Hey Fellas - I've hunted with slugs for the better part of 50 years. When I first started it was a smoothbore only game. I have literally put a couple of thousand rounds through slug guns over that time. Here is what I have learned (at considerable expense I might add). Every barrel is different - even from the same manufacturer. If you haven't shot groups with every sabot in every available length, then you might be missing which sabot works best for your setup.

Now I shoot a 12 ga. H&R Ultra Slug and Winchester Platinum Tip Hollow Point 400 gr. slugs. In my setup (12 ga. H&R Ultraslug with a Nikon Slughunter 3x9 with the BDC reticule) I sight in at 50 yds. and the 100, 150, and 200 yd aimpoints in my scope are right on the money. This is only with the 400 gr. Winchester Platinum Tip sabot. Any other slug does not work with the aiming points in my scope. It took me a ton of slugs to get this all figured out and several trips to the range. I shot both the 2 3/4 inch and 3 inch varieties of every 12 ga. slug made. Probably well over a couple of hundred dollars worth of sight in.

Here's my advice: get to know your own particular gun and scope arrangement, try every sabot made in that arrangement at 50, 100, 150, and 200 yds. Yes, it will cost and it won't be cheap by any stretch of the imagination but if you are sitting in a tree stand at the edge of a field and a really nice 10 point enters the field at 150 yds, you will know where your setup shoots and you will feel that it was money and time well spent. I think you will find that at 50 yds or less, it really does not matter which high-end sabot you use. It is at distances beyond that where you begin to see the big differences. At 150 and 200 yds the differences get magnified.

One more suggestion, get yourself a good rangefinder. I use a Nikon Riflehunter 550 and I can tell you that there has been more than one nice buck that I would have misjudged the range on by a considerable amount without that little device. I hunt the same field from the same tree stand every year and I have taken to setting stakes with thin green ribbons tacked to the top up at various distances . . . not to judge distance but to judge windspeed. The way I see it, there are more variables to hitting what you shoot at besides knowing your own gun, scope, and ammunition. You must know distance as exactly as you can, windspeed as exactly as you can, and the lay of the land. The wind may be blowing at 5 mph where you sit but be 25 mph at 200 yds away.

Shoot all the different ammunition you can get and shoot that ammo at 50, 100, 150, and 200 yds with your particular setup. People who write articles do their best with their own guns and scopes in their own area.

By the way, my son has a duplicate setup to mine and his gun does not like the Winchester Platinum Tips that mine loves. He shoots the Winchester Partitioned gold 400 gr. slugs. Same manufacturer and same weight slug but for some reason, the partitioned Gold sabot does extremely well in his Ultra Slug while the Platinum Tim doesn't do as well. Go figure!

Bottom line, learn where your setup will hit at every distance you will shoot at and under every condition - learn which ammo your gun favors - learn your surroundings. If you do those things, it won't matter who writes what in which article in any magazine or internet post! Remember, what works for me and my setup might not work for you and your setup . . . even if our setups are duplicate. Don't cheapout on the ammo or scope. The H&R Ultra Slug will shoot better than you can hold with it's favorite ammo so spend the money to find out what that ammo is for your gun and scope combination and quite reading the articles if they get your panties in a bunch.

Good luck fellas and fight nice.