Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Sabot Slugs In Rifled Barrels

What choke does the barrel have? If removable, use a more open choke such as improved or cylinder rather then modified and especially not full.

While not ideal, the setup that he has is certainly capable in the right hands. How old is the kid and how much experience does he have with firearms?

If possible, spend some time with him and "pattern" his gun . Learn how it shoots and set practical range limits. Use a paper target with a full size deer printed on it for familiarity.

Is he recoil sensitive or flinch from muzzle blast? Perhaps a better recoil pad and hearing protection?

Getting buck fever? A number of things can work against a young shooter that be corrected with a bit of time and guidance.

Another option is perhaps a red dot scope (if legal in his state and father is agreeable?)

Lots of sound advice in this thread. HawkI definitely speaks the truth.
I’ve hunted with slugs for 30 years, still do. I traded a bow for a shotgun for close range hunting.
When it comes to smooth bores, improves cylinder choke is the best.
I like Brenneke green lightnings in mine. And just like Hawkeye said- they don’t hit dead on and never have- they’re consistently about 2 inches high & 1 inch to the left. Easy to compensate for.

Rifled barrels are the same- very picky and slugs will shoot a little different.

If I was shopping for a new slug gun today... for 12 gauge, I’d find a Hastings Cantilever rifled barrel then buy the shotgun that fits it.
For 20, I’d get one of those H&R single shots, or a bolt action.

In that case, I’d buy him a bunch of Brennekes and call it good. Fosters are deadly in the right spot, but are fragile. Brennekes will cut a nice hole and stay together. Somewhere I have a target shot with my son’s 870 SP with Brenneke Black Magics and the IC tube. Three shots in about 3” at 100 yards with a scope in a straddle mount.

Probably a one-off, but my cousin bought one of those H&Rs, then spent a couple hundred bucks trying to find something it would shoot straight. Years later he bought one of the Browning A-Bolts and slammed one in OH at 150 yards. They ain’t cheap, but seem to be the beans in a factory gun.

His family raised over 1,000,000 bushels of grain in 2020, so they can afford to buy this 12 year old boy whatever tools he might need. My position is analogous to a consultant, assessing the situation and offering recommendations. The boy's dad is busy moving grain, doing field work, and cleaning/repairing equipment, so I offered to do the leg work, but he seems reluctant to do anything or have me do anything, so I've decided to step out and let the boy continue to feed the coyotes.

see if you can find a smoothbore barrel with sights , and have him stick with plain old Forster slugs

or possbly mount a scope to his existing gun

from what you post , I sort of doubt the boys dad is going to invest the time and money to really get the good out of sabot slugs


seen many deer shot with 20 gauge forsters......they kill very well

I think he could see a huge improvement in accuracy with the installation of a set of Williams Slugger Sights. I use them on VR barrels for turkeys and change out the choke for slugs. Three inch 3 shot groups at 100 yards with Win Super x 2 3/4 slugs is doable. Federal Tru-ball slugs do just as well.

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A cantilever barrel makes a pump action slug gun, one mean deer killing machine...

Our area used to be slug gun only, then changed to all rifle.

I still prefer my slug gun when Im hunting the woods. Hunting our fields, sure, I grab the rifle..... you want to see a deer regularly drop in its tracks, hit it with a sabot from a slug gun.

I have a lot of slug guns, a lot.... and one of the best I have is the cheapest, an 870 with a cantilever barrel shooting what was copper solids (discontinued) and now Accutips (probably discontinued)....

You can make a Mossberg 500 just as good with that barrel. The tighter the twist, try the faster slugs.

I have shot a BPS smooth bore, and a mossburg 12 gauge rifled barrel. And a mossburg bolt action 12 gauge.

None were that impressive.

A savage 220 slug gun...........NOW THATS IMPRESSIVE. But it won't have the thump of a 12 ga.

It is freak crazy accurate!

Harvested a whitetail this year at 165 yards! It is a weapon I trust to shoot!

I had great luck with federal tru-ball slugs in a smooth bite and Barnes expander/copper solid sabots in a rifle barrel

I’m with Iron_ghost on the Hastings barrel with a scope. I too started with a smooth bore and a bead... I killed a few but also lost a few. A 12 ga deer slug kicks hard when your a 10-12 year old kid. Add a pounding heart rate and it’s really hard to hit anything. I got a new barrel, still smooth bore but with sights. Things got better but still too dicey for my liking. A few years later I bought a Hastings for my 870 and put a 1-4 leupold on it. WOW! 2 3/4” WW BRI’s shot clover leafs at 75 yards and no deer has fallen out of sight since. About 15 years ago I shot every sabot 12ga slug I could find. BRI was still the most accurate in my gun. My cousin has a rifled mossberg barrel and his results have been the same. Best of luck, Ben