What shotgun for shooting slugs

[Jagare]

Well I tried out 3 shotguns firing slug this afternoon. The 870 Remington Wingmaster with a 20” slug barrel. The barrel is fitted with a Rem Choke in Imp/Cyl. The 870 is fitted with Aim Tec saddle mount and a Aim point Micro H1 red dot site. The site has a 4 Moa red dot

The second gun is my Merkel 211E combi in 12-7x57R. I’m not sure what the choke is on the shotgun barrel but I think it is quite open bored. The combi is fitted with a Kahles scope

The third gun was my Merkel 201E O/U shotgun with 28” barrels in ¼-½ choke.
I shot the targets at 50 mtrs for the 870 and the combi and 30 mtrs for the shot gun.

The slugs are Sellior & Bellot brand. The slugs are 32gr , 12x 67,5 . These are S& B hunting slugs. I looked at the S&B web site and they do several other slugs for practice and practical shot gun. These practice, practical slugs seem a tad slower than the hunting slugs but not enough that a boar would notice the difference. There could be a difference in the build of these slug though ?

The Rremington shot its usual 2” group. The Combi had the first 2 shots within 2” and one shot higher. I know that when I have shot the combi before it did a 2” group. I’m not sure if firing the gun quite rapidly had anything to do with the high shot.
I shot the shot gun with both barrels . The 2 shots to the right were from the bottom barrel, ¼ choke and the 2 shots to the left were from the top barrel, ½ choke.

I have put a picture of a recovered slug shot from the 870. Even though the barrel is Imp/Cyl the fins on the slug are well crushed and I don’t see how they would impart any spin to the slug as it went through the air.

There is also a picture of the lewis lead remover. Notice how much lead it takes out of the barrel after firing slugs

 

[Orion]

The slugs are Sellior & Bellot brand. The slugs are 32gr , 12x 67,5 . These are S& B hunting slugs. I looked at the S&B web site and they do several other slugs for practice and practical shot gun. These practice, practical slugs seem a tad slower than the hunting slugs but not enough that a boar would notice the difference. There could be a difference in the build of these slug though ?

I've been using the Sellior & Bellot Special Slug Sport which run at 410 m/s compared to the 420 m/s of yours. They also weigh slightly less at 28g. Other than that they look identical to the recovered slug you've pictured. They also come in boxes of 25, so I presume they must cost a bit less than yours, (£16 a box)?

The Remington shot its usual 2” group. The Combi had the first 2 shots within 2” and one shot higher. I know that when I have shot the combi before it did a 2” group. I’m not sure if firing the gun quite rapidly had anything to do with the high shot.
I shot the shot gun with both barrels . The 2 shots to the right were from the bottom barrel, ¼ choke and the 2 shots to the left were from the top barrel, ½ choke.

Interesting results Jagare. I've been getting 4" groups through my Mossberg 500 cylinder bored barrel with open sights, but I'm just waiting for delivery of a weaver rail so I can mount the red dot reflex sight that was mentioned in another thread, and I'll post up results when I've had the chance to try it out. It'll also double the purchase value of the gun!

I have put a picture of a recovered slug shot from the 870. Even though the barrel is Imp/Cyl the fins on the slug are well crushed and I don’t see how they would impart any spin to the slug as it went through the air.

You probably already know this but other's may not, so I'll mention it. It's not the main purpose of the 'fins' to impart any great spin on the slug in the same way a rifled barrel does to a bullet, (although they might achieve a bit of rotation). Rather that they present a reduced surface area to the bore so that the slug can be fired through barrels with a degree of choke because they can easily crush down whilst keeping the projectile central(ish!) to the bore. Conversely the sabot rounds are generally better used through the purpose made rifled slug barrels precisely because they have no 'fins' and the plastic sabot engages with the rifling - although it has been mentioned on here that the Sauvestre sabot rounds do quite well out of smoothbores as well.

 

[8x57]

Jagare that's exactly the same slugs that I've used through my over and under with cylinder and improved cylinder choke tubes installed. You can just see it in your photographs but on my targets where the slugs had passed through the paper the fins had cut perfect grooves in the target so obviously at 25 to 30 metres the slugs are very stable. If anything the individual groups I achieved were tighter than yours, almost shot on top of shot very impressive, but the distance between the seperate barrel groups was a bit more. Obviously my barrels on my shotgun do not converge as well as the barrels on your Merkel, none the less more than good enough for 30 m shooting.
The accurasy and grouping with the Remington is very impressive. Are the slugs from the Remington at 50m still stable or do they appear to be tumbling slightly ( going on the impression from the photographs)?

 

[trouble]

A bit off track but my mate wanted permission to keep some solids in his collection but was turned down , i wonder if anyone would be kind enough to send me an inert one i could give him

 

[Jagare]

Orion, the slugs i use are about £1 a shot. I must see how much discount i can get off for a 200 pack. I was never covinced that the fins on the slug did anything more than let slugs pass through a tight choke. once you get the red dot sight mounted on the Mossberg it will be intersting to see what the gun can do. I put the saddle mount on the Remington because i did'nt want to go to the hassle of getting a mounting rail screwed and tapped on to the gun. It very easy to put the saddle mount on or take it off. The saddle mount aint prettiest mount though.

8x57 , there was no sign of keyholeing. It was just the holes were close and it made the paper target tatty

 

[Heym SR20]

Those all look good enough for a very dead boar. That Merkel over and under looks a very fine shotgun and impressive accuracy with I presume just the front bead. With the Combo does it put rifle bullets close enough to the the shotgun barrel for it to be an effective "double" on boar - ie rifle bullet for longer shots, slug for closer / 2nd shot.

 

[Jagare]

Heym, I used the front bead on the shotgun and held it just at the bottom of the aiming point. The combi shoots about 4" low and a tad to the left of where the bullet would strike.
We have a strange law that says that you can only shoot slugs from a single barrel shotgun. We can shoot Boar, Fallow and mouflon with slug but not Roe.
I've got a rifled choke for the Remington and some Remington Buckhammer slugs, so i must go out in the back garden and see how they shoot.

 

[conibear]

hi guys are you using rifled slugs ? or sabats in a rifled barrel ?

just curious !

as ive used rifled slugs through my smouth bore shotgun and they were flying all over the place.

 

[Jagare]

I use Brenneke slugs in a smooth bore shotgun.

 

[Hales Smut]

Exactly the same. Brenneke slugs through smooth bore Beretta game guns.

 

[Paul at Fechan]

Lee moulded slugs into any plaswad trap shell will do just fine I'm sure. At the cost of trap catridges and a little time to cast slugs and swap out the shot for a slug it's cheap enough.

 

[daniel paydar]

Lee moulded slugs into any plaswad trap shell will do just fine I'm sure. At the cost of trap catridges and a little time to cast slugs and swap out the shot for a slug it's cheap enough.

Hj
i have a lee mould for rifled slugs, have never used it, because there are no boars on my hunting ground .
i have cast a few slugs , but never used them! have you tested these slugs for accuracy and penetration or hunting? what did you get from lee slugs?
regards
daniel

 

[Paul at Fechan]

Group fine, about the same at any other slug of this type. The penetration is about the same as any other slug at least on logs anyway! I'm sure the boar couldn't tell the difference between slug brands when they're hit square.

 

[daniel paydar]

Group fine, about the same at any other slug of this type. The penetration is about the same as any other slug at least on logs anyway! I'm sure the boar couldn't tell the difference between slug brands when they're hit square.

it sounds good! do you just swap the slug with shots in a trap cartridge or handloading by yourself?