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Here in southern Michigan we can only use slugs and muzzleloaders

What are you guys having the best luck with when it comes to long distance slugs

I have had great luck with lightfields and copper solids on paper, but the lightfields dont work as good as copper solids on deer in my eyes

I was thinking of trying hornady sst or the new aero tips by remington

I am trying to make a honest 200 yard slug gun, i can get great groups on paper but i want to make sure im dropping the deer and not just wounding them at that distance


I'm shooting a ultra slug and a mossberg 695

Do ou think if i had the ultra slug ported it would help?

I am not a 200 yard slugger. I am more like a 20 yard slug hunter. However, I cut my teeth on slug hunting in Ohio. Before the real experts show up, allow me to put in a few words.

You are embarking on an expensive way to hunt. You may try 10 combinations or more of barrel and load before you find what you are looking for. It will require a lot of bench time. Do not expect it to go easily.

Do not trust anyone's experience but your own. Each individual shotgun has its likes and dislikes, and what works for your buddy in his shotgun will not necessarily work in yours. You are the closest thing to an expert for that particular shotgun as you will find.

Do not take anything for granted. One lot of slug will work, the next may not. When you finally find your dream load, buy all you can of that lot.

There will be those who egg you on, but if you really are concerned about dropping deer and not just putting a round into it, I would move closer than 200 yards. Slugs are sub-sonic rounds, and the sound will reach the deer well before the round does. Download a free copy of Pointblank software and enter your data. You will be surprised. Furthermore, this is no laser beam, the trajectory will require precise yardage assessment. A difference of 25 yards will cause a deviation in drop of 6 inches.

If you have a need to stay at 200 yards, the other option I would endorse is switching to a muzzleloader. It will be cheaper to operate, and it be potentially easier to get to a good pattern at 200 yards than a shotgun.

While I do not doubt making a shot at 200 yards with a slug gun is possible, making an honest 200 yard system is indeed a challenge.

Lastly, and this is purely rhetorical, answer for yourself this question: If I go to all this trouble and a nice deer walks out at 50 yards, will I feel cheated?

trust me I prefer the 50 yard shots but I want to see if it was possable to get 200 yards

I can get 150 all day long so I guess maybe I should stick with that and use my muzzle loader for the bean field shots plus its cheaper to find a perfect combo for my muzzle loader

I hunt in slug zone, and i went the muzzle loader route for the open country. I was hot to buy a 695 before I got my first muzzle loader, but have since lost interest. I just found the slug guns generally unpleasant and expensive to shoot. 200 is a lot more doable with the muzzle loader. Not saying it can't be done with a slug gun...

I tried several sabot's in my 1100, 870, and Browning gold hunter at 200 yards. I couldn't find a load consistant enough at 200 yards to feel confortable with. My T/C Encore MZ with SST's are the ticket.

Amazing what some folks think long range is.

The SST's are kickass.....

I'm digging my savage burning smokeless under MMP sabots and a .45 XTP.

well in southern mi 200 yards is far, get up in the Up and there are "long range" shot there 1000 yards plus

I know the Federal Barnes Expanders work at long ranges....thing to remember is elevation isn't the problem at 200yds,anyone can hold 12" high for drop, it's wind drift that you need to be concerned with...if your not versed in reading the wind I wouldn't attempt 200yd shots with a slug gun.

200 yds is a stretch for a sluggun, about 5 yrs ago I shot an 8 point at a lazered 238 yds with the Barnes slug traveling at 1550fps....talk about drop! I put about 16 inches of air over the bucks back and after the shot it seemed to take about 2 seconds before I got a reaction from the buck.
Yeah I hit him but not sure where, he dropped on the spot and as fast as he dropped he got back on his feet and ran away......uphill.
Long story short!, I never recovered that buck and after it happened I was pretty mad at myself for taking such a stupid long shot! you see I was with 2 friends at the time and this was the last day of slug season. (showing off )
Now I know you can get faster shooting slugs nowadays but still wouldnt recommend those ranges, as a friend of mine killed a nice 10 pointer at 160 yds using the lightfields when he went to recover the deer he was suprised to fing the slug barely penetrated the deers hide (the plastic cushion that is attached to the slug was sticking out) when he gutted the buck he found that the slug broke a few ribs and shoved them into the lungs and the only explenation is is that is what killed the buck.....he got lucky I'd say.
I would stick to 140 yds max for slugs, but what do I care I'm quitting using slugs and gonna start using a rifle.

Man, that's a long poke with a slug gun. Good luck coming up with a combo that will meet your expectations way out yonder like that. I'd have to agree, the ML route would be cheaper, and possibly yield much better results, but that's not what you're interested in. My slug hunting's down and dirty-up close and personal. 'Shot an old 8 point a few years (quite a few years back) at about 10 yards. I can tell you a deer's pretty darned tall when he rears up on his hind legs right in front of you like that. He was dead before he even hit the ground. My old 870 shoots those archaeic Remington Sluggers just fine, and that big old hunk o' lead is bad medecine on whitetails. Good luck with your project.

the thing is I can get good groups at 150 never tried 200 and i know there would be a drop but not sure how much impact will be felt on the deer at that distance

I guess maybe im just dreaming

I did try the Nosler Partitions at 200 yards and three of them stayed on a deer silhouette. Getting there was $60.00 worth of cartridges. I believe in todays market I would use the Hornady's.

I have never shot anything living past 75 yards with my Ithaca rifled Deerslayer barrel or the smoothbore barrel for that matter. There is not a lot of opportunity for slug hunting in my state where I couldn't use a rifle. I prefer the rifle obviously.

I've missed a couple of times by shooting over animals at longer ranges.

I have a 2x6 Redfield IE scope on the rifled barrel for what that is worth.

One smoothbore barrel has a 2.5x Leupold Scout Scope on it.

I'm in this camp. I don't hunt in slug country much anymore unless I'm hunting in Iowa. Last year I did some extensive shooting with both the ML and shootgun at 200 yards. If I were to sit a spot that a 200 shot was a reality, in the end, it ended up being the ML - and not by a small margin.

If you really wanna put a stretch to the shotgun range, try the Winchester XP3's. Word of warning - hang on tight. Oh, they'll get you the extra velocity you're seeking but at a cost - both standing behind the gun and in the wallet. I've put a few rounds through a souped up 378 Weatherby and it was a pussycat compared to the XP3's........Uhhh, and that was out of an 11-87.

I have to use either a slug gun or ML here in Ohio.I've spent a lot of time with my slug gun at the range, with several different loads.I have a very accurate Malin 512, and for me the max range is about 140.If I want a 200 yard gun, my Knight ML is what I'll use.Its much easier to get an honest 200 yard load with a ML than a slugger, and cheaper as well.I still prefer my slug gun for hunting in wooded areas, so it still gets a good work out, but the open areas belong to my ML.

the best long range slugs i have had good luck with are the winchester supreames 3in. the 1900 fps kind. I have papered them to 150 seen deer shot at 175 with them. its hard to digest the bang 3.25 bang 3.25 bang 3.25 crap nothing and just spent 9.75.

I never tried 200 yards, but my 3" magnum 1100 with the 30" barrel and Cabalas shotgun scope got me 1 1/2" to 2" groups at 100. Used Remington slugs.

What gun you are using is probably as important as the slug. My Browning A-bolt shoots Lightfield Hybred Supremes like a lazer out to about 145 yards then the trajectory is kind of iffy.



On the other hand my Bennelli Super Black Eagle never liked Lightfields but Winchester Partition Golds are good out to 175 yards easy.



The funny thing is I can't shoot lightfields out of the Bennelli with confidence and can't shoot Winchester Partitions out of the Browning. Each gun had to be tested with lots of range time and various slugs to come up with this setup.

Yep, my Browning A bolt doesn't like the Winchester Partitions either ,try the 2 3/4" Federal Barnes expanders 1900fps,that high velocity one shoots from my A-Bolt....

I'm with DVD, the Federal Barnes is the cats arse.