slug accuracy

[b79holmes]

I was testing a new to me but a 1970 or so 20ga 870 Wingmaster for functionality, fired 5 Remington slugs at 25 yards and had a 4 leaf clover with one flyer!

28 inch barrel with a modified choke and just the front bead for a sight.

I should have taken a picture but was really suprised at that group, offhand no less.

 

I suppose center to center it is more like an inch group but it was still a holy cow moment.

 

Is this normal for a smooth barrel slug?

 

Bill

 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

At 25 yards that doesn't surprise me. I had one old eastfield pump that was was a vented rib with a single bead and it shot lights out inside of 75 yards. once I scoped it a 3" group at 100 with Federal slugs. It wouldn't shoot Remingtons or Winchester worth a darn. You may have stumbled on it preferred diet...lol

[PREDATE]

Culver Creek beat me to it, Federal rifled slugs outshine the rest IMHO and yes, at 25 yds. a slug gun can punch the center out quite consistantly. A cigarette pack @ 100 is not unreasonable with the right sights and shooter.

[Pygmy]

Back when I started deer hunting, there were no commercially available rifled barrels for shotguns and it was rare to see a scope on one. Slugs barrels with rifle type sights such as The Ithaca Deerslayer were just becoming popular. Many hunters used thier shotguns with simple bead sights, and plenty of deer were killed with them. I killed a number of deer with a 20 gauge Remington 1100 skeet gun with vent rib and double beads.

Most modified barrels that I shot grouped pretty well..The guns that tended to throw them all over were usually full choke, although I have seen a few full choke guns that grouped well. Nearly all smoothbore slug barrels were either cylinder bore, as was the Deerslayer, or improved cylinder, as in the Remington and Browning slug barrels.

It is not unusual to see a modified choke smoothbore group slugs well enough to stay on a deer's vital area within a hundred yards or so. Often the main limitation is the inability to aim precisely with the crude bead sight. And of course there is no way to adjust the bead if the gun does not shoot to point of aim. Adustable aftermarket sights that are on the market today or optical sights such as scopes or red dots are the way to go these days.

[Doc]

Way back in the old days when we used to use shotguns (last year), the pounding I took with my old 12 gauge had me limiting my pre-season scope-check shots to just 3 (that is if everything went well). The last 3-shot group that I took at 50 yards was what I called my "Mickey Mouse" group. It looked like the outline of mickey Mouse complete with the two ears....lol. Now I spend hours shooting my .270 and enjoying every minute of it.

[tuckersdaddy]

culver is right on the money. my old J.C. Higgins happens to like winchester.....Sorry Doc didnt want to bring up a bad subject! 

[jjb4900]

I see some manufacturers are now making managed recoil shotgun slugs..........I've shot 308 and 30-06 managed recoil, and they have almost no kick whatsoever.

[oblivitar]

If your talking about the federal sabot slugs....blue tip or now i think they are grey tipped ,they are EXTREMELY accurate out of my savage 212. 2inch group at 100 yards....i couldn't believe it

[Pygmy]

 

If your talking about the federal sabot slugs....blue tip or now i think they are grey tipped ,they are EXTREMELY accurate out of my savage 212. 2inch group at 100 yards....i couldn't believe it

 

I think the guys were talking about old fashioned Foster style rifled slugs...

There used to be just four selections ; Super X, Remington, Federal or those GERMAN slugs ( Brennekes)... If your gun didn't group one of those four, you were SOL...

Sabot slugs hadn't even been marketed yet..

Things were so much SIMPLER in those days....<<sigh>>...

[Culvercreek hunt club]

And cheaper. $.99 a box.

[ants]

Ahh the old pre season $.99 slug sale. There's a blast from the past. I still have some of those   LOL

[Culvercreek hunt club]

 I used to buy the 10 box sleeve of them before the season during that sale. Usually that would get me through opening day.

[Early]

My favorite slugs have always been the now obsolete ACTIV slugs. I have also had success with Winchester and Federal rifled slugs. Of the contemporary slugs made for smoothbores, I really like Fiocchi Aero Slugs.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Buddy gave me a couple boxes of the Actives. They shot great. Was weird seeing an all plastic hull though.

[Dinsdale]

K-mart and cheap Remington Sluggers on sale.....the good ol' days. LOL

 

 

Bird barrel and some Brennekes killed a pile of deer from the 20ga 870.