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Joined: Feb 2007
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Curious if the latest Sabot slugs, etc are superior to old style.

How to they compare in accuracy, drop, killing effect?

Like to hear feedback from you shotgun hunters who have crunched ballistics, done field and range testing/comparisons.

Thanks.

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Never mix those two sizes. A 20ga fed into a 12ga by mistake, can lead to an exploded barrel. (12ga following a 20ga. Barrel obstruction.) Rule of thumb says never hunt with both)


An unemployed Jester, is nobody's Fool.

the only real difference between a good tracker and a bad tracker, is observation. all the same data is present for both. The rest, is understanding what you're seeing.

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Goes without saying, proper ammo for said gun....

No doubt your scenario has played out more than once, unfortunately.

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I (sort of) think of the 20 gauge sabot as being parallel to the 38-55 and the 12 gauge sabot as being parallel to the 45-70.

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The 12 gauge is a killer, it has more power...the 20 gauge will shoot farther, flatter. When you say "latest sabot slugs", sabot slugs are nothing new. "Old style" slugs to me would mean the so called "rifled slugs" like the Remington Sluggers. They were just a lead projectile and had no sabot.
Sabots, whatever the style are best used in a rifled barrel. The newest sabot slugs have drop away type sabots and jacketed rifle bullets. They can be the most accurate and flattest shooting of them all...also the most expensive.
Personally, as far as shotgun slugs go, I like the style of the Remington Buckhammers. Of course they are no longer made...they have to do away with anything that works good. These had a sabot that stayed with the soft lead slug all the way to impact. The soft pure lead slug expanded completely and expended all of its energy on the target, rendering a quick shock kill. I have seen less than stellar performance with some of the so called newer type rifle bullet slugs. All is not lost, you can google a website called "slugs r us" and check out their "hammerhead" slugs...very easy to reload and just as accurate and effective as the old Remington Buckhammers.
As far as slug guns go, it used to be hit or miss whether or not a given shotgun would throw a slug with any accuracy. Now, the Savage bolt action shotgun is all you will ever need. This is like a very accurate big bore rifle...everyone I have seen would clover leaf slugs at 100 yards right out of the box.

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I had two Rem 870s that shot the old Winchester Hi Impact Supremes very well. 3 chamber, rifled bore, receivers drilled and tapped, good scope mounted low (high comb stocks).

Sub 2" rigs at 100.

And slick for quick followup shots (kinda handy some times). Small parcel hunting, nice to add holes to possibly help keep deer dead on your side of the fence.

Had fantastic luck with regular foster slugs in a few Mossberg 500's back in the day.

No matter what I ran, I always shot slugs from one lot #.

Rifled choketube or barrels, were tested for cleaning interval and foulers.

Smoothbore rigs good to 150 yards, always ran 12 gauges.
Rifled rigs could go ? My farthest was 165.

Must say, the Hi Impacts showed remarkably greater reaction to a hit. Mid lung height swats could crumple the deer. Some made a couple of steps.

I did however hit one on the shoulder front, at 12 yards coming towards me (from the ground) and that slug stopped under the hide on the off side ham. He jumped and trotted 75 yards and stood with his head low. So I popped him again and he fell dead.

Went up and saw the 2nd shots entrance and exit and no other hole.

WTH?

Turns out the 2nd shot's exit was also my first shot's entrance. The tuft of fur on the booty revealed the first shots stopping point.

Must also say a few deer looked like bad Japanese monster movies. Boom, crunch they'd go down.........and man the red would pour out. No other slugs whopped 'em like that.

I gave up slug gunning in seriousness, when WW dropped that slug. My buddy bought my 1st 870 slug gun, and still runs it with the Partition version. Says it shoots sub 2" at 100 for him.

The old farm we hunted, could do drives. It was a tree farm. Actually got a little 100" 8 pt on a 2 man drive, hit 3 times on the run, group the size of your palm, through trees (25 yds).All on fwd edge of shoulder.

That was so freakin' cool smile

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Sabot or reg, they all killed fine.
Just think the sabots I tried whomped them harder.
Also, fosters hitting bone could veer.
None of my sabot slugs did that, they ranged through on intended line.
Only sabot slugs I ran were the HI Supremes (BRI style).

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I've had good success with Hornady, Barnes and Remington slugs.

From an accurate bolt action slug rifle you can really extend your effective killing range. IMO, the 20 gauge is the only way to go if you have a choice.

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I've got 3 dedicated slug guns .
Remington 870 with a 4x scope and an 18.5 " custom made fully rifled barrel before the gun companies got on the wagon , with Winchester BRI slugs it clover leafs .
Remington 870 20 gauge with a cantilever scope mt fully rifled . VERY short and easy handling , accurate slug gun.
Now I hunt from a 4x4 box blind 16' up - plus I've been retired for almost 9 years , so I bought a Savage bolt action 20 gauge slug gun. It doesn't beat me up , shot it yesterday to check my zero -2 touching and the other one was less than an inch away . This with Remington 2 3/4" slugs . Ive had it now for 3 or 4 years and I would recommend it to anyone .
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The two I've had the best performance with are the Remington Copper Solid and Lightfield. I use the latter now as it's easier to find and cheaper. Have yet to have a deer make any distance with them. I typically aim to break some bones and that it does! Both shoot well in the 2 shotguns I have setup for slugs.

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I've been shooting slugs on and off for 15 years... and I hate 'em! 12's kick like a mule and I have found most all of them finicky til you find the right ammo for them. I've had the Tar-Hunt bolt, Tar-Hunt 870, semi's, Savages, and assorted pumps and singles and usually at least once a year have visions of chucking one into a pond or wrapping it around a tree grin

But, they are good for quick follow ups and deer drives. So, I got into a Mossberg 930 slugger last year and it'll put 3 Hornady SSTs into 3" at 100 if I concentrate well. It works (and SSTs have been the best ammo for me over the years) but anytime shots have a good chance of being over 50 yards or I am not pushing/driving, I am going with a muzzleloader.


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Since you mentioned it, I confess I rarely participate in drives these days and I also prefer a muzzleloader. So much so that I built a custom SML. I'm only looking for a couple one shot one kills and the .45 cal SML is so much more accurate and flatter shooting.

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I've shot deer with smoothbore and fosters to 150 yards no prob. 165 with rifled barrel and fosters. Think sabot my farthest was 100 ish.

All worked fine.

MZ............farthest is 178 yards. And it was old school.
150 yards with an inline and sabots was no big deal.

Pops still has my old TC Hawken Silver Elite.
Face busting POS! (the gun)

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depends on your barrel. the brenneke slugs work great in my smoothbores. sabots are designed for rifled barrels but the brennekes have rifling built into them like the old rifled slugs from the old days. i get good enough accuracy at my ranges with the brennekes and have never had the need for a rifled barrel. i can hit a pie plate with just the bead sites but they start to really drop off out past 50 yards or so. i still have some of the old punkin balls from the 70's and those are not nearly as accurate as the brennekes.


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I kill deer with both rifled slugs and sabots, depending on price and availability. I have a mossberg 500 with field barrel and sabot barrel, so it take just a minute to swap barrels. (12ga.) I also have a muzzleloader, i have not yet evwn fired. .50 steghorn by CVA. I hope to field test it this year.
Inside of 100yds, I've had no issues with either due to the fault of the ammo.
Sabots will shoot further, accurately. Due to the higher twist rate, but at much higher cost as well.


An unemployed Jester, is nobody's Fool.

the only real difference between a good tracker and a bad tracker, is observation. all the same data is present for both. The rest, is understanding what you're seeing.

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Great info folks, appreciate all replies.

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Never saw a need for sabot slugs. Forster slugs in 20 or 12 was a one shot done deal on hogs or deer. Longest shot I ever took was with the 20 at about 75 yards on a hog. Boom-flop, mostly jello in the boiler room.

The same in a .410 works well also but at short range, say inside 25 yards, tend to make a wicked shallow crater.


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've used .410 rifled slugs on deer. (legal here) but the cost is as high as 12ga. sabots, and harder to find.


An unemployed Jester, is nobody's Fool.

the only real difference between a good tracker and a bad tracker, is observation. all the same data is present for both. The rest, is understanding what you're seeing.

~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
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Good stuff, thanks gang

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Here in Iowa, all you can use is slugs and muzzleloaders for deer. I use a 12 gauge, I use sabot slugs, and I use 2 3/4" Lightfields, they group out to 150 yards and kill really well.


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