I have been selling off my rifles, but I was thinking getting into slug shooting/hunting. when I was young we would shoot foster slugs in smooth bores with just bead sites.
if anyone has any comments or suggestions would be welcome on ammo, rifled barrels, cantilever, scopes, fireams

thanks

oh, and I just saw a Maverick 88 rifled barrel pump, does anyone have experience with these?

thanks again

Id be glad to try and help.
Hunting what ? And the distance ?
Are two very important factors that should be answered first.

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Paul
S&WCA #2726

We are required to use slugs for deer in most of my state (MD).

My Mossburg 500 with a 24" smooth bore slug barrel, equipped with a 3 x 9 scope in a receiver side mount, using Foster slugs, is good for minute of pie plate at 100 yds. Plenty accurate enough for the ranges we hunt at and has put quite a bit of venison in the freezer!!

I use a smoothbore slug barrel with Fosters in my Winchester. The barrel is cyl. choked. Good accuracy. Many of the sabot slugs recommend a fully rifled barrel for accuracy.

My Mossberg 500 with 18.5" smooth bore cylinder choke, has factory rifle sights. While I've played with several hand loaded slugs and all the traditional One Ounce rifled slugs I could get my hands on, I'm sticking with Remington! They are available and every place that sells ammo, are often on sale (that's when I stock up!), and shoot the best out of that gun almost touching at 50 yards!!!)

My brother went with a rifled barrel 24" and rifle sights and spent a fortune looking for and buying every brand of Sabot slugs. 6 to 8 inches at 50 yards was the best he could come up with, so he tried some of my Remington ) on Ounce Slugs and started getting about 2" groups! at less than half the price!

Ohio, used to be a SLUG only deer hunting state, but a few years ago went to straight wall care rifle hunting. 44mag and 45-70 rifles skyrocketed in price and slog guns went down, it was a slug gunners dream come true!

Ivan

You may have to experiment some to find the slug that shoots best from your shotgun. Of the 3 shotguns I shoot slugs thru (2 Benelli's and an 870) they all shoot better with different slugs.

A three inch 12 gauge slug will wake-up the woods.

whitetail from 15-100 yards

I just bought a new Hatfield 20 ga shotgun from Wally's world for $206. I read the reviews and it has good reviews. It also comes in 12 ga.
I got it home and cleaned/oiled it up. I shot about a dozen rounds 7/8 oz #8 shot and the gun fired perfectly. I am more than happy with this inexpensive shotgun that looks and performs as well or better than some costing more than double the price. It also has good looking wood instead of plastic.
If you want another shotgun but don't want to bust the bank then check it out.

Canteliver scope mount barrels stay zeroed much better than receiver mounted scopes if you are switching between smooth bore and rifled slug barrels. I shoot an 870 with 1oz copper solids and get 1.5”-2.5” three shot groups at 100 yards.

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1SG, USA (Ret)

Going to 💯 I'd definitely use a rifled barrel.
The sabot slug would depend on what groups well in it.
I use a cantilever on my 11-87 with excellent results.

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Paul
S&WCA #2726

rifle for sabots?
smooth for fosters?

My primary deer hunting shotgun from 1975 up till five years ago, was a Mossberg 500 with a 24” smooth bore barrel with rifle sights. My preferred load was the Federal 1 oz slug. I have harvested deer annually with this set up, and my shots are usually 70 yds or closer.
Five years ago I bought a Savage 220, which has a rifled bore. i topped it off with a Leupold scope and the ammo it prefers is the Remington 260 gr AccuTip. I can engage effectively out to 200 yds if I choose.
We now have a rifle season for deer, but last year I put venison in the freezer with the Savage. That sabot load is quite effective on these big corn and bean fed white tails.

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Don't shoot from the prone position .
If you do , have a real good recoil reducing butt pad installed .
LimbSaver makes a nice recoil reducing pad you can wear while testing and sighting in loads.
Recoil will start to affect you after about 20 rounds or so if you don't protect your shoulder.
Gary

About 26+ years ago, Bucks Co. in PA went to slugs. With 5 hunters ( myself, Wife, Brother and 2 nephews ) we went with Moss 500, rifled barrel with cantilever scope mount, 3X9 Bushnell, went with Winchester Supreme, 3", 12 ga. Accuracy was excellent 3 shot groups under 2" or better @ 100 yds depending on the shooter. It excelled in accuracy, but expansion was variable. I prefer the moss 500 over the Maverick 88- overall better quality, obviously they are siblings, but friends have had minor problems which we did not see with the Moss 500's. There are many excellent loads Remington, Federal, Winchester currently available, find out which one shoots best in your gun. Also invest in a PAST recoil pad $20-25 for zeroing off the bench. I like using a scope, a inexpensive Bushnell variable will take a pounding. I used to buy ammo by the case with 5 shooters + 5+ doe tags available. Farmers ( Uncle) were happy, friends & Church were happy since everyone had venison. Smooth bore- you can do it, but the Rifled barrel and Sabots gives you a distinct accuracy advantage. Be Safe.

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I BACK OUR BLUE

Over 35 years of Illinois deer hunting I've learned a few things.For the last 20 I have used a Remington 1100 with a Hastings rifled barrel and a 3-9 scope receiver mount.Only use Lightfield 2&3/4" 1&1/4oz.sabot slugs.These slugs retain all their lead and mushroom perfectly.One shot clean kills for big Illinois bucks.The Remington copper solids are too hard,don't expand and maybe have one petal break off.Deer flips you off and says "Is that all you got?"I only shoot 100 yards or less and sight-in each year.Scope hasn't been adjusted in years.I do agree with the posts about cantilever mounts being wore versatile and holding zero better but my Hastings barrel doesn't have it.Energy,energy,energy is what you need for clean kills on Whitetail deer.The smaller,faster slugs didn't do the job for me.

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Handgunhunter

My deer killer

Paired with Remington Copper Solids(20ga) 1 shot 1kill last 6 seasons.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you're going to shoot it a lot keep some ice handy for your sore shoulder. You're gonna need it. *s*

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Why duck?? It's a 9mm!

Stay away from these

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I've shot a lot of different slugs provided by the department through my Mossburg 590 with factory ghost rings and 20 inch barrel.

Even though sabot slugs work better out of a rifled barrel, I get excellent accuracy results with Federal Hydra-shok sabot slugs out of my smooth bore. I'm getting 3 to 4 inch accuracy at 100 yards which is plenty enough for taking deer. I think I've taken four or five deer with this shotgun using the Hydra-shok sabots, and at least two using Foster slugs, but I prefer the sabots.

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- Change it back -

I hunted upstate NY for a few years. At that time you either shot buckshot or slugs. My shotgun is a rem 870 with 20" bbl and adjustable rifle sights. So back when the eye's were better I tested Remington, Federal,Winchester and Brenneke. Always came back to the remington slug loads. Carried a few buckshot loads but that was a waste of time. Frank

Mossy 500. i have a weaver scope mount that screws onto the side of the reciever, and the scope is detachable via 2 screws . I also have a rifled barrel with the cantilevered scope mount. The rifled barrel is long and heavy, makes the shotgun way muzzel heavy, it is a pain to carry around all day. It is more accurate with rifled slugs and sabot rounds. But it can be picky about that, and different manufactures and weights shoot to wildly different points of impact, this drove me nuts.This is espically true with sabots. I bought the rifled barrel when lead was banned in condor country and some hunts were shotgun only. Back then i couldn't find copper slugs and copper sabots were around, usually 5 to 15 rounds of the same stuff at a time, just enough to feel confident about the zero and start over again with some other brand. In the early days of the sabot manufacturers seemed to change their product constantly , each hitting different points of impact. Did i mention this sort of thing drives me nuts ? However now nonlead slugs are avaliable and a smoothbore 18 in barrel with the scope does everything i need a shotgun to do. Because it works for me and so many other reasons i dont feel like fussing with it anymore. It is amusing though to shoot buckshot and birdshot out of a rifled barrel.

I put up with slugs in Ohio for over 50 yrs. We were always after
the edge. When Ohio deer season was first in, not many guys
had slug guns. They didn't become wide spread until 60s. We
began experimenting with cutting down guns and mounting sights & scopes. A good smooth bore slug gun will shoot into
3" at 100yds. The best out of the box gun was the Ithaca 37
Deer Slayer. Then the Rem 870-1100 & Brn A5. We found that
various guns we cut down would shoot as well or better than the
factory models. We cut Auto, pump, bolt and single barrels. The
solid frame guns were the best performers if you were going to
scope. Iron sights they all did well.

We were heavy into slugs year round. Shooting at matches and
constantly playing with them for next season. I have 870,1100
factory guns but the one I use is a cut down BRN A5 with iron
sights. Shooting Brenneke 23/4" mag slugs it will do under 3"
consistanly off rest. I cleaned house at slug matches with it
until rifled barrels and scopes were allowed.

In my neck of the woods most deer are shot in the thick stuff at
under 100yds. I have shot quite a few deer and have only shot
3 much over 100yds. I've had rifled guns but wasn't going to
give up my favorite gun when it was doing the job. So a smooth
bore is all you need for woods hunting deer. I will probably not
use a slug gun again since we got rifle. If you don't have to use
slugs I would be using a rifle.

I have an Ithaca Deerslayer rifled slug gun that will put most any saboted slugs into a 2.5" group at 100 yards. The newest slugs are approaching 200-yard effectiveless although I have no experience shooting at that distance.

My personal preference is for low power variables such as 1-4X or 1.5-5X. The slug gun is a short-range gun and there's no need to put the Hubble tekescope on it.

When I started hunting in shotgun-only counties in 1961, current shotgun performance was a fantasy well beyond attainment with the equipment then available.

.Akkar Turkish plastic and aluminum guns it about put me to sleep. Knocked me clear of the range booth. I caught it on my cell phone camera, but the camera wasn't fast enough to really appreciate the full effect that it did on me.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Hunted with a Mossberg 500 for many, many years. The first 15 years I used an 18" smooth bore barrel with factory sights. In general, Sabots worked best, but not by much. In later years I added a receiver mounted 4x scope and that was the best up to that point.

Then I switched to a 24" rifled barrel with cantilever sight base. Sabots were OK, but the WW Foster slugs were in a class of their own. A tack driver at 100 yds.

Then I switched to a Model 29 with an 8 3/8" barrel. Sweeeeet.

Now I use a Thompson Encore, 15" barrel, .308. I believe i'll stick with that till I can't deer hunt any more.

Almost any 12 ga is good for slugs these days. Slug bbls are nice but a standard one works too since most ranges in the woods are short. There is a lot of great advice above with-- my only add would be to make very sure you have lots of eye relief should you decide on a scope. (my and my brother's scope eye rings needed 28 stitches each).

If it is an option, I would take a 30-30 or 45-70 lever gun over any slug gun I’ve used. I’ve used a moss berg 930 and a rem 1100, but neither impressed me....

Then there is the $3 per shot inaccurate ammo that is icing on the cake....

Sorry for my downer attitude.

Not so bad shooting from a hunting stance, but be carefull from a bench. Only time in almost 50 years of shooting that a scope got me was 12 ga slugs from a sand bag rest. Fortunately is was only a small cut in the bridge of my nose.

I sight mine in at 75 yards....100 is a little long for slugs from a smooth bore.

Robert

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

Proves that a smooth bore slug will cary 230 yards. Also proves it to be not such a good choice for deer at that range

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

Use a very small caliber or there will be nothing left of the slug to eat.

The Browning A-Bolt is hard to beat. Accurate to 200 yards plus. Mine has been knocking them down in OH for 30 odd years. Awesome with fancy slugs to 200 and a tack driver with conventional slugs out to 100.

I think one of most important things I have learned about slugs
and slug guns, smooth & rifled is the slug itself. When shooting
off a bench and you have a nice group going and then you get
a flyer several inches out, it's blamed on the gun. It's not, it's
the non uniformity in the slug. We proved this once with Rem
slugs. We had a case and dumped them out. We shook each
Slug, if it rattled in the hull we set it aside. Firing the ones that
were tight in hulls the number of flyers decrease a lot. Shooting
the rattlers we never got anywhere near 3" at 100yds.

My 870 smooth bore shoots slugs pretty accurate to around 65 yards. I've really never tried shooting farther than that because I didn't expect I would need to do that. I keep it loaded with dangerous game slugs for the bears that live around my neighborhood. I'm not going to shoot one for fun. Just self defense in the rare case I might need it. They get pretty pushy when I cook on the grill.

I would not hesitate to fire at a deer from that distance. I wouldn't use a dangerous game slug of course. It would blow half the deer apart. They really are quite powerful.

You are right. You Tube is full of idiots launching all kind of stuff
out of shot guns. They found out anything smaller than the bore
can be shot through smooth bore. When people see this stuff they may try it at home. What's going to happen when a CO2
cylinder hits a FC? Damage gun at the least and possible injury.
The guys doing this are not the scientific type. They will be around for awhile. They won't be drafted into the Space Force.