RE: buckshot or slugs
 

I have the best luck with winchesters as well.

Paul

RE: buckshot or slugs
 

Andy, with so many guys now going with rifled barrels with cantilevered scope mounts there is a pretty good supply of standard bore slug barrels with rifled sights. You ought to be able to find one for your 870 and pick it up for less than $50 IMO.

Secondly, maybe a rifled barrel with a cantilever and scope IS NOT out of your reach. Mossberg offers a fully rifled and ported slug barrel with cantilever scope mount and scope for $179 for the 870.

Then again, I would go with the chokes Paul mentioned and a couple 5 boxes of $3/box Sluggers and see what ya can do. It'll only cost ya $15.

Then figure out which way you want or need to go.

By the way - what state are you in? Some states with shotguns only rules are ammo specific.

RE: buckshot or slugs
 

Generally speaking......shoot foster type slugs out of a smooth bore and the sabot type slugs out of a rifle barrel. I know people who will say that they shoot sabots out of smooth bores and foster types out of rifled, but foster types can really foul the rifling in the barrel, and sabots have nothing to grip in a smooth bore. One thing you might want to try, and this is starting to get some attention, is shooting a rifled choke tube with the new Remington Buckhammers. They are made for rifled tubes. It doesn't make sense to me ballistically for the rifling to be in just the last couple inches of the barrel, but those who have tried it says it works. With todays rifled barrels and sabot slugs, 150 yards w/ practice is commonplace. I have a H&R Ulta Slug in 20 ga and am very comfortable shooting it @ 150 yards.

RE: buckshot or slugs
 

Thanks a lot for the help! I'll get 'er all tuned in for the fall. Now we play the waiting game

RE: buckshot or slugs
 

You can shoot rifled slugs out of a rifled barrel, like said it will make a mess though.

DO NOT shoot sabots out of a smooth bore unless it has a cylinder choke, which is near impossible to find. The sabots do not crush as they go through the choke and are made to expand in a full bore barrel to seal against the barrel. Not only will they shoot like crap you could very well damage your gun in the process.

Paul

RE: buckshot or slugs
 

As every one has been mentioning stick with the slugs. I have seen and heard about a lot of deer lost with buck shot. I shot my first buck with buck shot and if it wasnt for the one pellet that spined him and dropped him I might have lost him myself due to hardly any blood. You couldnt even really see where the pellets had hit. I never used buck shot again. If your pretty close to him youd be ok but youll have more oppertunities for shots with slugs IMO. Nothing sucks worse then trying to blood trail a deer with no blood on the groundespecially if there is nosnow. They always seem to cross tracks with other deer tracks and trails. Can be a big pain in the butt.

RE: buckshot or slugs
 

Shoot rifled slugs out of a smooth bore with a cylinder choke. Shoot smooth slugs out of a rifled barrel or with a rifled choke. Also check the laws, because in Wisconsin buckshot is illegal.

RE: buckshot or slugs
 

I hunted in SE Virgina for yers and I used nothing but 00 buck and #1 buck and I killed a lot of deer. You just have to pattern your shotgun with the type of buck shot that you find is best for your gun. I'll bet when you go out with your foster type slugs you will find that over 50 yards they are not all that consistant anyway. but its up to you to do the work before the season and find out what works best out of your shotgun.

RE: buckshot or slugs
 

Yep, buckshot and hounds is the name of the game down here. There are plenty of folks who kill deer with buckshot at 100 yards busting fields. What you don't hear about is how many they lose, or cripple up, or hit and think they just missed them. Whole lot of shooting goes on to only have 8 deer in the skinning shed on the AM hunts. Buck shot is a 50 yard tool, MAX in my book. There are plenty of folks who swear their gun can shoot better at 75 than mine can at 25, and thats all good and well. But BS loses its ummphhh fast.

I use #1 buck in very tight cover, where shots will be inside 35 yards. If its a little more open, I'll pick OO, but I still won't shoot much past 45 yards, and only then if the deer is standing still. Inside of 30, I've shot plenty of deer on the run, its not quite like using a rifle and shooting running deer, its more like shooting a big rabbit. At that range, they aren't hard to kill.

However, I'll say this, I have only lost 3 deer in my life, and I have killed well over 200 now... and all three of those lost were hit with buckshot. One, two years ago, was blowing lung blood out both sides... and we still lost that deer. I'm a right fair hand at tracking... but when the dogs get behind them.... forget it. Shame.

RE: buckshot or slugs
 

Cant shoot buckshot if your in ohio....all we can use is slugs or muzzleloader...