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Slug Gun

6K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  Deer Slayer 
#1 ·
I'm looking to buy a 12ga. slug gun sometime in the next year. I'll primarily be using this gun for deer hunting.

Which have you found has been more accurate?... Rifled barrel with sabot slugs or smooth bore barrel with riffled slugs?

Are bolt action slug guns any more accurate than pump action guns? What about auto-loaders?

If I was looking at a more traditional hunting rifle, some of these questions would be a no-brainer, but I don't have experience with slug guns, so I wanted to get some feedback.

What kind of accuracy have you experienced from slug guns you've either owned or shot?
 
#2 ·
What kind of a budget are you on?

Cheap: I would say a Remington 870 with a slug barrel.

Expensive: A Benelli auto-loader will be much easier on your shoulder.

A 1oz hunk of lead isn't the most precise instrument. Most of my slug experience is with 18in smooth bores and I can reliably hit a man sized target square in the chest at 50yds.
 
#3 ·
Im completely sold on Remington shotguns. I have 3 of them but these are my slug guns.

This is a 20 gauge that I use in thick areas, it shoots 1 1/2" groups with Remington copper solids, open sights at 50 yards and less than 3" groups at 100 yards. It had a rifles Remington barrel on it for slug use, this is an outdated picture.


This is my 11-87 12 gauge with leupold scope and it shoots less than 1 1/2" at 100 yards with Lightfield 1 1/2 oz slugs. There are a couple of forum members on here who have witnessed the groups and I have taken a deer at 200 yards with this gun.


Alwats remember, SABOT's for rifled barrels and rifled slugs for smooth bore barrels. I also have a smoothbore 870 12 ga but I really dont trust it past 50 yards for true accuracy. At 100 yards it tends to be too erratic 6"-8" groups and the best load Ive found for it was Breneke KO slugs.
Slug gun accuracy is more about finding the right load for the gun, they are VERY picky sometimes and you should try several brands of slugs to wring out the best from your gun. Lightfield slugs are probably the most accurate slugs you can buy these days but they are not as fast as the wizbang 1900 fps and up 300 grain SST's and such. I will take accuracy over speed anyday though. My Lightfields only drop about 13" at 200 yards with the zero I have on my gun.

I use Remington Copper Solids in the 20 ga because I did a trade deal with someone and got a 150 round case of them..lol
 
#4 ·
This is my favorite one. You can't beat the accuracy of the heavy barrel. It's a 12ga. barrel blank bored to 20.ga. It also comes in 12 ga, which is made from a 10 ga. barrel blank bored to 12.ga. The 12 is very heavy.
I'll get some pics up of it later.

Next would be my 11-87 12 ga. As Itchy said, they are great shooters too.
I shoot mostly Lightfield's out of the Ultra Slugger and shot Brennekes out of the 11-87.
I too, got in on the copper solid deal:D, and just tried them on the Ultra Slugger. I have a target with touching holes at 50 yards, though they shot a little to the left of poa, and the Lightfield's were dead center.
 
#5 ·
In general a rifled shotgun with proper ammunition is going to be more accurate than a smooth bore firing foster style slugs.

I would suggest the OP post this question over at Shotguns and more Shotguns! ShotgunWorld.com is Your Best Source for Shotgun Information forum. The forum has a sub-section specifically for slug guns and there are several very knowledgeable guys there that would be happy to help you get the information you need to get a really good slug gun setup.

mcb
 
#6 ·
This is my favorite one. You can't beat the accuracy of the heavy barrel. It's a 12ga. barrel blank bored to 20.ga. It also comes in 12 ga, which is made from a 10 ga. barrel blank bored to 12.ga. The 12 is very heavy.
I'll get some pics up of it later.

Next would be my 11-87 12 ga. As Itchy said, they are great shooters too.
I shoot mostly Lightfield's out of the Ultra Slugger and shot Brennekes out of the 11-87.
I too, got in on the copper solid deal:D, and just tried them on the Ultra Slugger. I have a target with touching holes at 50 yards, though they shot a little to the left of poa, and the Lightfield's were dead center.
My only slug gun is the H&R ultra in 12 gauge. Heavy. Almost too heavy. Accurate, absolutely. Inexpensive for sure.
Want a semi-auto slug next.
 
#7 ·
The 11-87 12 gauge looks like an excellent gun, but probably a bit out of my price range. I'm really looking at the $300-$400 range. For the last few years I've been casually looking at 870's. They seem to have decent value for the dollar.

1-1/2" to 3" groups at 100 yards is much better than I would have thought from a slug gun. This is definitely the accuracy I would love to have. It sounds like the rifled barrels w/ sabot slugs are really all they are cracked up to be. Where I hunt, there are some areas that are 200ish yards, so having longer range accuracy would definitely be beneficial for me.

I'm not really looking for a single shot gun, so I'm thinking maybe a pump would be right for me. Auto-loaders are nice, but are usually more expensive. For a gun that I'm only going to be using a couple weeks a year, I don't want to sink a ton of money into it.

Should I even consider a bolt action? I'm thinking a pump action w/ a rifled barrel might be what I should be looking for.
 
#11 · (Edited)
The 11-87 12 gauge looks like an excellent gun, but probably a bit out of my price range. I'm really looking at the $300-$400 range. For the last few years I've been casually looking at 870's. They seem to have decent value for the dollar.

1-1/2" to 3" groups at 100 yards is much better than I would have thought from a slug gun. This is definitely the accuracy I would love to have. It sounds like the rifled barrels w/ sabot slugs are really all they are cracked up to be. Where I hunt, there are some areas that are 200ish yards, so having longer range accuracy would definitely be beneficial for me.

I'm not really looking for a single shot gun, so I'm thinking maybe a pump would be right for me. Auto-loaders are nice, but are usually more expensive. For a gun that I'm only going to be using a couple weeks a year, I don't want to sink a ton of money into it.

Should I even consider a bolt action? I'm thinking a pump action w/ a rifled barrel might be what I should be looking for.
Pick up an 870 and you will be more than pleased. The Remington slug barrels from my experience have incredible accuracy and the gun will last for generations. They are a bit heavier than mossberg but they are solid steel, no aluminum or cast. You should be able to pick up a 870 pretty cheap. I would recomend the cantelever barrel so that IF you decide to change barrels, your scope will not have to be resighted (you mentioned 200 yard shots, I assume you meant with a scope). The 870 is truly the one gun that does it al all and you will find more parts than you can even envision. From my experience, they are really good folks to deal with too.
Here is the last 870 I picked up. I found it on gunbroker.com for 160.00, its a 12 gauge. I ended up converting it to a HD gun/coyote gun.
 
#15 ·
I would definatly look into the 870 SP with the cantilever mount. I can group 8-10" @ 200yds with 2 3/4 Winchester Gold Partitions and still have 1000ft lbs of energy at that yardage.

That's what I was shooting out of mine, and it was doing too much damage to the deer. Got sick of the mess it made, if the deer was at the wrong angle, you could nick the guts. Dime size hole in, 2 liter out! The platinums are dime size in, 1 liter out. Much easier to make sure you're not going to hit anything nasty. Looks like the same gun as mine, if I aim a little high, I can hit a CD @ 200 yds. I've got a BSA cat's eye 1.5x-4.5x scope on it. :D

Yeah, nice deer!
 
#16 ·
I went with a Ithaca Model 87 12 ga. with 26" rifled barrel,Put a 3x9-40mm scope on it and no deer has ever made it past my tree.
 
#17 ·
I understand what you mean on those Gold Partions doing some damage with a bad hit, they do put the deer down quick. Also have one nasty kick, so fair warning!! HAHA! Can't wait for the mount to be done. Just for size comparison, I'm 6'3", 210lbs, was a great year. I think as long as you go with any of the rifled barrels and "super slugs" you can't go wrong. I have to tell you I had bought a Mossberg 12 gauge bolt gun before this one and absolutely hated it. Accurate, but worst plastic trigger I'd ever used:) so quickly sold it for this 870. Next year I will have a opensighted slug barrel for weather like this year, scopes suck when its cold an rainy weather like this year!
 
#18 ·
I understand what you mean on those Gold Partions doing some damage with a bad hit, they do put the deer down quick. Also have one nasty kick, so fair warning!! HAHA! Can't wait for the mount to be done. Just for size comparison, I'm 6'3", 210lbs, was a great year. I think as long as you go with any of the rifled barrels and "super slugs" you can't go wrong. I have to tell you I had bought a Mossberg 12 gauge bolt gun before this one and absolutely hated it. Accurate, but worst plastic trigger I'd ever used:) so quickly sold it for this 870. Next year I will have a opensighted slug barrel for weather like this year, scopes suck when its cold an rainy weather like this year![/quote]

Thats why I use 2 slug guns and take them both to the camp with me. One for hunting clearcuts and one for ****ty weather and thicker areas.
 
#19 ·
For as cheap as it is, the fact is hasn't DIED after a few years of use on my 12ga, AND it get's a clear view in ALL weather low light conditions, I give it a 10!!! I would have never expected it with that price point. No fog on the lense, things in low light get CLEARER than my normal vision, and it does great in the snow, fog, or rain. In fact, the deer that I blew the top of her heart off, was a shot I WOULD NOT have taken open sights! I bought the gun used from a friend that shot the golds, and the scope was allready on it. He's smaller than I am, and he almost fell out of the tree trying to shoot it!! I'm 6'3" 320lbs, so I have to build my own tree stands.

The partition platinums are just like partition golds, only controlled expansion. In fact, when I switched, I didn't have to touch my scope. If I were hunting bear, I'd go back to golds. Deer, platinums work great.
 
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