Effective slug range

[bluetrain]

I hope this has not been covered before (I did a quick search)....wondered what most have found to be the effective range of 12 gauge slugs....I am looking more for effective distance and accuracy that you have experienced.....

TIA

[stevegee58]

Depends on what you mean by effective. I personally wouldn't expect to reliably hit a man- or deer-sized target beyond 50 yards.

I guess some are a better shot and can take it out to 100 yards.

[bluetrain]

Originally Posted by stevegee58

Depends on what you mean by effective. I personally wouldn't expect to reliably hit a man- or deer-sized target beyond 50 yards.

I guess some are a better shot and can take it out to 100 yards.

That sort of answers my question. I did see a youtube video where a guy was firing slugs at a fixed target 100yds out. He hit 3 of 8. The same guy had another video of same at 200yds...did not watch it.

[Ls1]

Good effective range is 75 for fosters, 150 for sabot out of a rifled bore. Both are still dangerous beyond those ranges and should be treated witht he utmost safety and caution.

You can stretch it to 100 with foster reaosnably with practice. I know at 100 yards I can hit a paper plate everytime with just a bead sight.

[mossbrg590]

Brenneke are awesome at 50 yards. I split a 2x2 in half. The Hornady SSTs are good for a "long range" slug.

[forestdavegump]

In this article.......
Shotgun Slugs
By Chuck Hawks

The answer, of course, was the rifled barrel. Imparting spin to a projectile to stabilize its flight was a quantum improvement in accuracy. Rifled barrels also made possible the conical bullet, and later the familiar spitzer (pointed) bullets used by most hunters today.

But demand remained for some sort of solid projectile that could be fired from a smoothbore gun and used on medium game like deer. Some one-gun families did not own, and could not afford to buy, a rifle. What was needed was an improvement on the lead ball, both in terms of accuracy and penetration.
..........Conclusion
I have primarily concentrated on slug loads for hunting, for which purpose I feel that they are most appropriate. Even so, they are a stop gap alternative to a rifle, primarily useful where rifles are banned for political reasons. Shotgun slug loads intended to be fired from smooth bore barrels manage to combine the worst properties of any hunting projectile: marginal accuracy, low velocity, low sectional density, low ballistic coefficient, rainbow trajectory, and heavy recoil. Nearly the worst of all possible worlds! If you can legally hunt with a rifle, you owe it to both yourself and your quarry to do so. If not, but the law allows the use of fully rifled "shotgun" barrels and saboted projectiles, that is what you should use.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/shotgun_slugs.htm

Interesting article and makes one wonder what you consider effective range. Inside the 150 yard mark or less very deadly, down the hallway very accurate. This also means learning your weapon and ammo combo. This is not always the best choice for longer or long range, that is why Snipers ain't using them?

[SgtBooker44]

I've seen better shots than me hit shilouettes at 75 - 100 yards, routine with 18" rem 870 with bead site, standard Rem or Win slugs. 50 is tops for me. At least consistently.

[bluetrain]

Cool, thanks for the insight.

[corndogggy]

All depends on your gun and ammo. Rifled barrels aren't necessarily what will get you range and accuracy. I can show you a test where a non-rifled short barreled FN Herstal was shooting "1 ragged hole" at 100 yards with extreme shock sabots.

Typical guns and typical ammo... 75 yards max. Typical guns and good sabots... 100-125 yards. Scoped slug specific guns with good sabots can hit 175-200 yards nowadays though. 200 is about the absolute max though, slugs already drop like 8" by then.

[Dwind]

Gunsite shotgun classes use rifled slugs "accurately out to one hundred yards and beyond". They use rifle or ghost rings too.

[stevegee58]

Originally Posted by Dwind

Gunsite shotgun classes use rifled slugs "accurately out to one hundred yards and beyond". They use rifle or ghost rings too.

I remember that quote from one of their videos.

I'd sure love to find a set of ghost ring sights for my Mossy.

[res45]

Shooting slugs
http://www.youtube.com/user/hickok45#p/u/3/ej0SyWlqGLo

[davis]

any one ever try the rifled chokes for smooth bore guns? always wondered how well they work.

[res45]

Shotgun Slugs, Sabots, and Smooth Bore Barrels

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot46.htm

[GENT]

Originally Posted by res45

Shooting slugs
http://www.youtube.com/user/hickok45#p/u/3/ej0SyWlqGLo

Gottal love hickok45- life is good!
I always wonder if he is on these bourds...

[MikeK]

A lot of it depends on the slugs, the gun and the shooter. Those crappy Forster type slugs don't generally have the accuracy to do much in the way of distance. Brenekke types (at least in my guns) are good to about 125 yards if you can factor drop properly. Rifles barrels and sabot slugs give you even farther effective range, but the rifled barrel seriously limits the guns usefulness for any type of shot.

I found the most accurate combination for myself was Brenekke KO slugs through (believe it or not) a full choke tube. They say they're safe to shoot through any choke, and I've shot several thousand of them so far without a problem. I like the full choke for keeping my buckshot pattern together at the distances that I might have needed to shoot, which was in the 35-50 yard range. A perfect combination for me, but it's not for everyone. The slugs did OK through a modified tube also, but patterns opened a bit with looser chokes. The tight chokes stabilized the slug somehow.

[whoever]

Depends on what the slug is coming out of. Use a browning A-bolt with good optics and quality ammo and 200 is well within good accuracy and stopping power range.



Slug guns are the ONLY way to achieve consistent long range slug accuracy. They are expensive though, and severely limited in their utility.

[Skyjump136]

Originally Posted by SgtBooker44

I've seen better shots than me hit shilouettes at 75 - 100 yards, routine with 18" rem 870 with bead site, standard Rem or Win slugs. 50 is tops for me. At least consistently.

Off hand at 75 yards with bead sight on 870 I am good for 3/4 on a man size target. With a red dot or ghost rings I think 100yrd should be no problem. So that's MY effective range. I'd imagine you still wouldn't want to be hit with a slug at twice that distance but accuracy becomes an issue obviously.

[SeekHer]

As stated the accuracy is dependant on the length of the barrel, whether a fully or partially rifled barrel, type of sights, type of slug or sabot...

75 yards to 125 yards is considered the normal range with iron sights, maybe to 150 with a scope and in a dedicated slug gun like my Tar Hunt or that Browning, scoped 200 yards is doable but beyond that distance it isn't the accuracy you have to worry about--which is a very steep drop off but the energy dropping off so quickly and that means wounding the animal not killing it...You can adjust your scope for the drop off but you can't do anything about the energy loss unless you really hot load your own shells but then accuracy goes downhill.

Even with a scoped, dedicated slug gun like the Tar Hunt I still will not take shots beyond 150 yards or so.

[tiecuando]

If a shotgun has a rifled barrel, won't that make it an NFA item?