Helped sight in a friend's smoothbore slug gun today. Two of the shots at 75 yards with Federal Tru-Balls left smaller, round holes next to the slug holes in the target (one touching the slug hole, the other about an inch away). It seems that it had to be the ball traveling separately from the slug that caused the holes. Should this surprise me? (The slug holes were perfectly shaped, with no sign of yawing,) The slugs shot accurately, but I was puzzled by the two holes.

Wad? Sabot?

5sdad, not uncommon with the truballs. I found one in the erm with the ball still attached. It fell right into the group with the rest, so I didn't worry about it.

These are far and away the most consistent smoothbore ammo I've found in three separate guns, and I killed my largest buck with one. great ammo, and our local Gander had them on sale for $.99 per box after rebate.

Gotta try me some of those.

What are they, a slug with something attached?

They have a plastic ball in the wad that acts on the base of the slug to force out the sides of the slug to engage the barrel. A lot of the old slugs kind of rattled down the barrel, this makes them fit tighter and more consistently.

I have an Ithaca 37 Deerslayer (smoothbore) that with factory open sights gives me 2" groups at 50, and I keep them all in 5-6" at 100 yards. Plenty for where I hunt. Any other basic foster style slug gives me 6-12" groups at 50 yards.

The only slug that comes close to the federal is the traditional Brenneke, and they cost a lot more.

Looks like a Foster style made with harder lead and a plastic ball stuffed up it's rear.

Old - I have a 37 Deerslayer barrel as well. I have a Burris Scout Scope mounted on it. (According to the optics forum, I apparently should be apologizing for this, but rebel that I am, I am going to keep on using it.) It is scary accurate, especially for a smoothbore. I always shot 1 oz. Winchesters with perfect satisfaction. On a whim a few years ago, I picked up some "Peters" 7/8 ounce slugs that Remington had made a promotional run of in the name of nostalgia. I found them to be even more accurate than my usual 1 oz. Winchesters. I am sure that the Remington 7/8 ouncers are the same, except for hull color. If you are into experimenting, you might want to give them a look. I have not tried out the Tru-Balls in mine, but will have to experiment with them as well after shooting them yesterday in my friend's gun and hearing your account. Best, John

5s, no need to experiment at this point, but thanks for the info. I'm happy with the accuracy, and I stocked up at Gander MTN for $1 per box, and have a few years worth of slugs stocked up. I figure if I can keep a box of slugs into 5" at 100yds with irons, that's all I need.

I'm also an unrepentant Burris user, my first scope I bought with my own money was a Signature 1.5-6x for my pre-64 FWT .308. That was 20+ years ago, and it's been there since. I have a few Leupolds, and a Pentax (burris with a dift paint job)but my go-to is burris. I've had better luck with their customer service than Leupold, as well.

In reality it is just an modern Minnie ball for a smooth bore. Not many new ideas out there in reality. I wonder how they would work in a rifled barrel?

They shoot ok but an unlubed bullet fire through rifling is going to lead up fast and accuracy goes out the window.

Something I would look at if I still hunted with slugs. Back when I did my old smoothbore Ithaca Deerslayer with an Aimpoint would shoot (big) cloverleafs at fifty yards with most Forster slugs.

I think Burris makes a good scope.I have never had problems with mine.