Deer Hunting With Shotgun

[375 Ruger Fan]

@Flyfinger if you plan on hunting deer with a shotgun more than once, I highly recommend a slug (rifled) barrel for you Mossberg 500. You can find them on eBay for around $200. If this is too much to spend, then I'd recommend a rifled choke as an alternative.

Barrel Exchange is also a potential source for slug barrels

shotgun barrels for sale

www.barrelexchange.com

 

[machinistbutler]

Found against the hide .

 

[BeeMaa]

View attachment 422132View attachment 422133

Found against the hide .

Looks like that slug did its job.

You should put this in the "Bullet Performance Database" along with what ammo was used, firearm and barrel length (rifled barrel or rifled slug?), distance to target and shot angle (uphill, downhill, or maybe a tree stand), where it was hit and how far the animal (I'm assuming a Whitetail Deer) went from where it was hit.

Bullet Performance Database

May I suggest a bullet performance data base topic, where members can place pictures of recovered bullets. You need to add data to the post relating to the performance. Type of bullet Bullet speed Distance of shot Original weight Recovered weight Calibre Species Shot placement e.g. Frontal...

www.africahunting.com

 

[machinistbutler]

Looks like that slug did its job.

You should put this in the "Bullet Performance Database" along with what ammo was used, firearm and barrel length (rifled barrel or rifled slug?), distance to target and shot angle (uphill, downhill, or maybe a tree stand), where it was hit and how far the animal (I'm assuming a Whitetail Deer) went from where it was hit.

Bullet Performance Database

May I suggest a bullet performance data base topic, where members can place pictures of recovered bullets. You need to add data to the post relating to the performance. Type of bullet Bullet speed Distance of shot Original weight Recovered weight Calibre Species Shot placement e.g. Frontal...

www.africahunting.com

I think that slug came from the muley I posted a pic of, also took a hog of a whitetail with the same shotgun. I will put that in the bullet database when I get to camp tonight! Thanks!

 

[Jamie D Van Roekel]

Going against the grain here. Using a 437.5 grain slug in a 2&34" shell or even larger in a 12 gauge is WAY overkill and 20 gauge with a rifled barrel and Lightfields or Hornady SSTs saboted slugs will kill deer out to 200 yards. In my experience, all the 12 did was ruin meat and beat the snot out of me.
From this chair, using a 12 gauge slug on deer is the equivalent of atomic bombs for crowd control.

I’ll agree that a 12 gauge is over kill. The only real reason to use one is you have one. A 20 gauge hole will definitely do the job. But I also have never seen meat damage unless the deer is a pin cushion with a bunch of holes. A slug just goes on through meet and clean.

 

[Deleted member 40394]

I like shooting a .675 out of my 12 gauge with 00 buck.

 

[Forrest Halley]

I like shooting a .675 out of my 12 gauge with 00 buck.

Is this a choke constriction or a buck and ball load?

 

[Stephen Ausband]

The club I used to which I used to belong in southern VA was "buckshot only" for a while, and most guys used 00 Buck. My son and I used mostly Winchester 3" shells with the hardened pellets and granulated filler. It seemed to work fine with full choke. The biggest buck I ever killed there was taken at 30 paces with a 2 3/4" load of Winchester 00 in an elderly LC Smith. It held a very tight pattern. Really, anything from #1 on up works fine with good shot placement inside about 25-30 yards--which was a reasonable distance where I hunted. Buckshot gets a terrible reputation for wounding game because people try to stretch the range or they take "going away" shots. No buckshot penetrates well enough to give clean kills on those. When slugs, and then later rifles, became legal, a lot of the guys slinging buckshot went to solid projectiles.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Don't know about other states but, AFAIK, In Pennsylvania, except for the special regulations areas, buckshot is banned for big game, must be a single projectile.

 

[Forrest Halley]

The club I used to which I used to belong in southern VA was "buckshot only" for a while, and most guys used 00 Buck. My son and I used mostly Winchester 3" shells with the hardened pellets and granulated filler. It seemed to work fine with full choke. The biggest buck I ever killed there was taken at 30 paces with a 2 3/4" load of Winchester 00 in an elderly LC Smith. It held a very tight pattern. Really, anything from #1 on up works fine with good shot placement inside about 25-30 yards--which was a reasonable distance where I hunted. Buckshot gets a terrible reputation for wounding game because people try to stretch the range or they take "going away" shots. No buckshot penetrates well enough to give clean kills on those. When slugs, and then later rifles, became legal, a lot of the guys slinging buckshot went to solid projectiles.

#1 Buckshot was found to penetrate to the hide on a 2¾" shell at 90 yards. The short shell has best velocity and shorter shot string for best pattern at distance. A lot of woundings occur because people do not practice with their shotguns and ASSUME that it's a chip shot with buckshot or the pattern gets devoured by trees and brush. I've killed many deer going away. I've had one shot kills at 70 yards with buckshot.

When you change to a slug you are opening up the distance potential slightly and increasing the focused energy on target. They require a certain devotion in order to be optimized.

The rifle is a real game changer. Now everything inside of five hundred yards is in play depending on what caliber you're shooting.