What are the advantages of buying a slug gun over buying a 12ga shotgun. My understanding is that a slug gun is a 12 ga with a riflled barrel that shots slugs. Can they shot buckshot? i also understand a 12 ga as in the remington 870 shots rifled slugs and shot. Finally.... Over and Unders and side by sides ... are they practical guns for deer hunting (mainly with slugs) or are they better for target shooting and birds.I mainly hunt with a bow, looking to cross over any help is appreciated, thanks in advance
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RE: New Hunter ... few questions
ok well if you get a slug gun and its barrle is fully rifled you can only shoot slugs and you want to shoot sabots with fully rifled barrles, now with a normal smooth bore shotgun you would normally shoot rifled slugs and buckshot, DONT SHOOT BUCK SHOT IN THE FULLY RIFLED BARRLE it will ruin the rifling, and yes the SXS and over and under shotgun are better for birds but i am sure you could shoot slugs if there choke is right.
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If you get a slug gun which is a rifled barrel then only use sabbot slugs because they are not rifled slugs. If you use rifled slugs in a rifled barrel then it will mess the rifle in your barrel up. If you buy a shotgun with a smooth bore then buy some rifled slugs and use a Mod choke tube. You can use buckshot in a smooth bore but not a rifled barrel. Last but not least, over and unders and side by sides are not good deer hunting guns. They are mainly for skeet shooting and bird hunting.
You can shoot rifled slugs out of a rifled barrel, won't ruin a thing (haven't we had like 10 posts saying this in the past week?) It will make a mess and you will have to spend some time scrubbing the lead out of the barrel. A few companies make rifled slugs for rifled barrels with either a special coating or a harder alloy lead to help reduce lead fouling.
The modern sabot loads have better ballistics though and are much cleaner to shoot. They can foul the barrel with plastic though so you still need to clean your gun with a good solvent to remove it.
Buckshot will not harm you rifled barrel either. Lead shot is much softer than your hardened steel barrel. Chances are it won't even foul it out unless you shoot a lot through it. The problem is there is no choke in your rifled barrel and because it is rifled it will tend to spin the shot as it leaves the barrel. These two combined lead to VERY poor patterns. They will be huge and have a large hole in the center. Nothing you would want to hunt with.
I don't know if they make them anymore but you can find smooth bore slug guns, basically just a smooth bore barrel with no choke and some rifle sights on them. Not as accurate as a rifled barrel though in most cases.
You could shoot a SxS or a O/U for deer hunting, I know some that do. You just have to make sure they have the appropriate chokes and see how well they shoot. SxS's have a tendency to cross paths at a certain distance from what I understand. Like one barrel will impact to the left and the other to the right. I wouldn't suggest either type when there are so many great single shots and pumps for less money that would work better.
Good luck,
Paul
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Location: Where the big deer are from, seminole county FL
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RE: New Hunter ... few questions
paul they do still make smoothbore slug guns, but i disagree with the buckshot in the rifled barrle it might not hurt it but i still wouldnt try when the manual clearly says only shoot sabot slugs, i really wouldnt wanna try it. but your are right about the bad pattern cause it would twist then there is not choke so it would which ever way it wanted to.
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Fred Bear Instinct
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125 grain muzzy
winchester model 37 410
H&R 12 ga
H&R 20 ga rifled barrel
CVA kodiak .45 with redhead 3-9x40
Marlin model 783 .2
You can shoot rifled slugs out of a rifled barrel, won't ruin a thing (haven't we had like 10 posts saying this in the past week?) It will make a mess and you will have to spend some time scrubbing the lead out of the barrel. A few companies make rifled slugs for rifled barrels with either a special coating or a harder alloy lead to help reduce lead fouling.
The modern sabot loads have better ballistics though and are much cleaner to shoot. They can foul the barrel with plastic though so you still need to clean your gun with a good solvent to remove it.
Buckshot will not harm you rifled barrel either. Lead shot is much softer than your hardened steel barrel. Chances are it won't even foul it out unless you shoot a lot through it. The problem is there is no choke in your rifled barrel and because it is rifled it will tend to spin the shot as it leaves the barrel. These two combined lead to VERY poor patterns. They will be huge and have a large hole in the center. Nothing you would want to hunt with.
I don't know if they make them anymore but you can find smooth bore slug guns, basically just a smooth bore barrel with no choke and some rifle sights on them. Not as accurate as a rifled barrel though in most cases.
You could shoot a SxS or a O/U for deer hunting, I know some that do. You just have to make sure they have the appropriate chokes and see how well they shoot. SxS's have a tendency to cross paths at a certain distance from what I understand. Like one barrel will impact to the left and the other to the right. I wouldn't suggest either type when there are so many great single shots and pumps for less money that would work better.
Good luck,
Paul
Good post Paul,
I'm glad you got the right infoout there for the origional poster...
ok well if you get a slug gun and its barrle is fully rifled you can only shoot slugs and you want to shoot sabots with fully rifled barrles, now with a normal smooth bore shotgun you would normally shoot rifled slugs and buckshot, DONT SHOOT BUCK SHOT IN THE FULLY RIFLED BARRLE it will ruin the rifling, and yes the SXS and over and under shotgun are better for birds but i am sure you could shoot slugs if there choke is right.
This is generally correct, but as for shooting slugs from a double barrel, it will probably not work out well. Double shotguns have their barels regulated, if at all, to shoot the centers of their shot patterns close to where the bead points when you look along the rib. Some are close, others aren't! And when you shoot a single, solid projectile (slug) out of an SXSdouble, the chances are that the two will strike "miles apart". When firing the same slugs out of an O/U double, it is probablethat one will strike pretty far from the other in elevation. Usually the under barrel shoots above the top barrel. The 20-ga. Charles Daly (Miroku) I had once shot the top barrel dead-on at 50 yards, and the under barrel struck center at 100 yards! Not too bad a setup!
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New Hunter ... few questions
