Most people who hunt with slugs do it because they are forced to by regulation, not because they think shotguns and slugs are preferable to rifles and rifle cartridges for harvesting game.
Most people who hunt with slugs do it because they are forced to by regulation, not because they think shotguns and slugs are preferable to rifles and rifle cartridges for harvesting game.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
I was under the impression that 0-50 yards they were pretty effective, considering how much positive talk is given them by people who use them on bears/other people./etcOriginally Posted by GJM
I grew up with a deer processing business in my garage and have seen thousands of deer after they've been shot. Had a lot of conversations with the head processor as well. In my opinion from 0-50 a rifle has more wounding potential than a shotgun. It also has the potential to do less. With a slug you kind of know what you're going to get. FWIW the guy who has processed more deer than most of us will ever see uses a shotgun with slugs.
Slugs punch large permanent holes through things.
Slugs like a Brenneke or Federal DP are designed for use on tough animals, like large bears and also work well against vehicles. On smaller, lighter game like a deer, they are definitely going to shoot through the animal and may not provide as much tissue stretch and damage as other projectiles optimized for that type of game.
The wound track with these slugs are going to be somewhat similar to those from large bore muskets from the time of the American Revolution to the American Civil War. Read some of the war surgery reports from that time to assess the effects on human tissue...
Facts matter...Feelings Can Lie
Exactly. Slugs make .68, or whatever gauge they are holes through things. For reaching the spine, brain, or increasing the capability of a common shotgun, they do that job amazingly well. Think of them as the equivalent of a rifle shooting a solid. Unless shooting an elephant or for following up a wounded Cape buffalo, all the Professional Hunters I know rely on expanding bullets for increasing the lethality of their shots.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
One more thought as to your experience with that one slug on the deer. Folks that have hunted for a while have come to realize that bullets occasionally do weird things on actual animals when entering the body. They sometimes deflect on intermediate objects, hit different than intended because of the hunter’s trigger press when under time or emotional pressure, or there is some mechanical issue like a loose or damaged scope or iron sight.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
It's been some time since we used LE127RS at work; we now use the LEB127LRS, and there were years of Brenneke in between, before their QC went south.
The Truball is distinctly more accurate -- 3 shot cloverleafs at 50 yards are not uncommon (these are 14-18" IC barrels). The older hydra-shok style slugs were not nearly as accurate.
Both have worked very well on people; deer, I can't speak to.
and that's what I got. Nearly zero damage from tissue stretch, and a permanent hole through everything the slug touched. I'd rather have a 30% larger hole and more tissue damage though, as apparently "it matters". Hence my quest for an expanding slug.
I also chronographed the 1610fps Hydrashok slug, and the 1350fps DP slug. Out of my 18.5" SNT, the full power slug only managed a whopping 100-150fps advantage. Not at all worth the blast etc. I am starting, having shot more and more slugs, to appreciate the main differences are blast/muzzle-flash, which is a pretty big difference, even if recoil feels similar to me. One is much more obnoxious than the other.
There were zero intermediate objects (open air shot, NOTHING in between).
The weapon zero was verified prior AND after the incident.
I felt "good" for the shot, but freely admit an error could have been made, for sure! Of all the possibilities listed, I am most apt to blame, as always, the organic component of this equation.
Accuracy aside, terminally, "did it matter"?
AS in, did the HS usually provide more pass-through with same expansion, or did the TB "usually fragment while the HS did not", or any other some sort of measurable difference, or could you even tell a HS hit perp from a TB hit perp on the morgue table?
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