20 gauge slug distance question
 

how far is it lethal to? 100 yards? and is it dependable to hit its target? never hunted with a shotty

Practice practice practice know your gun everyone is different. What type of gun do u have. I have a h&r slug gun and I can put 2-3 inch groups at 150 yards.
Where as I have a rem 1100 smooth bore that's good only out to maybe 80 yards.
Its all the gun and type of slug/sabot used.

wow. thats good info. wouldnt think there would be such a big difference

Really? I can't get mine to go even that far and stay within an 8 inch circle.

Best I could get it to do was 8 inches at 50 yards using the Remington rifled sluggers...

I bought an 870 with a slug barrel because of that.

It is my opinion, and others may have different experiences, that smooth bore guns with rifled slugs are not good anywhere past 50 yards for an "ethical kill shot"..

Anytime I track a deer more than 50 yards, I get a sinking guilty feeling because I didn't kill it quickly enough.

All 20 Ga slugs are not created equal. Are we talking rifle slugs or sabot slugs? Some of the high end sabot slugs can kill deer to 200 yds.

It is reasonably safe to say that the slug will kill deer out to the range your gun can shoot it acurately.

Murby: "It is my opinion, and others may have different experiences, that smooth bore guns with rifled slugs are not good anywhere past 50 yards for an "ethical kill shot."

***Here is another Murby opinion that is incorrect and probably stated just because he has one that ain't jack chit past 50 yards! FYI pardner, some smooth bore guns with rifled slugs will shoot well and kill a deer "ethically" at 2 to 3 times that distance, including a setup that I have on an old Winchester 1200 pump with a short slug barrel that I bought new in 1967.

I have the Savage 220 F in 20 an have killed them out to 220 yards an dropped them using 3 in Remington Accutip. I have it zeroed in at 200 yards. I bought it for long shots. I killed 4 deer with it this year at 136, 147, 177, an 80 yards none went farther than 30 yards great blood trail.

My Mossberg 500 12 ga. slug gun is good to maybe 125 yards.

I'd confine myself to shorter range with a 20 no matter how far I could reliably make hits with it. Say 75 - 80 yards.
But I'm not a slug hunter so maybe I'm selling the 20 short. (no pun)

Well at at 180 yards a 20 gauge out of a 220f will put a 260 grain slug in one side through both lungs/heart and out the other side.

I killed a buck with a Mossberg 500 20 gauge with a rifled barrel and sabot slug. The distance was 125-150 yards and he was dead within 50 feet.

:lolabove::lolabove::lolabove::lolabove::lolabove: :lolabove:
Awe, isn't that cute...
You're upset because I ignored your rambling private messages...

***LOL! That would be the last thing that would upset me and I haven't sent you any rambling ones to begin with anyway. Just as FLAGS stated in one of his posts and I've stated above, you post BS you know nothing about and then get upset when somebody calls you out on it. Another good one was your absolutely ridiculous statement that a bow doesn't need to be quiet when hunting/shooting whitetails! If you don't know something that's being discussed in a thread or a post, why not just read and learn from people that do instead of posting stuff that makes you look pretty stupid. The alternative is to keep putting up stuff like this and getting called out on it. It's up to you!

Hey buddy do u got a older 1100 or a newer one. Mine is older it was made I'd say early 90s. And I shoot the rem regular slugs out of it the cheap ones and it will group 3 inches at 80 yards and I guess dinner plate size at 100 past that I can't get food groups but its a deadly deer drive gun.

Mine was handed down, then handed down again to me so I'm not sure on its exact age.. I think it was purchased in the late 1960's...

I'd be surprised if the gun has been fired more than 50 to 75 times in its life...and most of those are probably from me.

When you shoot a slug through that gun do you pull the recoil straight back or let the gun jump?

Yeah I guess they all can shoot differently. My cousion had one that actually shot ALOT better then mine does producing great groups at 100-120 yards. Same gun same shells just somehow differently and it wasn't the shooter cause I could get same groups with his gun.

Yeah some shoot better than others for sure but they should all do better than 8" groups at 50 yards.

That is really bad.

The limiting factor will be accuracy with a smoothbore shotgun and a rifled slug. Most that I have had any dealings with I would not have trusted past 60 yards. Don't go by random stories of one miracle gun on the internet. Go to the range and test your gun. It's the only way to know. The slug itself will maintain killing energy well past the range you will be able to shoot a smoothbore accurately.

A saboted slug through a rifled slug barrel is another matter and is typically much more accurate. With a scope on a rig like this 150 yards is easily doable and 200 yards is not unheard of.

I don't do anything.. I let the gun do what it wants..

I don't hold tight when I shoot because bodily functions can affect accuracy. I will hold the gun as loosely as the situation allows so when I'm sighting the gun in on a bench, I'm barely holding it.

Could it be the ridiculously long barrel? The barrel on this thing needs its own zip code.. Its like 28 inches or something like that.

***Go back to the drawing board and learn how to hold and shoot a gun properly because what you just stated in your post is not correct! A gun should be held firmly into the shoulder and not be allowed to jump all over the place like it has to be doing if you shoot the way you describe. When you are shooting slugs you are shooting the gun like you would a rifle and need proper breath control along with several other things just like trying to shoot good groups with a rifle. Your statement about a 28" barrel would probably be true since most shotgun barrels designed for small game were that length and some were even 30". It could also be the fact that the choke in that particular shotgun is too tight. Most rifled slugs are shot best through an open choke and normally will not shoot good in chokes any tighter than modified for the most part. A difference in chokes may have been the difference in one member stating that the same two guns he and a relative had shot slugs differently. What is the choke in that old gun you had problems with?

I own four 20ga slug guns all rifled barrels all using Remington Accutip 3", they each have there limits.

Savage 220f, no doubt I would take a shot at 200 yds plus
H&R Ultra Deluxe, 175 yd limit
Remington 11-87, 150 yd limit
Mossberg 500, 125 yd limit

Remember all guns may shoot well, but they have their limits

No it should shoot better than that with a 28" barrel

With a shotgun holding is so lose is probably the problem. The slug doesn't leave the barrel fast enough and the recoil effects accuracy.

You don't have to hold it with a death grip just try to guide the recoil straight back so the barrel doesn't jump.

Do you use a lead sled to sight in?

Well, the front of the gun is on a rubber V stand, the back was sitting on a pad..

Shooting style seems to work fine with my 870 slug gun... Although I'm firing hornady sst at 2000fps.

I didn't know that there was an issue with velocity and recoil as you are implying.. I always thought it didn't matter what weapon you were firing, the projectile was long gone before the kick happened.

Nope. And it don't matter what slug or how fast its going is irrelevant. The recoil begins the instant the powder begins to ignite, long before the projectile departs the barrel. And holding the weapon loosely will without question have an ill affect on the accuracy of that projectiles ability. You must maintain a snug hold upon that weapon, not gorilla grip it, just snug into the shoulder pocket by firmly pulling straight back into the shoulder by both the stock and forearm. Squeeze the shot off after aquiring correct sight picture.

It would have less effect with a shorter barrel and faster slug but yeah it definitely matters.
You can probably improve the accuracy of the 870 as well.

Give it a shot.

Should have bought the cantilevered slug barrel for the 1100.

I have the 220 as well and the thing is a tack driver. the longest I have killed at is 150yds but practice out at 200.great gun !!!

One thing I can't understand is that with today's high tech slugs, people still using 26"/28" field barrels with slugs, then drill and tap the receiver for a scope, we have three guys in our camp that do this, all three using rifled slugs none of them able to get decent groups at 50 yds, I even saw it at the range last month and last week from strangers. I do my best to explain to them the benefits of using a slug barrel (smoothbore or rifled) if your going to use a smoothbore at least get one designed for slugs, or better yet get a rifled/cantilever barrel

Very interesting..
I have absolutely no problems with my .308.. When using match grade ammo I can chew out the center of the target at a couple hundred yards easy.

I fire both guns the same way..

While I have fired hundreds of .308 rounds in my lifetime, I have only fired several dozens of shotgun rounds.

I will try what you suggest and see what happens.. going to be a while however as there's three inches of blowing snow out there right now.

If you are asking if I'm using a gun vice, the answer is sort of.. I made a home-made unit that holds most of the gun (Rubber V in front, rubber pad on bottom of stock) but I still must hold it against my shoulder and aim..
I also have an elevation adjustment screw on the rubber V up front.

I got the cantilevered barrel on my new 870..

Now it makes it real interesting. If you are able to fire these groups with your 308 at "a couple hundred yards", then you should have the working knowledge of how to properly hold a weapon for sight in purposes. I know that of us who shoot BenchRest, this method is slightly incorrect, but same animal. Give it a try and see what happens.

I'm no weapons specialist by any measure.. But I can shoot straight... Air Force gave me the marksmanship award for a perfect score on the range. I've never found it difficult to "point and shoot".. Aim, hold breath, apply continuous pressure to the trigger...

If it gets any more complicated than that, (humidity, temperature, wind, etc etc), then I'm lost at that point... Although I can compensate for gravity drop as needed.

I just would have never thought that firing a shotgun would be any different than firing a regular rifle.. I've never even heard anyone mention this fact so I find that a bit odd..

I'm going to take your advice next time I shoot but I am still finding it hard to believe that anything a human does differently from a regular rifle to a shotgun could possibly make any difference.. The chain of events happen so fast that I just can't imagine human technique having an influence that is significantly different between a shotgun and a rifle. But as I said, I'm no expert on the subject.

Nobody has said that the technique is any different between sighting in a shotgun and a rifle. What was said is that a gun should be pressed into the shoulder crease and you should have a decent hold on the front forearm area so the gun doesn't jump and basicly moves to the rear. You also shouldn't hold your breath when you shoot. You should be taking a nice breath as you are ready to squeeze the trigger and then gently let out the air as you do. Maybe you don't realize it and you're flinching due to the recoil of the shotgun and you don't when you shoot the .308. Who knows! Something else that hasn't been touched on is that when you bench rest a gun the forearm of the gun should be what is supported by a bag, etc. and not the barrel itself.

My 12g Encore with a ProHunter slug barrel will hold a very nice group at 100yds. But having said that my H&R Ultra slug 20g will peform just as nice at 1/3 the price. With either I wouldn't have a problem taking shots out to 150yds.

I'm new here to this forum and this was going to be one of my first questions. Good info.

A friend of mine recently bought that Savage due to what your saying. Now I think I'm going to purchase one.

Its pretty straight forward. The explosion is what creates recoil and the explosion happens before the slug leaves the barrel. Far more so with a shotgun than a rifle.

It does happen fast but it all happens fast not just the bullet leaving the barrel part.

What your talking about is pretty normal from my experience. The rifle is a lot more forgiving to it than the shotgun in question.

Stiffer recoil,slower bullet,and longer barrel