Slugs in shotguns

[Vineet]

I fired shaktiman slugs this diwali and their recoil is huge. Also they have got powerful punch. I fired them in my father's IOF sxs gun. One of the reason behind the recoil is IOF guns being light in weight. The recoil is somewhat less in my modern o/u reason being the heavy weight of the gun.

[Sukhraj Pannu]

I m having some Eley gastight slugs.... Have anybody used them ??? they are quite heavy than clever or eley kynoch slug

[xl_target]

I can't speak for the other types of slugs they sell, but I hunted one season with Brenneke "Rottweil" slugs and was very disappointed with their performance. At about 40 yards the slug did not even pass through the deer, it was stopped by the hide on the far side.

To be fair, the "Rottweil" slug is probably their cheapest slug but I will not be using them again on a 100 kg deer and I wouldn't even think of using them on a Ozzie buffalo!

With a rifle bullet, we would call that perfect performance (i.e. penetrate the complete animal and stop against the skin on the far side, dumping ALL of its energy into the body) but you're correct. At 40 yards, one would expect it to pass completely through the animal.

Guys MoA is absolutly rite dont use any slug in a full choke Barrel after a cpl of shots u will find that the full choke is messed up.Friend messed up his dads Browning S By S.His dad made him buy a new gun,now he is stck up with a odd configration gun,it works like a sawed off shotgun

Al lot depends on the type of gun you are using. The standard Remington "Slugger", which is a round nose Foster type slug can usually be used in a modern (pump/auto) removable choke shotgun with no issues. A shot gun like the Remington 870 for which "slug barrels" are available will help would be fine for this. While I am only going to mention Remington here, please be aware that all the major manufacturers have slug barrels available for their guns.

Why use slugs? Many jurisdictions in the USA only allow slugs for deer hunting because they feel that the looping trajectory of the typical slug will make the slugs come to earth quicker, thus preventing injury in crowded areas. Unfortunately, slugs go through brush better than high velocity bullets. While high velocity bullets may be easily deviated by brush or destroy themselves easily when encountering brush, slug tend to shove through and keep going for a little bit.

Types of slug barrels.
Many people use unmodified shotguns for shooting slugs. For this reason, Remington's most common slugs; the Slugger brand is designed to be undersized so it can be used even if the shot gun has a full choke. However, accuracy suffers at anything over 50 yds. Even at 50 yards, accuracy can be iffy with some barrels shooting consistently left or right (or above and below) of the point of aim. For this reason, most of the major manufacturers came out with dedicated "slug barrels". For the most part, these were shortened, smooth bore, unchoked versions of the standard shotgun barrel. Later rifle sights were added to the barrel and some manufacturer's started offering scope mount ribs braised on. A little later, slug barrels were offered with screw-in rifled chokes. It was hoped that this would impart a little spin to the projectile and improve accuracy. Nowadays, all kinds of specialized slug barrels are offered. Most of them are fully rifled and saboted slugs designed for them are used with good results. A fully rifled barrel with the appropriate saboted slug will give amazing accuracy at 100 yards. I’ve seen rifled slug guns as accurate (3 to 4 inch groups) as many rifles at 100 yards. It takes less than a minute to switch barrels on an 870.
For the most part though, with a bird barrel on a standard shotgun, you will be lucky to hit a eight inch paper plate at fifty yards. I would define a bird barrel as a choked, single bead sighted barrel over 22 inches. Some bird barreled guns will be more accurate than others and I have no idea what contributes to this increased accuracy. Some hunters will switch to improved cylinder choke tubes but a large number don’t bother. You can even use the saboted slugs in a choked shotgun. They might not work as well as in a rifled barrel but they should not hurt your gun. Most of them are of a smaller diameter than your barrel. American ammo makers, in the litigious US, would be in big trouble if shotguns started getting destroyed or damaged when slugs are being fired through them.


slug barrel for an 870 with rifle sights


870 slug barrel with cantilever mount for scope

More examples of Slug barrels

On my first deerhunt, I used a 20 ga. Ithaca pump shot gun with a fixed choke. No idea what the choke was but both shots were under 50 yards and I had no problem connecting.

Several years later, just a few years after I was married, I went out one early November morning carrying a borrowed Remington 870 Wingmaster. This had a 28 inch fully choked, vent ribbed barrel with twin inline beads. It also had an adjustable butt pad and mercury recoil reducers in the stock. Yes, it was someone's trap gun. We had recently had several feet of snow and so I had snowshoes on. I was following a fencerow at the edge of a field.


Typical fencerow


Typical early American Snowshoes. These are what I have. They work great for deep powder but crappy in the woods because of the long tail

I saw some deer enter the field and so I squatted down on the snow shoes and put my back up against a fence post. There were three deer racing along the filed, crossing directly in front of me. They were concentrating on their back view. Normally, I wouldn't take a long shot like that but they were clearly higlighted against the fresh snow and there was a substantial backstop behind them.I led the first deer alittle and fired. The deer slammed on the brakes and I saw a spurt of snow where the slug hit the snow (between the deer and me). The deer were confused and couldn't tell where the shot came from. They bunched up and were looking all around. They didn't see me because I was squatting down and my back was against the fence-row. I lowered my behind so I was sitting on the tails of the snowshoes and rested my forearms on my knee and aimed above the deer. I saw the snow fly up behind them. The deer, still unsure where the shots were coming from, didn't move. So I split the difference and fired a third time. One of the deer dropped instantly, shot through the neck. I paced it out with my snowshoes on and it was 265 long paces. A very lucky shot, even with the three inch magnum sluggers that I was firing. Please note that I could not have used the sights but was lobbing the slug like a rifle grenade but the slugs did fly true along the line that they were sighted on. The gun suffered no damage and is still in use by its owner. In fact, last year, I went to a trap shoot and asked the owner if I could use my old friend for a round. It still works fine.

Of course if you posess a fine old shotgun, something pre-war, that belonged to your grandfather, I would definitely refrain from shooting slugs in it. Or if you have a gun where you're not certain of the quality or the metallurgy is suspect, maybe you don't want to try slugs through it.



More reading:
Slug guns for deer

All of this should be starting to get your attention; it sure snagged mine. The 100-yard test target that accompanied this gun was a three-shot group measuring less than three quarters of an inch, .70 inch center to center to be exact (see above). This is an astonishing level of accuracy, if not breathtaking, from a factory slug gun. It was fired with Remington three-inch AccuTips.

With the Federal / Barnes loads, the Savage 220F grouped consistently inside 1-1/2 inches at 100 yards, right at two inches at 150 yards, and around 3-1/2 inches at 200 yards.

Savage 220 with Accutrigger

[MoA]

I use slugs to shoot paper at 100m through my shotguns without issues. Have so far had no issues through either the Fabarms or Maverick.

Shooter going at it


A perspective of what a standard target at 100 looks like

[Mark]

Here is a picture of what my slug gun looks like:

[Vineet]

Clever mirage is one of the most commonly available imported slugs in India. Many times people ask is it safe to use them in full choke barrels.Those of you who are worried about this, here is the link to the company's site which says we can use them in full choke barrels without any problem. http://www.clevervr.com/us/pallettoni-e-palla.html

[Sukhraj Pannu]

Clever mirage is one of the most commonly available imported slugs in India. Many times people ask is it safe to use them in full choke barrels.Those of you who are worried about this, here is the link to the company's site which says we can use them in full choke barrels without any problem. http://www.clevervr.com/us/pallettoni-e-palla.html

have you used eley gastight slug???

regards

[Vineet]

No, I haven't seen or used them. Post some pictures here for us everyone to see what have you got. Also post details like shell length whether it is 65 mm (2-1/2) or 70 mm (2-3/4) etc. Do you have the original box in which these ammos were packed ? If yes, post the pics of the box as well. Boxes have most of the details about the ammos within. After seeing the pics someone here may be able to help you.

[xl_target]

Here is a picture of what my slug gun looks like:
[ Image ]

Nice Mossy, Mark.
What kind of groups are possible with one of those?