Roger that. The area I am hunting, 75 yards is about the very max due to terrain and trees.Originally Posted by GJM
Roger that. The area I am hunting, 75 yards is about the very max due to terrain and trees.
Got out today with some bigger targets and a few different slugs. I think I was losing shots off the paper last session because the shots were pretty far left and I'm pretty new to slugs:
50 yds, offhand standing, Federal PB127 RS
5 shot - 2.75 inch group size:
100 yds, offhand standing, Federal PB127 RS
3 shot - 4.5 inch group size:
Both shot with Mossberg 500 20 inch and factory ghost ring sights.
Last edited by warpedcamshaft; 09-13-2017 at 08:36 PM.
My apologies:
The above post was shot with F127RS, and not with PB127RS. (Federal Rifled Slug... Not Federal Premium TruBall Slug)
My mistake. Too many shot-shell SKU's running through my brain lately.
Last edited by warpedcamshaft; 09-14-2017 at 12:04 AM.
I really hate how almost all foster slugs are HP design, now. I refuse to use them. Much prefer Remington Sluggers terminally. They penetrate more then Brenneke's in my water-jug tests, and I've spoken with plenty of people who through/through black bear with em. HP slugs come apart in my water jug tests, and many deer hunters report the same :/
Just an update, but shot 2 deer with federal DP slugs. I will never use them again. Absolute terrible. My 5.56 did a lot more damage, dropped deer better, etc. I am revisiting radically deforming slugs like the Hydrashok, etc. I want to put energy into the target vs. just just poking a hole. Even. 0.73" hole. Saw first hand how ineffective if is compared to better options. Deer aren't Buicks. Neither are people.
Last edited by Unobtanium; 11-24-2017 at 09:35 PM.
You may have an unrealistically high expectation of slug performance. Slug performance is limited by velocity and range. Historically hunters have used them for at least three reasons: a requirement since rifles may not have been permitted by law or club regulation; a desire to extend the range and effectiveness of the shotgun; and because they were available.
Some(can't think of reference)have said that slug accuracy from shotgun barrels decreases as the thin barrel heats up and expands from repeated firing as might be done when accuracy testing. One source recommended placing a thin rubber 0 ring under the magazine cap and cranking it down on the 0 ring to make the fit of barrel to receiver "stronger". If you attempt this, I urge you not to use a wrench.
I congratulate you on the extent of research conducted with shotgun slug shooting. Your experience exceeds mine. I've written all that I know so I'll cease unless I discover additional information. One of my intended projects is casting shotgun slugs and developing accurate loads. I will use 20 gauge shotguns on heavier 12 gauge frames. Reason is arthritis. My research will satisfy my curiosity and may serve no other purpose. The only other suggestion that I can make for slug shooting is use a rifled barrel for increased accuracy. I will if I can locate ones to fit my older shotguns.
Out of curiosity, where you doing neck shots, shoulder/lung shots, etc? I know that 45-70 hard cast is often seen as a good hunting load and that just pretty much pokes a straight clean hole through the deer (and isn't even .73 caliber). Was this an issue of the slug not anchoring the deer like a .308 or 30'06 might? How far were they running? Again just curious in case I ever decide to bring my 1301 on a deer hunt sometime.
They were both heart/lung shots. The first one hit a little farther back than I'd like, but still hit the heart and lungs. It barely nipped a touch of gut. I was shooting directly into the sun in the early morning, and the deer was slowly walking, so I forgive myself. He ran a good ways. I did not pace it off, but I'd estimate it at about 100ish yards, in sortof an "L" shape, first taking off down the spine of the mountain, and then hard right down the side, where he piled up mid-way toward the bottom.
The second deer went a minimum of several hundred yards. We never found him, literally looked 8 hours, and we saw no buzzards the next day, or the next. He left blood at the scene, and like I said, he dropped like hit by lightning, literally all 4 feet in the air. I am new to hunting and have HEARD that deer can run off after seeming dead, but...well, now I have seen it.
Last edited by Unobtanium; 12-01-2017 at 09:45 AM.
Hmm, very interesting. Not what I would have expected, but good to know.
Keep in mind, my first deer was recovered, the second was not. Who knows where I ACTUALLY hit him, all I know that is unless he was mixed with fainting goat, I hit him hard enough for his feet to go up in the air and him on his back staring at the sky, before he made his baller escape. He kindof dragged himself in a half circle, then shakily dragged himself upright, and all the time I was thinking "He's done. Just got some pressure back because he was supine, you took out the pump-house...." but then he got UP and trotted away from me, head in line with body and all I had was a TX heart-shot, which I SHOULD have taken but didn't because hte whole time I expected him to collapse any moment, until he didn't and was gone, and t hen I expected to find him just around a tree, and...
Like I said, I am far and away not an expert hunter, as is obvious, but damn, when you hit a wild animal hard enough it goes belly up...kindof expect it to stay that way, or so I thought.
However...we dunno WHERE I hit it. My best guess is that I hit too high, and it passed under the spine, but over the lungs, and it stunned him for a minute. That would account for his drop, and just punching muscle obviously wouldn't kill him. That is my best failure analysis, and I do NOT blame the slug for this incident necessarily, but my first deer? I was "wtf" about how far he went, and when we gutted him, well, I was very non-plussed about the lack of trauma to organs.
That said, I nipped a bit of gut, and it blew acorn mush literally through the entire rib area on both sides of him. It's like it was "stuck under the layers of meat". I do not know how this is possible. I had to flay off a few layers to clean him up on both sides. Maybe it had a ridiculous TSC, but that did NOT contribute to injury to the organs I saw.
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