Less than 20% of the guys I hunt with use old school slugs. Everyone uses at least Lightfields if not newer Sabots.
Some of my most savy friends have already switched to muzzleloaders during shotgun season.

I just bought a bunch of slugs...winchester platinum tips, partition golds, solid copper remingtons, buckhammers, sluggers etc...and I'm going to be testing them out one day this week or weekend. I will let you know what shoots best in my gun (870 w/ 20" rifled barrel)

Tom,

You forgot the Remington Core Lokts! They are definitely one of the top performers, depending on each particular gun.

Also, don't mix the sluggers and buckhammers, with the sabots shells. Those two shells have no sabots and can/will leave a lot of lead in your rifling. You must clean your barrel thoroughly after each time you shoot them.

I personally would not shoot non-sabot slugs in my rifled guns. That is only my personal choice though.

Lest us not forget.

We are really not the average slugger (us guys "pushing" our special slug guns). We are the guys slugging it out to the edge sometimes. I think theres going to be alot of deer taken inside 75 yards, as there ihas been for a long time. Alot with Winchester SuperX & Remington Slugger.

I aggree with you uncle. A lot of deer will be taken under 75 yards.
Since I started shooting the Partition Gold Sabot I've not had a shot over 100 yet! Andthe reason I wanted to shoot them was to increase my range. Oh well.
I'm really starting to wonder myself, as I think Rick C. was wondering when he started this post, Are they really worth it???I had no problemkilling a deer at 100 yards with a Super-X rifled slug out of my 28" vent rib barrel.
But I will admit one thing, at 75 yards, or even 100,the groups with the Super-X's didn't hold a candle to what you can get with a rifled barrel and some of the new sabots, that's definately something to consider.

Tom, I'm with JCC on this one to a point. I am going thru the same process you are right now. Trying different bullets to see what my gun likes. Mine is just taking longer because I'm broke. I can't afford to just buy a bunch at one time and sit down with them all.

If you are going to shoot a mix of high performance stuff and cheaper old school stuff start with the expensive stuff. It is much cleaner and more consistant in your barrel. And don't over shoot it. Give the gun some time to cool down, and maybe even clean the barrel when you switch brands of ammo.

After you are done shooting the expensive high tech saboted stuff then try some of the cheaper stuff if you want. Keep in mind it will make a mess and foul up your barrel. My H&R Ultra really likes the cheap rifled slugs to be honest. But it fouls out fast. I get great 3 shot groups at 100 yards with Winchester 3" rifled slugs. One ragged hole for the first three shots, federals were about the same. But after the first 3 shots the barrel fouls out and things open up. Each progressive shot hits higher than the last one in my gun. So if you are going to shoot rifled slugs I would expect to clean it at least every five shots. And I don't mean just run a patch down it, I mean use some solvent and scrup the lead out, then patch it dry again. I would guess the buck hammers might not be as bad. From what I can see not as much lead is exposed to the barrel as there would be in a fully rifled slug. I could be wrong though.

It is messy, time consuming and probably not that great on your barrel. I hear brushing your barrel a lot will wear it out faster than shooting it. Something to keep in mind.

However if that is all you could afford to shoot, they seem quite effective in my gun. Just requires more maintenence is all. Different impact points in my gun, so you can't just switch from one to the other.

Have fun shooting all those rounds.

Paul

I shoot Win. 2 3/4" BRI slugs through my H&R...I get very good groups at 50 yards...should this gun be good out to about 100 yards for deer, maybe a little bit further, but i doubt 150 yards, is there still enough knockdown power at 100 yards?

Plenty at 100yards! Also Don't forget about the Federal Barnes 2 3/4 expanders!They are the only high velocity load that shoots wellout of my gun.

The BRI slugs only carry about 950 ftlbs of energy at 100yds. They will be travelling at about 990 fps.

Conventional wisdom calls for 1000-1200 ftlbs for taking deer sized game.

So, yes....it will be adequate. However, with so many more powerful, (and flatter shooting)options, it would not be my first choiceina gun that I may be required to use at 100yds on live game.

I would really be interested in what shoots best in your gun, as I have the same model. I have been shooting rem. copper solid, just bought some lightfields. In the next couple of weeks I plan to do a comparison between the two, will post results of that test.

-Rick C.