I'm going crazy!!!! Slug inaccuracy

[briney11]

So I shot 5 rifled slugs through my rifled barrel (Mossberg 500 12ga) at 80-90 yards. Target was like 6-8" and I was all around it within 3-4" but didn't hit the target. So I got some sabots thinking I should be nailing the target every time. WRONG!!!!! I didn't even hit the 2 foot by 3 foot piece of wood the target was on. What in the world is going on???? I think that I'll be using rifled slugs I guess. But why would the sabots be so inaccurate out of a rifled barrel??? And yes, the shotgun was held very solid on a rest while I was shooting. So it's not me.

 

[Al Thompson]

My first thought is that the barrel is leaded up from the rifled slugs. Have you inspected the bore? If that looks good, check the sights and magazine tube for tightness. If it's scoped, try a different scope.

 

[oneounceload]

And after all that, try a different brand of slugs

 

[kudu]

Yes, check the barrel for leading, a rifled barrel will strip the lead right off of standard "rifled" slugs. They are intended for saboted slug loads. My Remington rifled barrel only liked the copper solids made by Remington, I was getting 12" groups at 100 yards with other brands, 4" slug groups with the copper solids.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Shotguns tend to "like" certain brands of slugs more than others- keep trying different brands of sabots. After you make sure the barrel nut, sights/scope mount etc are thoroughly secure...

 

[Al Thompson]

Second thought. If your sights were hitting with the rifled slug, that may be horribly misaligned for sabots. May want to check POA/POI close next time.

 

[PapaG]

Tar hunt and other sites recommend zeroing at 50 yards first. That said, foster type rifled slugs rarely shoot well from rifled barrels. Brennekes and Nobel strike slugs are the exception (sometimes).
Clean it well, try some light field hybrids or hornady ssts and I think you will be pleased....if all is tight and your scope isn't damaged.

 

[Wetz]

I have a mossberg 500 with a rifled barrel. I can shoot hornady sst sabot slugs to a 6" group at 75-100 yards depending on the day. I always will get a flyer in a 5 shot group. The bottom line is these guns are not accurate. When I was hunting in Illinois, I considered the gun to be sighted in if my first two shots were within 4 inches of my target (not necessarily a 4 inch group... could be an 8 inch group). My thoughts were that 4 inches away was always still close enough to the correct spot to kill the deer. The last year I hunted there, I aimed at the vitals about 40-50 yards out in a stand... hit the deer in the neck and dropped it. I now hunt with a rifle in Missouri. In my years of hunting in shotgun only Illinois, I rarely heard anyone take less than 2 or 3 shots when hunting.

 

[AI&P Tactical]

What is the sighting system? If you have some kind of optic on the receiver then the barrel could be moving and you may simply tighten the magazine cap and correct this somewhat but may never get the the kind of accuracy you want at that range. For that range both sights need to be on the barrel such as rifle sights or a cantilever mount. If you have one of those then you should be able to hit that size at 90 yards with a fully rifled barrel. I know nothing about mossberg barrels but had a fully rifled Remington 870 barrel that was throwing slugs and noticed the crown looked funny. Sure enough the barrel wall was thicher on one side so it was not bored center. It was an older used barrel and was useless for anything.

 

[Nickel Plated]

Don't use "rifled" (I prefer to call them finned, since it's not really rifling) lead slugs in rifled barrels. The lead is too soft. The barrel's rifling just strips all the lead around the slug and does not actually spin it. Shooting soft lead slugs from a rifled barrel gives you no more accuracy than shooting them from a smooth barrel. All it does is create lead fouling in the rifling.

The sabots were likely shooting bad because the barrel was already leaded. Clean it out and try a few different brands of sabots. Some work better than others in your particular gun.

 

[Onmilo]

My rifled 500 likes Winchester Platinum Tip sabot slugs. Shoot enough of bthem off a bench they make a raggedy 4" hole.
My buddy's 500 rifled gun does the same with Wolf non sabot slugs.
Go figure.

 

[loose noose]

Sure glad I read this thread, as I was going to get a "rifled" barrel in 12ga for my Remington model 1100. It presently shoots a 5" group at 100 yards with the 22" smooth bore using just about any lead slug, Remington, Federal, or Winchester. I was going back to Wisconsin and shoot in an only shotgun area for whitetail deer, next year.

 

[kBob]

Gosh loose noose, yah beat me to it. But Mossberg 500 Ghost ring.........

Never under stood how they can call a gun with a rifled barrel a shotgun........

-kBob

 

[leadaddict]

Having hunted with shotguns a lot over the last 10 years in Illinois and new Iowa, I've found the best accuracy to come from rifled barrels with sabot slugs. Next best is a smooth bore with rifled slugs. Then comes a rifled barrel with rifled slugs. Followed only by a smooth bore with sabots. (can you say knuckle-ball?)

As a best practice you'll want to buy several different brands and types of sabots to find what shoots best in your gun. This applies to most hunting guns, not just shotguns. Shooting a few sabots after possibly leading up the barrel with rifled slugs is not a great test of the accuracy. I live within 45 miles of Des Moines and would be happy to meet you sometime and help you try out some things with it if you would like some help. (or just want someone to have a good time shooting with!) I'm going out for second gun season and plan to have some fun at the range this weekend.

Best of luck this year!

 

[dagger dog]

[QUOTE=Gregaw Followed only by a smooth bore with sabots. (can you say knuckle-ball?)


I had a scoped Winchester 120 Ranger 21" smooth bore "slug" barrel, when I could stand the punishment it would shoot the BRI sabot slug into 4" groups of 5 shots @ 75yds. Whodathunkit?

It beat the snot out of me the day I sighted in the scope, took me about 10 shots to get it zeroed, couldn't bore sight it cause the scope was mounted to the receiver.

Glad Indiana DNR finally let us use pistol caliber rifles.

 

[leadaddict]

Glad Indiana DNR finally let us use pistol caliber rifles.

I wish they would do that here!

 

[115grfmj]

If it were me I start with the bore, shooting rifled slug thru a rifled barrel will lead it up quicker than anything I can think of. The symptoms of that would be progressively worse groups with anything. To the point where sabot don't even shoot right. Been there done that, and let my tell ya getting all that lead out is a B*tch. Rifled slugs do go anywhere near my rifled bore anymore.

 

[smokey262]

loose noose, Wisconsin has a new law this fall. Rifle is allowed everywhere in the state now except where local laws prohibit it. The traditional "shotgun zones" are gone

 

[27hand]

slugs

I've been shooting slugs out of my 20" rifled bbl Ithaca for 20 years or so since my county went SG only.

At that time I had no clue as to what type of slug to shoot. I started with rifled slugs and as others, had very poor results. Discontinued rifled slugs and went to BRI sabots. What a world of difference but I don't remember exactly how close they grouped. Eventually, Winchester bought BRI and put a dimple in the front making it a "hollow point". I don't know why I tried the Rem Copper solids but they and Lightfields seem to fly best in my gun.
With all the talk about Hornady SST's and how they are the ultimate on range and accuracy, I bought a box and they did not perform as everyone said they would.

Here are a few pics of my slug gun history.
Different types used:




Here are a few hundred yard targets: I only shoot 2 shot groups due to cost and essentially just want to see if the cheap Simmons glass will still let me put them close to where I want them. I use the Premier Copper Solids. The second target was Lightfields on the left and solids on the right. The Lightfields actually grouped a bit tighter.

At 50, the solids hit about 5" high. At 100, they vary at about 1" to 3" high. At 200, they hit 21" and 25" low and 5 or 6 " to the right. I did this just to see. The longest shot I have ever made on a deer was with this slug gun. It was 95 paces.







I have posted about 200 yds slug guns so shot the Rem copper solids and the Hornady SST's at this target. The SST's hit 5 to 6 " to the right at 50 and didn't even hit cardboard at 200. People swear by them and post they are a legitimate 200 yd sabot but they don't run well in my gun. Oh, my POA was the center of the top target where all 3 were on the same cardboard.

 

[PabloJ]

As others have suggested make sure everything is "tight" and clean the bore with good lead solvent. Hoppe's makes brown goo that worked really well when I shot cowboy .45LC loads out of my FA .454 revolver.
Try Lightfield Lites (1&1/4oz slug at avg. Vo 1300fps).

If that does not work trade Mossberg toward Ithaca 'Deerslayer'. Look for smoothbore 25" gun that way you will have HD, skeet/brush upland gun and slug gun rolled into one. These used to shoot best with Winchester Foster slugs because at one time their slugs were slightly greater diameter then the competition.

 

[d2wing]

I have had a couple Mossberg slug guns with rifled barrels, never did find a real good slug load but sabots were best. The faster the better. 2 shots would be close at 75 yards and the third a flyer. These year I tried a used 11-87 with a rifled barrel. Ok with Federal slugs. Very good with Winchester slugs and sabots. 1 1/2 inch groups at 25 yards. Did not get to shoot at longer range but I would expect to be on a plate or kill zone at 75-80 yards, maybe 100.
Maybe you need to really clean your barrel and try different brands and styles. Not fun or cheap to do though. Slugs have the disadvantage of being unpleasant, expensive, and unpleasant to shoot and you have to do a lot of it to gain accuracy. By accuracy, on a paper plate at under 125 yards, maximum range specified by makers. Not to mention the barrels have to be rigorously cleaned between groups for best results. Have fun.

 

[Nickel Plated]

BTW, why do lead rifled slugs have such leading problems out of a rifled barrel while plain rifles and pistols have no problem shooting lead bullets, requiring only an occasional cleaning. Are the slugs made of softer lead than your typical lead bullet, in conjunction with the slug's "rifling" not really gripping the barrels rifling well? I know that lead bullets tend to foul up the barrel if traveling at high velocities, but I can't imagine a 12 gauge slug really travels THAT fast.

Would using plain unrifled slugs made from harder lead give better results? Though IDK if anyone makes commercial unrifled hardcast slugs. Guess you'd have to cast and load your own. With the cost of slugs usually, it wouldn't be such a bad idea.

I know Lyman makes 2 different molds for unrifled lead slugs. One that fits in the shell by itself and one that uses a plain shot cup as a poor man's sabot sabot.

 

[Jason_W]

The cheap foster slugs are very soft and seem to be made of pretty much pure lead. I know that at close range, they explosively fragment inside a gel block. Advertised MV is usually between 1500 and 1700 f.s depending on make and whether or not you're shooting 2.75" or 3" loads. I do know they leave a lot of lead even inside smooth bores. I'm thinking that fosters need to be soft so that the bases can expand under pressure to make bore contact, thus improving accuracy. I could be wrong, though.

Brenekke slugs are made of much stouter stuff. I've fired one into a stack of hardwood boards and there was no fragmentation or weight loss. If I remember correctly, penetration was almost 4" into mixed hardwood. I'm pretty sure that with Brenekkes, the gas seal is achieved by the affixed wad column.

 

[kudu]

Foster style slugs have "rifling" which in actuality are swaging grooves to be able to squeeze down when they go through the choke of the shotgun. Totally supposed to be used in smooth bore shotguns. From reports I have read in the past the so called rifling does not make the slugs rotate enough to do any stabilization of the slug, the nose heavy design is what stabilizes the slugs.

 

[AABEN]

My Marlin bolt slug gun shoots at 100 yd 11/2 in groups with Federal sabot and 21/8 with Winchester sabots. When getting your slug look at the box and get the same lot # so when you set your gun up it will be good when hunting. Lot # makes a big different.