Paul L Mohr

Well I finally got sick of dinking with my Remington muzzle loader. I was at the gun store the other day and was looking at a few of the slug guns. I asked the guys how accurate the H&R's were and they said VERY. They had a used one there for 219 bucks.

I went home and shot my ML a few more times and said screw it. What a pain in the you know what this is. It shoots good but is just a hassle to mess with. Not to mention my swivel stud came out of the POS plastic stock they put on this gun. It has happend before and I epoxied it back in. I don't feel like doing it again.

I thought about switching back to clean shot as well, and possibly getting the .209 primer conversion. I thought about it and decided to not waste the money getting a new stock, powder and the conversion kit for that gun. I would get a different one or a slug gun instead. The remington shoots well, but is a pain to clean compared to some of the newer models.

After reading the reviews on this site and others I decided the Ultra Slug Hunter would work great for what I want. I looked at a few things I didn't want any more and headed to the gun store this morning to do some bargaining. They did me pretty good on the trade ins and I came home with a slightly used H&R Ultra Slug gun with the laminated checkered stock, a pretty leather sling, a Bushnell Trophy 1.75-4 power scope, a set of rings and two boxes of lightfields. A little over 400 bucks out the door. And the gun came with an Ammo holder on the stock and the extended hammer spur. Two things I would have most likely got any way.

I have not shot it yet. I just got home a little while ago and have been looking at it while grabbing something to eat and checking the boards. I still have to mount the scope and sling, bore sight it and shoot it. It's kind of windy today though. I can't decide if I think it's pretty, or pretty ugly? I think it would look better with a longer barrel. Of course then it would weigh 15 lbs .

I did shoot a few field loads out of it to see if it worked. I thought the recoil would be very light because of the weight. It felt about on par with my mossberg youth model 500 with the ported barrel. And it is pretty light. That is one of the things I traded in though so I can't compare them side by side. We will see how it is with slugs. They said it should be better than 3 inch turkey loads in my mossberg and I handled that ok. I know I shouldn't be shooting field loads out of it, but I couldn't see wasting the money using the slugs just to test fire it. I'm sure two didn't hurt anything.

I will take some pics as well.

I'm gonna go play now

Paul

Paul L Mohr

Well I got the scope mounted and had a chance to shoot it a little bit. It has been raining on and off all day. I took some pics as well


This is the pretty version:



This is the tactical version:



And I would not want to be on the buisiness end of this sucker! :




It took me three shots to sight it in after bore sighting it. I fired one shot at 25 yards and it was way low so I had to shim the rear mount. Next shot at 50 was a bit low. I turned the scope the apropriate number of clicks to compensate and the next shot was dead on 2 inches high at 50 yards.

I did not get a chance to shoot for groups or anything, but from what I can tell it is pretty accurate. Every shot was pretty much dead on for windage, and both the adjustments I made did what they were suposed to do. So this leads me to believe the scope tracks pretty well and the gun should group decent. It was a bit windy so I did not even attempt a 100 yard shot.

Recoil was not that bad with the 2 3/4 inch light field hybreds. Nothing like my turkey loads! Simular to my muzzle loader with 95 grns of 777 fffg and a 350 grn bullet. My muzzle loader is fairly heavy as well and handles recoil nicely.

This rifle is HEAVY! I weighed it with the scope, bipod and 5 rounds of ammo and it weighed 12.5 lbs on our digital bathroom scale. Deffintately not a mountain rifle or something you would want to use on a drive. Good thing I hunt from an enclosed elevated blind for gun season. And I don't use the bipod for deer hunting.

Maybe I will get to shoot it more later, if I can afford the ammo! That is one draw back to this weapon. It is not cheap to shoot. Of course once it's sighted in I shouldn't have to shoot it more than 3 or 4 times a year. I am sort of curious what it would do to a woodchuck though.

And the best part, when I'm done I can just wipe it down, run a swab down the barrel and put it a way. I don't have to rip the whole gun apart and scrub it with hot water, let it dry, lube it and re-assemble it. And I didn't choke on that nasty smoke once.

Paul

uncle matt

That's just like mine - the Deluxe version. (Longer forestock, checkering and laminated camo). YOU ARE GONNA LOVE IT! I'll bet you wind up thinking......"best $219 I ever spent".

The recoil pads are second to none. Put some 3-inch mags thru it and watch the flame show.

YES FOLKS! BE THE FIRST IN YOUR CAMP TO "KILL IT AND GRILL IT" WITH THE H&R ULTRA FLAMETHROWER. WOW YOUR HUNTING BUDDIES WHEN YOU SHOW BACK UP AT CAMP WITH YOUR GAME ALREADY COOKED TO PERFECT MEDIUM RARE! FOR THOSE WHO PREFER STRICTLY MEDIUM OR A LITTLE MORE ON THE MEDIUM WELL SIDE...................JUST LOAD 'ER UP AND PUT ANOTHER ROUND THRU IT!

We've got two H&R Ultras in the house, my 12 Deluxe and my oldest sons 20 standard. That 20 is a certain tackdriver! (Not that my 12 isn't).

You got a darn good deal for $219, especially considering that the leather sling probobly cost $50+. The stock slings really aren't good for squat, WAY too slippery on the shoulder.

The only thing I didn't like about the deluxe (with longer forestock) was that my hand wants to be just behind the sling swivel and it would hurt my hand when fired. So I took the swivel mount off and put a loop on that end of the swivel. I adjusted my sling to be just long enough to be slightly forced over the end of the barrel when action was broke open. Problem alieviated.

By the way - they all come from the factory with the hammer spur. You really can't easily set the hammer without it. I recommend a bit od light loc-tite on the spur's set screw. I've seen more than a few get loose and some myseriously disappear in the field.

Enjoy!

Paul L Mohr

I wanted to shoot it some more today, but it keeps raining. None of the new ones I looked at had the hammer spure. I'm talking about the one that sticks off to the side. Maybe they come in the box and are just not installed yet though. I have looked at them at a few different places and didn't see it on any of them. That is pretty cool feature if it comes with them.

The swivels don't bother me, I hold the gun more under the reciever, maybe it's because I'm so short. I dislike rifles with the extended magazines for the same reason. The mags are always right were I want to put my hand. I rarely shoot off hand any way.

It didn't come with that sling, I had to buy it. It was 30 bucks. It did have a cheap black nylon sling on it, but I took it off. And the 219 was for the rifle only, well it had the side spur and the little ammo thing on it. I traded in some paint ball stuff, my Mossberg 500 and a couple of cheap .22s to finance the whole thing. I got 435 dollars for my trade ins and spent it all but $2.58 by the time I was done. I had to buy the scope, rings, sling and two boxes of ammo. Pretty nice buy considering I never had to get my check book out. I was pleasantly suprised. I thought I would get screwed on the trade ins.

I may shoot those last two rounds at 100 yards today if it gets nice for long enough.

Out of curiousity what kind of ammo does yours like? I'm sure I read it on one of the posts I looked at researching it, but I don't feel like reading them all again. Some were pretty long. I wanted to go with some of the faster flatter shooting loads until I saw the prices! That is bit rediculous when compared to premium centerfire ammo in my opinion.

Paul

uncle matt

Mine 12 likes (non-sabot) Brenneke Gold Magnums. When I first got it it really liked the 3-inch Remington Copper Solids, but I got tired of them cause of the cost, and when I shot some more of them, Remington had changed them and they were then inconsistent.

I can get Brennekes for half the price and they shoot very well. Although I'm going to spend the $$$ and experiment a bit with some other loads before this season. I'm hoping maybe jcchartboy will do some of the "leg work" for me and post some info I can use. He lives slug guns - suffering from a condition known as severe chronic slugitis. LOL. I'm looking for flatter shooting at longer distances.

Anyway, I haven't missed anything with my H&R and have had total pass thru penetrations, even lengthwise at like 30 yards when one stealthed right up on me from across a crop field by shadowing behind the tree I thought I was shadowing behind.

My son's 20 gauge absolutely loves the Remington Copper Solids. We picked up a ton of them at K-Mart around here when they sold them at clearance price of like $4/box. I found them at one store, called the other stores around the area and cleared them all out.

Paul L Mohr

You shoot a non saboted slug out of your fully rifled barrel? I don't know if I want to go that route. I might try some though. I just like the idea of teflon touching my barrel instead of soft metal.

I got a chance to shoot it. It stopped raining so I went out and used up the rest of my ammo. My conclusion, I'm not impressed. Lightfields will not be my round of choice. And for those guys that think you can sight your gun in for 2 inches high at 50 and think your good to go at 100, I have some bad news for you. It confirmed what I believed to be true. If you want to shoot a gun at 100 plus yards, you better sight it in and varify it will shoot at those ranges. Mine did fairly well at 50 yards and was 2 inches high just like they suggest. I moved back to 100 yards and the next shot was about 4 or 5 inches high? Come to find out the gun does not group that well at 100 yards with this ammo. Maybe 4 inches or so, and most of the shots were high. I adjusted my scope down a few clicks and the last shot was in the bull (actually a 1.5 square). However judging from the groups I got that really doesn't mean anything. And I don't have any shells left to varify it.

It shoots nice though, recoil was pretty managable off from a rest and bipod. And the down range energy of those slugs was pretty impressive to say the least. I use cut up logs about 2 foot in diameter for back stops. It nocks them over every time. I have to walk all the way out there to set it back up. I shot some rifled slugs out of my mossberg 500 that did the same thing. It was only good for about 60 yards though.

This shoots well enough that I could probably hunt with it, even at a hundred yards that is probably lethal grouping if the wind was good. It's not acceptable to me though. I want at least 2 inch groups off from a bench at 100 yards, or better possibly. I was just hoping I wouldn't have to spend 15 dollars for five shells to get it.

I will try those rounds you suggested and see how they do. I don't really care for scrubbing the lead out of my barrel, but if they are accrate and cheap what the heck.

Thanks,
Paul

uncle matt

I understand your questioniong of shooting non-saboted slugs thru the rifled barrel. BUT.

I won't be presumptious enough to question the word of folks who should, after making shotgun slugs since 1898, for "the world's most dangerous game animals"(i.e. not just pidily little deer, but things like cape buffalo, etc... real tough animals!) Brenneke.

On their website, something like www.brenneke.usa.com, they state which of their rounds are OK to shoot thru smooth or rifled barrels. I know cleaning the barrel is a bit more of a chore. But now that my gun is dialed in, it's a simple matter of 3-5 rounds before going afield, just to check zero. Then a quick clean/lube and one more shot to smooth out barrel. I don't have any complaints. My rifling sure looks sharp to me and accuracy is right there.

All I can say is I don't know anyone withg more definative experience and knowledge than Brenneke. I have went by their word and never looked back, nor been disappointed. I have never really heard anyone say anything negative about Brenneke, and I think alot of guys pushing rifled barrels have done themselves an injustice by not, atleast` trying, the Brenneke Magnums.

Paul L Mohr

Like I said I will try them if I can find them, I don't remember seeing any when looking though. I don't doubt they work, I just liked the idea of using a sabot, same thing with the muzzle loader. It's just a cleaner system is all. Not that you can't shoot lead or copper coated bullets out of a rifled barrel. That's what you do with a centerfire after all.

I think I'm going to go to a few of the discount stores like wally world and Kmart and the such and see what they have. I'm going to try some of the cheaper more standard stuff first to see what works well and at what ranges. Then I might try some of the more expensive high velocity stuff and compare it.

The deer I have shot and seen shot with my ML works, if you put it in the right spot you get a dead deer. However I don't think they perform or expand as well as they should thus not transfering as much energy as they could be. The deer I have field dressed had fairly minimal damage, the bullet just wizzed thru. The results are much like a deer taken with a bow. It runs for a ways and piles up.

However the few deer I have seen shot with a true slug gun seem to be hit much harder. If hit correctly they normally drop where they are or don't very far at all. This interests me since where I hunt it is fenced in. If the deer runs it normally hops the fence and dies on the other side. There is no property issue, I'm allowed to retrieve my deer. It's just not very fun getting it back over the fence if you know what I mean.

The upside to the saboted slugs is they do less damage to meat if you make a less than perfect shot. And if I see a considerable improvement in accuracy with them I will use them any way.

I guess I will just have to play is all. The ones you suggested are at the top of my list though. Especially since my funds are limited. I would really rather be spending my money on new arrows that would last me much longer.

Paul

Paul L Mohr

Well I got a chance to play some more. I went and picked up some different shells to try. I could not find any brenneke shells around here. I did shoot a few rifled slugs thru it, but they were cheap cabela's ones, sellier & bellot's. They actually shot pretty good out of it. I only shot two, but they were right next to eacher and in the bullseye. Better than the Lightfield sabots were for more than twice the money! They did make a mess in my barrel, but it cleaned up ok.

So going by this I picked up some winchester and federal rifled slugs to see what they would do. The sellier's were really lacking on power. I also got some winchester platinum tip sabots, 1700 fps with a 400 grn bullet. I decided to shoot the expensive ones first (actually only 10 bucks at wally world). Good thing too, they shoot pretty good as far as I can tell. I shot a three shot group that was around 1 to 1.5 inches at 100 yards. This is acceptable to me. I don't expect much better really with a 4 power scope at 100 yards. I can barely make out the target for the most part. My ML is slightly better at 100 yards, but it has a more powerful scope and much better trigger.

I still had the scope set for the lightfields at 100 yards. The new 400 grainers shot 7 inches high! I adjusted the scope and the last two shots went in the top part of the two inch cirlce I was shooting at. I didn't bother shooting the other brands of shells. These suckers do kick though. Not worse than my ML with a full charge, and nothing like my turkey loads. I probably won't even notice when hunting. I might try a few other brands just for the heck of it as well. I might even shoot the rifled slugs to see what happens, just to get rid of them.

It's amazing how changing ammo in these guns makes such a big difference. I guess they are pretty picky.

Paul

AJ52

I've heard alot of great things about H&R slugsters. I'm seriously thinking about buying one this year and maybe the 20 gauge. I know alot of guys who only use 20's for deer - they love em, no matter who makes it. What is the effective range on the H&R 20 gauge?