Recommendations for Rifled Slugs for Whitetail?

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Kirk_Ferentz

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Feb 16, 2010
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Happy to be planning for my first deer hunt in way too long. It's a shotgun season. In the past, I just used Remington or Winchester whatever, and found them to be accurate and hard-hitting enough for my purposes, so I tend to think that spending a lot of cash on the more expensive loads may not be necessary. But I have largely lost touch with the latest and greatest in ammo during my hiatus from hunting.

Typically will be in wooded areas where 100 yards is about the max range due to visibility and terrain, but I now have a 12 gauge that can take 3'' magnum loads (Remington 11-87), so I suppose extended range could be one consideration. But more important is something that is accuracy and flat trajectory inside the 100 or so yard range and reliability in terms of bringing down the game. Hopefully they will be used on some big Iowa whitetails.

Let me know what you think. Thanks in advance.
 
While you can probably kill anything with anything if you've been away from it for a while the following work well for me;

Fully RIFLED barrel
3-9X scope
Good trigger
WW Partition Gold 260 gr - 2000 fps in 20 ga 3"
using a H & R Ultra Slug gun

I was contemplating buying a RIFLED DSM barrel for my 1187 SP several years ago when someone suggested to be sure and look at 20 ga ballistics and when I did went the route above..absent the scope I'm in well below MSRP on the Remington rifled barrel.

As for you. I'd suggest at least getting a rifled Rem choke, some Remington Slugger rifled slugs..>1750 fps and they claims 25% flatter than regular 12 3" mag and try them out. They shot very well in my H & R and are not premium priced.

I'm old and cheap so I would not recommend you shooting everything made for a smooth bore although I did so when looking for the "right" load....cost and your shoulder will not love you as a lot of slugs from the bench will make you pay in more ways than one.

Good luck and glad to hear you're back at it. While not as good as grand kids, time afield are some of my best memories.
 
Interesting ... I probably could coax my girlfriend into letting me take her 20 gauge rem. 870 which will take 3'' loads, but I would lose the rifle sights of my 11-87's slug barrel.

Rifled barrel ain't going to happen. I'm confident enough in rifled slugs, and I have seen some good tests where the performance is pretty similar to sabot slugs.

I have yet to cycle any 3'' slugs through my gun, although I did put some 3'' magnum doulbe-ought buck loads through and it was almost comical how much that gun kicked. Most kick of any gun that I have every shot, by far. And my 11-87 is far from light.

I will check out the sluggers.
 
My 870 actually shoots better with rifled slugs than with sabots through the rifled barrel. I found the federals and the winchester sabots that I bought to be disappointing, especially for the price. I get the best accuracy (about 5" groups @100 yards) with the 3" remington rifled slugs through either the 28" smooth bore or the 20" rifled barrel. Many will say that the 3" aren't worth the extra recoil for marginal velocity gains. I still shoot them though, but they do kick more. I have no desire to spend a bunch of money trying out every sabot on the market to see if one shoots good or not, so I'll just stick with the inexpensive rifled slugs.

One thing to note about the lead slugs: I guided a junior hog hunt last year and the kid I was with dropped a hog with a nice shot right behind the shoulder. He went to dispatch the hog (180 lb or so boar) with his 12 guage rifled slug, shot it right into the shoulder plate at about 5 feet away. When we skinned it, the slug had just burried itself into the shoulder plate of the hog. Basically, it went through about 2" of hide/fat and stopped. On a positive note, it did mushroom nicely against the bone and didn't fragment all over the place. This is probably not a problem on deer.
 
Last year I used cheap Remington "Slugster" rifled slugs from Wal-Mart.

The deer I killed didn't seem to complain. :)
 
Planetcat said:
My 870 actually shoots better with rifled slugs than with sabots through the rifled barrel. I found the federals and the winchester sabots that I bought to be disappointing, especially for the price. I get the best accuracy (about 5" groups @100 yards) with the 3" remington rifled slugs through either the 28" smooth bore or the 20" rifled barrel. Many will say that the 3" aren't worth the extra recoil for marginal velocity gains. I still shoot them though, but they do kick more. I have no desire to spend a bunch of money trying out every sabot on the market to see if one shoots good or not, so I'll just stick with the inexpensive rifled slugs.

One thing to note about the lead slugs: I guided a junior hog hunt last year and the kid I was with dropped a hog with a nice shot right behind the shoulder. He went to dispatch the hog (180 lb or so boar) with his 12 guage rifled slug, shot it right into the shoulder plate at about 5 feet away. When we skinned it, the slug had just burried itself into the shoulder plate of the hog. Basically, it went through about 2" of hide/fat and stopped. On a positive note, it did mushroom nicely against the bone and didn't fragment all over the place. This is probably not a problem on deer.
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Are there non-lead rifled slugs? I think I have seen copper. I know there are non-lead sabots, but not sure if rifled as well. And does this mean you are recommending the non-lead rifled?

It's good to know since I have been itching to go hunt hogs despite the fact that I have yet to purchase a high powered rifle. I was thinking that 12 gauge 3'' magnums would be plenty for smaller hogs, and the fact that my 11-87 can hold at least 6 3'' rounds helps.
 
AFAIK all the copper slugs are in a sabot and require a rifled barrel.They are very effective !
 
I use a Hastings rifled barrel on an old Belgian Browning auto 5 that put in a synthetic stock with Federal 1 oz. 2 3/4 Barnes Expander slugs

Simply fantastic shoot them in the shoulder its like lightening strikeing
 
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mete said:
AFAIK all the copper slugs are in a sabot and require a rifled barrel.They are very effective !
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Yeah, what mete said. Sorry I wasn't clear:
Sabots = bullet like, usually jacketed, bonded, and/or all copper.
Slugs = rifled lead slugs, usually the cupped type with rifled grooves on the outside to make it spin and weigh about 300 grains.

I've seen the Remington sluggsters lead rifled slugs drop a 250 lb. sow at 100 yards like a sack of oats. They are effective, I just think that they probably won't break big shoulder or hip bones. I think everyone would agree that sabots are better all around. I was just pissed because they shot poorly out of my 870 rifled barrel which I bought specifically for that purpose. I might break down and try some federal sabots to see if they shoot better. The sabots are faster, better penetrating, and supposed to be more accurate.

So to answer your original question, if you have a smooth bore, you only have one choice of slug - standard, old school rifled lead slugs. Economical and effective, proven design. If you have a rifled barrel (which I think you said you don't have one), then I would try both types - sabots or rifled slugs to see which shoots best. Regardless, I like big game hunting with a shotgun, despite the range limitations. Hopefully you'll see for yourself soon on how good they work.;)
 
It's a slug barrel with rifle sights, but smoothbore, not rifled.

I'm also going to throw some triple ought buck magnum rounds in the pocket for approaching a downed animal that might get up and make a break for it. I know people in the south use buckshot--I wouldn't use it for a primary load, but I figure that dispatching the already wounded animal as soon as possible is probably the most humane thing, and I'd rather have some buckshot in there if aiming at a moving target.
 
Kirk, in every smooth bore I've tried the 2-3/4" slugs were considerably more accurate than the 3" mags, and being faster, the 3 inchers slow down quicker. Past about 50 yds. there is not much difference. Accuracy is more important than that extra 100 fps.

The tests I've seen in magazine articles pretty much all agree that slugs from a smooth bore lose accuracy very quickly past about 80 yards, regardless how accurate they are at closer ranges. They destabilize and start shooting patterns rather than groups.
 
I've got a Mossberg 110 bolt action 12 with a leupold mark II that I use the barnes expanders thru. Flat out scary what that round will do to deer. On a side note that I bet a lot of people will call BS on but I will post a pic of the target if I can fine it. That combo will cloverleaf at 100 yards!! Pretty amazing I thought for a shotgun.
 
black mamba said:
Kirk, in every smooth bore I've tried the 2-3/4" slugs were considerably more accurate than the 3" mags, and being faster, the 3 inchers slow down quicker. Past about 50 yds. there is not much difference. Accuracy is more important than that extra 100 fps.

The tests I've seen in magazine articles pretty much all agree that slugs from a smooth bore lose accuracy very quickly past about 80 yards, regardless how accurate they are at closer ranges. They destabilize and start shooting patterns rather than groups.
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Hmmm makes me wonder if I should just go with the 2 3/4'' Remington High Velocity Sluggers ... they come in at 1800 f.p.s. with the lighter 7/8 oz. slug. Or do you think it is better just to go with the conventional 1 oz. slower slugs?
 
I think they're cheap enough that you should try out a few and see which shoot best. Abble's ammo has all the major brands plus PMC and Estate rifled slugs for under $4 a box. Like mamba said, the gain of high velocity of 3" over standard 2-3/4" is negligible. Once you have a round that you feel is the best, you can stock up and be confident in the way that it shoots every time. Also, try to get a feel for "bullet drop" on these. We sight in at 100 yards and have missed 40 yards shots because the slug arcs so much, it is much higher at close range than a standard rifle bullet.
 
Planetcat said:
I think they're cheap enough that you should try out a few and see which shoot best. Abble's ammo has all the major brands plus PMC and Estate rifled slugs for under $4 a box. Like mamba said, the gain of high velocity of 3" over standard 2-3/4" is negligible. Once you have a round that you feel is the best, you can stock up and be confident in the way that it shoots every time. Also, try to get a feel for "bullet drop" on these. We sight in at 100 yards and have missed 40 yards shots because the slug arcs so much, it is much higher at close range than a standard rifle bullet.
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yeah I will definitely try to do this, although I am limited in a lot of ways (most of all, time) in terms of testing out loads. Hopefully I will be able to get my hands on some of the remington loads and get a feel for the arc, which I know is important, especially when you are testing the slug's range.
 
If they are dead on at 100, then about 45-50 will be the highest point of their trajectory.
I'd sight them 2-1/2 to 3" high at 50, but then shoot a couple at 100 to see where they fall,
and if they're still accurate enough to shoot at that range.
 
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