721 shotgun slugs

Shotgun Slugs

By Chuck Hawks

The first shotgun "slugs" were probably round, lead"pumpkin balls." These were common projectiles formuskets and shotguns--any sort of smooth bore longarm--for a long time. Unfortunately, the accuracy of alead ball fired from a smooth bore barrel is pretty sad.Hitting the target is problematical and precise bulletplacement is nearly impossible except at very closerange. Also, a lead ball has a very poor sectionaldensity (SD), and consequently poor penetration.There had to be a better way.

The answer, of course, was the rifled barrel.Imparting spin to a projectile to stabilize its flight wasa quantum improvement in accuracy. Rifled barrelsalso made possible the conical bullet, and later thefamiliar spitzer (pointed) bullets used by most hunterstoday.

But demand remained for some sort of solid projectilethat could be fired from a smoothbore gun and usedon medium game like deer. Some one-gun familiesdid not own, and could not afford to buy, a rifle. Whatwas needed was an improvement on the lead ball,both in terms of accuracy and penetration.

Foster type rifled slugs

The eventual solution to this problem was the Foster"rifled" slug. This is a short, blunt lead bullet that issolid in front and hollow in the rear, analogous to abadminton bird. And, like a shuttlecock, it is its weightforward balance that allows the Foster slug to flythrough the air to its target with reasonable accuracy.Compared to lead balls, this was a big improvementin both accuracy and SD.

Heavy external "rifling" was cast into these Fostertype slugs, allegedly to allow the air they flew throughto impart a slow spin that would help stabilize theslug. Like most something for nothing schemes, therifling proved ineffective, but it did provide somespace for some compression if the slug had to

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squeeze through a tight choke. The name "rifled slug"stuck and is still in widespread use today.

Rifled slugs are offered by most of the majorammunition makers in a variety of shotgun gauges,including 12, 16, 20, and .410 bore. They used to bemade under bore diameter to allow safe passagethrough any degree of choke, from full to cylinder.Cylinder bore guns are usually recommended forshooting slugs, but in some cases a full or modifiedchoke barrel will give better accuracy with theundersize slugs.

This may not always hold true these days, however,as Remington advertises that their "Slugger" rifledslugs are made oversize for better sealing against thebarrel wall and superior accuracy. Compared to riflebullets, whose diameter is held to very stricttolerances, Foster type slugs are made to ratherhaphazard dimensions that vary from onemanufacturer to another.

The use of slugs is best confined to single barrelshotguns, either single shot or repeaters. Doubleguns tend to crossfire with slugs due to the regulationof the barrels.

A smoothbore "slug gun" with rifle sights will usuallyshoot groups in the 3" (6 MOA) range at 50yards/meters, making them satisfactory deer huntingweapons at short range. An occasional example willdo better, and some do worse. Their effective deerhunting range is limted by their accuracy, but the slugitself is dangerous to other hunters at far greaterdistances, an important point to keep in mind.

Compared to practically any big game rifle bullet,rifled slugs are not very accurate. They are a shortrange (100 yard or less) proposition at best. Theballistic coefficient (BC) and sectional density of rifledslugs is pretty pitiful. The only place they score highnumbers is in recoil, where low numbers are desired.Shooting groups from a bench rest with a slug gun isnot fun, as the recoil is considerable. If possible,always use a rifle in preference to a slug gun for anykind of big game hunting.

Some jurisdictions in the U.S. forbid the use of riflesand mandate the use of shotgun slugs for deerhunting, allegedly for "safety" in crowded huntingareas. I am sure that this is what keeps rifled slugs


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viable as a sporting proposition. (They are also usedin police "riot" guns, of course.)

This is actually kind of funny in an ironic way, as theone thing slugs do really well is penetrate brush.Rifled slugs are probably the most dangerous type ofammunition to use in a wooded area crowded withhunters and other humans, as they plow throughvisually impenetrable brush, leaves, and small treelimbs with aplomb. A high velocity rifle with afrangible bullet would be far safer in such anenvironment. I have, for instance, seen .22 varmintbullets fired at very high velocity turn into a puff ofblue smoke on a blade of grass!

Conventional Foster type rifled slugs generally weigh1 ounce in 12 gauge, 4/5 ounce in 16 gauge, 5/8ounce in 20 gauge, and 1/5 ounce (or 87 grains) in.410 gauge. The 12 gauge slug has an advertisedmuzzle velocity (MV) of 1560 fps from a 2 3/4"high-brass shell, 1680 fps from a 2 3/4" Magnumshell, or 1760 fps from a 3" Magnum shell. These areRemington figures from their 2004 catalog. The MV'sof the other gauges are similar.

The catalog energy figures for the commonhigh-brass ("maximum") 12 gauge slug load are animpressive 2361 ft. lbs. at the muzzle, but only 926 ft.lbs. at 100 yards. This is due to the very poor BC ofthe slug. Sighted to hit dead on at 50 yards, that slugis 4.8" low at 100 yards. The more powerful 12 gaugeslugs are only marginally better, and kick noticeablyharder. No matter what, rifled slugs remain a shortrange proposition.

Stick with 12 gauge Foster type slugs for deerhunting as the smaller gauges pack much less punch.The 20 gauge slug develops only 648 ft. lbs. ofenergy at 100 yards, which given its low SD is notencouraging. I have done some testing with .410rifled slugs and they are definitely not adequate deerloads. The less said about these small bore rifledslugs the better.

Brenneke, Buckhammer, and Trophy Slug

These resemble Foster type slugs with one importantdifference: the wad remains attached to the base ofthe slug. This provides a better BC and stability inflight, a better shuttlecock, if you will. The assembly isheavier than a plain rifled slug due to the weight of


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the attached wad. The difference in retained energyat 100 yards is considerable.

The original design of this type, as far as I know, isthe German Brenneke slug, offered by Rottweil.Brenneke rifled slugs still use felt and fiber wads, andare suitable for use in smooth or rifled shotgunbarrels. Rottweil offers several slug loads in 12, 20,and .410. Their 2 3/4" 12 gauge slug weighs 1 1/4ounce, and their 3" Magnum 20 gauge slug weighs afull 1 ounce.

A MV of 1476 fps and ME of 2538 are claimed for the12 gauge 2 3/4" Magnum load. More important is the100 yard retained energy figure of 1170 ft. lbs.

Fiocchi of Italy offers the Aeroslug Trophy Slug, whichappears to be a modernized and simplified version ofthe Brenneke design. It, too, is recommended forboth smooth and rifled barrels. The Fiocchi Trophyslug weighs 1 ounce in 2 3/4" 12 gauge shells, and7/8 ounce in 2 3/4" 20 gauge shells. Ballistics aresimilar to the Brenneke loads with somewhat lessenergy due to the lighter slugs.

Perhaps the most creative design of this general sort,with which I am familiar, is the RemingtonBuckhammer. It is also the most recent innovation.The Buckhammer lead slug itself is a short truncatedcone, rather like a lead "Keith" style revolver bullet.Attached to the base of this is a long, plastic"stabilizer" wad. Remington says that theBuckhammer was designed for use in fully rifledbarrels, or with rifled choke tubes. The diameter ofthe lead slug is supposed to be .73", so I do not seewhy it could not be used in cylinder bore (smooth)shotgun barrels, but I have not tried it. Experiment atyour own risk!

12 gauge Buckhammer slugs weigh 1 1/4 ounces in 23/4" cases or 1 3/8 ounces in 3" cases. 20 gaugeBuckhammer slugs come only in 2 3/4" cases andweigh 1 ounce.

These Remington Buckhammer loads claim the mostimpressive ballistics of the bunch. The 12 gauge 23/4" load has a MV of 1550 fps and ME of 2935 ft.lbs. The 100 yard figures are 1145 fps and 1600 ft.lbs. Zeroed at 50 yards, the 1 1/4 ounce slug shouldhit 3.6" low at 100 yards, so it is still a short rangeload. Naturally, they kick like the very devil in a


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shotgun of average weight.

The 20 gauge Buckhammer load has a MV of 1500fps and ME of 2236 ft. lbs. The 100 yard figures are995 fps and 1074 ft. lbs. Zeroed at 50 yards, the 1ounce slug should hit 4.6" low at 100 yards.

While still inferior to the 12 gauge loads, theBuckhammer and Brenneke slug loads (which claimsimilar ballistics) at least get the 20 gauge slug gunup off of its knees. If I had to shoot a smoothbore 20gauge slug gun, these are the loads I would use.

All three manufacturers of these "super" rifled slugsclaim exceptional accuracy in fully rifled barrels.Remington, for example, claims 3" to 3 1/2" 5-shotgroups at 100 yards (3.5 MOA or better) with theirBuckhammer slugs. Such accuracy would beconsidered unacceptable from a rifle, of course, but itwill take deer at 100 yards.

Sabot slugs

These days most of the major shotshellmanufacturers also offer sabot slug loads for 12 and20 gauge shotguns. These are for use only in fullyrifled barrels. How a long arm with a fully rifled barrelcan be termed a "shotgun," I fail to understand, butthat is beside the point. These loads are essentiallyequivalent to the kind of loads used in modern, highperformance muzzleloading rifles.

Since the Remington catalog is still open in front ofme, I will use their sabot slugs as representative ofthe type. Bear in mind that, as with sabot bullets formuzzleloaders, they're plenty of variations available.

Remington offers 12 and 20 gauge Premier sabotloads with both JHP bonded lead core bullets andsolid copper hollow point bullets. The former arecalled "Premier Core-Lokt Ultra," and latter are"Premier Copper Solid."

The 12 gauge Core-Lokt Ultra sabot bullet is a .50caliber, 385 grain HP semi-spitzer. The catalog MV is1900 fps and the 100 yard velocity is 1648 fps. TheME is given as 3086 ft. lbs. and the remaining energyat 100 yards is 2325 ft. lbs. The trajectory of that loadlooks like this: +1.8" at 50 yards, +2.4" at 100 yards,and +/- 0" at 150 yards.

The 20 gauge sabot bullet weighs 260 grains. It also


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has a MV of 1900 fps, and its velocity at 100 yards isgiven as 1615 fps. The ME is 2084 ft. lbs., and theremaining energy at 100 yards is 1506 ft. lbs. Thetrajectory of that load looks like this: +2.0" at 50yards, +2.7" at 100 yards, and +/- 0" at 150 yards.

As I wrote at the outset, this are similar to theballistics obtainable with high performance, .50caliber, inline muzzleloading rifles. Accuracy isapparently not quite as good as the bestmuzzleloaders, as Remington claims consistent 21/2" 5-shot groups at 100 yards. But that isimpressive accuracy from any kind of shotgun--evenif it is really a rifle!

Clearly, the use of these sabot bullet loadscompletely negates the rationale behind the "shotgunonly" deer hunts. Not only are these shotguns withrifled barrels technically rifles, they shoot like rifles. Infact, they equal traditional big game rifle cartridgessuch as the .45-70 and .38-55.

For example, a .45-70 rifle shooting a 400 grain bullet(BC .214) at a MV of 1900 fps has a trajectory thatlooks like this: +2.1" at 50 yards, +2.8" at 100 yards,+/- 0" at 150 yards, and -7.2" at 200 yards (Speerfigures). That is a very similar trajectory to theRemington Core-Lokt Ultra loads described above.

The Hornady .45 caliber, 300 grain XTP-Mag sabotbullet used in their 12 gauge factory load has a BC of.200, which I suspect is not much different than theBC of the Remington sabot bullet. Holding a scope'shorizontal crosswire level with a buck's back shouldput the bullet into the heart/lung area at 200 yards.Some shotgun!

Slug loads for home defense

Questions about slugs for home defense arise fairlyfrequently in my mail so, briefly, here is my take onthe subject. Shotgun slugs are dangerously overpenetrative for most home defense scenarios. (Youhave no right to endanger your neighbors.) I suggestthat, inside of a domicile, #4 buckshot is usually amore appropriate defensive shotgun load.

If you are forced to defend a farm, ranch house, orcabin from external attack, a rifle will probably besuperior to a shotgun stuffed with slugs. So I do notsee much reason to choose shotgun slug loads forpersonal defense, except in special circumstances.


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Police use of rifled slug loads in the riot guns carriedin cruisers is one example of a special circumstance.Many police agencies are reluctant to provide bothrifles and shotguns for their patrol cars, so they issuerifled slug loads for use in shotguns. This allows thesquad car riot gun to serve as a makeshift rifle ifrequired. Once again, the shotgun becomes a "poorman's rifle."

Slug loads may also be appropriate in some marineapplications. In addition to birdshot and buckshotloads, I always kept a pack of rifled slugs handy formy "boat gun," a Mossberg 500 Mariner.

Conclusion

I have primarily concentrated on slug loads forhunting, for which purpose I feel that they are mostappropriate. Even so, they are a stop gap alternativeto a rifle, primarily useful where rifles are banned forpolitical reasons. Shotgun slug loads intended to befired from smooth bore barrels manage to combinethe worst properties of any hunting projectile:marginal accuracy, low velocity, low sectional density,low ballistic coefficient, rainbow trajectory, and heavyrecoil. Nearly the worst of all possible worlds! If youcan legally hunt with a rifle, you owe it to bothyourself and your quarry to do so. If not, but the lawallows the use of fully rifled "shotgun" barrels andsaboted projectiles, that is what you should use.

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Copyright 2004, 2012 by Chuck Hawks. All rights reserved.

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721 shotgun slugs

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