How Effective Are Slugs On Big Game

[BorealBucks]

I bought a semi auto Winchester SX4 12 Gauge rifled barrel shotgun. Put a Nikon 4x12 scope on it. I can shoot accurately up to 150 yards but probably won't use it past 100 yards (I bush hunt)

I'm using Hornady SST 12 gauge 2 3/4" slugs.
My question is how effective are slugs on deer and moose? The box of ammo says medium sized game, but why wouldn't a slug take down a moose? Even had a guy at P&D saying its more ethical to shoot them with a rifle, which made no sense to me.

Im excited to use my shotgun on a WT buck this year and possibly a moose.

[Alberta Bigbore]

Not a fan of SST on animal bigger than deer. But slugs hit with authority. Put it in the boiler room like anything else.

Winchester Partition Gold slugs kill everything

[fordtruckin]

My preferred tool for putting down injured elk bison moose deer bears etc... is a 12g with 1oz slugs. The elk I’ve shot the slug went through both sides and made a mess. Bison depending where you hit them may/may not exit but they still die quickly. Now granted I do shoot within 30 yards when I do this. Our ammo is generic Remington slugs, although we did just switch to a new law enforcement type slug. Haven’t shot anything with them yet. I still have plenty of my Remington slugs left!

[EZM]

An interesting thread on this same topic ....

http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/...with-a-shotgun

Sounds like many guys say if you are going to shoot a moose be careful with pentration with a "regular" slug and a Brenneke or Sabot slug is better?

I have no idea myself, but an interesting read.

[SWODM3]

I can say the sabot slugs I have used have flattened all whitetail that crossed its path. As for the elk I’ve shot with a slug... only made it 20 yards.

[mediumrare]

I used the 23/4 ssts for a few deer.fully rifled barrel and scope on a 870.it would just about shake your teeth out when u shot it.fist sized exit holes sometimes.i wouldn’t see the problem of using that slow moving big bullet on moose or elk.

[Davef]

I use a shot gun with slugs in Strathcona county the fall. I prefer it over the muzzleloader. They hit with authority and have yet to loose an animal. I use an 870 express with a riffled barrel. Nice and light and short to.

[Big Grey Wolf]

I was at range while back and F & W were practicing with short pumps and slugs. It is their go to gun to put down moose/elk and problem bears. Slugs make a big hole at closer ranges.

[Nyksta]

Originally Posted by Big Grey Wolf

I was at range while back and F & W were practicing with short pumps and slugs. It is their go to gun to put down moose/elk and problem bears. Slugs make a big hole at closer ranges.

Just because a certain peice of equipment wins the bid for a government contract, does not mean there aren't better options.

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by Nyksta

Just because a certain peice of equipment wins the bid for a government contract, does not mean there aren't better options.

Hmmmmm not what the OP was asking....

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Work fine out of my 590 mossy!

Out of ol'mans shotty too......

[7magtime]

When I worked Forestry years back, most guys were packing 12 gauges with slugs for bear protection when working. 12 gauge 3" 585 grain slug up close was pretty potent when needed from what I heard. I took a few deer with my 870 pump using 2-3/4" slugs before I switched to a .50 cal. muzzy, had no issues...

[coyoteman]

The 12ga slug for tree stand bear hunting,got to be the idea weapon.A red dot scope improves performance.But you have to hit high on the shoulder.I remember 13 moose shot with a light 12ga pump.Usually hunting in thick brush.You have to get close,less than 100 m.When hit in those huge lungs they will drop.Of course for open country marsh,or cut overs,the rifle is used.

[HunterDave]

Non rifled slug at about 50 yards into the boiler room works just great. Moose ran about 30 yards and stood there for a minute before toppling over.

[BorealBucks]

Originally Posted by Alberta Bigbore

Not a fan of SST on animal bigger than deer. But slugs hit with authority. Put it in the boiler room like anything else.

Winchester Partition Gold slugs kill everything

What is the reason you don't like SST's on anything bigger than deer? Hornady does make another Sabot slug "12 GA Superformance® Slug 300 gr MonoFlex®"

Same grain as the SST about 50fps slower havent looked too much into them but they do say medium & large game compared to the SST's that just say medium game

[BorealBucks]

Originally Posted by fordtruckin

My preferred tool for putting down injured elk bison moose deer bears etc... is a 12g with 1oz slugs. The elk I’ve shot the slug went through both sides and made a mess. Bison depending where you hit them may/may not exit but they still die quickly. Now granted I do shoot within 30 yards when I do this. Our ammo is generic Remington slugs, although we did just switch to a new law enforcement type slug. Haven’t shot anything with them yet. I still have plenty of my Remington slugs left!

Are those rifled slugs you're using out of a smooth bore barrel ?

[BorealBucks]

Originally Posted by EZM

An interesting thread on this same topic ....

http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/...with-a-shotgun

Sounds like many guys say if you are going to shoot a moose be careful with pentration with a "regular" slug and a Brenneke or Sabot slug is better?

I have no idea myself, but an interesting read.

I will give it a read, thanks for sharing that. Like i said above hornady does make another slug same grain as the SST but says its good for medium and large game compared to the SST's that are just medium game

[BorealBucks]

Originally Posted by SWODM3

I can say the sabot slugs I have used have flattened all whitetail that crossed its path. As for the elk I’ve shot with a slug... only made it 20 yards.

that's awesome to hear, any preferred sabot slug you use?

[BorealBucks]

Originally Posted by mediumrare

I used the 23/4 ssts for a few deer.fully rifled barrel and scope on a 870.it would just about shake your teeth out when u shot it.fist sized exit holes sometimes.i wouldn’t see the problem of using that slow moving big bullet on moose or elk.

Thats good, i will for sure be confident using the SST's on deer, not confident they'll penetrate or expand on moose yet.. need to do a little more research

[BorealBucks]

Originally Posted by coyoteman

The 12ga slug for tree stand bear hunting,got to be the idea weapon.A red dot scope improves performance.But you have to hit high on the shoulder.I remember 13 moose shot with a light 12ga pump.Usually hunting in thick brush.You have to get close,less than 100 m.When hit in those huge lungs they will drop.Of course for open country marsh,or cut overs,the rifle is used.

Yeah i mostly hunt big boreal forest, yes there is some open area but in my 12+ years of hunting i don't think ive shot an animal past 100 yards maybe even 80. But i bought the shotgun to use in the rifle zones, exciting to me being up in the tree stand in the bush using a big shotty to take down a WT buck

[BorealBucks]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

Non rifled slug at about 50 yards into the boiler room works just great. Moose ran about 30 yards and stood there for a minute before toppling over.

When you say non rifled slug, you mean a Sabot Slug meant to shoot out of a rifled shotgun barrel correct?

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by BorealBucks

When you say non rifled slug, you mean a Sabot Slug meant to shoot out of a rifled shotgun barrel correct?

No, it was just a plain old shotgun slug.....not a sabot and not rifled. Basically just a chunk of lead in a shotgun shell fired out of a 12 gauge with a smooth deer barrel on it. I’ve taken two moose with them and neither one went very far at all. Nice and close 30 to 50 yards though. I’m sure that sabots out of a rifled barrel would be a lot better choice for longer shots.

[calgarychef]

I’ve killed 3 elk with slugs they make a massive hole obviously and they kill but they don’t have the “knockdown” power like a rifle. If I had a choice I’d use a rifle.

[Pioneer2]

A buddy from Hythe hunted a limping 6x6 elk for the whole season until he got him. The butcher found a 12ga Foster slug in his shoulder.Distance or brand unknown ,likely a result of both bad placement and range.Perhaps deflection.I have a older Ithaca Deerslayer smoothbore coming for a bear gun .

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by calgarychef

I’ve killed 3 elk with slugs they make a massive hole obviously and they kill but they don’t have the “knockdown” power like a rifle. If I had a choice I’d use a rifle.

Huh.....you got a slug beat on range farther than say 70 yard ish but on the slug will beat most most common carry rifle cartridges for on target energy delivered as it would dump all into the target....open for discussions.

[Big Grey Wolf]

Pioneer, I would think slug would have less deflection than most rifle bullets as they would tend to just plow through the odd willow.

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by Big Grey Wolf

Pioneer, I would think slug would have less deflection than most rifle bullets as they would tend to just plow through the odd willow.

Brush-Bucking Bullets and Calibers

By Chuck Hawks


I have read two opposite theories about bullet stabilization and brush penetration. One suggests a bullet that is highly stable (spinning very rapidly) is more likely to stay pretty much on course after encountering an obstacle than one that is only marginally stable (spinning more slowly). On the other hand, I have also read that a fast spinning bullet is more apt to spin away from any surface it touches, as a billiard ball with a lot of English on it spins away from another ball.

Unfortunately, I cannot say which theory is correct. Among common hunting projectiles, the Foster type rifled slug, which is stabilized by its weight forward balance, is the best brush penetrator and it doesn't spin at all.

I have read about several brush-bucking tests in which the authors tried to empirically determine what sort of bullet is most likely to penetrate brush and reach the target (usually a deer silhouette). The test conditions were all different, ranging from firing bullets at a target placed some distance behind actual heavy brush, to intentionally shooting through limbs, to firing into a box filled with equally spaced wooded dowels of fairly large diameter. (A 500 grain .458 Win. Mag. round nose (RN) "solid" bullet negotiated the latter obstacle course best.)

One important variable in such tests is the distance the target is placed behind the obstructions. Another is the diameter and hardness of the simulated or real brush. A leaf is different from a twig, which is different from a branch, which is different from a rigidly held wooden dowel.

Real brush has a lot to recommend it and is probably the test medium I would choose, but the biggest problem with using real brush is that all bullets cannot hit the same amount of brush at the same angle, randomly skewing the results. I suspect that you would have to fire an awful lot of bullets into real brush to get statistically valid results.

Unfortunately, the results of the tests I have read about varied widely. I have never constructed such a test myself, as I am not sure what the test conditions should be and how to control them. I suspect that the results of my test would be no more reliable than previous tests. Most authorities have concluded that a large caliber bullet of great sectional density gets through brush the best. Cartridges like the .458 Winchester Magnum are frequent winners. This makes sense to me.

Jack O'Connor, in his Gun Book wrote about the results of such a test that he spent several afternoons conducting with a variety of calibers and bullet weights. O'Connor shot at a three foot by four foot outline of a deer through a heavy screen of natural brush. His results indicated several things. One was, as logic suggests, the farther behind the brush the target was placed, the safer it was. At six feet the deer target was liable to be hit somewhere; at 20 feet the deer target was pretty safe.

O'Connor tested a variety of calibers from the .220 Swift to the .375 H&H Magnum, including the standard 12 gauge shotgun rifled slug. The latter projectile proved to the best brush-bucker of them all, as it is stabilized by its weight forward design, rather than by spin. Even the 300 grain bullet fired from the .375 Magnum showed considerable deflection in O'Connor's testing. The .35 Remington's 200 grain RN bullet often found the target, but frequently hit sideways. (Obviously, not a satisfactory result.)

The worst caliber for penetrating brush was the .220 Swift loaded with a 50 grain Spire Point bullet. It almost never made it through the brush intact. No surprise there, as this bullet is designed to break-up against light resistance.

Fairly light (for their caliber) high velocity spitzer bullets, such as the 87 grain .250-3000, 100 grain .257 Roberts, 130 grain .270 Winchester and 150 grain .30-06 also faired poorly in O'Connor's brush tests. The 100 grain .250 bullet was better than the 87 grain bullet, but still not very good at getting through the brush. Compared to the lighter spitzer bullets, the heavier 117 grain RN .257, 150 grain RN .270 and 180 grain RN .30-06 bullets all gave O'Connor an improved chance of hitting the target.

He rated the .300 Savage with a 180 grain RN bullet and the .35 Remington with a 200 grain RN bullet as "good." The best results with any rifle caliber used in O'Connor's testing were obtained with the .348 Winchester using a 200 grain Flat Point bullet. O'Connor summarized his results this way: "I found that the higher the bullet velocity, the sharper the point, the thinner the jacket, the lighter the weight, the greater the deflection."

My personal hunting experience has taught me not to shoot if the bullet is likely to hit anything on its way to the target. I think this is the best advice: Wait for a clear shot!

[CMichaud]

Here is a link I read about rifled vs sabot. Interesting read re accuracy

https://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box...-bore-barrels/

Their lessons learned were:

Lessons learned:
Sabot slugs in a rifled barrel are very accurate.

Shooting sabot slugs through a smooth bore is a waste of money. They will “work” but accuracy suffers and there is no reason to spend the extra money for sabot slugs if you are going to shoot them through a smooth bore. Besides, if they are not flying straight and nose-first, they will not expand as designed.

Different shotguns “like” different loads. Just like rifles and pistols. You must try different loads to find what your gun “likes”.

Shooting a non-sabot rifled slug through a rifled barrel can cause them to shoot into very nice groups.

When we got home and cleaned the rifled barrel, the five non-sabot, rifled slugs had not really deposited any lead that we could notice. The barrel cleaned-up sparkling clean very easily.

It’s fun to shoot stuff.

[Big Grey Wolf]

58, excellent post on different bullets including slugs in brush, confirmed slugs work well. Thanks for posting. Last point some of us still hunters that track moose and elk to their beds in heavy timber seldom get a clear shot without some brush so we need a bullet with limited deflection.

[timsesink]

The quality of slug you shoot makes a HUGE difference. Stick with the slugs like the Federal Tru-Ball or Challenger slugs for smoothbore barrels or the higher end full copper type rounds for sabot if going after larger game.

Had excellent results with both.

[DueNorth]

Originally Posted by fordtruckin

My preferred tool for putting down injured elk bison moose deer bears etc... is a 12g with 1oz slugs. The elk I’ve shot the slug went through both sides and made a mess. Bison depending where you hit them may/may not exit but they still die quickly. Now granted I do shoot within 30 yards when I do this. Our ammo is generic Remington slugs, although we did just switch to a new law enforcement type slug. Haven’t shot anything with them yet. I still have plenty of my Remington slugs left!

Those wouldn't happen to be Challenger slugs are they?
I've also heard lower velocity rounds do better on bison. My hunting buddies father used a 300 ultra mag when he shot his bison with a shot to the boiler room and dust just blew off of it. Wasn't until a neck shot that it went down.
Makes me think a 45-70 would work well using anything over 400gr.