Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Slug gun questions

I've never really been a slug gun hunter I've shot one here or there that my friends have handed me but I always preferred bows and black powder and since I've been down here stationed in the south I've become a rifle hunter but I got a great deal on a H&R tracker 2 slug gun with a rifled barrel I've heard a bunch of different things about what slugs you should and shouldn't use in them basically I just wanna know what I should put threw it sabot slugs or rifled slugs and what's a good brand?

As usual every firearm has it's own particular appetite for ammunition.Try regular slugs before you go spending bigger bucks for sabots.You may be surprised at the results.The slug gun you have is a good one.My personal experience has been that the old green box Remington regular slug is a good place to start testing.

Stan in SC

Sabots will most likely be most accurate out of a rifled barrel. I personally have had good luck with Lightfields

If I shoot factory ammo I shoot Lightfield Hybred EXP 2 3/4".

I agree with Chumley. A rifled barrel will most likely shoot saboted slugs better. That being said, standard green box Remington Foster style rifled slugs can be bought for about 4.00 per box, where as most of the saboted stuff is way more than that. Try some Fosters and see how it shoots, but be prepared for sticker shock if you end up shooting sabots.

I've been shooting light fields for over 10 years and love them.

I've never tried the Lightfields but have sure heard a lot of good things about them. My old 870 is a smoothbore. I had the barrel permanently mated to the frame and a Leupy base and rings mounted on the receiver. It's topped with an old Weaver V 1.5-4X. Shoots standard 2 3/4" Fosters into nice tight groups. 3" high at 50 yards puts it 3" low at 100, and that's about as far as I'd shoot it. It's dropping pretty good at that point. Longest shot to date has been about 45 yards on an Ohio 7 pt. DRT.

I have a Remington 1100 slug barrel (rifled) and it shoots the Lightfields really well. I have taken several deer with slugs, but rifled and sabot and they really put a deer down fast.

I just came back from a lottery hunt in S.C. where you could only use slugs. Several guys were using regular rifled slugs in rifled barrels and said they had tremendous accuracy out of plain jane Winchester and Remington slugs out of a rifled barrel.

Rifled barrels are made for sabot slugs. The twist rate of the barrel will very likely not be equal to that of the rifled slug which will result in poor accuracy as well as heavy deposits.

Federal Barnes Expanders work awesome for 5 of us in our party. However, knowing the twist rate will determine which Expander you go with (1450 fps or 1900 fps). 4 of use the 1900 fps ones and 1 of us uses the 1450 fps due to a different twist rate.

Again, if it was me, no way would I shoot a rifled slug through a rifled barrel, or you may spend a lot of time cleaning it. By the way, what does the gun manufacturer say?

As everyone above has stated, start with standard slugs from Rem/Win. You never know how they will shoot and you my get surprised. I have an 870 with a rifled barrel that shoots the standard Remingtom 1OZ slugs extremely well out to 90 yards. After that those 1OZ slugs might as well be flying bricks.

I thought the same thing as Berettaman prior to the hunt I went on. In fact, I told one of the fellas that I didn't think he was supposed to shoot rifled slugs in a rifled barrel. He told me the four deer he shot that morning proved otherwise and that the rifled slugs proved to be much more accurate than any sabots he tried. He did say he does get heavy deposits though.

By the way, most folks seem to be switching to the 20 gauge and there lots of deer killed on the lottery hunt I attended with the 20s.

hastings lasar accurate slugs worked real good in my daughters 20 gauge ultra slug hunter back in the day


wish i never sold it now..................................


410 grains total weight 1600-1700 fps if i remeber right
350 gr slug
60 gr sabot

recoil was a mutha for sure...........................

lightfields shoot quite will in my 20ga H&R.

need to be careful with anecdotal evidence. Also, it is all in the twist rate. Like I said, my brother has a different twist rate and he cannot use the 1900s. Do the research, talk to the manufacturer and a gunsmith or three.

The other thing that hasnt been mentioned is that many of the new sabots have superior bullet performance compared to the old Foster (or rifled) slugs. I know, a lot of deer have died with rifled slugs, but that doesnt mean that sabots arent better. i have shot a lot of deer with rifled slugs and bullet performance was spotty at best. The Expanders we shoot are just devastating. Our group of 5 has shot a lot of deer since we switched to the expanders in the late 90s. And a lot before that with rifled. Now at risk of going agaist my own advice (be careful with anecdotal evidence), I think the 60+ deer we have shot with both types is a big enough sample to have some insights.

When I was shooting smoothbore, I shot Remington Sluggers.

When I bought the rifled barrel, I switched to Lightfields. Super pricey, but I shot 6 deer with them. Every one of them was DRT. The only reason that 2 of them went anywhere from where they were shot was because they were running directly towards me, and I shot them in the chest. They practically lunged towards me, but were dead already.

Those lightfields are some bad azz slugs. The two does I shot this past weekend with them dropped on the spot with devastating damage. I would not mind trying those Federal Expanders as I have heard good things about them.

Berettaman-

How do you sight in with those Expanders, and how far out do you feel comfortable shooting them? (2" high at 50 yards, or ?)

I was informed the Barnes Expanders were no longer being produced by Federal at this time(discontinued?)Anyone else know more on this subject?

Remington Buckhammers out of a T/C Prohunter

Gopher,
I am about 1.5" high at 50, right on at 100. I am comfortable out to 150. Group sizes average abou 2-3" at 100 yards.

There are a bunch of types of Barnes Expanders for 12 ga. 2 3/4 or 3", tipped or nontipped, and 1450 fps or 1900 fps. I am seeing less and less of the nontipped (original) version (maybe they have been discontinued?). I use the 12 ga 2 3/4", tipped, 1900 fps version as do 2 others in my group. We have one 12 ga 2 3/4 nontipped 1450 (due to a different twist rate) and one 20 ga 1900 fps nontipped. Another guy this year just started using them (dont know exactly which ones other than 12 ga) with great accuracy at the range, but no deer results yet.