Does anybody make a lead-free shotgun slug for use in smoothbore barrels? I'm aware of various copper and alloy slugs for use in RIFLED shotgun barrels, but not for smoothbore.

Reason: I booked a hog hunt in CA for next winter, optimistically assuming we will actually HAVE another winter....

Want to use my 12 ga/.308 Savage combo, which was very successful in my last TX hog hunt. We'll be hunting in the "Condor protection area" where non-lead ammo is required (Don't let's go off on a sidebar here: DON'T get me started....).

While I will primarily rely on the rifle barrel, and have excellent Barnes copper .308 ammo (actually what I used in TX), I like to keep the shotgun barrel loaded with a "stopper," just in case. We aren't allowed to shoot hogs with buckshot, so it would have to be a slug. Are there any that will comply with the non-lead mandate? Will copper slugs in a sabot shoot at all accurately in a smoothbore, say "minute of hog" at 15 yards?

Any help/info/experience greatly appreciated! Tryin' to plan ahead....

I don't know of any Lead Free slugs but Ballistic Products ha Lead Free ITX Buckshot that you could load some real stoppers for your shotgun at that range.


http://www.ballisticproducts.com/ITX-Original-10-Shot-00-buck-325-bag_7-lbs/productinfo/TX00BK/

The lead-free sabot slugs should shoot fine for close in work, like that 15 yards. Get some and give it a try.

I will try the sabot slugs; they should be going fast enough to do some damage at close range, rifling or not.

The buckshot would probably WORK fine for my purposes, possibly better than slugs. But (the BIG butt), for some reason buckshot isn't allowed for big game in CA. Riddle me that one. On second thought, don't even try to make sense of it. If you could, it would stand unique among our state gun/ammo regs.

winchester makes them, hard to find right now. trythis link to get an idea of what you looking for.

http://www.targetsportsusa.com/p-37...oz-lead-free-rifled-slug-ammunition.aspx

Thanks, Jawja! Just what I'm looking for. Maybe if I put 'em on backorder now, I'll have some to bust my shoulder with by "Winter"!
Still gonna try the sabots--found some and am curious...,

Mike Armstrong aka Mesa

Mesa,
I was not aware that Savage made a model 24 in 12 Ga/.308.I thought 30-30 was the largest caliber available.???????


Stan in SC

Stan, it's a Savage/Valmet 2400. Whole other gun, made in Finland back in the '60s and '70s.

Aha!Thanks.

Stan in SC

I particularly like the 2400s. They were lighter and trimmer than the later 412/512 Valmet series guns.

The last one of these I had many years ago was traded to my dentist for two root canals and crowns.

Talk about HURT!! It hurt double.

Don't let that 2400 go, Mesa.

Yeah, Bruce, I feel your pain...valve jobs, root canals, vet bills are all enemies of guns. They've got me more times than I care to remember.

But bankers have got me worse; remember the Savings and Loan "Crisis"? At least Bernie Madoff didn't get me. Maybe I've learned something over the years....maybe.

And the WORST of these is divorce....I've been married 49 years and it's still one day at a time, mouth shut and fingers crossed!

Guess What? I just broke a tooth and need a crown.

There went my new Baikal 45-70 DR.