Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Question about picking 20 gauge smooth-bore slugs

A guy brought a Remington 870 smoothbore 20 gauge to me to zero his scope and the ammo that he brought is Remington Slugger HV that has a 1/2 oz. slug at 1800 fps. A 1/2 oz. slug seems pretty small, considering that Rottweil Brenneke slugs that I have had the best success with weigh at least 1 oz.

What do the 20 gauge slug experts say?

Jeff

I've killed plenty with the sluggers.The brenneke is a good slug as is the win.The ithaca's don't always like brenneke's.But if he is shooting sluggers i would suggest using the same slugs he hunts with to sight in

You might want to try Federal tru-ball slugs if they are made in a 20. They are the most accurate 12 ga. smooth bore slugs I'e ever seen, and I killed my largest deer ever with one.

Jeff,

It looks to me like the question is about energy and penetration. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking that a 1/2 ounce slug is approximately 230 grains (=/-). A 240 grain .44 at 1200 fps has plenty of power to kill a deer. The 20 ga. smoothbore slug will best that significantly, especially at 1800 fps. Construction of projectile between the pistol and hollow based slug is ever so different and penetration might differ a lot. The slug and a semi-wadcutter pistol bullet are both close range rounds and neither so great for ballistic coefficient. Compared to a 12 ga. slug, the 20 looks anemic. But compared to commonly used pistol rounds, not so anemic after all. Mfg. websites should give more precise velocity and energy tables to clarify further.
I find that medium hard cast .44 semi-wadcutters at even 1000 fps will penetrate crosswise through shoulders and leg bones, exiting, and making fast bleed out in double shot lungs. Even at that modest velocity, penetration lengthwise will go near body length on modest sized deer bodies. Will the hollow based slug in 20 ga. do the same? I can't answer that question with personal experience.

Marv

Marv

KOs

What I was trying to ask, obviously I didn't do a good job of articulating my question, is whether a 1/2 oz. slug at 1800 fps is a better choice then a 1 oz. Brenneke slug at 1300 fps? I have used the Brenneke Classic and Super Magnum slugs, but have never used a slug as light as the 1/2 oz. slugs in the Remington Slugger HV loads. I would hate to stear this father/daughter team, since neither of them are experienced deer hunters. OTOH, they brought the ammo to me, so I could assume that they made a good purchase decision, or I could suggest that they buy some more expensive Brenneke's.

Jeff