AmateurHunter44857

I bought a new gun today the NEF Deer Tracker II with rifled slug barrel. I asked the guy at the store what sabots he would recommend and he said Winchester black box or something like that. What do you guys like in Sabots?

Paul L Mohr

The 12 ga NEF and H&Rs seem to not like the faster light loadings. Some have good luck with them, but most are reporting poor accuracy with loads that are faster than 1700-1800 fps and bullets lighter than 400 grns.

I have an H&R ultra slug gun and it likes the winchester Platinums pretty well, others have good luck with remingtons. Mine didn't like lightfields but others have said they shoot well.

Really you just need to try some different brands and loads to see what works well in your particular gun, they can be sort of picky. It can get expensive though. I still haven't tried all the ones I want to. I'm going to try the hastings rounds this year and see how they work, among others.

Paul

Rebel Hog

240gr XTP Mag

RWK

44857 each gun likes its own tpye of bullet, try a couple of diiferent sabots and you willl what it likes. My 870 like winchester 3in. in the cheaper sabot, and hornaday sst's and rem buckhammers which will knock you for a loop. Happy Easter Rich

Rebel Hog

Thats very true! My Knight "Wolverine" likes Hornady XTP's , My Moss 500 likes Winchester BRI , My BRN A-5 W/Hastings Barrel likes Federal Power-Shok Sabots and my Moss 835 Combo likes Rem Buckhammers.

AmateurHunter44857

Well i started looking at winchesters website and am looking at these three sabots so far: Winchester Rackmaster,Winchester Platnum Tip Hollow Points, and Winchester XP3. I'll start looking at remington and hornady as well. Keep the suggestions coming

P.S. Should i fire the 2 3/4 sabots or 3 inchers?

uncle matt

44857, my suggestion ............

As an Illinois deer hunter I have been slug hunting my entire life. I've shot alot of slugs. I've been using a rifled barrel shotguns for about 15 years I guess.

I am quite familiar with the NEF/H&R guns. I have been shooting my 12 gauge USH Deluxe since they were released in 1995 (?) and I also have a 20 gauge standard USH my boys use.

I've trying all the various sabot offerings over the years. What about 30 or 40of them? Each and every one of them promoted as better, faster, more accurate, more lethal, more this, more that.

Paul is quite right in that most USH owners don't get too good of results from the faster offerings. Most likely due to the twist rate of the rifling. And the guys whoare telling you that each gun can have it's own preference are telling you straight. But finding out what most like is the smart way to go. IMO taking what they say and starting thereis a good start.

I shoot non-sabot slugs from my 12. Brenneke 3" Gold Magnums and
2-3/4"Heavy FieldMagnums. I haven't been able to get any better accuracy from any of the sabots I've experimented with. Some sabots can almost duplicate the accuracy, but most deliver noticably worse accuracy in my 12 gauge.

Then there's the cost factor. Maybe $7 for a box ofGold Mags, $5 for Heavy Field Magnums. Versus what $15/box minimumfor sabots with many near $20/box or more depending on where you shop.

Then there's the performance aspect, which is different than the accuracy aspect. I like to hit my deer with the biggest, heaviest projectile possible. The Gold Mags are weighing in at a remarkable 1-3/8 oz. and the Heavy Field Mags are 1-1/4 oz. By sighting in at about 75 yards you just aim at the boiler room and an 1-1/2" up or down still drops them in their tracks with a good shot. I speak the truth and anyone who has shot a deer with these can attest they kill deer real good!

I used to shoot the Remington CopperSolids in the 20 gauge because I had come across a great quantity of them at a remarkable price. They werepretty darn accurate but I wasn't super impressed with their knock down. Then when the Remington's were gone we tried a few other sabots but they all pretty much were the same in accuracy. I also tried the Brenneke 3" magnums and settled on these as once again we found very good accuracy and the heavier projectile.

You wouldn't be doing justice if you didn't try out some Brenneke offerings. You can check out Brenneke stuff at:
http://www.brennekeusa.com/

My other suggestion is trying the Remington BuckHammers. They blast a full 1-1/4 oz. from their 2-3/4" load and are also under $10. We're shooting those from a 12 gauge Mossberg 500 with a rifled and scoped slug barrel with great results. I have been more impressed with these since they came on the market a few years ago than any of the
johnny-come-lately sabot offerings.

I don't know of but maybe one guy who's posted here with a DT II and it is a different animal than the USHs because the DH II has a regular wall thickness barrel but I'll bet a bag of nickels the heavy Field Mags or Remington BuckHammers will be one of the better shooters when the smoke clears.

I do know the DT II is rather light so I would think seriously about NOT shooting 3" out them because it will probobly be uncomfortable and might lead to flinching & poor accuracy.

I think Paul could show you a link to an NEF/H&R shooters site. Someone linked to it here sometime previously for some reason or another.

Hey Paul!

hunterdeneugene

I have a Ultra Slug in 20 ga and it shoots the Lightfields and the new Hornaday SST very well. When I made the switch from the Lightfields to the Hornadays, my gun required no adjustment in the scope. Shot about in the same hole, so I can switch back and forth with no adjustment. Shoot the 2 3/4, never had any luck with the 3 in mags, besides they kick like a mule. Every gun is different so try some of everything. My gun did not like the Winchesters.

Paul L Mohr

Here are a few for you.

Graybeard outdoor forums

They have a section just for H&R guns.

Here is another great site for shotguns of any type.
Shotgun world

They have a forum just for slug shooters.

I hunted with the Gold mags in my USH and didn't get all that great performance out of them. They were good enough, but more than twice the group size at 100 yards than some other slugs I have tried. I wasn't overly impressed with the performance on a lung shot either. I mean it killed the deer but when I dressed it there was not a lot of damage. Not as much as an XTP bullet like my muzzle loader used, which are similar to what the high end slug loads use.

I shot my deer at 20 yards and it ran about 90 yards. I bet these slugs with a shoulder shot would anchor one where stands though. And I will be honest I have only shot one deer with them. Not a real great base for evaluation if you know what I mean.

I think I got around 5 inch groups at 100 yards with the gold magnums. I get around 2 inch groups or better with the winchester platinums. I have shot other rifled slugs that shot really well in it though. The more expensive winchester rifled slugs did really well in mine. Until the barrel fouls out, which is about 4 shots in my gun.

And I agree, that gun is going to KICK!! If you try the Gold mags let me know what you thought of them. The platinums kick very hard as well, maybe as bad the gold mags.

Some will tell you because you have a rifled barrel you have to shoot sabot rounds. This is not true at all. Rifled barrels have been around longer than saboted slugs have. They were originally designed to increase the range of rifled slugs. It will NOT hurt your barrel. The soft lead they use in the slugs is MUCH softer than the steel used in your barrel. They are a PIA to clean though[:@]. I had some cheap rifled slugs shoot very well in my gun, but it makes a heck of a mess when you clean it. I have got some 3 shot one ragged hole groups out of rifled slugs that cost 4 bucks a box. I won't lie they are pretty tempting to use.

Since your gun is lighter than most slug guns you might also consider that remington makes some reduced recoil loads. If you are shooting inside 100 yards they still have plenty of power to take deer sized game with a well placed shot. And most slug hunters are not shooting farther than that anyway.

My opinions anyway.

Paul

snedd162

the new hornady sst slugs because they can shoot as far as a rifle and still have the knockdown power of a shotgun