12 gauge VS. 20 gauge

[Dr. Vette]

I shoot a Remington 11-87 in 12 gauge. It wears a Hastings rifled slug barrel with cantilevered scope mount. After testing a lot of brands (Winchester, Lightfield, others included) it shoots the Hornady SST slugs the best. I sight it in at 150 yards, and my son took a big doe at 175 yards off shooting sticks this past year the day after he got one at 125 yards. Needless to say I have several boxes of Hornady SST slugs for the future.

I've thought about a Savage bolt gun but find it hard to beat my 11-87.

YMMV.

 

[snox801]

I shoot a Remington 11-87 in 12 gauge. It wears a Hastings rifled slug barrel with cantilevered scope mount. After testing a lot of brands (Winchester, Lightfield, others included) it shoots the Hornady SST slugs the best. I sight it in at 150 yards, and my son took a big doe at 175 yards off shooting sticks this past year the day after he got one at 125 yards. Needless to say I have several boxes of Hornady SST slugs for the future.

I've thought about a Savage bolt gun but find it hard to beat my 11-87.

YMMV.

This is what more people need to understand. Let your gun pick the slug then let and the accuracy decide your max. I've had 870's that love the SST and my hr loves accutips much better. While my cousins hr loves SST and doesn't like accutips.

 

[engineer40]

This is what more people need to understand. Let your gun pick the slug then let and the accuracy decide your max. I've had 870's that love the SST and my hr loves accutips much better. While my cousins hr loves SST and doesn't like accutips.

That's what my dad always taught me growing up also. Let the gun pick the ammo. When I got my 870 a while back I bought 6 different 2 3/4 sabot slugs and 2 different 3 inch sabots. My particular gun shot the super cheap Federal (around $6-$7 a box) as accurate as the most expensive ammo. (At 100 yards).

Pretty easy to talk yourself into not spending $20 a box when your gun shoots the cheap stuff just as good.

The original question was posed a long time ago but just for sake of conversation. I've shot deer with both 12 and 20 and I don't have a preference one way or another.

 

[snox801]

870's seems to lime those cheap federals. Lucky

 

[smokeeter]

I had the same dilemma , I really wanted a 20 ga. primarily for reduced recoil and extended range. I did get a great deal on a slightly used savage 210F that was too good to refuse and I thought I'd give a try. I researched slugs and found that I could get a mold from Lyman the 525 pellet style mold which was originally designed to be loaded with Winchester AA components, hulls and wads. The problem since these have been around for quite some time these components aren't manufactured any longer and are hard to come by , but can be found with a little luck. (there are other components that are available and do work quite well with these slugs.)
Anyway I cast up some of the above mentioned slugs and with some of the AA wads and wads I loaded up some and was pleasantly surprised with the results. I achieved better than satisfactory groups out to 100 yrds. and figured they would be good out to 150 with a little luck.
I don't expect this slug gun to be a real long range performer ( I have a smokeless .45 muzzy for that) but it will be more than acceptable during a shotgun/muzzleloader zone.

 

[engineer40]

I had the same dilemma , I really wanted a 20 ga. primarily for reduced recoil and extended range. I did get a great deal on a slightly used savage 210F that was too good to refuse and I thought I'd give a try. I researched slugs and found that I could get a mold from Lyman the 525 pellet style mold which was originally designed to be loaded with Winchester AA components, hulls and wads. The problem since these have been around for quite some time these components aren't manufactured any longer and are hard to come by , but can be found with a little luck. (there are other components that are available and do work quite well with these slugs.)
Anyway I cast up some of the above mentioned slugs and with some of the AA wads and wads I loaded up some and was pleasantly surprised with the results. I achieved better than satisfactory groups out to 100 yrds. and figured they would be good out to 150 with a little luck.
I don't expect this slug gun to be a real long range performer ( I have a smokeless .45 muzzy for that) but it will be more than acceptable during a shotgun/muzzleloader zone.

So does the "525" mean the mold produces 525gr slugs?

That's one of the best groups I've seen from reloaded 12 gauge slugs!

What was your metal composition of the slugs? Just lead? Did you notice if your rifling leaded up quickly?

Specifically, what kind of wads did you use?

I'm guessing the 3 numbers to the right of your target are the velocities?

Thanks!

 

[smokeeter]

These are called the lyman 525 slug mold, they are supposed to cast a 525 gr. pure lead slug,mine averaged 515 grs. don't know how pure my pure lead is.I did fill the hollow base of the slug with melted paraffin wax, read somewhere it helps preventing the wad from deforming.
These slugs were designed to fit inside a shotgun wad specifically the Winchester AA red wads ( not manufactured any longer) but they will work with other current wads you'll have to research them and there is a lot of data available.
Since the slug sits inside the wad no leading occurs in the bore.
Yes the velocities are stated on the side of the target. Not the greatest speeds but more that adequate out the to 150 yds.
I did bump up the load but the groups opened up.
The best news is that these slugs are way more affordable than the commercial slugs.