Our hunting camp is in the "shotgun only" part of the state. So I'll be using my 11-87 Sportsman Deer 12 ga. It has a 21 inch fully rifled barrel with the cantilever scope mount and a Leupold VX-II 2-7x33mm Shotgun Scope.

I shot a few Remington Core-Lokt Ultra Bonded Sabot Slugs through it a few weeks ago at my friends camp just to get it on paper. I only shot it at 50 yards. It seems to like the Core-Lokt Ultra Bonded Sabot Slugs. I'm going to buy a few more boxes and go to the range to finish sighting it in. I'll zero it at 100 yards.

Have any of you guys/gals shot any deer or black bear with the Core-Lokt Ultra Bonded Sabot Slugs? If so how did they perform?

I tried them in my Marlin 512 acouple years back.About every third round failed to fire.I sent them back to Remington and was reimbursed.I went back to the Winchester Platinum Tips I was using.I'm thinking of trying Hornady's SST loading this year.I know this doesn't answer your question about performance, but I'll not try them or recommend them to anyone unless you want to chance hearing"click" when you're aiming at the buck of a lifetime.

I just fired a box of Hornady SST's out of my Marlin 512 bolt action the other day, and out of five slugs I had one miss fire. The SST's flew good and left a huge whole in the steel target, twice the size of the Lightfields but due to the miss fire i'll stick to lightfields. I'm starting to wonder if there is a problem with the Marlin's firing pin???

I'm shooting the SST in my 20 ga ultra slug and have never had a misfire. They are extremely accurate and really are effective as a deer round.

That setup will just SMASH deer. A lot of folks here talk about rifles, but when it comes to KO's, nothing beats a 12ga. Nothing.

RAS

My shotgun prefers the winchester platinum tipped slug travelling at 1700fps (400 grain)....it stomps em.
or it shoots the barnes 3/4 ounce sabot travelling at 1900 just as well....same thing....it stomps em..

Your problem may be with the bolt not being seated.The 512 is touchy and the bolt moves up easily if bumped.You may not have had it seated all the way down and that will cause what you described.

+1 and accurate in my slug gun also...

My Mossberg 695 will do the same thing if the bolt handle is even the slightest bit out of position.

I planned on trying Remington's Core-Lokt Ultra Bonded, Winchester's Partition Gold, Hornady's SST, and Federal's Barnes Expander Tipped slugs. I tried the Core-Lokt Ultra's, I still have to try the others. I was pretty impressed with the Core-Lokt Ultra's, even though it was only at 50 yards. Three shots made one big hole.

If they shoot well from your slug gun I'd not be afraid to hunt 'um...

I'm gonna have to try the SST's again, I was impressed with the way they flew no tumble at all, and boy did they leave a hole.

This bolt-action misfire stuff is very interesting. My hunting partner missed a chance at a really nice buck last year when he had a misfire with his Browning A-Bolt. If I remember correctly, he was shooting Winchester Partition Golds and we naturally blamed the slugs. I will have to bring this to his attention. I try just about everything that I can get my hands on in my Winchester 1300, but I always wind up back with the Federal/Barnes load. I tried some of the Remington Buckhammers last year and I can now applaud behind my back with my shoulder blades. Best, John

I use the Rem Core Lokt Ultra and find it very accurate, it hits the same at 50 as it does at 100 for my gun. I haven't shot anything yet with that load, but I will add that the Hastings 2 3/4" mag is a fantastic load deadly accurate and cheaper than most sabot slugs available. I use and carry both since they seem to fly nearly identical out of my gun out to 80ish yards. Which is quite weird since they are totally different shapes and they aren't similar at all. Depending on my stand location I'll load up the Hastings if I have a close view and I'll load up Rem Ultras if I can see far. I prefer the big fats for knockdown.

i had very good results with lightfields out of my 20 ga. where hard on deer out to 130 yards. they shot at 2" at 100 for me.i tried win. hornady, and remingtons but they didnt shoot all that well for me.

You know, I never thought about my bolt been a little out of position on my 512.The only time I had trouble with misfires was only that one time when I was testing the Remington slugs.Federal's Winchester's and Hornady's had never ever let me down, so I naturally blamed the slugs.But, I think I'll stick with the SST's for now.They shoot very well out of my 512, and the trajectory is awe-inspiring for a slug gun.I'm just afraid they won't equal the terminal performance of my beloved Platinum Tips.But this misfire thing has been educational.

My brother feeds this round through his Hastings-barreled 870 and has never had a miss fire. The slugs are just devastating on whitetails, and his groups have been very consistent, running well inside of 2" at 100 yards. He's shot 5 deer with this load, including a huge doe, and not a signle one has gone anywhere-all were bang-flops.

I shoot winchester NP gold's 3" 385 gr. in my 1187 12ga. with the 21 rifled barrel. I tried a few different slug but these work well with my gun. Groups average 2.5" at 100 yds. This combo is great in thick cover and open ground. It's like throwing a wrecking ball at them.

Good to know that people are having good luck with the Hornady SST's. I am thinking about a NEF 20 gauge slug gun to hunt deer on base with. For under $200, I think it would be worth it.

I set my wife up with this exact set-up. She has the NEF 20 ga with a Nikon Pro Staff 2-7 and shoots the Hornady SST slugs. It is an absolute tack driver and @ 100 yds, she can hit exactly where I tell her to on paper. I use it every opportunity I get when she is not using it.

Thanks for the replies!