slug gun

[phatboy49]

Looking to buy new slug gun. I shoot a
smoothbore 500 now . Any suggestions?

[SuperMagnum]

Need more specs, do you want to shoot a pump or auto, foster slugs or sabots? If you are looking for better accuracy the sabots may be the way to go although it's more expensive than foster slugs. Since i'm a remington guy i'd recommend the 870 pump or 11-87 auto with an rifled cantilever barrel topped with a scope.

[M.T. Pockets]

I've got an 870 with a slug barrel (smooth), with a Weaver 1 x 3 on top of it. I've got see through mounts but wouldn't find that necessary again. I've had this gun over 10 years and a lot has changed since then.


To do it over again:

I'd look for a gun with a better trigger. Shotguns have lousy triggers but I think you might find a better one than an 870.

I'd definitely get a rifled barrel and shoot the new sabot slugs.

Get a low powered variable with a wide field, there are a lot more choices out there now for shotgun scopes.

[Gil Martin]

It depends on what you prefer, can shoot well and afford. I would shop the used gun racks in a few local gun shops. Now that deer seasons are beginning to wind down, they are usually an assortment of used guns on the market. Hope this helps. All the best...
Gil

[skeet]

Get a semi auto with fully rifled bbl with cantilever scope mount on it. They shoot good and kick a whole lot less than a pump or Bolt gun. You'll shoot it more at targets than you will at deer(sighting) 11-87 works very well for me.

[fabsroman]

Pahtboy49,

Welcome to the board.

As far as your question is concerned, I agree with Skeet. I used to use a Browning BPS pump gun as my slug gun until I got fed up with it beating me up. So, I bought a seperate slug barrel for my Benelli SBE that was custom made. I also attach two recoil reducers to that gun when I am shooting slugs out of it and it is now a joy to go hunting with slugs. Last but not least, I have a 3-9x Burris Fullfield II scope on it. I wouldn't change a thing about this gun except to switch back to my smoothbore for wingshooting. Of course, all of this stuff cost me a pretty penny.

In the end, most of the autos will do just fine for you if you get a fully rifled barrel on it and a decent scope. You should be able to shoot out to well beyond 100 yards.

[wildfowl4444]

I have a like new in the box Beretta Pintail ES100 for sale. Synthetic stocks, 24inch fully rifled slug barrel with rifle sights. Also included is a BEC red dot scope that is mounted and sighted in. Gun only shot to sight in the scope (15 shots). Sling swivels included. Could pass for new (99%). The Pintail was discontinued, and are VERY RELIABLE guns. Comes with the boxes and paperwork for the gun and scope. Ship to FFL only, $15 insured shipping. Paid $525 plus tax for the gun alone not including the scope or mounts. Pictures coming soon. ASKING $475

Please email me if you are interested at:
wildfowl@gmail.com

[Bubba]

Yep... Like M T Pockets said, a Remington 870 would be my favorite too. I've killed a number of deer with mine. I put a 2X Simmons shotgun scope on mine and it's deadly at 150 yards with Remington Copper Sabot Slugs.

[Rocky_Raccoon]

870 has my vote too, has performed flawlessly for me so far...

[WT Kevorkian]

If money is no object I would look strongly at the custom Tar-Hunt built slug guns.

If an autoloader is your thing I think fabs covered the high end of the auto slug gun very well. lol (I got the same set-up on that minus the recoil reducers)

870 is an excellent choice for the money, you can have a slug barrel fixed to the action permanently if you plan on using it as a dedicated slug gun and there are drop in trigger assemblies available to take care of the trigger pull. I think you could put together a real shooter with the right components.

Now another gun that gets overlooked is the H&R single shots with heavy barrels in 20 or 12 ga. It may not be widely known but these guns are very accurate and also within just about anybodies price range. They are very well made too, and with the right scope could be made into a real shooter as well for not much money.

Now the old mossbergs aren't too bad either, I've got two of em and they shoot well to 100 yds with lightfields and they are reliable but sloppily made I feal.

Anyway hope this helps

[Catfish]

If you`re happy with the 500 you could just get a rifled barrel for it. If your wanting the best accuracy possiable pick up a gun that has the scope mounted on the barrel or the barrel is screwed into the recever. If you can stand ugly, Mossburg makes a bolt action that shoots real well, but it`s a slug gun only. H&R, Nef also make a single barrel that is suposed to shoot well.

[DaMadman]

Originally posted by Catfish
If you`re happy with the 500 you could just get a rifled barrel for it. If your wanting the best accuracy possiable pick up a gun that has the scope mounted on the barrel or the barrel is screwed into the recever. If you can stand ugly, Mossburg makes a bolt action that shoots real well, but it`s a slug gun only. H&R, Nef also make a single barrel that is suposed to shoot well.

They PROBABLY do shoot well if you can find someone that will pull the trigger more than once.

My brother-in-law has/had one and it made that video of the guys shooting the .577 trex look like a .22

Fully rifled 22" single barrel light wieght and a 3 inch 12 gauge slug = OUCH in my book :D :D :D

[fabsroman]

Yeah, it equals ouch in my book too. However, everybody has a different level of recoil tolerance. Mine is just rather low.

[MOSSMAN]

Just my opinion, Mossberg has a truck load of barrel options for both the 500 and 835 shotguns. You can get a rifled slug barrel with scope mount or iron sights. One thing also good about the Mossbergs is that they have the reciever already taped for a scope if you want to create a full time slug gun.

[WT Kevorkian]

If you set up a mossberg, you definetly don't want to mount the scope to the receiver unless you plan on having the barrel permanently fixed to the gun. If the scope is mounted to the receiver and the barrel is interchangeable the gun will not shoot worth a damn because the barrel can move independantly of the receiver. Get a cantilever barrel, scope mounting on the receiver is just for turkey scopes where pin point rifle like accuracy is not neccesary.

[MOSSMAN]

Keep in mind when I refered to the mossbergs being already taped it was if you wanted to make it a "full time slug gun!"Most people that I know including myself do not use the same gun for turkeys that they use for deer. I myself use a 12ga with a rifled barel with a reciever mounted scope because I like the 3 inch group @ 100yrds with my primary sluger.

[WT Kevorkian]

If your satisfied with 3" groups at 100 yards I guess its ok. Personally I'm more satisfied with the consistent 1" groups and occasional one holers at 100yds with my mossberg cantilever guns and my benelli SBE. But thats just me.

[MOSSMAN]

WT,


1" groups with a 12ga @ 100yards priceless! What type of sabots do you shoot because that sounds like one hell of a deer gun?

[WT Kevorkian]

;I shoot lightfields out of the mossbergs, and Federal Barnes Expanders outta the benelli Shaw barrel, with a 2-7 power leupold on the one mossberg, and a 3-9x40 Vari X 3 on the benelli.

[browning2000]

Just curious, could you post a pic or two of your 1 hole groups at 100yds shot by your slug gun, heck even a couple pics of a 1"er's at 100 would be fine.

[WT Kevorkian]

I don't usually take pics of my targets or even keep them around but the next time I shoot the slug guns, I will take pics and gladly post them.

[fabsroman]

The E.R. Shaw barrel is pretty accurate. I have shot with WT at his home range and we did pretty well at 100 yards. I won't say that I had any 1 hole groups that day, but I was really happy with the way the barrel was grouping with Barnes Expanders.

Since then, I am sure WT has done a lot more tinkering than I have because he only has to walk out his back door. I have to drive a little bit to shoot my guns.

[WT Kevorkian]

Hey Fabs, thanks, I have added the mounts you gave me and added a 3.5-10x40 vari x III, but I still have some work to do, I ran out of up adjustment and hunted with it like that, I had to aim with the bottom of the crosshair where it gets fat at 100 yards. I've since put it in the cabinet after killing a few deer with it and have carried the muzzy ever since. I'm just more confident with it and its got a lot better trigger anyhow. So anyhow, still tinkering here, but its a damn good shooting barrel thats for sure

[browning2000]

Sorry if i came off a bit harsh in the first post, I just know how challenging it is to keep all the shots in a single hole (and not a very ragged one either ;) :p )with a 13LB Hart Barreled 6PPC utilizing a 36X scope and 2oz trigger, shooting free recoil off a Bald Eagle windage adjustable rest, firing sighters and picking ideal wind conditions; let alone acomplishing the same feat with the average heavy barreled smith-worked varmint gun, the above average 8lb bolt action deer rifle, the above average modern inline muzzle loader, or even the way-above average semi automatic slug gun. The slugs themselves are just not capable of averaging 1" center to center at 100yds with any real consistancy at least not in my part of the country. I'd just hate to have some newbie that is getting 2"(mean) groups to think that there is something wrong with his rig or worse yet his shooting ability, for there is nothing wrong with those types of groups at 100yds, it is pretty much the best that the guns and more importantly the ammunition that is currently available to us are capable of producing. As i said before a 1" slug gun would be a real kick in the pants to see so post up some pics of targets.

[fabsroman]

WT,

I knew I was going to have a problem with the up adjustment on my SBE because of the way the "rib" on the receiver angles upward. So, I bought some Burris Signature rings and the offset inserts to use in my gun and it works great. I had to add a lot of offset to it to get the laser bore sighter to come close, but I have plenty of play left in the scope because I got it bore sighted without having to use any windage or elevation and that also makes for a much better scope alignment. I wish Burris sold some Signature rings that I could use on my Ruger rifles that didn't look like crap; however, I guess the Ruger rings have been working pretty well over these years (i.e., don't fix what isn't broken).

Browning 2000,

I agree completely with what you said. Accuracy is all in the eye of the beholder. When I first started using a slug gun, I would take it to the range, fire 5 shots at a paper plate at 50 yards, and be extremely happy with it and then use it the next weekend to kill deer and it did quite well. I also subscribe to Rocky Raab's point of view that a hunting gun only needs to be minute of animal. In this case, minute of deer. So, any slug gun that can consistantly put the slug in the vitals of a deer at the range the shooter intends to use it is just fine. Shooting perfect groups with a slug gun is almost useless because the drop is too extreme to get the benefit of the extreme accuracy, but I still like getting my gun as accurate as possible. I like knowing that wherever that "X" is on the animal is where the sabot is going to end up if I do my part. Then, when I miss I know it was all me, not all the gun, and not partly me and partly the gun.

[WT Kevorkian]

Are you refering to small spacers added under the scope on the bottom of the back ring??? I thought about that, can I get them and use them with the Leupold rings???

[MOSSMAN]

I'm not saying that 1" groups with a sabot slug out of a rifled shotgun barrel is impossible, but there are some short falls of the round. Problems with most sabots, and I would say all rifled slugs are the design of the projectile, and manufacturing tolerances are not as uniform or consistant as our beloved standard center fire rifle ammunition causing slugs to become unstable in flight. This can explain why those who use a slug gun to hunt, and also take them to the range to sight in with several diffrent brands of slugs will see drastic diffrences from one brand, or length to another. Some times you might actually think you have a completly diffrent gun. Another way manufactures are trying to meet the demand of slug gun hunters is through velocity, 1800fps+ which to a certain point is more of a problem, for those who have your standard factory slug barel that only has 1-34" (on average) rifling, that translates to a unstable slug. Again I'm not attempting to stir up a argument, but just adding my two cents in. This is the first time I've ever heard of accuracy with a slug gun that = 1"groups @ 100 yards.

[Nulle]

Itheca is pretty hard to beat.

[cyclops]

I own 3, 1 " slug guns, and have built scores more of them. It takes time, patience and $$$$$$$$$$$$ to do it. I dont know of any that do it with off-the-shelf ammunition, consistantly. even with the custom loads,
They dont grow them on trees.
In all honesty, CONSISTENT 2 1/2 " groups with carefully selected off the shelf ammo is STILL a dead deer out to 150 yards.
Does the buck know if he was shot 2 inches off the point of aim?
Hold a ruler out 2 inches. Now, figure that you can only put 3-4 slugs in that area without over lapping. A 5 shot group leaves one big, tattered hole. Pretty impressive by any standard.

Cy

[MOSSMAN]

Cyclops your right on the $$$$ a good quality sabot off the shelf your looking at least $11-$15 for a box of five, in my area anyway! I have a question though what rate of twist are your barrles. And when your shooting 2 1/2 groups out to 150yards how high are you shooting @ 50, 75, 100 yards which are more common harvesting ranges when hunting deer in shot gun only areas. I think were starting to get to the point now when it would be far more efficiant to use a rifle.

[Dom]

Mossman, you got that right about using a rifle. Too bad many populated areas restrict the hunting to using slug guns. Even an off the shelf standard rifled barrel slug gun of any make today is heads and shoulders above the old days of smoothbores!! I'm using a Win 1300 scoped -- ya, I don't get no 1" groups with it, but the one good thing about it is if I do my part, I hit what I'm aiming at -- every time, as Rocky always says, Minute of Critter, and it has worked for me. Waidmannsheil, Dom.

[cyclops]

Moss,
I am making tattered one-holes at 50-75 yards. My Ballistics are pretty outstanding considering what we have to work with.
They take alot of TLC to get them to that point.
On paper, I can out-do a .45-70 in so far as the numbers go. I have chrono tests over 2000 fps and I think I can still do better.
The problem with most slugs is when they go sub-sonic. Thats when the laws of physics really start to play hell with a slug.
In the meantime, I'll keep "slugging" on and see what I can do.
The rate of twist? depends on what I am planning to shoot out of it . Its usually 1 in 24, 25 or 25 1/2.

Cy