be capable of the accuracy needed to hit a deer at that range. Just because you shoot a rifled barrel doesn't mean your barrel has the required accuracy at that range. You will probably have to test several brands to see which ones your gun shoots well enough. I have found that with few exceptions, neither of my guns will shoot the same slug equally. Accuracy wise, I have some groups that are a single (large) hole and under 1 1/2" I have more that go all the way up to 5" or more, all shot with sabots and from a bench. I have no doubt I could, with the right slug effectively hit a deer at 200 yards. The question is, would I try it.. I doubt it. I certainly feel comfortable of the shot at 150 yards, but 200 yards, even though possible, I would try to get closer. Just my opinion of course.
 
The most I would attempt for a long range shot would be 150yrds. Shot gun slugs sabots or otherwise have a tendancy to be highly affected by cross wind, 200yrds is possible under the right conditions, but how many times have you been hunting under perfect conditions?
Famine
 
Might have to reconsider the red dot scope and go for a regular magnification scope if thats true.

Famine:)
 
Saboted slugs are designed for rifled barrels and won't do that well in a smoothbore.....One shooter reported 1" , 100 yd groups with a Browning rifled slug gun and Winchester Partition sabots. The limits are trajectory and velocity drop. Certainly good for 150 yds.
 
One of the things shooters have to remember is that you are still using a shotgun with a "loose barrel" thinner than rifle barrels, fat slugs, fairly low velocities compared to rifles, a lot of freebore and weight variations greater than most rifle bullets. I still have 2 Ithaca, original "deerslayers" with smooth bores. Ithaca was careful in the manufacturing of these barrels to keep them uniform for their length and slightly smaller in bore than a normal shotty barrel. This created a reasonably accurate slug gun, my 12 guage will print almost anything inside of 4 inches and some slugs (Foster) in less. I also have one in 20 guage that shoots better than the 12 consistantly. Just the same, these are really 75 to 100 yard guns at best. My 2 rifled barrels will shoot much better at 100 yards, generally. Even though I KNOW I could tag a deer at 200 yards, it just isn't the kind of shot I want to make. There is a group of slug shooters in a forum that shoot amazing groups at 100 yards with the right equipment. As far as accuracy goes, the only slug brands I have had much luck with in a smoothbore have been the Lightfield and Breneke slugs. For some reason they tend to shoot fairly well in my 2 smooth bores even though designed for rifled barrels, the rest all tumble and hit the target any where from sideways to almost sideways. If you are going to shoot sabots, you must have a rifled barrel to shoot accurately, I have also experimented with 2 rifled choke tubes, but I found the accuracy not really very good.
 
Prior to deer season, I watched alot of guys on the range sighting in their shotguns (all we can use around here)...The best (rifled barrel, sabot slug w/ scope) could shoot about 3" or 3 1/2" groups at 100 yards. Sounds pretty good, huh?

Until you consider that they were shooting off a bench, under ideal conditions. In my experience 3 MOA instantly becomes 6 MOA when you're out in the field, and shooting from various positions.

In short, even with the best shotgun/ammo combo I feel that 100 yards is about the maximum reasonable shot, MAYBE 125 if you have a solid rest, and a real accurate gun.
 
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