What is your favorite smoothbore shotgun slug ammo for deer

[LJC]

What  is your favorite smoothbore shotgun slug ammo for deer .

Mine is rem sluggers 3 inch mag

My 1187 loves them 

 

[Jeremy K]

2 3/4  1 ounce sluggers.

[turkeyfeathers]

I shoot a rifled barrel in mine so I'll talk about daughters experience with a smoothbore and IC tube in her Remington 870 youth 20 gauge .

We spent $$ on  Lightfield Hybreds : only could get a decent grouping at 40 /80 was terrible ( 12 boxes shot)

                             Federal Truballs grouped decent but not to my satisfaction  (about 15 boxes of experimentation)

                            2 boxes of 3" Sluggers. Them bastids kicked like a mule and shot considerably high from initial dial in

Buckmaster7600 was awesome and sent her a rifled slug barrel to borrow and now she's totally dialed in with Winchester Bri sabots in 2.75"   Hole thru same hole thru same hole now. Now we just need to get on some deer during regular gun season

[PREDATE]

2 3/4 FEDERALS.

[Red]

Breneke ko 2 3/4"  12gauge

[Buckmaster7600]

I got sick of chasing my tail with rifled slugs but my "gathering" I was ever able to achieve was with buckhammers I say gathering because it's very hard to call 3 shots in 10-12" a group.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[growalot]

Breneke hands down I will not use anything else. I got the guys using it in their 16ga's as well..mines 20ga....3"

Edited October 16, 2016 by growalot

[Nomad]

For many years I shot Super X out of my BPS, followed by Tru Balls.

Then my zone became rifle , and I've been much happier !

[LJC]

1 hour ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

I got sick of chasing my tail with rifled slugs but my "gathering" I was ever able to achieve was with buckhammers I say gathering because it's very hard to call 3 shots in 10-12" a group.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I never have taken my shotgun to a proper range to test slugs but just playing around in the woods using just iron sites and shooting sticks 

I can have the   3inch  sluggers do about 4 to  5  inch groups  at 75 yards    at 50 yards I can chop small  trees  with them at 100 I can hit a 8 or 9 inch plate size target all day .  If i scoped it and   shot off a real bench rest and not just  my shooting sticks   those groups would  shrink  I'm sure . 

I know there are guys getting 3" 4" groups at 100 yards with slugs ,smoothbores that are scoped shooting on a    bench rest . 

[Rattler]

You can't tell what slugs will do in any given smooth bore until you test them.  The Lightfield Hybreds always work for me, and they also work when they hit the deer or bear I shoot with them.

Some slugs are made to be really accurate, like the BRI's, but they are also very hard and penetrate without much expansion, so you will have to expect to track the deer after you shoot it.  But you can expect a decent blood trail to follow.

Edited October 16, 2016 by Rattler

[Pygmy]

I haven't shot slugs through a smoothbore in close to 30 years, but when I did use them I shot them through a scope mounted 20 gauge skeet gun, and I had my best accuracy AND terminal performance with Brennekes. They were relatively accurate ( pie plate at 75 yards) and held together and penetrated better than foster type slugs.

[Buckmaster7600]

 
I never have taken my shotgun to a proper range to test slugs but just playing around in the woods using just iron sites and shooting sticks 
I can have the   3inch  sluggers do about 4 to  5  inch groups  at 75 yards    at 50 yards I can chop small  trees  with them at 100 I can hit a 8 or 9 inch plate size target all day .  If i scoped it and   shot off a real bench rest and not just  my shooting sticks   those groups would  shrink  I'm sure . 
I know there are guys getting 3" 4" groups at 100 yards with slugs ,smoothbores that are scoped shooting on a    bench rest . 

That's an interesting approach.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[growalot]

I don't need to have tight groups....just one good shot and done. If I need to pull a "grouping " off on a deer...I was doing something wrong on the first trigger squeeze. 

[LJC]

41 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

 

 

That's an interesting approach.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

Well I figured i don't hunt from a bench so knowing what I can shoot  from with what I'm going to hunt with which is shooting sticks or  off hand   is more important to me .then knowing  what the true acuracy is under ideal conditions . I only bring my scoped rifles  to the range.

Never botherd with the shotgun .

I bring a shotgun to a range I'm shooting trap or skeet .:) 

I don't hunt places that you can see far anyway with the shotgun. And like growalot says the deer don't seem to mind 

 

 

Edited October 16, 2016 by LJC

[Buckmaster7600]

Well I figured i don't hunt from a bench so knowing what I can shoot  from with what I'm going to hunt with which is shooting sticks or  off hand   is more important to me .then knowing  what the true acuracy is under ideal conditions . I only bring my scoped rifles  to the range.
Never botherd with the shotgun .
I bring a shotgun to a range I'm shooting trap or skeet . 
I don't hunt places that you can see far anyway with the shotgun. And like growalot says the deer don't seem to mind 
 
 

I agree I'm a terrible shot so I always sight my guns in 6" off. I figure when I pull the shot it might help me or just make it a clean miss.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[turkeyfeathers]

13 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

 

I agree I'm a terrible shot so I always sight my guns in 6" off. I figure when I pull the shot it might help me or just make it a clean miss.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I bent my slug gun barrel horribly years back. It shoots four feet left at 50 yards but I've learned to compensate very well . Sometimes it's weird not even having the deer in the sight picture of the scope 

[LJC]

1 hour ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

 

I agree I'm a terrible shot so I always sight my guns in 6" off. I figure when I pull the shot it might help me or just make it a clean miss.


Sorry to here that body here is a old trick I learned from a friend  get your self a pip bender and bend your barrel  a few degreess until your barrel shoots straight .

If you want you can bend it 90 degrees and shoot around trees  .

 just make sure you oil the barrel first so your slug can make that curve like in the cartoons 

[LJC]

6 hours ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

I got sick of chasing my tail with rifled slugs but my "gathering" I was ever able to achieve was with buckhammers I say gathering because it's very hard to call 3 shots in 10-12" a group.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do you sight in your bow from a bow shooting machine   iron sites is not a scope 

Edited October 17, 2016 by LJC

[grampy]

My old Ithaca smoothbores loved the 2 3/4 Remington sluggers. A bunch of deer fell to that combo.

[Buckmaster7600]

Do you sight in your bow from a bow shooting machine   iron sites is not a scope 

I set the stabilizer in a tripod. Takes out the shakes very well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LJC]

9 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

 

I set the stabilizer in a tripod. Takes out the shakes very well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DanD]

Brenneke 2.75" KOs. Pretty accurate out to 75ish yards depending if I do my part...big if  

[eagle rider]

just curious, why would anyone be using a smoothbore at this point?  Not being a jerk, but even if your in one of the few remaining shotgun DMU's, wouldn't you want to get a rifled barrel on your gun and shoot sabots?  You be going from a 3" 50 yd grouper to a  2" 100 yd gun.  Hell, If I was in one of those counties I'd think I'd be using my front stuffer instead.  

[LJC]

1 hour ago, eagle rider said:

just curious, why would anyone be using a smoothbore at this point?  Not being a jerk, but even if your in one of the few remaining shotgun DMU's, wouldn't you want to get a rifled barrel on your gun and shoot sabots?  You be going from a 3" 50 yd grouper to a  2" 100 yd gun.  Hell, If I was in one of those counties I'd think I'd be using my front stuffer instead.  

I don't hunt corn fields all brush thickets mostly 60 yards is all you can shoot  that's why . Btw averge shot in ny is only 75 yards on deer .

Plus I can switch out slugs for small game loads hunt deer in the morning small game mid day back to deer later in the day with out going back to the car or carrying another gun .

The deer don't care if you hit them 4  inches to the left  or right of the vitals organs  .

Dead  all the same but its  kinda of like asking why hunt with a recurve bow or a,muzzleloader  or a airgun . It's just for the challenge in a way .  And because  I can my smooth bore is plenty acurate for deer even out to 100 really but realistically not going to get a clear 100 yard shot on a deer in the places I hunt anyway .  

[PREDATE]

just curious, why would anyone be using a smoothbore at this point?  Not being a jerk, but even if your in one of the few remaining shotgun DMU's, wouldn't you want to get a rifled barrel on your gun and shoot sabots?  You be going from a 3" 50 yd grouper to a  2" 100 yd gun.  Hell, If I was in one of those counties I'd think I'd be using my front stuffer instead.  

I just moved to a rifle zone last year so I've semi- retired the shotguns. When I hunted shotgun zones(past 18 years) I never had a problem using smoothbore because I seldom hunted in spots where shots over 70-100yds are even possible. Everyone is going to have their own preferences and to me this is hunting, not sniping. Gosh there are 6,7,8 year old kids down south picking off deer from box blinds now you tell me, is that truly hunting? The point I'm trying to make is that hunting is way more than just shooting.
I'm not trying to backlash at your comment in any way, but I guess you could just call me old school in the sense that I personally am always trying to up my game. Sitting in a stand from sun up til sundown just doesn't feed my need to understand deer patterns & behaviors. Like I said, everyone will have their own preferences.
Sure there are missed shot opportunities due to having limited range, but it makes you a better hunter all around because you have to understand your quarrys habits and have more stealth.