My friend has a 870 slug gun with a fully rifled barrel and a cantilevered scope mount. The problem is that everything we try, it don't group better than 6-8" at 100 yards. The scope mount is tight and we tried Federal,Winchester and Remngton saboted slugs. Any ideas what we can do? The scope is a Leupold rifleman. The only thing I noticed is that the cantilevered mount can flex if you push sideways on it. the bolts holding it down are tight. I figure the thin metal just flexes with pressure. The barrel is a Remington factory. Thanks for the replies,
PaLuke

I set one up for friend with the Remington barrel and scope combo. the scope that came with the barrel is cheap but every thing works good. shoots the Winchester supreme xp slugs 2-2.5 inch at 100yards and took three white tail does with it one was a little over 125 yards, boom flop just like on TV. I noticed that the cantilever was a little flimsy and with the cheap scope and rings I thought that I would have trouble with it but every thing has worked out ok. between me and my friend we have shot 50 rounds of the xp with no problems we haven't tried any thing else except for some old peters pumpkin balls they didn't work well. you need to defiantly use sabots.Is your barrel screwed down tight? is your scope aligned in the rings properly?

Thanks for the reply, I took the scope off and I'm going to start over with everything. We're going to shoot again this weekend. Again, thanks for the help. PaLuke

PaLuke, Everything that you did was just fine. I had the same problem with my 870. Those guns will only shoot Remington Buckbammer slugs accurately. But they shoot well, you will not beleive it is the same gun that you shot the other slugs from. One word of caution,those guns shoot great off on the bench but not offhand. The trigger on mine was just horrible, and they don't make an aftermarker trigger for them unless they just started within the last 2 years or so. Good luck. Jeff

I'm sure you have but check and make sure everything is tight. Brownells has a trigger kit manufactured by Accuracy Speaks that will improve your gun. You can also have your barrel pinned to the receiver and you might have a gunsmith look at your crown.

The most consistent slugs out there are Lightfield Lites, EXP, and Hybrid Elites. If you don't want to go that route I would try Remington Accu-tip's, Copper Solid(to include their reduced recoil load which shoots great out of my 870) and finally their Buckhammer. I can't say what will shoot best for you but Jim Carmichael tested these loads fairly conclusively and they have shot well for me out of an 870 and a Savage 210F.

And for whatever reason I usually get better accuracy from a 2 3/4" shell than from a 3".

You don't mention what the barrel length is. Perhaps a longer barrel like a Hudson 24" would improve matters. Of course, it might also be (and I am not trying to be insulting) that flinching is involved. Rifled slug loads fired from bench rest can be unsettling - both because of the shoulder recoil and from the barrel jump. (A 3" shell in a 12 ga. can be a really jolting experience)

I concur with 7mmfreak on both the Lightfields and the 2 3/4" shells.

JPK

Paluke-
Your remington factory slug barrel has a 1 in 35 twist rate which means that it probably is not going to shoot the newer high velocity slugs as well as you would like. The options are to spend a lot on a custom barrel with a 1 in 26 or 28 twist or shoot slower slugs. I had a similar problem with a hastings cantilever barrel last year. It would shoot a couple great shots and then a flyer, and by flyer I mean 5 inches in any direction ( you never knew where it was going next). I spent a fair amount of time and money chasing the problem, shooting alot of different slugs and switching scopes and mounts and finally settled on the lightfield hybred exp. They would consistently shoot 2" at 100 yds if the wind was calm. The new remington accutip is probably also a good option since they were designed by remington to be shot in their 1 in 35 twist barrels. In the end, I ordered a tar hunt but the truth is that the hastings barrel probably shot about as good as I can shoot a slug. The book "Shotgunning for deer" has a lot of good information on how and why slugs shoot the way they do and might be worth checking out. All this is just my opinion(and you know what they say about opinions) so take it for what it is worth.

Good Luck,
Jason Johnson

I read an article just today that talked about the need to really hold on the forend tight, especially when shooting from the bench. Slugs have a longer "barrel time" due to lower velocities and the recoil has already begun before the slug exits muzzle. The author also said that in rifled barrels, the recoil is up and to the left which can cause the obvious group issues.

He also said to sight the gun 2.5" high at 50 yds and the gun should be real close to dead on at 100 yds. The reason he specifies 50 yds is that a slug with a 10 mph crosswind can be pushed up to 5-6" at 100 yds.

What do you guys think? Anyone have experience with this?

Tar Hunt has I think the best information on shooting slugs:

http://www.tarhunt.com/tarhunt...532&cftoken=58720296

Personally, I'd first start by shooting a group at 25 yards and seeing how it looks compared to a group shot at 100 yards. If it is tight at 25 and all over the place at 100 then I'd look at the loads and not the gun or shooter.

Thanks for that good information Mark. I'll pass it on to some other shooters.

Had a rifled Remingtion 12 ga. barrel with cantaleaver & it was crap. Got rid of it. Bought a Hastings with cantaleaver & it shoots 2" groups or better at 100 yds. with Remingtion
Core lokt Ultras.

Pat uke:

Part of the problem might be that you want too much from a rifled slug. 100 yards at a white tail in PA? Where is that? I hunted white tails in northern NY (same as northern PA, woods) for years with a rifle and never had a shot much beyond 50-60 yards,if that) I also used rifled slugs in "shotgun counties" in our lower NY and never tried shots beyond 50 yards. Yeah, I know about "pasture" deer who stare at hunters during the day but depending on time of dsy, they can be shot within range of a 50 yard slug. Not arguing with you. Just curious about your situation.