tunning my 870 Super mag for hunting
 

I am just wondering what is the best way for me site in my barrel? I have 2 5ct boxes of Wincester Sabot slugs. I am just not to sure where to start off from. When I hunt I do not think I am going to get much more then a 100 yard shot if that. I think I will be in the 50 to 75 yard range most of the time for the deer. My tree lines are very werd. I will have a nice round open spot a small line a trees and then a open spot and a small line of trees.

Most people do not think I will needa scope because of this. I want to get my site in and I see how to adjust it but I am not sure where to start.

Also is plywood ok to use to hold up my targetor should I just usesome straw?

Thanks for your help.

RE: tunning my 870 Super mag for hunting
 

I think your going to need more ammo. If the gun has never been shot before I would start around 25 yards to make sure it was not crazy off the mark. Then move back to 50 yards. Shoot at least three shots to see where they hit and how they group. Then adjust your sights. Depending on the speed of the ammo and weight of the slug most start around 2 inches high or so at 50 yards. If you are shooting faster lighter ammo you could probably go with 1 inch high at 50 yards. Then Move back to 100 yards to verify it is correct. You may have to do some slight touch up, but it should be pretty close. If it is windy out I wouln't waste my time. The wind really pushes these slugs around, especially at 100 yards. Wait for a nice calm day. The biggest thing is check to make sure that the load you picked will actually group well and impact where you want it to at 100 yards. If it doesn't group well, try something different.

Using three shot groups you might get away with 10 rounds, I would get another couple boxes though to be safe. You might think about getting several different brands as well to see what shoots best out of it. Some of them are pretty picky. Everyone says the lighfields work really well out of the H&R's, but mine doesn't seem to like them too well. You can't go by what works in someone else's gun, even if it is the same brand and model.

Take your time and go slow. I would put the target on a peice of plywood and lay it against a bale of straw or something. This is providing you have an adequate backstop or lots of room behind the target. Niether one of those is going to stop a slug.

Good luck, let us know how it turns out.

RE: tunning my 870 Super mag for hunting
 

Thanks. I have to run back to bass-pro this weekend because I was missing a goose head in my box when I bought some decoys so I will pick up a little more and a different company.

Yea I know it will not stop it. I havea lot of open space behind me and where I want to set it up I have our pond were the dirt is a little higher on the other side and then I have a thick line of trees above that. After that I have more tree lines and about a 1/2 hour walk at the shortest to a building.

RE: tunning my 870 Super mag for hunting
 

That should work for a slug gun. Another thing I would consider. Use the ammo you have to get the gun sighted in close, so you at least hit the paper. I did this with mine in three shots. Then just get a bunch of ammo and see what groups the best. I would not really concern yourself with the actual impact points, but rather how tight the groups are. Then when you find what works best in that barrel get some more of it and finnish sighting it in from there.

Another thing I will add is don't drive yourself crazy trying to sight in at a distance you don't shoot well at, or the gun will not group well at. Open sights at 100 yards is pretty tricky to get good groups. I can't even see the dang target at 100 yards any more without a scope, let alone group well. If you can't shoot consistantly enough 100 yards then don't fiddle with it that far. You will just waste ammo and drive yourself insane. If that is the case concentrate on 50 and 75 yards. Then check it to see how it is 100 yards. This a good way to find the limitations of you and your rifle.

I often forget to tell people that. I have an ongoing argument with someone here on that subject. And I think I failed to mention that I feel that way only if you can group well at that distance, at least 2 inch groups. Unless the center of the group is way off the mark consistantly. Then you might want to tweak it a little bit.

Good luck,
Paul

RE: tunning my 870 Super mag for hunting
 

Veener, If you are sure that you are going to stay under 100yds,
start at 50 dead center on the bulls eye w/10'' circleand shoot 1" high and see were it prints @ 100. If need be, increase it another 1" and check it again.

Yes plywood for target with a good back stop.

If you're a young man with good eye sight, Williams Peep Sight, if not put a good
Shotgun scope on it.

I have found that Win.BRI sabots give me the best groups w/ Hastings Barrel on
a BRN A-5 with scope, but that is something you will have to find out for yourself.
Try 3 shot groups with atleast 3 or 4 brands.
Good luck!

RE: tunning my 870 Super mag for hunting
 

A 10 inch circle? My target is not even that big. Did you mean 1 inch instead I hope? I don't think you will see a one inch circle at 100 yards with open sights though. However the smaller the target you aim at the smaller the groups will be normally.

Actually a better way to do it is to draw a verticle line and a horizontal line, or use two different colors of paper and everlap them. Then shoot at one axis at a time and make adjustments. This is the most accrate way, but uses more ammunition as well. You really shouldn't make two adjustments at the same time any way. Always adjust one axis, fire a group and then adjust the other if need be. Don't adjust windage and elavation at the same time is what I mean. Do one then the other, especially when fine tuning your sights.

Paul

RE: tunning my 870 Super mag for hunting
 

Paul, any shot at a deer within 8" of the vitalswith a shotgunis a dead deer.
Most Sabots expand to 70cal @ 100yds.
I usally sight-in a sabot @ a8" pie plate@ 100yds.

RE: tunning my 870 Super mag for hunting
 

another look!

RE: tunning my 870 Super mag for hunting
 

Veener, it looks like it's about all been said.

Start short with a solid rest and several different brands of ammo.
A few inches high at 50 will do for 100. Verify at longer range once you find a good ammo match, and are getting good groups.

If you don't want a magnifying scope, consider a red dot.
They are very fast to acquire and track with, and it's easy to keep both eyes open.
Some collimating scopes don't even need batteries.

If part of your sight, or scope, mounts on the reciever of the gun, don't remove the barrel once you get zeroed.
It may not sit quite the same when you reinstall it, and you'll have to sight it in again.
If the front and rear sights are on the barrel, or you have a cantelevered scope mount, then you don't have to worry.
Swap barrels all day long.

Good luck.
-Bulz

RE: tunning my 870 Super mag for hunting
 

Hell if all you want to do is hit an 8 inch circle at 50 and 100 yards that should be a piece of cake. Heck you may not even have to adjust the sights. I don't even think you would need them, just stick with a bead. You surely wouldn't need to waste money on a scope. I wouldn't even bother with a rifled barrel. Just grab some cheap crap rifled slugs and use your bird barrel as long as it is not a full choke. I have seen plenty of smooth bores that will group that well at 100 yards, some even better. I say why waste the money if you are not going to utilize the technology.

If any of my weapons could not hit a 8 inch pie plate at any distance I would be ticked and start looking for a different load or getting rid of the weapon. I strive for better groups than that out of my bow. If I had a firearm that would not shoot that well I would be livid. My Muzzle loader will shoot 1 inch groups or better at 100 yards with a 3-9 power scope. If all I wanted was soccer ball sized groups I could have saved a lot of time at the bench working up loads. Heck I changed my set up because I couldn't get better than 5 inch groups at 150 yards. Now it gets about 2-2.5 inch groups at 150. I don't see why a good slug gun shouldn't be just as good.


Just because a deer has a large area for vitals doesn't mean that is all you should strive for. It comes in handy if you missjudge the yardage or pull off a bad shot. What if your gun only grouped 8 inches and you messed up a shot, the deer moved or you had a wind gust? That is a pretty high percentage of getting a wounded deer. I would much rather have a weapon I knew was capable of 1-3 inch groups at the ranges I hunt at. That way you could miss your mark and still put it in the vitals. That is just my opinion though.

Keep in mind I am talking about sighting in off from a bench or other suitable rest. Not trying to shoot off hand at 100 yards with open sights. That is quite a different thing. I feel when sighting in a gun you should strive for the best accuracy you can get. Once you know what the gun is capable of and where it shoots then you can practice shooting the way you would in a hunting situation. I certainly would not expect your groups to be as well as they were off from the bench. Me personally, I would take a shot at a deer 100 yards away off hand, I just don't think I shoot that well off hand to be honest. Now if I could find something to lean against or shoot off the ground I wouldn't think twice about it. Providing the gun grouped well enough at that distance to begin with.

With the newer equipment out you should have no trouble getting at least 3 inch groups. I would strive for groups at least half the size of the vitals to compensate for any errors in the feild. And the smaller the target you aim at, the smaller and more precise your groups will be. As long as you can see the target. A square works pretty well. You can aim at the corner for more precision. It works very well with a scope because you can lay the cross hairs on the outline of the square. This makes your shots easily repeatable from shot to shot. If you are just shooting at a blank target 8 to 10 inches in diameter I would not expect to get very good groups. Of course once you put the first hole in the target your vision will focus on that. So if your first shot is off some, the rest most likely will be too.

When most shoot at deer, they don't just aim at the deer. You pick a spot and aim for that. Many bowhunters picke a small patch of hair. The more focused your aiming, the better the shot will be. This is why you shoot better with higher power scope at longer ranges. If I were to put a 10 or 16 power scope on my slug gun I am sure it would be even more accurate providing I could hold it still enough. That is not very usable in a hunting situation though so I have a 4 power instead. It makes it a little harder to hit a small target at farther distances, but I can get on target much quicker with the larger field of view.

I guess it all boils down to how you want to hunt and what level of accuracy you are looking for. If you are just looking to plunk slugs into a pie plate at 50 to 100 yards it should not be to hard. Mine will do that with pretty much any slug I have ran thru it, I wouldn't even have had to adjust the scope. However if you are looking for bit more precision it will most likely take a little more effort.

Good luck,
Paul