shotgun slugs

[Bezoar]

in sabots, does it really matter if the 20 dollar box of sabot slugs has at least one cartridge where the cute little projectile just rattles around loose in the sabot?

ya know for accuracy sakes?

 

[rcmodel]

Maybe?
Maybe not?

Consider things like every soft plastic sabot is going to undergo a radical transformation when it gets smacked in the butt with 14,000 PSI out of the case and hits the forcing cone & bore when the primer pops!

So, I'm gonna guess no, not much a tall.

rc

 

[Nom de Forum]

What really matters is realizing how much money you will be saving when you stop buying sabots and use the cheaper and equally effective conventional non-sabot types of slug. There is not much you cannot do with either a Forster or Brenneke type, although I hear those slugs that look like giant airgun pellets also are very effective.

 

[rcmodel]

The only thing sabot's do the Brennecks or Forster slugs don't is add another 100 yards effective range out of a rifled shotgun barrel.

I really doubt they kill as effectively as a normal Brenneke or Forster slug.

Hard to argue with a 3/4" hole in one side and out the other.

rc

 

[Nom de Forum]

The only thing sabot's do the Brennecks or Forster slugs don't is add another 100 yards effective range out of a rifled shotgun barrel.

I really doubt they kill as effectively as a normal Brenneke or Forster slug.

Hard to argue with a 3/4" hole in one side and out the other.

rc

Do they add 100 yards to effective range or do they extend effective range to 100 yards? Are hunters making ethical shots on deer at 150-175 yards using 12ga. sabot slugs?

 

[rcmodel]

Yes, I think so.

A scoped slug gun with a rifled barrel and sabot's it likes easily becomes a 150-175 yard deer killer.

But I consider a smoothbore shotgun with normal slugs and open sights or a rib or bead to be a 50-75 yard gun.

rc

 

[Nom de Forum]

Yes, I think so.

A scoped slug gun with a rifled barrel and sabot's it likes easily becomes a 150-175 yard deer killer.

But I consider a smoothbore shotgun with normal slugs and open sights or a rib or bead to be a 50-75 yard gun.

rc

You are probably right, you usually are. I still think that is a long way for an ethical shot with a shotgun regardless of what the ballistic tables indicate sabots can do.

 

[rcmodel]

A sabot out of a rifled 12 ga barrel is basically a 45-70 with a 300-350 grain pointed bullet.

If the barrel, scope, and ammo are matched & sighted in for best performance & accuracy?

They will do as well as a scoped 45-70 carbine, or better.

rc

 

[Tom_AZ]

I like the savage bolt action 20 gauge. With three inchers, ballistics and performance almost identical to .45-70. Awesome option

 

[25cschaefer]

Out of my Remington 870 with a rifled barrel (the only reason I'm using sabots) I get a 2 inch group at 50yds. The only reason the group is this pour is because the front sight on the gun is huge but I am still confidant out to 100yds with iron sights. If I got a scope, 150-175 would be no problem what so ever. I am shooting a 300gr Hornady FXT at 2000fps, sighted 3 inches high at 50yds. Sighted in like this it is 4 inches high at 100 and 7 inches low at 200, give or take.

 

[Nom de Forum]

A sabot out of a rifled 12 ga barrel is basically a 45-70 with a 300-350 grain pointed bullet.

If the barrel, scope, and ammo are matched & sighted in for best performance & accuracy?

They will do as well as a scoped 45-70 carbine, or better.

rc

Well I did a little studying and have to agree you are indeed right about this. I was surprised at how accurate and flat these sabot loads in rifled shotgun barrels have become. Truly amazing that sub-1" groups at 100 yards can be shot using the best quality sabots and barrels.

 

[g.willikers]

Check out the some of the long distance shotgunning on youtube.
Some amazing stuff and real convincing evidence.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=long+distance+shotgun

 

[PapaG]

I've been playing with slugs of all kinds beginning with Winchester and Remington rifled slugs out of my Ithaca Deerslayer back in the sixties. It was about a three incher at sixty yards. Brennekes didn't work with it but did with an Auto 5. I got a Lyman foster mould and the Lyman "rifling" swage for it and about duplicated the Win/Rem performance using the old card and fiber wads. When S&W got caught up in the Bangor-Punta thing they brought out the BRI slugs in S&W shells, two varieties, soft for choked barrels and hard for "police" use. Still only had smoothbore guns.
Fast forward to the rifled choke tubes. Mediocre success. Got a Hastings barrel for my 870, tried a bunch of sabot slugs. Started to believe in the 100-125 yard performance. Also got the Lee "Key Drive" mould and it was fine to 50, only slightly better than smoothbores and conventional slugs.
Now, having had Hastings, Remington and Mossberg rifled shotguns, I am shooting a Savage 12 ga Rifle....(210). Along the way, I've gotten the Lyman sabot moulds in 12 and 20 and had varying degrees of success. Better than rifled slugs out of smoothbores, not as good as the commercial slugs. Federal Truballs work great out of rifled and smoothbores.
My boys shoot Mossy rifled guns, 12 and 20, and shoot Lightfield Hybreds and have both made accurate kills on deer out to 110 yards. I'm finding that the Hornady SST, the Lightfields, the Federal Barnes Expanders and others will do right fine out to 150 if you can stand the punishment.
I had back surgery a couple years ago and am a little more sensitive to recoil.
LIghtfield came out with a managed recoil hybred which I shot Sunday. Three in an inch and a half at fifty yards, too much wind for a 100 test.
Some other slugs that have worked out of rifled barrels (against conventional wisdom advice) are Brennekes (they even recommend it), Nobel Strike Slugs and Truballs.
Bottom line, in my opinion, is that you have to experiment, you can go against CW, and you can shoot past 100 yards if you have a good gun/slug combination and the ability to do it. The drop is much like the 45-70, a lot of it. I've about given up on the Lyman "sabot" slugs but will play as time permits.

 

[Tom_AZ]

It would annoy me, but probably won't affect accuracy much. Upon firing, the sabot and projectile are going to be changing size/shape a little. Unless you are shooting copper solid projectiles, then the sabot will probably be the only variable

 

[bangswitch]

The only thing sabot's do the Brennecks or Forster slugs don't is .........

.........Penetrate a car fender and still have enough energy to hole the engine block

When I was training for my DOC job many years ago, they demonstrated what a BRI 3" sabot could do from 25 yards (Rem 870 w/ slug barrel). The SBI called them "car stoppers". I have several boxes of them; when you fire one after shooting a bunch of "regular" magnum shells, it sounds like the gun blew up. In a 12 ga, that's a .50 caliber projectile weighing 445 grains. They will most definitely put a hole in whatever they hit. I've never hunted with them, they seem a bit of a waste at the ranges you'd normally use a shotgun, although I'd think they'd knock a black bear on its arse from 100 yards easy enough.

 

[illinoisburt]

In the Land of Lincoln we are shotgun state so tweaking accuracy from slugs is almost a religion around here. The 20 gauge slugs tend to have better ballistics and have largely replaced the 12 guage for long range shooters. 20 gauge Savage 220's, H&R Ultraslugs, and Mossberg 695's with rifled barrels fitted with Nikon Slughunter BDC scopes tend to make up the majority of the long range setups. Wind has a lot of effect and energy and accuracy seem to fall off around 250 yards, but many of these guys will print around 4 inches at 200 yards off a bench. Lightfields are pretty popular with that crowd so the loose slug in the shell must not have any effect on accuracy or they certainly would have done something about it by now.

 

[jyeatts]

Can we just agree that sabots out of a rifled shotguns are basically .. rifles? And all states should just allow rifles? No life has been saved by shotgun states right? So we should get this law changed and shoot what we want.