870 Wingmaster slugger

crowslayer17 said:
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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Here in NY, our southern zone was shotgun only from the time I started deer hunting at 16 until I was up into my 40’s. I shot a smoothbore 12 gauge Remington 1100 with Winchester slugs for most of that. Out to 100 yards, it was a very capable combination. At 50 yards I would cloverleaf a 5 shot group. At 100 it was consistently a 3”-3.5” group. I lost 1 deer in all of my years shooting a shotgun and it wasn’t due to the shotgun or the ammo being the problem. It always seemed foreign to me to read and hear about how inaccurate shotguns were, as I never had an issue?

I think most of it comes down to the shooter and anticipating the recoil. If you can shoot consistently without wincing, flinching or anticipating the shot, it’s a very effective short range combo. There is a devastating amount of energy in your hands with a shotgun/slug combo and a big hole to boot!

I chose to hang up my shotgun for deer when rifles became a legal alternative. Not for any reason about effectiveness. Carry weight, recoil reduction and extended range of a rifle made it a no brainer. If I had to shoot a shotgun and slugs again, I wouldn’t feel handicapped outside of limited range.
 
I was talking to a friend of mine a few days ago. He said he had a nice gloss barrel with a vent rib with a improved cylinder bore. He sold it to me for $200. Not sure if it was a great deal or just a fair deal but the gloss barrels with a vent rib are hard to find around my part of the world. I may take the barrel to a guy that can cut it for chokes but not any time soon as I have my 1100 that is choked.

I am planning to head to Tulsa shortly to see what I can find for slug ammo. One store had some Hornady w/sabots and had some Fiocci (sp) but they were pretty proud of them so I passed for now. Gonna see what the other store has first.
 
It isn't all that difficult to handload them, no press needed. Primed hulls are available, rifled slugs with wads attached and a role crimper. BPI (Ballistic Products) has everything.
 
I sold all my shotgun reloading equipment. No more than I shoot skeet and wobble trap these days its about as cost effective to just buy the loaded ammo. This slug barrel will not be shot much either. Punishes to much on the shooter end LOL! I did buy a couple of box's of Hornady. One with SST and the other with the Flex tip. Both are for rifled barrels. Box box's say to zero at 150 yds. I doubt I have a 150yd shot where I hunt so that has me a little stumped about where to zero the scope. The SST is 2000fps and the Flex is 1950. +1.9inchs at 50yds, +2.6" at 100, 0.0" at 150 and -6.5" at 200. The SST is close to the same. With those numbers I was thinking about 2" high at 50yds should keep me in the game. Not giving a second thought at shooting 200yds. Not much chance of that where I hunt.
 
Back in the day,prior to rifled barrels. My buddies had a mix of 870 and Browning BPS slug guns. I made up a sand bag to hang off the front of the bench. Attached by removing the slide/magazine tube nut, heavy braid fish line around the barrel ring and barrel nut reinstalled. 10# bag hanging off the ground in front of the shotgun and I could shoot all day in a tee shirt.
 
I think the 12ga is a great one gun setup, but the 20ga really is a awesome deer slug gun. Lighter gun, lighter ammo, less recoil, and plenty of power with rifled slugs or sabots.
 
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