Sorry Paul,
You are factually wrong on many accounts..
You are not simply disagreeing with me... you are also disagreeing with one of the worlds foremost experts on shotgun sabot technology, as well as themost repected custom slug gun produce, and custom rifle maker, who also happens to produce the test guns for sabot manufacturers such as Remington, a man who has actual test shotthousands..yes thousands of lightfields in a single day....Randy Fritz...owner of Tar hunt..and Lightfield....
Although Tar-Hunt rifled slug guns perform similarly to rifles, they are not rifles and cannot be zeroed as if they were. Even the fastest slug is significantly slower than the typical rifle bullet. It is therefore extremely important to apply back-pressure to the forend of the stock with your left hand while you are shooting. Not doing so will result in the barrel of your slug gun jumping into the air off of the front rest, moving your point of aim and ruining your shot before the slug even has a chance to exit the barrel
Let's say you have zeroed your gun in this manner at 100 yards, adjusting into your scope setting this muzzle jump as well as windage error. While in the field you shoot at a deer at 100 yards while holding onto the forend of your gun's stock. Your shot hits low or, most likely, misses completely. Most would tend to blame the gun or the ammunition, when in reality methodology is the real culprit. Think about it! Learn to properly set up your equipment and you can be confident in your shot when the time comes.
"The technique required to reproducibly shoot tight slug groupings is unlike that required to be a proficient with a rifle," stated Randy Fritz as he proceeded to drive his point home with a demonstration. Shooting Lightfield Commander 3" slugs through one of his custom Tar-Hunt slug guns Randy proceeded to coax five slugs in a row through the same hole at 50 yards. He then turned the bench over to a self-proclaimed 'good shot' who fired his best five shots but could only muster a 4 inch grouping at the same 50 yard target.
What was the difference? Both shooters were using the exact same gun, the exact same lot of Lightfield sabot slugs and were firing under the same conditions, but one was driving nails and the other couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. The difference was in their shooting technique. A person can purchase the most expensive state-of-the-art slug gun and fire the best saboted slugs money can buy, but if that person doesn't know and hasn't practiced proper slug gun shooting technique all the dollars invested will have been for naught.
Adjust the position of your gun as it sits in the forend and butt rests so that without having to touch the firearm the sight picture is dead on your target. Slide your body into shooting position without disturbing this sight picture. Begin applying shoulder pressure to the butt of the gun and offset any forward gun movement by pulling straight back with your right hand in trigger squeezing position...........
With your left hand on the forend of the gun's stock, pull firmly straight back and down at a 45-degree angle.......
Hold this pressure on the gun as you concentrate on keeping the crosshairs fixed dead on your target. Squeeze the trigger gently straight back until the gun fires. It is common for a shooter to anticipate the gun blast as well as the recoil, but both should come as a complete surprise when a perfect shot is made.
Keep in mind that 60% of your overall group size can be directly attributed to inconsistent left hand pressure.
Slug guns must be zeroed (sighted-in) at a distance where the slug will impact the target while still in the supersonic phase of its flight. Most slugs become subsonic, travelling less than 1220 feet per second, slightly beyond a muzzle distance of 50 yards, thus making 50 yards the ideal zeroing distance. Zeroing at 50 yards also cuts down, by approximately 60%, the chance of adjusting windage error into your scope setting.
A common shortcut taken by a majority of shooters is the attempt to zero their guns at 100 yards. This is a serious mistake as several significant factors come into play that will prevent an accurate zero at this distance in all cases. When zeroing a slug gun at 100 yards only, you never know how much windage is turned into your scope setting. Your gun becomes effectively sighted in for that day's wind only, and your point of zero will be as much as 6 inches off of where it should be.
Zero your gun at 50 yards, 2-3/4" high of absolute dead center on your target...no left, no right, simply 2-3/4" high. You will then be dead-on zeroed at 100 yards because gravity will see to it. Check trajectory data for the brand of ammunition you are shooting and adjust the height of your 2-3/4" 50 yard true zero as necessary so as to produce a dead-on gravity zero at 100 yards.