Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Best sabot shotgun slug?

I haven't bought saboted shotgun slugs for several years, now I'm out and need to buy a new supply. Which 2 3/4" saboted slug is the current choice as far as accuracy and killing power? For years I shot Federal with the Hydra-shok point but apparently they're no longer made. Most available now use a jacketed bullet.

I like federal trophy copper. They fly very good for me.

I believe Federal loads a Fusion sabot slug. I use Remington CopperSolids in my rifled 1187 and LightField Lites in my Hasting's barrel 870. YMMV.

Best for my slug gun are Federal 2 3/4" Barnes expanders which are no longer made...I have 10 or so boxes rat holed to last me

Not intending to high jack this, but I just got a deal on a 870 express cantilever rifled slug barrel and may buy a cheap express to experiment with it (found 2 at $200 in good shape...)

What kind of accuracy should I expect out of this barrel? (yards, group,)
Any known slug preferences for Remington 870's or does each barrel have its own preference?

I used Rem AccuTip in my 12 g this past year. They shot better than the Hornady, Winchester, and Fusions I tried for this particular gun…just a sample of one.

I've yet to shoot a slug more accurate than a Remington Accutip. This is based on living in a shotgun only region for 20 years and trying just about every Sabot slug made.

Though the sabot sluga aint cheap, my suggestion would be buy a single box of however many you can afford, and test them in your gun. Once ya find one you like buy as many of them as you can and you'll be set.
Did that with my boys 20ga Mossberg which actually shoots real well. Still have a couple boxes of Winchester Platinum Tips we bought for that. He's taken 4 or 5 deer with it.
As far as sighting goes...depends on where ya hunt. Our shots are USUALLY 50yds or less so we sight dead on at 50. But shoot a target at 100 so we know how far they drop.

I shoot hornadys in my BPS. Flat fast and extremely accurate. Ymmv

Been many moons since I hunted a slugger but I tried the Accutips last year and was quite impressed with how the gun slung them.

I hunt regularly with slugs as most military bases along the east coast limit you to shotguns and slugs. I have shot Hornady SSTs, Winchester Partition Golds and Remington Accu-tip and Copper Solid.

The winning combination I settled on was my 20ga 870, cantilever barrel and Vortex SPARC red dot with the Rem Copper Solids. They have the best mix of accuracy and penetration. And I could buy them at half the price of the accutips.

I would also recommend the winchester partition golds-- absolutely drop deer.

Lastly--- The Hornady's were regularly the most accurate in any platform (Mossberg 500, HR Slugger, and 870) but I found the jackets way to thick to get good expansion and of the 4 deer I killed with them I got small exit wounds and tough tracking (but dead deer in 75m or less).

For years now I've been running the 12 ga. Wichester/BRI 2 & 3/4" sabots with complete satisfaction in my 1987 vintage 870 using a newer Remington fully rifled barrel. I stocked up on them a few years ago and have enough for at least 10 years based on how many I fire annually. But whatever your gun is accurate with is probably the way to go. Haven't seen any of Winchester/BRI sabots this past season and I'm not sure if they are still on the market but they certainly work good for me. My stash may even last longer because the last couple seasons have found me in both rifle and shotgun zones and I've got several rifles that haven't taken deer yet.

I have always had good results with the LightFields and the Remington Accutips.

Last year we tested a bunch and the most accurate we found were the hornady american whitetail slugs.

Remington core loyk ultras (bonded bullet)have the most kinetic energy of any sabot slug sold today. They have as much energy at a 100 yrds as most do at the muzzle. They have been extremely accurate for me. Acutip and federal Barnes expand ers were just as accurate in my guns. The core Lokt added me longer range for me since we are field hunters. I have taken whitetail out to 275 yrds with 12 ga. And 230 yrds with 20 ga. With clean pass throughs on both. To date I have taken 17 whitetail past 200 yrds. Every deer was ranged and were standing. Although shots were far. I did not risk shooting a maybe shot. My scopes have hold over dots and I spend a ton of time at the range.
I have recovered 1 slug from a 4 1/2 yr old doe shot quartering too me in the front shoulder at 212 yrds. it exited behind the rib cage and entered the front of the thigh, broke the femur, and stopped in the hide in the back of the leg. The 385 gr slug weighed 382.4 grns. We run H &R slug guns.

There is no magic answer, sabots that shoot well in one slug gun may not in another. My Marlin 512 doesn't shoot the Barnes Expanders worth a crap while my A bolt does and my buddies Marlin 512 does.
Only sure thing is to shoot some down range and evaluate
If I had the money I've spent over the years testing saboted slug gun rounds at the range I could go on a nice vacation some place warm

Case in point the Hornady's shoot like crap out of both my slug guns

I shoot an H&R Ultra and it really likes the Win sabot with a 50 cal bullet. It shoots sub MOA in the 3 inch but I've never tried them in 2 3/4. As a matter of fact i don't even know if they make them in 2 3/4 but if they do they would be worth checking out.

With these rounds costing more that $2.00 each, I started at the bottom of the food chain and only went up when needed. I got lucky-my Mossy 500 with a rifled cantilver barrel really likes the Hornandy slugs, which happen to be on the lower end of the price grid. 1 1/2" groups at 100 yards. No walkaways yet.

2 3/4" winchester low velocity (1200 fps) sabots in my Beretta 391 rifled bbl. Very, very accurate in that rig. Had to ditch my Model 37 featherweight and go to low velocity in a semi-auto due to a shoulder issue last fall.

The gun dealer I buy my slugs from says that in his experience most issues from rifled shotguns not shooting sabots accurately is from using High Velocity slugs. Claims that the bbl rifling won't support the higher velocity in most cases. Don't know about that but these Winchesters were keepers right out of the box and I'm not looking at any others in this rig.