Recruit

In preparation for my first ever deer hunt this year, I bought a Remington 870 Express combo package (26" vent-rib and 20" rifled barrels). Although I've used shotguns before (sporting clays, a few range shots, and one shot at a turkey this past season which I loved and prompted the purchase of this gun), I still consider myself a novice shooter. This being the case, I don't believe I'll take a shot at a deer much past 50-60 yards.

I plan on visiting the range this weekend to sight in the rifled barrel and get lots of practice. To do this, I bought 6 boxes of Remington's Premier Copper Solid sabot slugs (12 gauge, 2 3/4, 1 oz.). Ouch! Expensive stuff! An article I just read however, indicates traditional Foster-type slugs are reliable out to about 50 to 75 yards. The article also said shooting an old-fashioned Foster lead slug through a rifled barrel will result in much more accuracy than with a smoothbore.

Considering my novice skill level (not to mention iron sights), am I wasting money using sabots at relatively close range? Who knows, maybe I'll gain enough confidence at the range to shoot accurately at 100 yards but I doubt that in only one or two visits to the range.

If cheaper Foster-type slugs are the way to go at short range in my rifled barrel, could someome explain what a Foster-slug is? Maybe even recommend a brand? Isn't the Remington Slugger a rifled slug that should only be used in a smoothbore barrel? The cost of these was much more appealing than the sabots.

I really do appreciate your response. Thanks!

amosgreg

Best advice I can give you is to buy several different brands and types. Winchester Fedral Remington Brenikie ....
Shoot them and see what your shotgun like best.
Then use them!
Are you planning on mounting a scope on your shotgun? If so mount that before you conduct your accuracy test.
Good Luck


Greg

"Getting close to the game is the joy of Bowhunting for me, the harvest is a bonus."

Live 15 ft Python after eating a small Antelope!

Tazman

Recruit first let me welcome you to the board, second I will give my 2 cents worth, as greg stated every brand of slug will shoot differently in your gun, if you find that Remington's Premier Copper Solid sabot slugs shoot well in your gun, stick with them. If they are all over the place on the target try another brand and see if they are better. I am a firm beleiver that once you have found ammo that shoots well in your gun, stick with it and never change. This is one reason why I stick with name brand ammo. BTW recruit good luck in your first season.

The Tazman aka Martin Price
Founder and President of
Virginia Disabled Outdoorsmen Club

rml127

I have shot several deer with the regular old federal or winchester "foster" type slugs with a rifled barrel. They were plenty accurate at 50-60 yards, the accuracy wasn't that great at 100 yards though. The only problem I had was they leaded up the rifling in the barrel so I had to clean it well. Don't shoot brenneke K.O's thru it, they have little wings on them to make them spin in a smooth barrel. They made a "whizzing" sound and flew every which way but where I wanted them. I am trying to come up with the best sabot slug for my combination with maximum accuracy and distance in mind. I hear of people shooting out to 200 yards now. I'd be comfortable with 125-150 with a solid rest at a standing deer when sighted in.

SCRIDER1

Hi Recruit..you and I hunt with the same weapon. And I, too, use open sights. There is another thread on this board right now having to do with this question and there is lots of good info there. I posted a lengthy reply on that one, so I wont do that again here. Bottom line is I've been using my 870/rifled barrel weapon by choice for 8 years and I love it. I've found that my gun shoots best with Winchester 2 3/4" sabots. You ask if Sabots are overkill. I say no. The accuracy is great. They dont foul up your barrel as badly as Fosters. And they are DEADLY. The confidence, clean kill ability and time saved in searching for wounded game and cleaning the weapon are well worth the expense of the sabots. One thought: If you're planning to shoot six boxes of slugs at the range you are in for a very, very sore sholder. After about 4 shots it stops being fun Good luck!

ck

I shoot the copper solids in my old mossburg 500. Killed lots of deer at 100yds.plus. At around 2 bucks apiece I am very careful not to bump the gun. I always case it when in the truck. I'm stuck on them.

stork

Welcome abord Recruit!

Stick with the sabots. I shoot 3" Fedrals and can hit a beer can at 150 yds every time. You may have to try diffrent brands or even diffrent lengths or weights to get it to shoot good. But once you find the right combo it will be deadly accurat and your confidance will rise fast.

SCRIDER1 is right. It took me several trips to get mine sighted in because of the kick.

There is no mistaking weather or not you hit a deer with 1 1/8 oz of lead though.

hoythunter48

I shoot lightfield hybreds and winchester partion golds, the lightfields shoot great in my ithaca but liek the others said i first went out and bought a couple boxes of each kinda expensive bu very much worth it and found which one i like then i went and bought a whole case of em lol so i would have a good supply,the partion golds got more kick them a .300 mag lol i had a shiner after the first time i shot one, wasnt expecting a kick like that and had my hands real loose and she flew back right into my eye,

"She said if I hit that fishin hole today, she's be packin all her things and she'd, be gone by noon....I'm gonna miss her, when I get home."

BOWFANATIC

I agree with the accuracy comment on sabot slugs! Overkill? No way! A sabot slug is smaller than a foster slug , but has much better accuracy at longer distances.

As far as shooting a foster slug thru your rifled barrel , again , no way!

A foster slug is for a smooth bore barrel. The quickest way to ruin a rifled barrel is to shoot foster slugs thru it. You can clean it and clean it , you'll never get the rifleing back to it's original state.

Recruit

Alright guys...you all seem like-minded on using sabots instead of foster-type slugs. I'll go with them in spite of the cost. I also didn't realize the additional cleaning required with foster-types and like BOWFANATIC said, could even ruin the barrel rifleing.

That said, how many shots to you all take at a target to determine if a certain brand of ammo shoots well out of your gun? My guess, and TAZMAN alluded to it, was to shoot X number of shots at a target and look for repeatable shots, not necessarily on the bullseye, but repeatable. If one brand is not repeatable (i.e. all over the place on the target), try another brand. Once honed in on a repeatable brand for my gun, sight the gun in for accuracy (near the bullseye). Is this logical?

Also, where do you start? 25 yards? 50 yards? Should I zero at 50 yards considering my novice skill level and rifle sights? Anyone willing to share their "procedure" on how they do this?

I'm going to try 2 3/4 sabot loads from Remington, Winchester, Federal, and Lightfield. I'll start with the cheaper of the four (Lightfields?) and hope for some repeatable shots.

Again, thanks for your responses! You all have really helped.