870 Wingmaster slugger

W

William Suter

Well-known member
Well I picked up a super clean Rem 870 Wingmaster with a cantilever slug barrel 12 gauge. Also came with a nice 1-4 Leupold. Don't ask me why, I have no idea as of yet but felt like it was something I needed. (There's that word again) Anyway, its super slick and the price was good (?) so I ended up with it. Actually did a little trading. I've got an 1100 and sold my 870 and was wanting to replace it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it, LOL.

So, what's the best/accurate bullet/shell I can get as far as slugs go? And what distance should I sight it in?
 
Went to Bass Pro looking for shells. Picked up a couple of box's of Winchester. Not much to choose from there. It would be nice if the WInchester shoots decent as they were pretty cheap.
 
You'll likely need sabot slugs if it is a fully rifled barrel. Either way, it is a matter of trying different shells until one rises above the others. I had a 20 gauge rifled cantilever barrel that shot very well with sabot slugs. I passed it on to a guy for his daughter to use for deer hunting.
 
I picked up a couple of box's of Winchester and had a box of Federal. Looked at ammo at a gun show this week end but all I found was stuff I already had. There's a store in Tulsa that has lots of shotgun ammo. I thought I might check there soon. A friend that I talked to said he had a shotgun barrel I can get reasonable so I may buy it from him. I use to use my 870 for wobble trap and it was a clay buster. Figure it will make a nice combo having a slug barrel and shotgun barrel both.
 
LOL, I had a Rem 870 with a slug barrel years ago. It kicked hard enough that it almost ejected the shell just from recoil. I can tell you now, it probably won't get shot a lot but I would like to hunt with it a day or so this year. Maybe it will sight in quick and I won't have to shoot it a lot. One spot I hunt is heavy woods and a 50yd shot is about all I have. It would be a good spot to smack a doe or small buck........or a big one if I get lucky.
 
Those cantilever barrels were made smooth bore, rifled. Rifled likely will need sabots for best accuracy. Smooth bore, the Brenneke slugs have shot well out of my 870 and my buddies smooth cantilever 1100. A standup bench setup helps with the recoil.
 
Any idea which ammo uses sabots? No sense buying ones without the sabot.

I have four box's of bullets . One box said sabot, two said for smooth bore and the last didn't say or I didn't see it.
 
If it says "sabot" then... it's sabot. If it says "smoothbore" then it is not a sabot slug. The other one... look closer or Google is your friend.
 
I'm aware of this now. Out of the four box's I have only one is marked sabot. But I also have a 1100 I con shoot the others out of or just put them back in the drawer and save for another time. Midway has several options for sabot slugs. I got a list of four or five to try. Just need to order them. Gonna head to Tulsa in a day or so and see what Dong's has on the shelf first.
 
I'd try some Remington Accutips. I've had good luck with them and they have a reputation for being accurate.
I also shoot Federal Trophy Copper out of my Benelli. They seem to work well too. Accutips weren't available when I switched to sabots in this gun due to shortages, so I didn't get to try them.
Also, if you are not shooting very far and don't want to spend the money rifled slugs work fine, just find the right load.
I shot Remington Sluggers for years and killed a lot of deer with them, but it seemed like their accuracy slipped for me anyways. I switched to Winchester for one year, but I had problems with the Winchester rifled slugs. They were very accurate, but the shells were crushing/kinking at the wad and kept jamming. That's why I just decided to switch brands and to sabots.
 
For smoothbore I always had the best accuracy from Winchester rifled slugs until Federal came out with their Tru-Ball rifled slugs. Those were pretty impressive for consistency.

I bought a fully rifled 870 and fount the best consistently from Lightfield Hybrid sabots. Nice consistet groups out to 100 yards. I found that every other sabot load would stack them in there but constantly throw a flyer on a 5 shot group.

I killed 1 deer with that combo on the first hunt. NY made it legal the very next season to use rifles, and I haven’t shot it since!

And yes, you can shoot rifled slugs from a rifled barrel just fine if you’re not concerned with wringing as much potential as possible from your shotgun. Outside of extreme circumstances, that just seems wrong! Lol.

Good luck with your new shotgun sir.
 
I doubt this shotgun gets hunted a lot. More novelty than necessity. I plan to pick up a shot barrel for it to use on our wobble trap. But it would be fun to take a deer or pig with the slug barrel and it is something different to mess with.
 
I haven’t looked in quite awhile, but if you’re at all interested, Timney makes a trigger (or sear kit?) for the 870. It used to be around $80 but heaven knows these days? You seem like the kind of guy that likes to get your guns shooting good whether you shoot them often or not. Might be something you’re interested in?

You can smooth those Remmy triggers out yourself with a bit of work, but I’ve heard good things about the Timney.
 
I put 10 rounds through it this afternoon. I think I got a slight "whip lash" maybe a detached retina, LOL. Recoil is stout but have to admit, it was kinda fun and boy those slugs make a big hole. I just shot it at 25 and 50 yards but where I hunt that's going to be about right. And it did shoot pretty good. I only took 10 rounds and used most of them getting dialed in at 25 yards. It was pretty low and left when I went to 50 and only had 2 rounds left so I made one more adjustment and still a little high. One more adjustment and my last shot was just under the bull. I need to find a few different types of ammo and give the shoulder a rest and then I'll get it dialed in.

What yardage should I set my zero? IIRC one box said zero at 50 and I'd be 6" low at 100yds. Not to sure that's where I want to be.
 
I looked and Timney does offer a trigger for the 870. Its $125 now days. My smith can probably do a trigger job on it, I just need to ask but I'm not sure I want to put more money into it just yet. I got way to many projects going on now and my funds are dwindling fast.
 
If you are going to be doing a bunch of testing or sighting in Put a bag of shot or wadded up sweatshirt between your shoulder and buttstock. A little taller bench will help also. 12ga slugs are no fun at the bench.
Just make sure to finalize without.
I use iron sights and sight in rifled slugs at 50 yards and the sabots at 100.
 
hunt0168 said:
For smoothbore I always had the best accuracy from Winchester rifled slugs until Federal came out with their Tru-Ball rifled slugs. Those were pretty impressive for consistency.

I bought a fully rifled 870 and fount the best consistently from Lightfield Hybrid sabots. Nice consistet groups out to 100 yards. I found that every other sabot load would stack them in there but constantly throw a flyer on a 5 shot group.

I killed 1 deer with that combo on the first hunt. NY made it legal the very next season to use rifles, and I haven’t shot it since!

And yes, you can shoot rifled slugs from a rifled barrel just fine if you’re not concerned with wringing as much potential as possible from your shotgun. Outside of extreme circumstances, that just seems wrong! Lol.

Good luck with your new shotgun sir.
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I've heard good things about Truball and Lightfields, but have never tried them.
With iron sights and close shots there was never a need for sabots. I also got into bear hunting over bait and you just can't beat a big hole in a bear.
 
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