strange slug issue

[rml127]

I had a weird problem last year while hunting in a shotgun only area. I'm shooting a mossburg 500trophy slugster. It has the rifled, ported barrel and a scope on the cantilever scope mount. I'm sighted in about2" high at 50 yards and they are about dead on at 100 yards. I always use 2 3/4 lightfield sabot's and have alway's been pleased with their performance. Now to the problem. I shotat a doe last year off a steady rest, the doe was at 97 yards. My first shot missed, I couldn't believe it and took a second shot and the deer dropped.When I looked at the deer I saw that I hit it in the top of the skull. The deer was looking at me over it's shoulder so my left to right seemed great but obviously the slug hit about 16-18 inches high. I went home and tried shooting off a good rest and sure enough I'm hitting high over a foot. I tried it at 50 yards and I'm 1 3/4 to 2 inches high. Itried a few regular rifled slugs at 100 and they dropped about 8 inches and were dead on at 50. What on earth could cause the slugs to rise?I'm going to try several other brands this yearto see what happens. The incident last year has puzzled me ever since.

Goodness, could be anything from loose barrel not tightened down, bad scope, barrel too much oil. You are going to have to do much more diagnosis.

[longrifle1000]

I agree, it could be a lot of things. I would check the scope and make sure it isn't loose or broken. Good luck

[Bulzeye]

I had a scope's reticle come loose and it made my zero wander pretty badly out past 50 yds. It was hard to detect until it got bad enough to make the reticle turncounter-clockwise inside the scope housing.

If your scope mount and everything else is tight, try a different scope of any kind on your gun. Sight it in, and shoot several groups. My money lies on a scope prob since a cantelevered design doesn't let your zero change when swapping barrels.

Good luck.

[HighDesertWolf]

what kind of scope are you using?

[UncleNorby]

You probably already know this, but just in case, make sure you are not resting on a hard surface. The gun can bounce and cause it to shoot high.

Other than that, tear it down, remount the scope, sight in at 50 yds. Then shoot at 100 yds, and adjust scope to hit dead on. Then shoot at 50 (which is my normal range for most deerI shoot). My guess is that you will not have to think about elevation for shots out to 125-150, assuming a mid-chest aiming point.

[rml127]

I should have given more info. I checked the gun over and didn't find anything loose so I immediately suspected the scope. I put on a different scope and it shot exactly the same way. Unfortunately I don't remember the brand name on either scope but I do know they are not really high quality. It doesn't make sense to me because the lightfields shot well before and the regular rifled slugs dropped at 100 like they should when I tested it afterwards. For some reason the lightfields would rise about 1 foot at 100 yards.

[longrifle1000]

It is not a problem with the slug unless you picked up a different kind. Like sighted it in with the lightfield reduced load and then used reg loads. You say you put on another scope and it shot the same way. Did you zero that scope in? You can't just put a different scope on and expect it to be zeroed.

[rml127]

I put on the second scope and zeroed in at 50 yards again. I then tried it at 100 and the slugs were about a foot high. I had a local firearms expert check it out atthe range with me and he had no explanation for it. I thought it had to be the scope so I tried a second one and it still did it. I have used the lightfields for 3-4 seasons with excellent results before this. In factthey worked perfectly at the range before the season started. Idon't have a clue why this is happening.

[longrifle1000]

I would suggest sighting it in zero at 100 yards, then see where it is hitting at 50. That would be my next step.