SABOTS AND SLUGS

[coolbreezeroho]

What kind of groups and ranges are you getting from your sabots with a rifled barrel verus your smooth bore with slugs. Also anyone use a 12 gauge winchester with a smooth bore that has a rifled winchoke on it ? Going to be trying all three out sometime in the next couple of weeks. That is if it stops raining..

 

[GregoryB.]

With my 11-87 and a rifled choke tube I shot around 2 inches at 100 yards with 3 in Federal but that has been a few years.

 

[coolbreezeroho]

With my 11-87 and a rifled choke tube I shot around 2 inches at 100 yards with 3 in Federal but that has been a few years.

What was you shooting then ?

 

[bighonkinjeep]

I have the same combo as "GregoryB." a Remington 1187 mine is a cantilever rifled slug barrel and a Leupold 2-7x33. Mine was shooting the 3" Winchester Super X sabots into about the same groups. 2"-3" at 100 yards.
I tried some of the Remington 2 3/4" premier sabot copper solids and the darn things slammed the bolt back so hard with a loud" thunk" during cycling that I only shot 1 of them for fear of breaking my shotgun and winding up with a face full of parts.

I've never been particularly recoil shy, but benching a 12 gauge slug gun off of sandbags to zero a scope, is not as much "fun" as some might lead you to believe. Good thing with the combo I have is once you get it zeroed, you can pull the barrel, mounts, scope and all off and put it in a case as a single sighted in ready to go piece.

I really cant compare it accuracy wise to a smoothbore or rifled choke because decades ago as a young man there was not a huntable population of deer or "slug" sized game in Northwest Georgia.

Granddaddy always warned that slugs would "rip the bore out of your bird gun" and it wouldn't pattern right anymore. I had no reason to doubt the patriarch of my hunting and shootings wisdom or any reason to shoot slugs. As deer became more plentiful I just bought an -06

All guns shoot differently especially with different loads. What yours does with slugs is most likely going to be up to you and your shoulder and constitution. I wish you well. BHJ

 

[coolbreezeroho]

Ill be sighting in off a lead sled. Have shot a different slug gun and gave up because of the grouping I was getting. When I took the scope off it to change back over to buckshot I found one of the scope rings mounting bolts broke so I went hmmmmm...Didn't have the sled then so it was rough after about 6 shots. Tried the buck hammers in 2 3/4and winchester 3 inch sabots. The buck hammers would punish you bad. My brother shot one of the buck hammers and started laughing when he handed the shotgun back to me ....

 

[RomeWolf]

Couple of years ago I bought a Savage 220F. It’s their 20 gauge rifled bolt action shotgun. Came with an Accutrigger too. It shoots around 1”-1.5” groups at 100 yards with 2 3/4” sabot slugs. I certainly haven’t shot it a lot in this one sitting. Gives me a slight headache off the bench after about 6 rounds. Viewing this recoil table from Chuck Hawks I know why!

https://chuckhawks.com/shotgun_recoil_table.htm

Glad i didn’t get the 12 gauge....I’ll let tougher guys handle that.

As a rule sabots shoot well in rifled barrels and non sabots shoot better in smooth bores. Your mileage may vary.

Not sure on chokes on smooth bores but I do know Mossberg 835s should never shoot slugs due to the barrel being overbored and can generate some real high pressures.

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

I had a 18 inch cylinder bore smooth barrel on a 870. I put a B-square scope mount ( the older aluminum one) on it and a cheap Bushnell scope. I shot the cheap Remington buck hammers A.K.A punkin ball. At 50 yards it would clover leaf 3 rounds. I had it set up for hogs. That thing would really stomp you when you shot it. I‘ve seen video of deer taken close to 200 yards with a slug and a rifled barrel in a 20 gauge. We’ve killed a lot of hogs with the 12 gauge SST slugs, we have never recovered a round, they are hot and accurate.

 

[coolbreezeroho]

I had a 18 inch cylinder bore smooth barrel on a 870. I put a B-square scope mount ( the older aluminum one) on it and a cheap Bushnell scope. I shot the cheap Remington buck hammers A.K.A punkin ball. At 50 yards it would clover leaf 3 rounds. I had it set up for hogs. That thing would really stomp you when you shot it. I‘ve seen video of deer taken close to 200 yards with a slug and a rifled barrel in a 20 gauge. We’ve killed a lot of hogs with the 12 gauge SST slugs, we have never recovered a round, they are hot and accurate.

How did the B-square mount hold up?
Thats what I have mounted now

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

The old one was aluminum and held up fine. The newer ones are made of some type of high tech plastic and flex and I don’t think I would want one. I always use steel rings when I mounted a scope on a shotgun.

 

[nmurph]

Get off the Lead Sled.

 

[coolbreezeroho]

Get off the Lead Sled.

The sled makes it easier sighting in. I have wasted a lot of ammo after flinching from the recoil of a 300 wsm 180 grain bullet. Will I be able to take it hunting no...But for sighting in to take way the human error after 10 shots its does it job..You can tell more if its the rifle/shotgun not liking the ammo your feeding it or human error. I sight in in a teeshirt and usually hunt in layers ...plus only one shot when hunting ...the sled has paid for its self many times over .. try one you might like like it ....

 

[SakoL61R]

Killed a slew of hogs and a couple of deer with Brenneke classics out of my 12 ga. Citori o/u out to 60 yards. Skeet chokes. Devastating.
Have a Hastings open-sight rifled barrel for my Rem 1100 12 ga. Haven't ever used it much. It did shoot very well out to 100 yds on the range with some of the saboted ammo available at the time (early 90's').

 

[nmurph]

The sled makes it easier sighting in. I have wasted a lot of ammo after flinching from the recoil of a 300 wsm 180 grain bullet. Will I be able to take it hunting no...But for sighting in to take way the human error after 10 shots its does it job..You can tell more if its the rifle/shotgun not liking the ammo your feeding it or human error. I sight in in a teeshirt and usually hunt in layers ...plus only one shot when hunting ...the sled has paid for its self many times over .. try one you might like like it ....

Got about 20 years ago... haven't used it in about 19.