Best sabot for the job

[BigVal]

I know I've seen it on here but can't seem to find it. I am shooting a rem. 870 with a rifled barrel. 12g. I'm wondering what you guys recommend for sabot I shot Remington coppers but wasn't too happy with performance. Thanks in advance

[WNYBuckHunter]

Hornady SSTs are what I last ran in a shotgun. I had mixed results with copper soilids.

[jjb4900]

Hornady SST or Lightfield......

[turkeyfeathers]

My 870 and Winchester 1300 love Lightfields. They dump all their energy very well.  Shot a doe a few years ago real close with the 3" variety ( like inside 30 feet) and no exit . I've heard guys gripe at no thru and thru for tracking. WTH, why do you need to track if the dead deer is right in front of you. Great patterns as well. My 870 didn't like the Remmy coppers either. They ain't cheap but they get the job done and I'll never switch to another.

 

I'v heard of SST's not dumping and whistling right thru on more than one occasion. Anyone ever personally experience this ?

Edited November 14, 2015 by turkeyfeathers

[robw]

I use the 2 3/4 " Rem copper solids in my 870 with the Hastings cantilever rifled barrel with CSD and they shoot 3" groups at 100 yds.  Love them.  Am still working through a stockpile of them from 10 yrs ago, so new lots may behave differently.  Did try Rem Buckhammer slugs (not a sabot) and they grouped really well for me.  Once I run low on coppers, may try them on deer, coppers are crazy expensive these days  Did try Win partition gold slugs once, and where the slugs in the box grouped really well, the group impact moved from box to box.  Shot 2 deer with them, and they did great, kick like a horse, and since I had 25 boxes of coppers left, didn't switch.

 

 

[Hock3y24]

Try the new hornaday America whitetail interlock sabot slug, shoots the same as the sst but hopefully better expansion. I've recovered every deer hit with a sst but they just go straight through without expanding.

[wmig2]

I tried the copper sabots years ago out of a 11-87 rifled barrel and hand poor results. I shoot Hornady SST now and won't shoot anything else. 

[phade]

Obviously the best thing is to test them in each gun. But I really really like the Remington Accutips. SSTs were mediocre for me although I killed a handful of deer with them. My FIL killed a buck at 160 yds with one.

Ive killed deer with the accutips at close range and longe (15 yds out to 125 yds) and expansion/energy imparting has been great. Most people I see shooting these are either shooting H&R ultra slugs or the Savage bolt actions.

[First-light]

I'm going with light field. I used to shoot copper solids but they jammed my gun a few times at the wrong moment!

[The_Real_TCIII]

My 11-87 likes these. Fully rifled

[Buckmaster7600]

Hard to beat the Winchester xp3 the most accurate sabot out of my 870.

Edited November 14, 2015 by Buckmaster7600

[BigVal]

Hard to beat the Winchester xp3 the most accurate sabot out of my 870.

Just bought some of these going to try them tomorrow after the morning hunt

[518BowSlayer]

can't tell you what the best is cause I've only used hornady sst's. but they have always shot good out of my Mossberg 500

[Caveman]

I'm with Phade, my 870 likes Remington Accutips.  

[jjb4900]

yeah, I guess there is a big difference between shooting and actual performance......you could have a slug that shoots nice on paper but is horrible when it comes down to doing the job. I personally have zero complaints with the Hornady or Lightfields, but haven't had any bad shot placement or tough shots where things could go wrong.

[ants]

Lightfields for me. They are accurate and devastating on deer….They seem to be a cross between modern sabots and old school slugs. Big honking piece of lead connected to a sabot wad..

 

[Timeless]

I'll third (?) the recommendation for the Rem accutips. Accurate, great expansion and weight retention.

[NonTypical]

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned Federal Trophy Copper sabots. I first started shooting them when they used a Barnes slug. They've always been extremely accurate as well as having incredible knock down power.

[NonTypical]

BTW, every slug that I have recovered all expanded perfectly every time,

[Fishon]

Lightfields.

[rotorooter23]

My 11-87 fully rifled loves the lightfields, the barrel is a 1:34 twist so the slower heavier bullets group better then the faster Sabots. I to use to shoot the hornady and had success. I like the lightfields heavier 546 grains and tack driving accuracy.

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[grampy]

I have killed at least a couple dozen deer with the Remington Copper Sabots. From my Ithaca Deerslayer 2, they are accurate and deadly.

[ELMER J. FUDD]

Depends on what barrel you have. Twist rate on the aftermarket 870 barrel made by Maverick is supposedly 1 in 10 inches. If you have a 1 in 28 twist rate, maybe the faster rounds are better. I read that fast rounds leave the gun before the rifling gets them spinning? Bottom line: see what your gun likes. FWIW Lightfields leave a bigger hole on paper than most.

[Five Seasons]

While I can't say I've done testing and compared them, lightfields have never done me wrong

[Otto]

I have an 870 and use the Remington Accutips, they pattern well and are deadly. I'm down to 8 shells after sighting in this morning. I looked in 3 different places for them last week, can't find them anywhere. Runnings, Gander Mt, Dicks, all sold out.