Question for you GUN GURU types????

[davidmil]

I don't hunt much with the gun anymore but do take a lot of deer with the bow. I hadn't shot a deer in several years with the gun. This morning I decided to take the shotgun out and do a little prowling as we have a lot of new snow to sneak around in. I shot a bedded buck across a little ravine at about 90 yards. Because of the angle I started it right at the front of his hind hip and the slug traversed up through him sticking under the skin on the back side of the off front shoulder. He jumped from his bed but only went about 10-15 yards. The next slug caught him at the base of the neck.

My question, here's a picture of the slug I dug out from under the skin. This thing looks like it's never been fired except for the back end sleeve or wad or whatever you call it on these Brenekes is a little chewed up. The front of the thing just looks slightly sandblasted. Is this normal performance? I expected this thing to mushroom a little but it's almost intact. Is that the way they are or is it because it was from about 90 yards away with a smooth bore Browning light 12? It was kind of nice to feel the old recoil of a gun for a change and see one drop like a sack.

[bigbulls]

At 90 yards that big old non aerodynamic slug has lost a lot of speed. At the velosity it was traveling at impact it wouldn't mushroom much at all if any. Any way a 12 gague slug is, if I remember corectly, is a 72 caliber bullet. It's a big hole no matter how you look at it.

The wadding should have separated from the slug though.

[davidmil]

Well, I don't know much about these fancy deals... but it has a little Phillips head screw in the back holding it on. What's with that? Theres a rubber like collar at the back of the slug. That's the dark area you see. I always just shot some Remington or something but thought I'd try these. They seem more accurate so I bought some more. The only shells the gun has shot in the past 3 or 4 years is checking the zero.

[Trebark]

Dave,
90 yards is pretty good with a Foster style slug. I think Bigbulls has a great point about the energy being gone by the time that it hit. I've only used slugs on closer ranges, and although I've never recovered the slug afterwards, the extra large exit wounds showed pretty good expansion. FTR, I've used Federal foster style and sabots. My buddy shot a 5 point Saturday at 75 yards, with a Federal sabot, and it expanded very well, leaving a huge exit. Only probl;em witht the sabots is cost. $9- $13 a box (5 shots!), cost a fortune to just sight in.
Charlie

[davidmil]

I can't imagine what would have happened if I had hit big bone. This slub went in the front side of the back leg getting mostly hide. It was a little high, slid along punching through just behind the ribs, went through the lungs and misses the off shoulder but stuck just under the skin right above the arm pit. NEVER busted the guts. The deer was kind of curled up causing the wierd bullet path. The only bone it hit was a rib going out.

[dpv]

Davidmil, I have used that style of slug for years. I was drawn to it because I found it much more accurate than foster types and because it was a heavy solid slug that would have damn good penetration. I think the plastic part stays on to act like a fin and help stabalize it. I have never had the pleasure of taking a deer with a shotgun (not yet) but I have done some impromptu tests on wood, wet phonebooks, etc comparing that slug with a foster and found the "rotweille" slug to be much better.

David

[eldeguello]

ORIGINAL: davidmil

I don't hunt much with the gun anymore but do take a lot of deer with the bow. I hadn't shot a deer in several years with the gun. This morning I decided to take the shotgun out and do a little prowling as we have a lot of new snow to sneak around in. I shot a bedded buck across a little ravine at about 90 yards. Because of the angle I started it right at the front of his hind hip and the slug traversed up through him sticking under the skin on the back side of the off front shoulder. He jumped from his bed but only went about 10-15 yards. The next slug caught him at the base of the neck.

My question, here's a picture of the slug I dug out from under the skin. This thing looks like it's never been fired except for the back end sleeve or wad or whatever you call it on these Brenekes is a little chewed up. The front of the thing just looks slightly sandblasted. Is this normal performance? I expected this thing to mushroom a little but it's almost intact. Is that the way they are or is it because it was from about 90 yards away with a smooth bore Browning light 12? It was kind of nice to feel the old recoil of a gun for a change and see one drop like a sack.

VERY typical Brenneke performance. I've shot them into trees at short range with little or no expansion! Just a .70" caliber hole... But that's plenty big enough, since even a .30/'06 bullet doesn't expand to that diameter!!

The wad column is screwed onto the slug to keep it on, because a slug flies heavy-point forward, like a Badminton shuttlecock. The "rifling" has no effect except to make it easier for the slug to safely pass through tight chokes. The vanes actually produce little, if any, rotation - certainly not enough to stabilize the lead part! The "little rubber collar" on the end is a gas-check, intended to keep the powder gases behind the projectile component (slug & wads).

The Foster-type slug has a hollow base and heavy, solid nose portion, kinda like a Minie ball, to keep it flying point-forward. In my experience, the Brenneke is quite superior to the Foster, both as to accuracy and penetration power!! Funny thing, the Brenneke was designed around 1897 in Germany, while here we continued to shoot round "punkin balls" in our shotguns until in the 1930's. Then an American invented the Foster-type slugs, which are better than a round ball, but inferior to the Brenneke which predates the Foster by 40 years.....