clarification of slugs

[gladi8tr]

How ya doin i have a mossy 590 and was looking to shoot slugs out of it. I have never shot slugs out of it but have shot lots of buckshot and birdshot out of it. i was wondering which type of slug goes into a smooth bore. i think it is the rifled slug and my buddy which likes to argue alot says it is a sabot slug. i thought sabots are for rifled barrels. thanks in advance

 

[Fast Frank]

I shoot plain old Remington "Slugger" 2 3/4" rifled slugs out of my smooth bore.

You can pay twice as much for saboted slugs if you want to, but they really won't offer a whole lot more than the remingtons. You can shoot them in your smooth bore, but they need the rifled barrel to perform their best

My shotgun has ghost ring sights on it, and I can get pretty good groups with slugs. I was surprised when I took it to the range and actually made good hits on the target at 100 yards.

They usually come in a box of five, and cost about three bucks a box, so experimenting with slugs isn't an expensive thing to do.

They kick pretty good, so you probably won't want to shoot a whole lot of them anyway.

Remember that they go farther than shot, so watch your backstop!

Experiment and have fun!

 

[gladi8tr]

thanks for the info so rifled slugs will be fine or is there a certain slug to shoot out of a smooth bore barrell

 

[Trifler]

My understanding is that shooting a sabot slug out of a smooth bore barrel is not only a waste but actually a negative as a sabot slug will have inferior performance than a rifled slug from a smooth bore. You should only use a sabot with a rifled barrel. Rifled slugs are better for smooth bore barrels (You'd think it'd be rifled slug for rifled barrel, but nope...). Even then, rifled slugs still perform better in rifled barrels, but sabot slugs perform better still.

There's a good article comparing different types of slugs for smooth bore and rifled barrels here: http://www.nrapublications.org/tah/Slugs.asp

 

[davinci]

If you just want to blow holes in things, you can't go wrong with either type. I have an 870 with 18" barrel and I like to shoot slugs out of it. I shoot whatever is the cheapest at the time. they all do about the same job on my targets, melons and gallon water jugs mainly. Sabots or rifled slugs, 2 3/4 or 3" who cares? whatever's cheap and looks fun.

If you're going hunting with it, different story. Remember a 12 gauge cylinder bore is a lot like an old musket.... you're going to have a hard time getting good accuracy or patterns out of it, but at the same time I've never heard of one exploding, and I've definitely never 'whacked' a choke tube by exprimenting with new loads in my 870 cylinder bore (there is no choke tube, it's just a big tube that tapers a bit)

 

[Dave McCracken]

Slugs 101 in the Archives covers this.

 

[gladi8tr]

thank you guys for the good info i appreciate it and dave i will look that up in the archives i read all of your other stuff in links to old threads good knowlede and i thank you for it

 

[ace1001]

Maybe you should tell the army that sabots won't work without rifling. M1 Abrams main gun doesn't work!!! Sabots have to drop off evenly and the Pellet or dart must be airodynamic. I don't think they are worth the money. Get a Lee slug mold and It will be the cheapest load you can shoot. Ace

 

[ugaarguy]

Maybe you should tell the army that sabots won't work without rifling. M1 Abrams main gun doesn't work!!!

All current saboted shotgun slugs need the spin imparted by the rifled bore to be stabilized and function as designed. The projectiles inside the saboted round fired by the M1 Abrams main gun are fin stabilized. In the Abrams main gun - or any gun firing fin stabilized projectiles - rifling is not only unnecessary, but the increased friction would both reduce velocity and lead to shorter barrel life.

Now, Since we're in the shotguns board/sub-forum of THR, and not the armament board/sub forum of MainBattleTanks.whatever, for conversations in the context of this board I'll agree that sabots don't work in smoothbores. Now we just need someone to make an effective fin stabilized saboted round for common smoothbore shotgun chamberings.

 

[Vex]

I did some slug testing of 1oz slugs a while back, and I found that the Federal TruBall slugs were the most accurate, delivering a 1.75" grouping at 50 yards and just a hair over 4" at 100 yards. Remington slugger, Federal classic, Winchester classic, and Brenneke KO all had groups of 8 inches or worse at 50 yards... unacceptable in my book. The Winchester classics were the best of the failures.

The Brenneke KO made the nicest hole, though, just as a side note. I could count the slug's riflings on the paper.

Anyway, it also depends on the shotgun. Buy 4 or 5 different types of slug and go test them.