Caribou Gear

Shotgun slugs

Brian in Montana

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Jan 20, 2017
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Location
Ramsay, MT
I'm not a big shotgun guy, but I recently acquired a Remington 870 with a rifled slug barrel. Any recommendations on slugs/ammo for such a thing? I might use it in a deer hunt out here where we live.
 
You'll Havr to experiment to see what your gun likes. Mine shoots hornady slugs the best. Remington accutip would probably be a great place to start if it were me. Slugs aren't cheap so it kinda sucks trying to narrow one down. Of course nothing is cheap. Good luck.
 
Brace yourself, finding something to shoot is potentially going to cost you a TON of money.

We went through this last year with a Remington 870 cantilever barrel and about 8 different brands and types of slugs.....and we had a HELL of a time finding sabot slugs to even buy...

I ended up getting a drivekey slug mold and casting and reloading my own and got the same or slightly better accuracy than the best store bought ammo. We spent $300 on slugs and never did find anything we found to be "acceptable" or "Consistent" at 100 yards.

I can hold a 2"-4" group at 100 yards with the 7/8 ounce drivekey slugs over a big charge of longshot powder. Should have just rolled with that from the very beginning and saved a TON of money.

2-4" groups at 100 yards is good enough for me.
 
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Yep can be expensive and painful.

Rifled barrel mean sabots. I've always had good accuracy out Hornadys but never been impressed with wound channel results. Usually just through and through on a double lung hit. Remington copper solids are what I settled on in our 20 and 12 ga. guns.
 
I'm not a big shotgun guy, but I recently acquired a Remington 870 with a rifled slug barrel. Any recommendations on slugs/ammo for such a thing? I might use it in a deer hunt out here where we live.
I highly recommend Remington copper solids. They are deadly out to 150 yards in a good scopes slug gun with rifles barrel.
 
Yep can be expensive and painful.

Rifled barrel mean sabots. I've always had good accuracy out Hornadys but never been impressed with wound channel results. Usually just through and through on a double lung hit. Remington copper solids are what I settled on in our 20 and 12 ga. guns.
I may stand corrected but I have shot Remington copper solids for years and I am down to my last box. Started looking for them this year and can no longer find them. They have been replaced with something new .
 
I have an 870 smooth-bore 30 Barrel.
I reloaded but have found Fed power shok and a "FULL" choke shoot the best.

https://www.federalpremium.com/shotshell/power-shok/power-shok-rifled-slug/11-F131+RS.html
I just use the front bead and shoot it like a scattergun. I don't have to use a shotgun but sometimes I just want to. Many a deer have tipped over in their tracks, most at or over 100 yards.
The best-reloaded shells I have found were,
https://www.ballisticproducts.com/12ga-DGS-Thunderbolt-slug-10_pak/productinfo/0721613/.
But the feds shoot a bit better.
 
I may stand corrected but I have shot Remington copper solids for years and I am down to my last box. Started looking for them this year and can no longer find them. They have been replaced with something new .
That sucks. Fortunately I have a few boxes left and I probably won't hunt shotgun season again until I have grand kids. Then I'll have an excuse to buy a straight wall cartridge rifle.
 
be forewarned, since Iowa has allowed straight wall cartridges during their deer season, which previously were shotgun only, slugs have become harder and harder to find. As more and more states that were previously shotgun only allow straight wall cartridge rifles I can only imagine this is going to get worse.
 
Trophy Coppers for me. Most sabot slugs tend to be seasonal runs so if you want to test now is the time to buy.

I actually weaseled my way into some Federal teardowns and have a bunch of the sabots. Ballistic Products has load data that is absolutely the most painful thing to shoot and even minimum charge seems too hot so I think factory is the way to go.
 
be forewarned, since Iowa has allowed straight wall cartridges during their deer season, which previously were shotgun only, slugs have become harder and harder to find. As more and more states that were previously shotgun only allow straight wall cartridge rifles I can only imagine this is going to get worse.
Yup and more expensive.
 
Hornady sst shoot the best for me… and they kick HARD. 4-5 shots out of a 7 pound pump and I get a headache.

They expand well too in deer. I’ve only ever had 1 or 2 pass through, they other few were under the hide on the off shoulder. They make a mess of you hit bone.
 
I've had success with pretty much all of the above mentioned slugs out of my 870. Best group was Hornady SSTs, but I shot my first deer with Remington copper solids (first with the slug, not first deer) and loved the lack of meat loss due to bloodshot loss. The kick from that gun has honestly given me a hell of a flinch on the range, but it's funny how I don't feel it at all when I pull the trigger on a deer.
 
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