Regular old slugs Vs. Sabbots

pjbgmb · 10-18-2003, 05:45 PM

Was just wondering if shooting regular old slugs would hurt anything to shoot through a rifled slug barrel....i recently baught a rifled slug barrel for my rem. 1100 and was shooting regular old slugs and some one from a sporting good chain told me not to shoot anything but sabbots through it, the regular slugs shot great had it all sighted in then switched to the sabbots and every thing went all to hell couldnt even hit a decent sized piece of cardboard at 50 yds, was shooting good with the slugs at 100yds...any help would be greatly appreciated.

Vapodog · 10-18-2003, 05:49 PM

Shoot what ever it takes to make you happy.......both are serious killing machines.

I do think you' ll get quite a little better range with the Sabots however.

BigBore1895 · 10-18-2003, 07:49 PM

I have never heard of anything like that, but I am not a big slug warrior. I would shoot whatever hits the best.

uncle matt · 10-18-2003, 09:38 PM

Been there - done that.

The " old style" , " pumpkin ball" or foster slugs (call ' em what ya will) do shoot pretty darn good thru rifled barrels. They also do a pretty darn good job of leading up the barrel (actually the rifling). It can take alot of brushin to get it out.

The rifled barrels are designed for sabots, to grab hold of the plastic sabot and impart the stabilizing spin. The rifling also grabs the foster slugs and imparts spin on them. But as the rifling is putting a spin on the slug, the rifling is peeling (or kinda like micro-shaving) a nice ultra thin layer of lead off the slug. Round after round the shaving continues and the heat and pressure compacts the build up tighter and tighter. Eventually, the riflings sharp edges are level with a tapered off amount of lead build up. Without a serious scrubbing to remove the leading, the sabots will have a real hard time getting a spin going. It' s common to see the sabots tumbling thru the paper target, leaving a sideways profile hole, because with no imparted spin there is no stability.

It is intresting how Brenneke states that all of it' s slugs (except I believe the KO' s) are safe for rifled barrels. Safe? Yes. High maintenance...DEFINATELY! (Lots of cleaning) I don' t think anyone in the slug business has been around even half as long as Brenneke has been making slugs.

Probobly my favorite load out of my H&R Ultra Slug would be the Brenneke 3-inch Gold Magnum' s. Their price is nice too. I pay about $6-7/box. Compared with $12-13/box for sabots.

One thing most guys don' t realize (and it doesn' t make alot of difference killing-wise) is that a sabot slug is considerably lighter, although faster that a Foster slug.
This leads to a loss of delivered energy. The sabot is 1-200 feet per second faster, but would need to be probobly more like 500 feet per second faster to make up for the lost energy difference. (Math might not be exact, but hey, I' m lover not a scientist. The idea is sound I assure you.)

Pop a deer with an ounce and three-eighths of hot Brenneke lead and they go right down, they are truly incredible. I don' t like looking for deer that try for the next county when hit.

Uncle Matt (in IL)

jlb66 · 10-18-2003, 11:23 PM

I have a rifled slug barrel on my 870 and all I shoot through it is regular old slugs I' ve never even shot a sabbot through it for the simple fact I can' t justify spending $15 for 5 slugs it doesn' t make sense to me the regular ones kill just as good as sabots and somtimes even better for $3-7 for 5. Just my opinion.

Quilly · 10-19-2003, 06:05 PM

i have taken a deer with my rem 1100 with a 21" rifled barrel using remington copper solids. i have also taken deer with the old foster type slugs. i find they both shoot fine out of the rifled barrel using iron sights. if your shots will be over 100yds use the sabots. anything under that go with foster type. one reason being.. that they are cheaper than these coper soids and other sabot' s.

maytom · 10-21-2003, 06:17 AM

I agree 100% with Uncle Matt!! I' ve been there and done that as well!!
Remember the old Active deer slugs, those shot great out of my rifled deer barrel, but after just 7 slugs, the accuracy would fade fast!! The rifling would get leaded up big time and you' d have to brush out the barrel!! Smooth bore guns use Foster slugs (winchester) and the rifled barrels use " Sabot" slugs for best accuracy!!

1BigBadBuck · 10-22-2003, 11:24 AM

I have a winchester 1300 w/ a rifled barrel adnd I used to run sabots the 1st yr I had it then they stoped making the sabots the gun and I like so I started using Brenneke MPs it says on the box " BRENNEKE slug M.P. Specifically developed for both rifled and smooth barrels I have shot 2 boxes thought it and the work fine at 75 yrs I' m about 4inches low but still in the kill zone

Jode403 · 10-25-2003, 04:37 PM

I' ve been using the Winchester BRI sabots for my rifled 870. They' re some of the cheaper sabots you can buy at $6.50 for a box of 5, but they also seem to work best out of my Hastings barrel.

chilly_47 · 11-10-2003, 12:14 PM

I also can' t jusify the price of the Sabbots. I have shot many a deer with my 12 guage 870 with a rifled barrel and also my 20 guage 870. My 12 guage has harvested many deer at 100 yards ( it is scoped ). Just have to aim a little high. I found over the years in boths my 870' s that Remington slugs do not even come close to keeping a pattern like Federals. I just use the plain standerd Federal slugs. Nothing fancy .