Slug on deer question

K

kx592

New member
I was sighting in a cheap moss. 500 field deer combo rifled barrel at the range, used copper solids and got inconsistent patterns, but they were all within 3-4" of center so would that be enough to aim center vitals of a deer and not have to worry about it living to long if i hit a bit high? I would imagine it would be to devastating to not have a great effect on the deer but iv been wrong before.

Also i do plan to try a new scope and give it another go for tighter groups but would still like to know about how its set up now.
 
Try a different brand. Since you have a rifled barrel, you need to stick with sabot slugs which, unfortunately, are more expensive. The exception is the Brenneke KO slugs which can be used in either a smoothbore or a rifled barrel.

Slug barrels tend to be fairly notorious for preferring one brand of ammo over another. It pays to try several.
 
At what range?

3-4" of center would be 6-8 inch groups. 6 inches is very marginal for deer, particularly when those groups were shot under ideal conditions and not real hunting situations.

Your gun should be able to do better than that at 100 yards, and maybe 150 but don't get high hopes.

I have been disappointed by the accuracy performance of sabot slugs at distances beyond 75 yards. I haven't personally seen a gun yet that will group ANY slug acceptably beyond 125 yards.

You should be able to achieve 4 inch groups at 100 yards, at least.
 
I have to agree with Doyle. There are many high performance sabot slugs out now and yes they do seem to be gun specific. It will definetly be a costly experiment but once you find the type your gun favors, you're in. You may save a few bucks getting them now in the off season. Don't waste your money on the 3" slugs if you're using a pump action, they will rip your freak'in shoulder off.

If you get the gun scoped, get a decent one as the modern sabot slugs have pretty stout recoil.

Just a comment on Peetza's reply, I disagree with your assesment of slug throwing shotguns. I have a 20 gauge H&R Ultra Slugger that is darn accurate with Winchester Partition Golds. I have taken a dozen or so deer with it and half of those over 100 yards. The longest was 164 yards that was hit with a range finder before it took a slug in the pump station.
 
I small group of use tried sighting in our slug guns a couple years ago and like some others found that none of the sabots were that great at long distance and then tried the remington buck slammer and it shot well for all of use. Two guys shoot HIGH dollar autos and i shot and old mossy 500 all rifled and scoped. The remington will do 3" at 100 all day long. I know there is a bunch of new slugs out this year but may not try any more,hurts to much. These are good out to 125 yards. The buck slammers are a full bore slug with a plastic tail to help it fly straight.
 
Smooth bore scoped Mossberg 20 gauge and rifled bore rifle sight Winchester 20 gauge. Both pumps, both shoot Brenneke and Foster slugs into 4" at 100 yards when I do my part. Rifled barrel was an experiment and it now gathers dust as 90% of my shotgunning is with my Mossberg. Most of the rest of my shooting is with my 10 gauge, another story. Sabot not necessary because I have less than 130 yards visibility in my hunting ground and average shot will be within 60 yards. Only if I have to go someplace where 100+ is common would I drag out the Winchester and the sabot rounds.
 
I have to wonder how well the expensive sabot slugs are loaded. It seems you can shoot 5-6 slugs @100 yards, and all are in the 2"-3" group except one, which is usually out at 8". I talk to other shooters and hear the same thing about "flyers".
 
Try the Hornady SSTs. They group real nice. My buddy has a scope on his shotgun and shoots 2-3 inch groups at 100 yards. I only have a red dot on mine but shoot 2 inch groups at 50 yards
 
.284 said:
Just a comment on Peetza's reply, I disagree with your assesment of slug throwing shotguns. I have a 20 gauge H&R Ultra Slugger that is darn accurate with Winchester Partition Golds. I have taken a dozen or so deer with it and half of those over 100 yards. The longest was 164 yards that was hit with a range finder before it took a slug in the pump station.
Click to expand...

Yes, but that's a single-shot, breech-loading, as close as you can get to a target rifle in a shotgun, gun.

I'm talking about the guns that 90% of us carry. 11-87, 870, Mossberg.... pumps and autos. They are very finicky and you're lucky if you can shoot 125 yards and should buy a lottery ticket if you can group acceptably at 150.

Most smooth-bore guns will shoot decent groups at 100 yards, so what are you gaining? Trajectory, that's it. Smooth-bore type slugs are usually slower and drop like the bricks that they are, but if you know how your gun shoots you can often do just as well as a sabot gun.... and pay $7 per 15 instead of $15 per 5.
 
Well Peet

Maybe I have a bit of an advantage over most "sluggers". In Michigan, we have 3 zones which are basically the southern lower pennisula. the northern lower pennisula, and the upper pennisula. I have spent a great deal of time hunting the southern zone which is shotgun, muzzleloader, or handguns only. I started with 870 Express and a smooth bore slug barrel. Yes, they are like shooting a bowling ball past 100 yards. I then went to a rifled barrel same gun. The results were better but trajectory was not significantly improved. At that time, I think I used basic Winchester sabot slugs the had a muzzle velocity of about 1300 ft/sec. I started using the Partition Golds and was pleasantly surprised with the results. 1800 ft/sec. made the trajectory better but the accuracy wasn't quite there. I have a buddy that "builds" his own slug guns. He starts with a Rem 1100, adds a Hastings 24" cantilever rifled barrel, mounts a Nikon Monarch 3x9 scope, and then a premium sabot slug. Well, if you're adding this up, he just built a slug gun that is well over a thousand bucks.....Yeah, he has too much money to play with....I don't. I found the H&R Ultra Slugger. The 12 guage is a beast and since I was purchasing the gun for my son, I went with the 20 guage. He hunts mostly "does" these days (if you know what I mean) so, I'm keeping it warm for him. Long story short. I bought the gun new for 250 bucks and added a Leupold VII 2x7 and have about $500.00 in the whole deal. I think the 20 shoots flatter than the 12 and with 1900 ft/sec slugs has plenty of punch. I would recommend this set up to anyone. My big bucks buddy was even a bit jealous.
 
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