Are these slugs still good

[ApexerER]

I am a little late to the party but those slugs are fine. Those Brenekes were top of the line around 1988 or so....

Also the old Winchester super X slugs had a red plastic case that you couldn't see through. 

[Hunter007]

I'm still trying figure out how the boxes got switched  

[Pygmy]

Pumpkin balls were even before MY time  !!  They were cast undersized so they would go through a tight full choke , and were notoriously inaccurate, or so I heard.. I shot my share of paper shells...I can still remember when Remington first started making plastic shells, in fact I have a few of the early production in my " collection"....

Remington ran an add that if one of their new plastic shells failed to function, they would send you 100 shells free...Sure enough, I had a 16 gauge shotshell that misfired...Bad primer, I guess, because the firing pin put a deep dent in it and it did not fire...I sent it in and Remington sent me  four full boxes of shells..That was a pretty good supply for a kid with a 16 gauge single shot..

[Larry]

Those are Brennekes they should be good

[airedale]

3 hours ago, turkeyfeathers said:

My dad used to tell me about pumpkin balls that would sometimes roll out the end of the barrel

Believe it or not there are still pumpkin balls available for handloading, they should be fold over star crimped in the hull like bird shot or crimped with an over the top card so there is no rolling out the barrel.

The accuracy is probably similar to the old revolutionary war muskets, LOUSEY!

Al

Edited November 26, 2018 by airedale

[airedale]

Back in the day the areas I hunted in the Southern zone mandated the use of slugs, I tried them all looking for the best possible accuracy. It was before the use of rifled slug barrels and most shotguns fired open choked smooth barrels to get the best accuracy. I have not used slugs in years as I have been hunting the Northern zone for the past thirty something years. This thread got me poking around through my ammo and I found a bunch of different slug brands laying around that I have tried. I noticed that I have both the Brenneke style wads Stormy pictured, the 12s have the pedestal and the 20s a solid wad.

The best shooting traditional slug I found was the old 7/8 ounce Remingtons,  my Winchester Super X1 would lay them on top of one another at 75 yards, they discontinued them in the late 70s and went to one ounce slugs which did not group as well for me in my slug gun.

Al

Edited November 26, 2018 by airedale

[Pygmy]

Back when I was shooting slugs through smoothbores, most of my hunting was done with a scope mounted 20gauge skeet gun....My go to slug was the Win SX 5/8 oz. foster slug...I could group on an 8" paper plate at 75 yards with that...Then Win started making 3/4 oz.  slugs for the 20 gauge..My gun did not like them...I settled on Fiocchi Brennekes   I believe they were a 7/8  oz  or perhaps even a 1 oz. slug in the 20 gauge...They were the best performers in the 20 gauge in my gun, both for accuracy and terminal performance...

About that time, rifled slug barrels became readily available...I bought a cantilever, rifled barrel for my 12 gauge 1100 and never looked back...

Then rifles became legal here, and I have not hunted deer with a shotgun since..

[Dom]

3 hours ago, airedale said:

Back in the day the areas I hunted in the Southern zone mandated the use of slugs, I tried them all looking for the best possible accuracy. It was before the use of rifled slug barrels and most shotguns fired open choked smooth barrels to get the best accuracy. I have not used slugs in years as I have been hunting the Northern zone for the past thirty something years. This thread got me poking around through my ammo and I found a bunch of different slug brands laying around that I have tried. I noticed that I have both the Brenneke style wads Stormy pictured, the 12s have the pedestal and the 20s a solid wad.

The best shooting traditional slug I found was the old 7/8 ounce Remingtons,  my Winchester Super X1 would lay them on top of one another at 75 yards, they discontinued them in the late 70s and went to one ounce slugs which did not group as well for me in my slug gun.

Al

I like that group the one on far left is as deadly and more accurate than the others Hard to find 4.10 in 3inch slugs.

[Pygmy]

5 minutes ago, Dom said:

I like that group the one on far left is as deadly and more accurate than the others Hard to find 4.10 in 3inch slugs.

As deadly and more accurate..??..Sorry, my friend...That is an old wives tale.....

[tommyc50]

I say dump em .I was going to be a smart ass and say well shoot one and find out but that would not be wise

[Dom]

10 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

As deadly and more accurate..??..Sorry, my friend...That is an old wives tale.....

 

10 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

As deadly and more accurate..??..Sorry, my friend...That is an old wives tale.....

As deadly yes accurate depends on the yardage under 70 yrds yes.

[Pygmy]

1 minute ago, Dom said:

 

As deadly yes accurate depends on the yardage under 70 yrds yes.

Most any projectile is deadly if delivered to the heart/lung area  with enough energy  to disrupt them..

However,  there is no evidence that a .410 slug is more accurate than a 20 or a twelve...In fact,  to my knowledge, there are no  rifled  .410 barrels  that are made specifically  for big game hunting....It is a pipsqueak compared to a 20 gauge or a 12... Both are much more powerful rounds...

[Dom]

2 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

Most any projectile is deadly if delivered to the heart/lung area  with enough energy  to disrupt them..

However,  there is no evidence that a .410 slug is more accurate than a 20 or a twelve...In fact,  to my knowledge, there are no  rifled  .410 barrels  that are made specifically  for big game hunting....It is a pipsqueak compared to a 20 gauge or a 12... Both are much more powerful rounds...

Agreed 12's and 20 have more power.However the 4.10 slugs do hold  better pattern in my use of them.You Sir have much more knowledge than I do and respect that very much.

[philoshop]

The only ammo I've ever been fearful of firing is steel shot waterfowl loads that may have rusted into a solid mass. Random checks of ammo have kept me safe, but I can't imagine what shooting a solid mass of steel would do to my gun.

[Merlot]

I have many slugs and bird shot just sitting around for years. I'm just going to contact law enforcement or DEC on proper way to rid myself of old ammo.

[Dinsdale]

28 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

...In fact,  to my knowledge, there are no  rifled  .410 barrels  that are made specifically  for big game hunting....

Couple of European makers have fully rifled .410 for slugs......not common, not big numbers by any means, and boutique even for them; but do exist. I have both a smooth bore made for Brenneke and a full rifle 28ga slug factory barrels for a switch caliber rifle I own. 28 Rifled is a semi custom run not available in US market. Someday I want to take a deer down south where legal with one of them.

I had a full rifle insert .410 in a 12/12/8x57 rimmed, Guild built drilling some years ago. Mostly you find the Euro version of 22 Savage Hi- power (5.6x52R) or 22 mag as an insert (Shotgun,big game,small game in one package).

[Hunter007]

From  what airdale says who has used them before and others 

And seeing that visually from the picture on a orginal box the inside is supposed to look like that going to save them and probably  target shoot with them  for fun when  i get chance .

Staying  with   new ammo for any hunting , ammo That I already know groups well  and you can still get .

 

[cas]

Jeesh, 25 years isn't that old.  

I've shot slugs that were more than twice that old with no worries.