How to pick slugs-Ohio deer

[SemperFi83]

I have hunted a bit, but never deer in Ohio. Ohio requires a shotgun and slugs for deer gun season. For a 12 gauge, rifled barrel, what should I use?

Thanks in advance guys.

Semper Fidelis

 

[Dave McCracken]

There's no slug that's miles ahead of the competition. All 12 gauge slugs are quite effective when placed properly.

As a loose rule, rifled barrels do best with the sabot slugs, not the Brenekkes or the old style Forsters.

Buy some 5 packs of varied brand, bench test until one shows itself to be more accurate, then buy all you can afford of that brand and lot number.

HTH....

 

[SemperFi83]

Helps a lot, thanks Dave...

 

[OH25shooter]

Just go to Galyan's or Meijer's and buy some Remington (1 oz) Sabot rounds. I use them in my 870. Sighted-in out to 50 yards. So far that round has dropped two bucks. You could (which is a good idea) buy the Winchester brand and Hornady to compare the accuracy in your shotgun. I only compared the Remington and Winchester. My 870 did better with the Remington. Couldn't find the Hornady brand.

 

[erik the bold]

I agree with Dave M's post. Test for accuracy with your weapon. There are so many choices in saboted slugs now days in terms of size, shape, velocity, etc.....

There seems to be a trend towards slugs with less mass and higher velocities, though I prefer using the Lightfield 2-3/4" Hybred EXP, (http://www.lightfieldslugs.com/lightfield/) advertised as 1-1/4 oz - 1454 ft/sec - 2564 ft/lb muzzle energy, for shots up to 100 yards. Their trajectory varies only about 2" over this range, and the perceived recoil (to me anyway) is managable. While I've only been hunting venison for three seasons, and maybe don't have the vast experience of some on this board, I've never had to track any of my five deer after they've been hit with one of these.

The 3" Commander IDS has a very similar trajectory to the EXP, with higher velocity, 1-1/16 oz - 1800 ft/sec - 3346 ft/lb muzzle energy, and is good out to about 125 yards. Also, the Commander IDS in 3-1/2", while I've never tried one on a deer, appears pretty devastating at 1-1/16 oz - 1900 ft/sec - 3728 ft/lb muzzle energy. They've got some video footage at: http://www.lightfieldslugs.com/lightfield/press.cfm?pageid=335

I've also heard of really good results using the Winchester Partition Gold (http://www.winchester.com/products/catalog/shotdetail.aspx?symbol=SSP12&use=7) but they're about double the price of the Lightfield.

Dunham's Sports (Lancaster?) usually has pretty good pricing on both these brands.

Good luck on the hunt. Hope I've helped a bit!

 

[nygunguy]

My shotguns are finicky

My primary shotgun for deer is a Winchester 1300 Whitetail Special. It has a fully rifled barrel. It has a 2-4.5x Bushnell Sportview scope.

I shoot Federal Premium sabots usually with the Barnes Expander slugs ($11.00 for a box of 5 here in NYS). It shoots a tight group 3" high at 70 yards and is about dead on at 100 yds. I've taken deer out to 125 yards.

This gun shoots/did shoot the Remmington Sabots in a tight group about 4" high and 3" to the right at 70 yards. Winchester sabots are/were all over the place. I haven't tried any other ammo. I haven't shot anything but Federals in several years so things (with other ammo) may have changed - the Federals haven't.

I've been around a bunch of different shotguns over the years and have consistently found that every time we change ammo we have to re-zero the gun. The rifled ones are the worst (if you ask me).

I REALLY favor Federal slugs, but my gun shoots them well. Find the right slug for your gun. BE CAREFUL shooting standard slugs from your rifled barrel; the manufacturers may frown on it, they may damage your barrel and they might not shoot well.

You have to be careful with 12GA because a bad hit can waste a lot of meat. Most folks I know are switching to 20GA rifled barrels. I just started carrying an old Mossberg 20GA bolt-action smooth bore that works well out to 50 yards with el-cheapo Remmington sluggers.

Hope this helps and Good Luck !

 

[SemperFi83]

Thanks guys, that all helps a lot!!!

 

[mete]

The 3" winchester partition is 385 grain at 2000 fps which will get a deers attention. One shooter with a rifled Browning got 1" groups at 100 yds !!