Slug or 00 Buck for hogs?

[tealboy]

I am going to lend a 12 gauge wingmaster 2 3/4 inch to a guest to hog hunt with. It is a smooth bore barrel. Would he be better with 00 buck shot or a slug shell? We shoudl be able to get pretty close, perhaps 40-50 yrds. What would be most accurate and produce a clean kill?

[stalkingbear]

Buckshot loses most of it's effectiveness much over 25-30 yards due to low retained individual pellet energy and pattern spread.I would go with sabot slugs or conventional slugs in that order. There's NO WAY I would try to shoot a deer or boar at 50 yards with buckshot.

[RogueAtHeart]

If it's a smooth bore barrel, shoot rifled slugs. I've killed plenty of deer with them at 50+ yards, as well as a black bear.

[kodiakhuntmaster]

Shotguns are a picky animal despite their versatility. I've taken several deer with 00 buckshot at 50 yards and it worked perfect. They dropped in their tracks. 00 is enough for "most" hogs at that range, but hogscan bequite a big tougher than deer especially as they age. A rifled slug would be your best bet for good penetration and knock down power.

The most important thing is that you shoot the shotgun with different brands of ammo, different choke tubes, and eventually one combo will stand out as being the most accurate. If you choose buckshot, normally a tighter choke will give you tighter patterns (not talking about turkey full, just full is normally what works for me), but you have to pattern it to be sure. For example, if winchester gives you wide open patterns, try federal and see how that does. Once you find a brand that shoots pretty tight, try different choke tubes, see how tight it will get. If you go too tight on the choke your pattern will start to open up again. It's all about finding what works best with your gun.

Now for rifled slugs (your best bet for medium to large hogs), the more open your choke the better. Same thing applies here too you have to try different brands or slug designs to find what's going to shoot the best. Just take a few hours on the range and you may be very pleased. My 870 wingmaster shoots federal 2 3/4" rifled slugs great for a smoothbore. I'm getting 5" groups at 100 yards with that.

I hope this helps, let us know how the hunt went.

[flatlander73]

yeag Hog

[Dixon]

Slugs

[tealboy]

darn, i bought the 00 buck and thought it would be fine. in fact, i bought a jumbo pack of them

[stalkingbear]

They will work but I would advise to get as close as you can.

[Rebel Hog]

Sabots....