Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 12Ga SLUG (preferably Brenneke/smoothbore) experience???

In the most recent handloader, I saw a brief blurb about an Alaskan guide using a Brenneke slugs. So today I looked at theier performance on the Brenneke website - WOW! As I own a 12ga. 3" autoloader, I was thinking that I had a perfect application for these giant choo-choo's where I hunt!

Has anyone used these, and if so, will you please suffer the following questions?
1-what is the general accuracy of these, particularly in a smoothbore shotgun barrel?
2-What was the terminal effect on game/critters?

Thanks!

I have used the Brenneke slugs on perhaps 50 deer and they were my favorite as far as terminal performance (as in fist sized entrance and exit). The 3in versions (both std and the gold "rifled barrel" slugs) are among the most powerful (recoil wise) in twelve gauge. I mostly used the 2 3/4 1 1/8 oz., and a few 20 ga 2 3/4.
Accuracy wise, they are pie plate performers from 50-100yds, depending on the gun. Most fosters have always shot better, but do not penetrate near as well. Call 75yds the limit to get exits on shoulder shots, past that the slugs usually stay in.
The problem with slugs is that they are barely stable as range increases and penetration suffers (accuracy is bad too), much like a wadcutter handgun bullet. Up close, slugs, in particular the Brenneke, is very potent.
Having never fired one at DG, you'll have to ask someone else!

I have only used Foster slugs on one bear and two deer. Pemetration was not an issue.

I have shot targets with 11/8 oz Brenneke Black Magic in preparation for an elk hunt at our coast that never happened.

The Brenneke's out penetrate the Foster slugs in wet paper for what that is worth.

I believe I would go with the heavier Brenneke's available from Ballistic Products if I get another opportunity.

I have only used Foster slugs on one bear and two deer. Pemetration was not an issue.

I have shot targets with 11/8 oz Brenneke Black Magic in preparation for an elk hunt at our coast that never happened.

The Brenneke's out penetrate the Foster slugs in wet paper for what that is worth.

I believe I would go with the heavier Brenneke's available from Ballistic Products if I get another opportunity.

The only thing I have killed with a Brenneke KO slug was a couple of hogs, and that was years ago.
They sure worked though. As quick a kill as I have seen.
I carry a bunch of these on my bandoleer along with 15 00 Buck for my HD shotgun.

When it comes to the smooth bores, some will shoot them extremely well, some won't. When I first started shooting deer in WI, a rifled barrel was an exception - a lot of folks used smooth bores.
My brother shot the Brenneke's out of his 870 and they really shot well - good terminal performance too, I tried them and they didn't shoot like a handful of others brands would.

well there are different brenneke slugs out there foster's mostly and they also have sabots i've shot the rotweilers and ko's well they work very well on game they are hard hitting but like skane was saying not all guns like brenneke first time i tried them was in a ithaca 37 16ga and they jam on the ejection but in the rem 870 work fine the ko's so far have worked in ithaca's.My buddy only shoots brenneke's being rotweilers are no longer imported we had to switch him to HEAVY FIELD SHORT MAGNUM by brenneke he hasn't complained yet so my advice grab a box or to and try them

IVE used the Brenneke slugs in my over/under 20 ga for deer twice, both times the accuracy was very good, considering conditions, up to about 70 yards where I sighted in (4" 4 shot)groups well centered using BOTH barrels and just the bead sights at 70 yards.
the first deer I hit at 45 yards dropped, got up ran 25 yards then dropped he was heart hit, the second was hit at about 25 yards entrance in the last rib raking forward, neither slug failed to exit but both deer dropped within about 25 yards after the hit, in both cases only one shot was fired.
yeah Id use them in the 20 ga again, but only in areas where ranges tend to be tight

I grew up hunting deer with slugs in upstate New York. That was before rifled barrels, so we all used smoothbores. Foster slugs work fine on deer, almost always exiting out to 100 yards or so. However, Brennekkes were always a much harder slug, and always exited even on the old THS. In fact, my dad always thought I was crazy for not shooting through brush and trees with Foster slugs, as his Brennekkes would cut through an awful lot of it and still get the job done (I'm sure the naysayers will chime in here, but hey, I saw it done a number of times with my own eyes). I also know that Fosters will not penetrate the skull or (fatally) the neck of a Hereford bull at 50 yards. Brennekkes might have but I'll never know!

Brennekkes sometimes shoot well through a smoothbore, and sometimes not. Ithaca Deerslayers were very popular where I grew up, mainly I think because they had fairly tight consistent bores that shot most any slug accurately enough. I still own mine and heartily recommend them. They generally would outshoot Rem 870s of that period.

Accuracy wise, if you cannot hit a deer in the vitals out to 100 yards with a smoothbore, it's usually not the gun's fault! They do not shoot like a rifle, but who cares?! For the record, I once shot a wounded deer broadside with a Foster slug at 250 paces. The slug exited through the deer's lungs and he died quickly.