slugs or buck shot
 

recently found a hunting area that's in a river bottom but is shotgun only for firearms. i just happen to have a single shot 12ga w/ mod. choke and 28" barrel. would i be best off using slugs or buckshot for deer hunting? there is some thick cover back in there.

Definitely slugs.

Deer
 

What Duffy said. Slugs for certain!!

I agree, slugs it is.

IF the normal shot will be a moving or running deer 20-30 yards shoot the buckshot if legal.

A good slug is hard to beat up close on walking /standing deer.

Your mod barrel should do about 3 inch at 60 yards if you can get it to sight correctly for the slugs.

I have seen deer hit with buck up close and it is brutally effective.
Most bad stories are about shots taken at to far distance.

Use the tru-ball slugs from federal cartridge(great smooth bore slug). If the deer are so close that you are worried about spooking them, and them running off, use buckshot.

I haerd that the Tru-ball slugs from Federal are pretty good for those smoothbore barrels, which I will assume is what you have. The plastic ball inside them prevents the slug from being crushed upon setback (i.e., when they are fired).

Does your shotgun have choke tubes? If so, you could buy a rifled choke tube for it and use sabots which can be a lot more accurate than slugs.

I probaly aint got no business in this here thread...but shootin slugs in a smoothbore just plain aint good in my opinion.
I have seen so many guns that people have shot slug after slug through go to pot. Then when you really need a "shotgun" you aint gonna have it. Say bye-bye to a good pattern.
I would get a rifled barrel or go with the buckshot.
We never could hunt with a rifle and I've used buckshot all my life and have killed a plenty of deer in my lifetime. Most of them deer are runnin too..so you can bring em down as long as the gun patterns well and you have good "matchin" shells to it.

If you take the time to learn yer gun, pattern it and take the time to find the right shell fer the gun..you'll do fine with buckshot even in heavy cover. As fer as a standin deer a well placed load of 00 will drop a deer in it's tracks and you wont have to feel guilty bout shootin a slug through a smoothbore.
Maybe these days they might have improved slug loads to shoot through smoothbores..but I wouldnt wanna find out next year when all of a sudden you notice...dern, my gun dont shoot as good as it used to.

I grew up in a shotgun only area. My grandfather, uncles, all my cousins used buckshot, (everyone had a slug or two in case they saw a deer in a field.) Now everyone hates buckshot and uses slugs. I've heard horror stories about buckshot and I only use slugs, but like I mentioned it worked fine for years. I live in the N/E and we hunt in the thick stuff, most shots are just beyond Bow range and under 75yrds.

I have heard buckshot horror stories my whole life, and I have used buckshot my whole life. I never had a deer that didn't drop in its tracks from buckshot if I was within 20-30 yards (heavy brush too) I carry slugs now as well ONLY because last year I shot a buck at less than 10 yards with buckshot and lost the whole right front shoulder. Rifled lead slugs do work better in smothbores than non rifled slugs do, but lilred is right. It aint a slug gun its a shotgun. And shot is what it was designed for.

GoodOlBoy

Slugs and shotguns.
 

Not dissing anyone here...specially lilred....Just to TRY to change your minds... Shooting slugs in a shotgun will never ruin the barrel. Heck y'all..slugs are a lot softer than most of the good high performance loads that you shoot through a shotgun barrel. The only thing that may happen is you will lead the choke area up a bit and ruin the pattern in a tightly bored gun. A nice tight (oversize) bore brush and some shooters choice will fix that up in a jiffy. Remember...steel shot is a lot harder than a shotgun slug...and it won't ruin a barrel made to take it....so the old saw about ruining a shotgun barrel with slugs is just a bunch of horse patooties. Heck buckshot leaves almost as much leading in the bore as a slug. Now as to the buck for deer. It'll kill 'em..has for years. If that is what ya grew up shooting well go ahead and shoot it. BUT keep your ranges short.( Like GOB says...20-30 yds is great.) That means under 50 yds or so. And only use 00 or 000 on those longer shots. I have used buck on a few( maybe 20) deer and it really does kill em if you can put some of those ol blue whistlers in the boiler room. Personally most of the deer I have shot were at short brushy ranges...meaning under 50 yds. And yes there were a few I missed I woulda probably killed if I were using buck...but not so many as you would think. If ya learn to shoot 'em slugs work just fine in the thick brush as well...aw heck...actually better than buckshot. Too many deer just run off with buckshot in 'em. And I do know of what I speak. I have shot an awful lot of deer...10-15 a year over a period of 35 yrs...and slugs are easier to kill with than buckshot...even in the thick brush. Now y'all read that right... I said easier to KILL with...not necessarily easier to hit with:D

So what yer sayin Skeet..is that iffin they clean the gun and do a lil brushin..that the gun would be ok? Hmmm...makes sense.
I reckon alot of people just dont do that. I love old guns..and I will not buy one iffin I find out they had slugs shot through em.
While you might clean yer gun after shootin slugs..not everybody would. As fer as buckshot goes..you can easily wound/not drop a deer usin buckshot. but that is entirely up to the shooter in my opinion. Iffin they dont pattern their gun or just take a stupid shot (i.e 60 yrds runnin through a thicket) chances are better that you'll have the deer at least run a ways. Down here, deer is usually runnin through the woods (dog huntin) so unless yer a decendant of Annie Oakley..shootin a slug through that just aint practical. Er at least to me..cause I caint hold that title..lol:rolleyes: With the exception of a couple times rifle huntin..which I was very proud of..but sure couldnt pull that off every day lol

Oh don't get me wrong I am not saying you can't wound a deer with buckshot and have it run off, I am say that I have never had that issue. Certainly it can happen. Buckshot is not some magical end all and be all. You have to be use to hunting with buckshot, and you have to respect its limitations and its abilities. It is a WHOLE different game than shooting clay pigeons with bird shot etc. I have taken running deer with buckshot, but it is one heck of a trick that I don't ever plan to repeat again if I can help it. The chances of one running off wounded under those circumstances is just too great. I use buckshot in a single shot 20 guage shotgun, and I only use it within 30 yards. Rifled lead slugs I am piepan accurate with out to 50-60 yards, but I still prefere shot (and I don't get many shots beyond 30 yards anyway)

BTW LilRed pointed out another valid point. DON"T use buckshot in a gun you have not patterned more than once with that exact brand and type of buckshot. And while cylinder choked home security 12 guage shotguns may make impressive patterns with buckshot on plywood and in hallways, I know of danged few better ways to lose a deer. I wouldn't shoot buckshot in anything less than a modified choke personally.

But thats just me.

GoodOlBoy

Shotgun bores and slugs
 

Lil red...If ya look at a bore that has shot a fair amount of the old style slugs..without cleaning after...you can often see a streaky area in the choke region. A good bore brushing with a lead and copper solvent will clean it right up...and it'll be good as new again. Might be a way for ya to buy an older shotgun a bit cheaper next time.. ask if it has shot slugs...and then act a little put off if they say yes...but buy it anyway if it is cheaper:D Whoo Hooo if ya get it a good bit cheaper.

Now as to shooting slugs in the woods on running deer. The average shooter thinks he is shooting a rifle when using slugs...and of course he will usually shut one eye like they think they should... The wrong way to shoot a shotgun slug on a running animal. Shoot it like a shotgun...both eyes open and swing the gun like you are shooting shot. The key is to not look at the whole deer. Look at where ya want to hit it..like behind the shoulder. If you shoot a shotgun at all well, Your slug will go where you look. Buckshot too. The problem I have with buckshot isn't the buckshot itself..it is the shooter. Most will shoot at too long ranges. And to tell ya the truth..60 yds is too far for clean kills consistently with 00 Buck. You need multiple hits to kill cleanly at that range...and most buck shot loads just won't do it.. And there is an awful lot of brush and trees in the way of that load of pellets..so you have a better chance of hitting a deer with one or two pellets...but not too much chance of killing with such a hit. Much better chances at 40 yds and under. Not advocating stopping the use of Buckshot..just being practical in it's use. And I know that deer have been killed at much longer ranges with buckshot. Heck I saw a deer killed at a range of almost 400 yds with a 410 slug. That deer had almost as much chance of getting hit by lightning as being killed by that tiny little slug.

Now Skeet...iffin I buy a "slug-shot" shotgun and it dont shoot werth a hoot..I'm gonna come up yonder and drag you down to Virginia by yer ear! :eek: :p ;)
Seriously tho..here's somethin weird...I aint never in all my life shot a shotgun, er any gun fer that matter, with both eyes open.
After readin yer post, I asked the better half iffin he shot his shotgun with both eyes open. He says on runnin game he does! Well..now that he's in the doghouse, so much fer the "better half" part. LOL ;) Kiddin again..sorry.
Not bout the one eye thing tho..so I sat here like a retard "pretend" swingin at runnin game with both eyes open and I caint see a difference. I've killed alotta game "my way" over the years..so iffin I attempt it now I would probaly miss like crazy. But I wouldnt mind tryin some skeet out fer general principle to see iffin maybe I could benefit from holdin my eyes open.
Ya know..I aint never put a terrible lot of thought into how I was shootin. I always shut the eye that felt comfortable and made myself learn how to shoot that way. I'm also a lefty, and I learned at a young to shoot a right-handed gun. Have shot em fer years and a left handed gun seems awkward fer me now. I dont like automatics..so I never have to worry bout shells flyin in my face. when I was lil, I learned to use a right-handed pump. And lemme tell ya, I can safely pump the shotgun and draw another bead in a split second..and never have a shell hit me. I reckon I kinda adapted to the punches the werld threw at me.

Edited to say: we have never been able to hunt w/ a rifle in our county until 2 years ago, and fer that you gotta be 10ft offa the ground. Which means that all (er the majority)of the gun-season deer was taken with buckshot and most were probaly runnin.
Just a point to say historically...it can be done w/ buckshot.