Slug Gun Question

[fireman]

I have a question for all you slug hunters out there. Just wondering what kind of gun/ammunition you shoot.

We are going to be hunting zone 4 next deer season and I fiqured I would use my gift cards to buy a slug gun. This will be our first time hunting with slugs and need help picking out a good, accurate shotgun. Any opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks and have a happy New Year.

[CodyDawg]

I have spent way too much time and money on my setup and here is my opinion:

1. Sabots are more accurate than Fosters

2. The new 1900-2000 foot per second slugs (Barnes Expanders by Federal and Supreme Gold by Winchester) really pack the punch and are legitimate 150 yard machines out of the right gun. Oh, and Hornady makes some too.

3. The Federal Barnes Expanders shoot the best out of my gun by far.

4. I shoot a Hastings fully rifled barrel with a cantilever scope mount on my Beretta 390. I couldnt be happier. The other 3 guys in my party with that setup feel the same.

5. I dont know if Hastings makes a slug barrel for the 391. But Beretta does.

6. In my opinion, the rifled barrel/cantilever scope is what makes it accurate, the gun it sits on has little to do with it. But I do love my Beretta.

7. Put a good quality scope on it. I bought a $100 Bushnell that didnt last a year. I now have a Burris Signature Series in 1.5X6 and love it. All our group has the same scope and all love it.

8. Whatever setup you end up with, try as many brands and kinds of shells you can as they all shoot different through different guns.

9. They have come a long way in the last 10 years in terms of accuracy. My (and the other 3 guys') gun(s)will shoot 2" groups at 100 yards consistently. Doesnt leave me with many excuses for missing.

[SCUMFROG]

I've got an 870 with a rifled barrel and a cantilever scope mount. I love it. I shoot Remington's ultra bonded sabot slugs and the copper solids. I'm grouping within 2 inches at 100 yards with both sabots.

[Bjjams]

I’ll second the 870. If you don’t want to spend too much this is a great slug gun. Accurate, light, and you can find accessories easily. If you plan on getting serious I’d go with a rifled barrel and sabot slugs. If you want to use it as a bird gun as well I’d say buy the combo. This was my first year scoping my 870 out and I am satisfied. I only wish I wouldn’t have cheaped out on the scope. Slug guns have a lot of kick so buy a nice scope. If you are going to use a smooth bore you’ll probably want to try Brennekes. From my experience these are most accurate but still not as accurate as a sabot slug. I shoot Barnes X and these are a sweet shell. They are accurate easy to 150 yards. The only problem is they are very expensive. 2 – 3$ per round. If they weren’t so good I wouldn’t shoot them.

[WaveWacker]

If your in the market for a new gun as well, I'd highly recommend getting a gas operated semi-auto. I have shot an 870 for years and have shot a Browning gold. Every year I dreaded sighting in the 870. The Browning has by far less recoil. A fully rifled barrel is a for sure thing. I shoot 3" Federal Barnes Expander's (not that 3" is needed but they shoot better for me). Cantilever mounted Bushnell Holosight. This "scope" has no magnification just a window with a projected sight. Real easy to pick up a deer in it. Very, Very accurate, even out to 200 yds (Not that I have ever taken a shot that far. Just stating the facts).

[JDM]

Cody Dawg gives great advice. I have also put a lot of time and money into this question. I now shoot a Benneli Nova with a 1 in 28 twist barrel with the Hornady Sabots. One thing I noticed with the ultra fast slugs (1900+ fps) is that they don't shoot very accurately out of the 1 in 35 twist barrels. It will hit the target, but won't group. Since I want the option of the longer shot, I was not willing to go back to a 1300 fps sabot to maintain accuracy. That is why I bought the Nova. I also agree on the scope comments. These guns kick very hard and I went through two cheap ones before I settled on the Luepold shot gun scope. Get good rings and mounts as well. If you already have 870's, I might be willing to part with a couple of 1 in 35 twist barrels.

With the new sabbot technology and the 1 in 28 twist barrels, you can get rifle life performance out to 200 yards. I have killed deer cleanly out to 150 yards, but it still seems like most of my shots are 75 yards or less. For a kid, I would look at a 20 guage auto to reduce the recoil. The new 20 guage slugs have been getting good reviews. I used to hunt with a rifle and I can tell you that was a much cheaper proposition due to the cost of the ammo.

[fireman]

Thanks for all the great responses. I will definately be going with the rifle barrel. I shoot a BPS 12 ga and was looking at the Hastings barrel, but if I understand they only have 1 in 34 twist. Does the 1 in 34 vs. 1 in 28 make a big difference in accuracy? I would guess it would to some extent. What does the 870 have for a rate of twist?

Thanks and keep the good info coming.

[Saw557]

JDN

What do you have for 870 slug barrels??? what kinda of money are we talking

Scott

[Cooter]

I'll just add to put a decent scope on it - when I slug gun hunted I went thru 2 cheap($60) bushnells....you get what you pay for. I miss shotgun deer hunting. Later.

[Cooter]

The above post...not dissin Bushnells, I think a great slug gun scope would be the Elite 4200 in 1.5-6X.

[JDM]

Send me an email at [email protected] and I will give you the details to see if you are even interested. I don't want to seem like I am advertising in this forum.

[Whoaru99]

To me, it sort of depends on what type of hunting you do.

If you shoot mostly from stand I'd seriously consider one of the single shot or bolt guns. If you tend more towards driving type of hunts then perhaps the pump or semi-auto would be a better choice.

Get the 12ga if you are a glutton for punishment, get a 20ga if you don't need the biggest gun in the woods. The high velocity 20ga sabots pack a pretty big wallop.

That said, I shoot a 12, but if I were buying a new dedicated slug gun, it'd probably be a single or bolt 20ga set up to shoot the high velocity sabots.

Also, if you can, get the trigger reworked. Most shotguns have really crappy triggers for rifle-style shooting.

Mine is 870 with a scoped cantilever mount Hastings barrel using a Bushnell Trophy with the Circle-X reticle in 1.75-4x.

[bellyup]

I use a Mossberg 695 fully rifled bolt action 12ga with factory ports drilled in the end of the barrel to release fore pressure and increase velocity. Topped with a 1.5-5x turkey scope with a center circle and finer cross hairs in circle. REALLY helps to quickly pick up target. With sabot Winchester partition gold 1900fps I'm good for 200yds.

[fireman]

Most of our hunting is done from stands, we may do some small drives, but mostly stand hunting. The area we are hunting ranges from open crp fields to swamps. Any shots in the swamp will be close, less than 75 yards.

Looks like I will have a little research to do.

[mtheis]

I shoot a run of the mill Mossberg 500A 12gauge shotgun that came with a 24" ported rifled barrel. My scope is a Tasco World Class 3X9. My scope is mounted on a Weaver type base mounted on the receiver, with "high" mounted rings. Even though this is a low buck setup, I can shoot 1.5" groups at 60 yards using 2 3/4" length shells in either the 1)Winchester Super X saboted bullet with 1 oz slug 2)Winchester Partition Gold 1900 fps 385 grain slug or a 3)Remington Core-Lokt Ultra Premium sabot slug in 385 grain.

I've killed alot of deer with that setup!

[reddog]

My setup is a bolt action Marlin 512 P slug rifle.topped with a Leupold VX1 2-7 scope, with a Harris bipod and sling.

All of my deer hunting is spot and stalk and this rig flat out performs under those conditions.

The gun itself, costs slightly more than $300, and is worth every penny to me to have a dedicated deer gun in the slug zone.

I started with a Simmons shotgun scope and it didnt last very long. I changed it out with a Nikon, 2-7, and it lasted about 18 rounds. The Leupold has 8 rounds thru it to date. Needless to say, I agree with the others, that you need to have a good scope if you plan on shooting the premium slugs, because they are tough on glass.... and shoulders!

[JDM]

I probably have well oer 100 rounds on my Leupold with my shotgun / premium slug set-up. No issues.

[CodyDawg]

All 4 guys in my party with Burris's have had their guns since 1996ish and have had no problems with the scopes.

[96trigger]

Rifled slug barrel, rifled slugs, sight it in. A scope is nice, but so are fiber optic sights. If you are going to do some walking, you might want to opt away from the scope. If you do alot of sitting, then the scope would be great. I'm thinking about getting a cantilever mount for my 390, and strictly use it for sitting. I have a Win 1300 with the rifled barrel. Man that thing is dead on out to 100 yards, without a scope. Anything more than that gets tough with open sights. I bought the complete 1300 setup for about as much as the 390 barrel. I also have a 1300 20 gauge that I'd like to find a nice rifled barrel for, then I'd put the scope on the 12 gauge.

Option, Options, Options

[DooWap]

Remington 870 12 ga with rifled barrel, 1.5-4.5X scope using Remington Premium Corelokt Ultras. High velocity, super accurate slug. Within 150-200 yds, probably just as good as using a rifle.

[SCUMFROG]

DooWap

I have the same set up. love it....

[Whoaru99]

Me too. A similar setup with 870.

I've been thinking about having the trigger worked on. It really is the weakest (in terms of accuracy) link in many of these setups. Pretty hard to get really decent groups with such a crappy trigger as most shotguns have. They never were intended to be squeezed like a rifle trigger.

[SCUMFROG]

I've thought of that also. But now I've seen some other thing you can add to it to make it lighter. I can't remember what's its called..

[lawdog]

Quote:

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I've thought of that also. But now I've seen some other thing you can add to it to make it lighter. I can't remember what's its called..

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The EZ-Pull Trigger Assist...

[SCUMFROG]

That's it. Does any one use this?

[DooWap]

I would just bring it in to a gunsmith I'm sure that they can lighten up the trigger pull. Though you might only wanna do this if it's a dedicated slug gun.

[SCUMFROG]

No it's not, I switch out the barrel. That's why the wife got it for me. To save a little money. It was a combo.

why would that make a difference

[PierBridge]

Quote:

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why would that make a difference

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Because if we let you hunt with us again.... ....we don't want you walking in the woods with a hair pin trigger near us......

[Whoaru99]

Probably more for the reworked trigger than anything.

Hammering on the trigger like one normally does with a shotgun probably isn't conducive to keeping a finely-tuned trigger finely tuned.

[SCUMFROG]

PierBridge

We didn't even see a bird!