Sabot Slugs

[screamon demon]

Heart shot? what did the exit wound look like? I have heard good results if you get into a heavy bone like a shoulder. Most of the horror stories I hae heard have been on broadsides with nothing hit to force the expansion.

It was quartering away I hit partial lung and an artery right at the heart but the heart was intact. The entrance wound due to the angle was huge and exit hole was a little over an inch in dia. Last year I got a double lung shot on a doe. Same gun same ammo. I knocked a large piece of lung out of her at 35 yards.

[mossy725]

Ok so now I have some slugs to research. That being said has anybody shot the plain old slugs through a fully rifled barrel like these?

My guess is, you no longer have a rifled barrel.

[WNYBuckHunter]

The rifling will fill up with lead pretty quickly with those. You can clean it out of course, but it will fill back up again after a few shots.

[ELMER J. FUDD]

When I had the smooth bore I used those Winchesters. They were the most consistent (within 75yds) and I shot 3 deer using that setup. Only one big doe jumped 15yds away, the others dropped immediately. I mean like one sat down like a dog and flopped over, the other just froze and flopped over.

[steve863]

In my opinion those old style slugs used in smooth bore barrels wrecked more havoc on deer than these newer sabot slugs designed for rifled barrels. You will probably get more accuracy and distance with rifled barrels and sabots, but I think the trade off is the better knock down power the old style slugs gave you. I don't need to hunt with a shotgun, but if I did, I would use the old style slugs even with a rifled barrel. Yes, you will dirty up the barrel, but so what? The old style slugs are cheaper than dirt compared to any sabots and I will take the better knock down power over 25 yards of range. I don't think any shotgun should be shot at a deer much over a hundred yards anyway, no matter how accurate the gun might shoot.

[JPP]

Lightfield Hybred Sabot is still the king in my book.

Most deer drop right away, or they only run about 40 yds before they expire.

I have shot 17 deer with them, only 1 was not recovered. Only 1 missed shot with them since 1998.

[chiefbkt]

I shoot the Winchester Supreme Partition Gold 385 gr. Have never had an issue finding a deer after shooting it. If you are going to a fully rifled barrel, I would recommend the sabotted slug. You can shoot the cheaper slugs meant for rifled barrels but lose a lot of accuracy beyond 50 yards. If you don't shoot any further than that and this isn't an issue with you, then go with the cheaper slugs for rifled barrels. I hunt a lot of bean/corn/alfalfa fields and want to know that my slug will perform as expected if a deer walks out at 150 yards.

[mtbuck]

i shoot remmington 3 " buckhammers out of 500 moss. rifled barrel. Shot copper solids, but found i have a better grouping with the buckhammers,and they lay the deer out.

[dave6x6]

I think i would agree that you can find better blood makers than the Copper Solids but i just can't bring myself to try anything else because of their awesome accuracy out of my set-up.

[Gizmo285]

I think it all should boil down to the best grouping slugs out of your gun. If the sabots don't group try another. I use the 2 3/4 Winchesters out of my rifled BBL and they group and perform excellent for me. Hit em right and they will fall... Good luck to everyone this season as it is drawing to a close....

[16. ga hunter]

have good results with lightfields myself have shot others with less than impressive results and they shoot well out of my gun. some say they are not good for long range but have dropped deer at 100 yrds with them and don't see a reason to shoot more than that with my shotgun anyways

[Karpteach]

I just shot a doe at 100 yards with a 20 gauge 2 3/4" Remington AccuTipps. The slug went through both sets of lungs, and exited low. I had the hardest time finding a blood trail. Find her 75 yards away . after skinning and butchering I could not believe the damage. Wish the trailing was easier.

(null)

[Stretchhunts]

I use Hornady SSTs 12ga. I love them. Cleanest shooting sabot out of my Ithaca. Awesome knock down power. 30 yards is the furthest a deer has run.

[biggamefish]

I don't think it should be about grouping at all. If a slug hold a 2 inch group at 50 yards and doesn't produce a blood trail but a slug that holds a 4 inch group at 50 yards and produces knockdown power and good trailing is the way to go. I would take a little less accuracy over a a super group on a piece of paper. Paper dies easy deer don't.

[ghug92]

I use the hornady sabot slugs, and I after firing them just on the target, I could see a giant 7 inch hole in the ground behind it....doubt there would be no blood ahha!

[Nomad]

Well since we drifted a bit... I'm a smooth bore guy as well,I had great luck with Winchesters,today i use Truballs. Great slugs and .99 cents a box after Gander rebate !

Dropped my buck in its tracts at 95 yards this year, killed a few farther away then that over the last few years,can't remember tracking a gun deer in many years.

[eagle rider]

Just thowing my less knowledgeable two cents out there,..... I hunt in a rifle county and usually shoot a 270 WSM with a 130 gr bullet. In most cases the deer fall whithin a leap or two of where they were shot, if they didn't go down in their tracks. That said I couldn't imagine putting a vitals hit on a deer with one of these howitzer sized rounds and not having a DRT deer. I am curious about this because I am in a situation where I might be joining a club with land in a shotgun county. My limited experience with slugs are a long time ago. I used a 3" Federal Sabot that is no longer made. I hit one big doe head on at 70 yards and flipped her A$$ over Tea Kettle. Needless to say she never got back on her feet.

[bigbz]

shoot em in the neck and they drop in their tracks