Hey fellas, I just wanted to know what gear you been the most succesful w/.

I just got back from a Shotgun hunt in Iowa in which I took my MLer but, ended up taking my buck w/ an auto 11-87 w/ Slug bbl and Leupold 2-7 (385 Grn Coreloct Ultra Sabots).

I had a chance to shoot a couple of slug guns before we went on our hunt and I just wasn't to impressed w/ them to say the least.

What gun, bbl, shells are you all having the best luck w/?

We intend on returning to the state of Iowa one day in the future and I'd like to have a nice Shotgun set-up to tag along w/ me. I currently have an 11-87, Mossberg 500+835, and a Win 1300 to build on.

Thanks!

Reloader

I took a young buck ealier this season with a Winchester pump 12 ga and #00 buckshot. Wasn't too happy about hunting big game with a scattergun, but in the area I had the tag for it was either buckshot or tag soup. It worked alright, but I would have rather had my 7 Mag or my Swede along on the hunt.

Mac

I would use the 11-87 for the slug gun because slug guns kick and the semi-auto will kick less. If you use a smooth bore barrel, use premium brenneke slugs. They will penetrate better than a standard Fosters (careful here, brenneke is now making standard fosters slugs) I believe that both remington and hastings make rifled slug barrels for your 11-87, and hastings makes them for all of your pump guns. If your going with a scope, get the cantilever mount barrel and go low mag high durability. Slug guns break crappy scopes.
If you buy your rifled barrel used, be aware that there were no SAAMI standards on rifled slug barrels prior to the early 90's and some of the older barrels are picky about what they will shoot.
I don't have any first hand experience with the rifled slugs, about the time that I was going to switch from smooth bore, I got my first ML. I still use my smooth bore 835 once in a while, but haven't gotten anything with it since I started using my muzzle loader.

I use an Ithaca 37 in 20 gauge, #3 Buck...from time to time. It hardly matters what you use inside of 30 yards anyway. Shoot 'em in the neck.

I built my own slug gun from a old stevens bolt action 12 Ga. I cut the barrel to 19" and added iron sights and refinished the stock and added PG and forend tips and checkered it....It's a real beauty and shoots very well. Light and incredibly powerful.....It's capable of 2" groups at 25 yards.....good enough for the kind of girls I go out with.

I've shot quite a few whitetails both in Ia. with slugs right near where you were hunting(Oakland , Hancock , Treynor), and also here in west central Mn .

I used to use an 1100 but for some reason never could shoot it all that well . For better than 15 years now I've used a 1300 Win. with a fully rifled barrel , and I eventually mounted a good old K3 scope which seems about perfect for the job. A couple of my hunting partners also use the rifled 1300 s , and they have been dang good deerslayers .

My favorite slug in the 1300 was the original Remington copper solid , it would shoot some phenominal groups , but I've also used the BRI pattern sabots by Federal or Winchester and they've worked very well .

When I shot deer with a shotgun my most successful setup was a Browning 10 Ga pump with 26 inch bbl and improved cylinder choke. I custom loaded 3 1/2" Pagoda loads using Federal hulls and 000 Buck. The Pagoda loads will shoot 100 plus yards.

Information on the Pagoda load technigue can be found at Ballistic Products Inc. They all the components but basicly on the 10 ga you can stack 3 columns of 4 000Bucks and with the improved cylinder they don't get pinched and shoot a tight pattern out to 100 yds.

I've done well with my Rem 1100 12ga. It seems to like slugs just fine. I've shot deer as far as 125 yards very accurately with this gun. I use Winchester rifled slugs.

Seems to pattern turkey loads very well too with the spare ribbed barrel.

I have never tried buck shot in it.

Reloader, I live an hunt in Illinois where rifles other than muzzlerloaders are forbidden. I used a 12 ga. Benelli w/rifle ER Shaw slug barrel with 2 x 7 Leupold scope. It gives me a honest 2" group @ 100 yards off a rest. My daughter age 12 has dropped a deer the last 3 years in a row using her Rem. 1100 LT20 youth model, it has a Hastings rifled barrel with fixed 4x Leupold scope. Her shotgun will actually outshoot mine @ 100 yards, grouping just under 2".
I think your 1187 as you descibed is the best platform for a slug gun.
I shoot Winchester Gold Parition slugs as they grouped best in both mine and my daughters gun, but you might try a few different brands to see which shoots best from your gun. One thing they (slugs) are not cheap, about $13.95 a box of 5.
Also buckshot is not allowed in Illinois, not sure about Iowa, but can't imagine wanting to use it unless I was hunting a thicket with 30 yards being my max. distance. Would blow (lack of a better term) seeing a nice buck at 75 yards and having to pass on it.
Good luck.

My Dad shoot an Remington 1100 with a Hastings barrel. The thing is deadly out to about 150 yards. I think he has a 1.5 to 5x Leupy on it.

Reloader, one of my hunting mates has an Encore with a 26 inch rifled shot gun barrel in 20 gauge, and it drills. He has a set up for either scope or peep sight/flourescent front sight. Somewhat surprising to me, the groups we could shoot were pretty damn close to the scope with the peep sight at 100 yards, with either rig it would hold an inch anyways at 100 with the loads he was feeding it--I'm not sure but I think I remember it was a Barnes xxx type slug??? I can find out if you want to know.

The impressive thing to me was that it held 2 inches or less at 200 for three rounds! I saw it several times, and shot a couple myself. It is a clean and lightweight setup, and reloads pretty quickly actually.

I would say that a 20 gauge with a rifled barrel should definitely be a consideration, it sure worked in his Encore.

I bought a rifled barrel for my Winchester Ranger 120 (same as a 1300, only older). It shoots 3.75" groups at 100yds w/ iron sights using Lightfield Hybred sabot slugs.

Before I got the rifled barrel, the smooth barrel really liked the Brenneke rifled slugs, and would stay inside a 10in circle at 100yds, which I thought was pretty good for a smooth bore.

Steve

We've really got it good today's with high performance slugs and rifled barrels.

Last year I set up a Marlin 512 for a friend and after bedding and trigger work it was an honest 2" gun @100. The 512 has a few drawbacks though mostly to do with not being able to mount the scope on the top of the receiver. You HAVE to use a sidemount.....weaver rings .

If I were to do it today, I'd choose the Savage 210 and not look back. It's bolt, safety, trigger and scope provision is WAY ahead of the Marlin. The second factor I'd consider would be one the multiple aiming point reticles(Leupold Boone and Crockett or Burris Ballistic Plex). Either of these will help you place the slug more effectively at extended ranges.

I don't doubt that a gun set up this way would be a legit 250 yard killer. Start with the above mentioned Winchester Partition Gold when accuarcy testing, you may not have to try another load.

Gabe

I just got a buck last week, mossberg 500 smoothbore slug barrel, shooting 2 3/4 inch remington slugger, one shot dropped him fast!

Remington 870 with a fully rifled barrel and cantilever scope mount topped with a 1-4x Leupold shotgun scopes. I've had great luck with 2 3/4" Lightfield slugs. I never could see the need for 3" slugs for deer. They make my .375 seem like a pussy cat.

Jeff

quote:

They make my .375 seem like a pussy cat.

Jeff, You can say that again.

I took that Mossberg 500 w/ a smooth bore IMP CYL and tried a few boxes of the Remington Express 3" Mag Rifled slugs and it was a pounder. The kick was tough but, the headache after a couple of boxes wasn't worth the Buckshot patterns I got from them. They actually didn't shoot too terribly, you could've hit a pie plate pretty regular at 50-60 yards.

quote:

Reloader, one of my hunting mates has an Encore with a 26 inch rifled shot gun barrel in 20 gauge, and it drills. He has a set up for either scope or peep sight/flourescent front sight. Somewhat surprising to me, the groups we could shoot were pretty damn close to the scope with the peep sight at 100 yards, with either rig it would hold an inch anyways at 100 with the loads he was feeding it--I'm not sure but I think I remember it was a Barnes xxx type slug??? I can find out if you want to know.

The impressive thing to me was that it held 2 inches or less at 200 for three rounds! I saw it several times, and shot a couple myself. It is a clean and lightweight setup, and reloads pretty quickly actually.

I would say that a 20 gauge with a rifled barrel should definitely be a consideration, it sure worked in his Encore.

Fish, I've heard others say the Encore slug bbls were very accurate as well. If I already had a Encore Action I might would go that route. I've also heard the H&R 20 ga slug bbls were quite good shooters. I do have an H&R action but, I'm leaning toward the repeater right now in case ole' Bullwinkle is "Makin' Tracks."

Sounds like Hastings makes a pretty good slug bbl.

Any body tried the 24" Mossberg Rifled Barrels? I don't hardly use either of the Mossbergs but, like the feels of them so I wouldn't mind setting them up as a dedicated slug gun heck, they'd make a good brush gun for around here as well.

From here and other forums it sound like the 11-87 or the 1300 would be the way to go, have heard anything about the MBs yet.

Thanks Guys, keep it coming.

Reloader

quote:

Any body tried the 24" Mossberg Rifled Barrels? I don't hardly use either of the Mossbergs but, like the feels of them so I wouldn't mind setting them up as a dedicated slug gun heck, they'd make a good brush gun for around here as well.

That's the route I would take if I had a Mossberg on hand that was gathering dust. Put a scope on it and you are in business. Try the 2 3/4" Lightfields. They have consistantly shot well for me in a number of guns. Plenty of oomph on the receiving end as well.

Jeff

Hello,
My dad and I use Ithca model 37's with rifle barrels and they seam to shoot good. The barrel is threaded to the receiver so you can mount the scope with a good set of rings and bases. We have been using BRI and Winchester slugs but the proformance is fair. Sometimes it knocks them off there feet, others run some without looking hit.
John

I use a Mossburg 835 with a 24" rifled barrel with the cantilever mount and Leupold 1x4 Vari X II shotgun scope. I also use the 2 3/4" Lightfield slugs.

With this combo I get 2 1/2" three shot, 100yd groups of a bench. I use a 3/4" lace on comb addition since this gun has a shotgun height comb.

There are now better comb height adapters made of neoprene. Without the extra height I gave myself a bloody nose with each shot off the bench. Without the comb addition, felt recoil was greater than my 375H&H and similar to my 458wm. With it I'd say its less than my 458wm but still more than my 375H&H but at least I don't bleed! Never notice recoil on game anyway.

I've killed seven or eight deer with this combo from 7yds or so to about 85yds. Shot angles have run from pure broadside to facing to hard quartering away and all have been one shot kills. The Lightfields are soft lead and their effect on deer has been great.

Best of luck,

JPK

Here is what you need

http://www.buckstix.com/howitzer.htm

Reloader,

My 12 ga. Browning gold Deer hunter with a browning fully rifled barrel shoots the winchester supreme partitions 2 3/4 very accurately. My son uses an 870 with fully rifled hastings barrel. Lightfields 2 3/4 are best out of his gun. Both shoot very well.

Good luck,

The most accurate slugs I've used are the federal with the barnes expander slugs.They come in either 3/4 or 1 oz. My marlin 512 likes the 3/4 oz. the best.

I haven't "hunted" with a shotgun this year, but I have carried my Benelli Super 90 loaded with 00 buck to check my game cameras and hog traps almost daily. I usually kill at least one deer a year with buckshot, but I decided before season to make my old Marlin 336 30/30 my primary weapon this year.

Slug gun is a Tar-Hunt 12ga sniper, will shoot 2" groups allday with the right slug,
Most of my area is buck shot only so I use my Auto-10 3 1/2" 000 handloads..

Best way to tighten up a slug gun built on a pump is to pun the barrel to the frame,and work on the trigger, The Tar-Hunt company and Shaw where offering to do that awhile back,,

For new guns the Savage is the ticket,,unless you can find some one with an A-bolt to sell