Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Slug gun help

I'll be hunting this season with my rifled barrel 12 Guage. It's been a few years and when I last hunted with it often I used the remington copper solids with great success. I see they are no longer making them. Obviously the what shoots best in yours is the answer but looking for some recommendations before I have to buy 5 boxes of different slugs. Shotguns are a remington 1187 and a H&R Slugster.

Thanks in advance and best of luck this season.

I have found the Remington Accutips to be the most accurate in my rifled barrels. I would go with the 2.75" version. They have been more available and cheaper than the 3.00" version lately.

The Accutips have been accurate in all the slug guns I've used except one. That one hates everything. They may not be the most accurate in every or any gun but they should be accurate enough.

I have had good results with the Hornady SST slug in my Ultra Slug but it is a 20 ga. It is as accurate as the Accutips but they shot to a very different place.

In 12 ga I recently found some inexpensive sabots from Brenneke that brought a finicky Mossberg to trustworthy again. It loved the Federal sabots with the Barnes Expander but hates the copper sabot Federal now uses. They also showed promise in a Beretta 391 but that was only 3 rounds as that gun like Lightfield Hybrids which I have a fair bit. The biggest negative is the slug lands a good 6" lower than the current slugs at 50 yards so will need considerable adjustment if I choose to use them.

I've used the Hornady SSTs with success. The last buck I shot with them, was an Illinois 7pt who dropped at the shot around 100yds, textbook mushroom. They've worked in 3 different guns amongst family. The only reason we switched to the Hornadys was that we couldn't find Lightfield Hybrids locally. Side note, while hunting in Illinois, I was in Walmart, and they were stocked up on slugs, went to checkout with 10 boxes of Lightfields, after ringing them up, the lady asked for my ID and FOID card, I politely said, "what? never heard of that, I'm a PA resident." Consequently, I left without any slugs.

I've been using Breneke 3" Magnum Crush for years. The rifling is designed to work specifically for rifled barrels. They're very accurate.

https://www.brennekeusa.com/hunting-ammunition/magnum-crushtm/

Haven't been lucky enough to try them on game, but I have tried Federal blue box 2 3/4" sabots in my fully rifled Winchester 1300 12ga., and found them to be surprisingly accurate. Shooting off of sandbags, with just fiber-optic open sights, I was getting tight cloverleaf patterns @ 50 yds.

They're basic lead, hollow point sabots, and relatively inexpensive. Might be worth a try.

I used a slug gun for years in VA when I was stationed there. I had an H/R with the rifled barrel. The best accuracy I found was with the Win slugs firing a saboted 50 Cal bullet. They would group an inch and a half at 100 yards and smacked the heck out of deer. If you can find some I'd suggest seeing if they work in your gun.

When I had to suffer a slug gun it was always fed Brennekes.

Agree on AccuTips, they generally don't shoot terrible in any slug gun I've put them through, even if they aren't the best slug.

I've had similar results with the Winchester Deer Season XP Sabots. They aren't always the best for a gun, but I've never had them throw buckshot groups, either.

I've had good luck with Hornady SST 's.

Thanks for the recommendations. It amazed me over the years how differently loads shot in my slug guns. Also I'm seeing the selection in stock is very low. I have til Oct 15th here so I better get moving. Thanks again.

Just looked at these online. Wow. They look painful on both ends. I've got to check these out. Thanks for the reply.

I know in the H&R, Winchester BRI sabot slugs work great if you can find them. I live in a state where shotguns are required on state land and sad to say, finding slugs is not easy.

In 20 gauge the Hornady SST’s work well, not sure in the 12 but worth a try

So I saw remington sluggers online at a good price. It says they are for smooth bore and rifled bore. I'm a little confused by this.

Stay with sabot loads to bring out the best accuracy in a fully rifled bore. Also, Sluggers will leave heavy lead deposits in your barrel.

The WW High Impact Supremes were the chit !
Ran those in a couple diff 870s w D&T receivers.
Shot great and were a hammer on deer.

BIL used the WW reg BRI type, and they shot great, but whistled through deer. They died, didn't go very far, but the bloodtrails sucked.
So being the cheap azz he is, he decided to just shoot em in the head. Not kidding. He didn't shoot past 50 yards.

I always bought a bunch of slugs, like 10 boxes, from same lot #. So was pricey even back in the day.
But I got 1.5" groups at 100 and never had fliers.

BUT.....................I also cleaned after 10 shots and fired a fouler.

Have good accuracy with Winchester Partition Gold Sabot slugs 2 3/4 385 gr. in a Mossberg 835 rifled barrel.

What a stud!

My Rem 1100 12ga has always shot Brennekes better than any other slug I have shot with it. I have tried many different slugs just to see what groups best in my gun. The Brennekes were not only the most accurate, they are Hammers as well.

I've found that Remington 12G Accutips shoot better out of a fast twist. My Ithaca shoots them well and it has a 1:24 twist. But it won't shoot lighter, faster Hornady SSTs worth a hoot.

My Savage 212 has a 1:35 inch twist and it shoots Hornady SSTs into a one inche group at 100 yards, but Remington Accutips not as well.

Not many people think about the rate of twist in their rifled slug barrels. It's a good thing to know.