Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 20 Gauge Sabots

Upgrading my wife's 870 with a rifled barrel. Any recommendations for an accurate, effective slug. This is for the little woman, so only considering 2 3/4" shells.

Hornady with the SST slug works well in mine as does the Winchester and BRI slug

Remington 2 3/4 " accutip shoot 1.5 in. 3 shot groups out of my H&R ultra slug hunter. That's at 100 yards.

I ended up with the Hornandy SST out of my rifled Mossberg 500. It shot more accurate than others I tried, and the Hornandy load was a little cheaper than the other stuff available.

Barnes Expander.... one big solid chunk of bone crushing metal.

This is the exactly what I used this past deer season in Ohio. It worked great on a nice 5 point buck. No reason to carry that old heavy Remington 870 12 gauge.

Remington accutip

Partition golds

I've found the Remington Accutips to be the most accurate but they should be as they are also the most expensive sabot. That said, they are not my favorite as they do not seem to expand much unless they hit some substantial bone. Of the dozen or so deer I've taken with them, all appeared to have a thumb sized through the deer. Other sabots have shown what appeared to be greater "damage", if you will, internally which caused the deer to drop quicker.

The Winchester BRI sabots are a close second and what I have shot with them have dropped within 10 yards if not sooner. The Hornady SST have shown fine accuracy but I have not shot anything with them yet. The blue box Federal sabots are the least expensive but I have not gotten acceptable accuracy with them in any gun. Based on the results of the 12 ga Lightfield Hybrid slugs, I would prefer them over anything else in 20 ga providing I could find them cheap.

My Daughter uses the BRI sabot slugs that Winchester/Olin sells in her Remington 870 fully rifled barrel. Accurate, flat shooting, and good penetration.

Lightfields..

lightfields

My thanks to all who offered advice. Much appreciated.
Strangely, I have found the inexpensive Federal "white box" sabots to be the most accurate in my 12 ga. Winchester 1300. But I have no experience with 20 ga. loads. You've given me some good ideas on where to begin.

I use the 3 inch Remington Accu-Tips in my 220 Savage. I agree they kick a bit but I use that gun to hunt a farm that grows alfalfa and close shots are pretty rare. I have occasionally shot out to nearly 200 yards with no problem other than the wind.

In my rifled Ithaca I have used the 2 3/4 in Accu Tip and the SST in regular and Lite form. I have also used WW 2 3/4 in Foster Slugs and 2 3/4 inch Federal Tru-ball foster slugs and they both do very well and are reasonably priced. I have killed several deer and one bear with them and could likely use them except for ranges past 100 yard or so. but I am a looney I guess.

I have a Savage 220 bolt action "shotgun". It's very fussy about which ammo it likes. With ammo it likes, it will shoot very well. I have yet to shoot it at game, in spite of trying. My friend who does a great deal more hunting than I do says it is good to 200 yards. You will have to try various brands and find out which one your barrel likes. By the way, recoil is light shooting 2-3/4 inch ammo in my Savage.

The Remington AccuTip is the most consistently accurate slug I've seen, and terminal performance is great. I've taken several deer with a 20ga. 2 3/4 AccuTip, and seen many others taken too. I think lightfields are about as accurate and as aerodynamic as a flying ash tray. Never had much success with them. In fact, I've seen foster type lead slugs outshoot them in rifles barrels. I've tried SSTs and found they just don't do the damage an AccuTip will. SSTs penetrate fine, but seem to be a bit hard and haven't left anywhere near as good of blood trails as the AccuTip. Often with an AccuTip, the deer will only travel 30-40 yards with a broadside lung hit. Less if you break the shoulder, or both.

Also, I've only found one AccuTip, under the hide on the off side of a nice buck, 20ga 2 3/4" at about 50yds. Dropped in his tracks, through both shoulders. The slug mushroomed perfectly. The AccuTip is also a bonded core slug. Several other I've shot, while they dropped within sight, left blood everywhere!The 12ga. version absolutely hammers deer. One thing to remember, the ballistics on slugs is generally published using a 30" barrel, which is very unrealistic in application. Most slug barrels are 18-24". Ive chronographed some 12ga. 2 3/4 Accutips that claim 1850fps, and found they ran about 1700fps in a 21" Remington 11-87. That's really just academic, as the real world performance is still amazing. Fast enough to be flat (by slug standards), impressive accuracy and excellent terminal performance.

https://www.americanhunter.org/articles/2009/5/29/remington-premier-accutip-sabot-slug/

I like the Remington accutips.

They shoot a very impressive group out of my Mossberg 695. And a good group out of a Mossberg 500. Deer hit with them rarely go anywhere. And the ones that have leave buckets of blood to follow.

I get them when Remington does their rebate sale and buy as many as I can.

-Jake

Another vote for LightFields.

I liked the accuracy of the SST's but they did not do much on deer for me, Federal Trophy Sabots worked much better for me.