12g sabot vs rifled slugs

[trigga]

i have a remington 870 with 23" factory rifled barrel and scope. i've been shotting winchester 3" rifled slugs and according to the target at 100 yards i'm hitting within 2" of the center. so far i've lost plenty of deers coming at 100 yards and i'm not even touching them. i manage to get 1 out of 6 deers i've actually shot at this season with that gun. the one i manage to hit and kill was about 100 yards and aimed for center mass, ended up hitting in the neck and coming out back.

today in the afternoon i stumbled upon 3 deer, all in range, shot once and i missed. minutes later about 200 yards away 5 deers cross a field. later that day 4 of them come back and i'm waiting, first shot perfectly placed and missed, second placed near perfect and missed, third was at the fourth deer running up across the hill. missed. all except the last shot was well placed except the last one, no blood found. i later test the gun twice at about 100 yards and it hits right on.. i am speechless. this is not possible.

my buddy was reccomending some sabots for the rifled barrel but i've never used them before. looks cool but will these get the job done? they are quite pricy. also these 3" slugs have the swirls in them already, will this damage my rifle barrel?

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

You don't want to shoot rifled slugs through a rifled barrel. Those are for smooth bores. I suspect that you'll experience much better results with sabot slugs through your gun. I don't know if you did any damage, but I'd be willing to be you will have some leading that isn't going to help with the sabots.

Honestly, I'm surprised you shot so well at the range with the rifled slugs through that barrel.

 

[trigga]

the barrel is pretty much new, i've shot about 60 rounds with the slugs through it so far. my cousin told me they were fine, it was cheap too so i used them. now i know. i'll check the threads again later for damage.

 

[Dave McCracken]

A, get sabots, and use them after getting all the lead out of the rifling in your barrel. Accuracy will bite until you do, then be good to excellent.

B, get closer.

HTH....

 

[ImARugerFan]

They might be "fine" but they aren't accurate (in your barrel anyway). The rifled barrel is designed specifically for sabot slugs. If you're shooting good from the bench, but missing deer you might need to get some shooting sticks or something. 100 yards is a long ways to send a slug free standing. Also, I don't know about you, but I am a bit more nervous shooting at a deer then at a target, that could be part of the problem.

 

[Kimber1911_06238]

I limit my range with a smoothbore and rifled slugs to 55 or 60 yards. That's as far as I can shoot accurately, after that the slug is like a knuckleball.

Sabots and a rifled barrel will allow for accurate 100 yard shots.

Limit your range if you are sticking to a smoothbore

 

[Sunray]

"...aimed for center mass..." That's part of your problem. Hunting with anything requires precisely placed shots. Practice shooting, off hand, at a 9" pie plate at 100 yards with your rifled barrel using the ammo you intend to use for hunting(you don't need 3" ammo for deer either). When you can hit it every time, you're ready to hunt. You could spend the money for life sized deer targets too, but leave that until you can hit the pie plate every time.
It's still not the same as target shooting though. You need to have an intimate knowledge of deer anatomy too. There are no bullseyes on deer.
Go here for some basic deer anatomy and shot placement lessons. http://www.inberg.ca/hunting_essentials/deer_anatomy_&_shot_placement.htm

 

[trigga]

i've shot plenty of deers in my past decade of hunting. no lesson needed, only suggestions on how i can improve and prevent this next time. this is my first season shotting my new 870 with this configuration, rifled barrel scoped and using cheap 3" slugs. i didn't know how it was going to perform. center mass meaning the center of the chest of course. i just bought some remington sabots and i'll be testing them tomorrow. this is the last weekend so i hope i catch them again.

 

[Kingcreek]

You will probably have plenty of lead fouling in the rifling from those soft lead slugs. I recomend a good cleaning (using a bronze bore brush) before shooting your new sabots.

 

[Roswell 1847]

I don't know much about using Slugs in any shotgun, but it would appear to me that you aren't using enough Follow through.
Any gun which has a long barrel time (time between ignition and the bullet or charge leaving the muzzle)requires more follow through on a standing or slow moving target than a Highpowered rifle in the same conditions.
Using a shotgun on birds or trap you automatically follow through.

You might practice standing position shots with a Spring piston air rifle with its long lock time and barrel time to better develop your technique.

 

[Shawnee]

The fact that you are shooting more or less on-target from a bench but not in the field suggests some small gliche in your technique. Two things you might want to look for when you are shooting offhand are;

a.) are you seating the gun correctly on your shoulder and anchoring your cheek firmly, and

b.) are you canting the gun (crosshairs not perpendicular).

Either "a" or "b" could be caused by heavy hunting clothes or mounting the gun too quickly.

HTH - Good Luck !

 

[Millwright]

You can't use a 'rifled slug' in a rifled shotgun barrel.....BTDT.....it don't work !! After you scrub all the leading out of the bore hunt up some saboted slugs intended for a rifled barrel, ( it'll say it on the package), and try them. Accuracy varies with guns, shooters and technique, but should stay inside < 6" @ 100yds. >MW