who has used slug loaded shotguns for deer and what’s your accuracy?

7 Responses

1. Charles B

   November 20th, 2009 at 3:49 am

   Most will shoot accurate to 100 yards. I have taken many deer with a shotgun at the 80-100 yards away. A rifled barrel with a saboted round will make a 150 yard shot possible with not problems for a good shooter.

2. glock509

   November 20th, 2009 at 3:49 am

   100 yrds with a shotgun is way to far.slugs should be 50yrds or less and less than 20 for an accurate shot.

3. kidd

   November 20th, 2009 at 3:49 am

   Slug shotguns and slug ammunition have changed dramatically in the past few years. When I first began hunting white-tailed deer with 12-gauge shotgun slugs over 30 years ago, the best – in fact, the only – choice was a Foster-type "rifled" slug in a smoothbore Improved Cylinder barrel with open-notch sights. Fifty yards was a sensible shot. If you tried to push it much past 70 yards, you’d be just as well off throwing rocks.

   Today there are a wide variety of new slug designs, bunches of new guns and new barrel designs in which to shoot them, and in many deer-hunting areas you are as likely to see a whitetail hunter carrying a factory-made synthetic-stock bolt-action slug gun with a high-magnification variable scope sight as you are to see a hunter armed with a traditional open-sight lever-action .30-30 deer rifle.

   The best of today’s slugs and slug guns can deliver accuracy as good out to 100 yards, 150 yards and even beyond, as can many ordinary production-grade rifles. And when you turn to the question of projectile energy, just note this: The retained energy of one of Remington’s current Premier Copper Solid 1-ounce sabot slugs at 100 yards is 1,364 ft/lbs. The retained energy of a traditional lever-action’s 170-grain soft-nose .30-30 bullet at the same distance is actually 9 ft/lbs less.

4. Slim Hick

   November 20th, 2009 at 3:49 am

   I took a doe last year, at 90 yards. I used an old (at least 30 yrs) Winchester model 12 (non-rifled barrel) 12 GA and a Federal Premium slug, designed for whitetail. I sighted my gun at 70 yards, so I aimed three inches high. The slug struck her right where I had placed the crosshairs, no drop. Took her straight off her feet, she didn’t move an inch.

5. Chris H

   November 20th, 2009 at 3:49 am

   I have a Mossberg 590 with ghost ring sights and that shoots slugs into about 4" at 50 yards.

6. Randy C

   November 20th, 2009 at 3:49 am

   My little Rossi 20 ga. has shown incredible accuracy and impact at 100 yrds using Federal 3" rifled slugs. Being a smooth bore with a relatively short barrel, I was pleasantly surprised with a 4" group without benefit of rear sight or scope. I’ve never used it for deer hunting, but am very confident it would be more than sufficient.

7. paul67337

   November 20th, 2009 at 3:49 am

   i can get 5" patterns at 100 yds with regular iron sights and an ic tube with federal rifled slugs.

Leave a Comment