I’m looking to buy a slug gun, one that can be rigged with a scope, the right barrel, and be accurate out to 150-200 yards. A friend of mine swears by his Browning automatic. What are your recommendations? What slugs do you shoot through a gun like this? What kind of accuracy is expected? Can they be made to shoot flat enough out to 200 yards or is this stretching it a bit?
IMHO stretching it. I personally, would feel 125 maybe 150, if conditions were right, would be my limit. 200 yards is rifle territory.
big g 
Mossberg 695 fully rifled, ported, bolt action with a 2 3/4 winchester super-x 1 oz sabot. I have owned a ton of slug guns and this thing outshoots them all. I feel very comfortable at 150 with this gun—did I mention I dislike mossbergs 
but this gun is a shooter
Remington also makes a pretty sweet slug gun with their 1187 rifled cantilever barrel combo. A little pricey, but its a good gun that’ll perform. I doubt you’ll be able to reach out to 200 yards with it (or with any slug gun for that matter), but 150-175 isn’t out of the question if you’re shooting some of the higher end sabots.
I have a few slug guns myself, and I have never even tried to shoot that far with it. 200yrds is a rifle gun not for shotgunning. We have a
Remington .870 pump 12 gauge with a canddlever scope.
& a
Mossberg rifled barrle botl-action 12 gauge.
both of these have harvested me many deer and still i’ll be shooting them for years to come…(i hunt in minnesota)…..When i shoot them i love the lightfield slugs good relieable bullet normally in 3″ or 3 1/2″ good luck finding a good gun. I was recently at ACE in La Crosse and they have one of the mossbergs there.
I also shoot the 695 and it has been a very reliable and straight shooting gun. I switched to a nikon 3×9 slughunter scope this year and love it. One down side to the is it’s saftey, you spin the back of the bolt with your thumb and with a low mounted scope it can be difficult to do with gloves on. I believe this gun has been discontinued so if you see one snap it up and they are very reasonable. I’d also look into an H&R Slughunter single shot with heavy barrel, very cool gun IMO and also comes in 20 gauge. I think marlin, savage, mossberg and browning all made bolt action slug guns at one time. Good luck!
I would reccomend the Remington 870 Express. Its an all around great gun and has been around for years and seems to not have any problems. as for shooting over 200 yards that is kind of hard to do with a slug gun.
Jerry. I have an 1187 Rem. Cantilever scope fully rifled barrel. Winchester Partition Golds. 5 shots in the bottom of a pop can at 100 yards. Paper plate at 200.
I don’t know about the gun, but for ammo I would use the new Hornady Slugs. They have to be used in a fully rifled barrel. I have seen people hitting paper plates at 250yds. Not that I would recommend that on a deer, but they are and awesome round.
After I made my post I looked at the Hornady site. The model is the SST. They are basically a ballistic tip slug.
Browning BPS with a rifled barrel & a 4×9 scope using Remmington Core-lock Sabot slugs 1950 fps. Mine is sited in for 150 yds & for 200 yds I have to aim 4″ high. I hunt in the Red river valley on the Minnesota border where it is not uncommon for us to make a 100 or 150 yds shot. Last year I downed a doe on a dead run across a field at 177 yds with one shot. So my recommdation is a BPS.
If I was looking for a 200 yard gun that is legal in a shotgun zone, it would be a scoped Thompson Center Encore 209 x 50 – with the right sabot slugs and 150 grains of triple 7, you are looking at a 250 yard firearm. I live in a rifle zone and find myself using that combo most days.
I shoot a Ithaca Deerslayer 20 gauge with a fully rifled barrel with a leoupold 3×9.I shot a 3inch Federal barnes expander slug.This gun is smokin deadly at 150 yards.What makes an Ithaca so accurate is the barrel is threaded into the reciver like a rifle. I can punch a match book at 100 yards. A certian IDAer has seen me do it at the Holmen rod an gun.
My opinion is that 100yards with a slug gun is my max, At 100yards I can keep a 3 inch group, Past that it realy opens up way to much to suit me And i have tried every slug they make.As far as guns go I Like the remington 1187special purpose with the cantilever barrell and the monte carlo stock. In my opinion if you are going to shoot a scope a montecarlo stock is a must.
Quote:
I shoot a Ithaca Deerslayer 20 gauge with a fully rifled barrel with a leoupold 3×9.I shot a 3inch Federal barnes expander slug.This gun is smokin deadly at 150 yards.What makes an Ithaca so accurate is the barrel is threaded into the reciver like a rifle. I can punch a match book at 100 yards. A certian IDAer has seen me do it at the Holmen rod an gun.
We used to have to use shotgun, but now we can use rifle. I have an 870 with a Hastings barrel that would shoot excellent groups at 100, and good groups at 125. But if I had to go back to slugs, I would prefer to go 20 ga, and Tony your gun sounds awesome!
In my opinion it’s not the slug gun that makes the difference, its the ammunition your gun takes a liking too.
I shoot a Rem 870 express with a red dot, and have great results from a <$300 investment.
I think one should worry less about the gun, and use that extra few bucks you were gonna spend on the gun, and purchase a variety of sabots to sight in with.
For me, my New England single shot 12 (which is a 10 gauge barrel bored to 12) is by far the best slug gun I’ve ever shot. I am very confident to 125-150 yds with a good rest. Only have a 1.5-4.5 power scope or I’d push it to 200 I’m sure. Having only one shot seems to discourage a lot of folks, but you’ll take better shots. My sight line (rise) is about 2.5 inches with the sight scoped in at 150 yds. I use 3″ Rem. copper solids and haven’t had a deer leave my sight since, which is 1998 with this gun. Simpler is usually better.
Quote:
If I was looking for a 200 yard gun that is legal in a shotgun zone, it would be a scoped Thompson Center Encore 209 x 50 – with the right sabot slugs and 150 grains of triple 7, you are looking at a 250 yard firearm. I live in a rifle zone and find myself using that combo most days.
+1
Exactly what the quote says!
I’m running an 870 Wingmaster with a Hastings 24″ rifled, cantelever scope mount barrel. Scope is a Simmons 4x.
With the Federal Barsnes Expander, 3/4oz slug, I dropped a doe at 220 yards (verified with digital range finder). Hit her square in the boiler room, right where I wanted it to be.
My gun is zeroed in at 140yards. I will never hesitate to shoot out to 200 yards, pending on “my” shooting position.
Now, with that said, I LOVE my gun. However, my nephew is shooting a Browning A-bolt slug gun, that puts mine to shame for both distance and accuracy. The gun is incredible. However, it is discontinued.
You, and everyone else needs to know their own individual limitation on shooting any weapon. I’m confident out to 200 yards, pending on my shooting position and all other “shooting factors” combined. However, I know of a certain individual who can’t hit a broad side of a barn at 40 yards.
Shooting,
shooting,
shooting,
shooting,
practice, etc, etc, etc, etc
is what will make you able to hit those distances.
It also doesn’t have to be your slug gun. The typical, cheap .22 cal is all a guy needs to practice. Just focus on all the variables and practice, practice, practice.
I agree 100% with what you’re saying about shooting and more shooting Gary. I have a TC Omega with a Nikon BDC scope on it and I’ve shot over 200 rounds through it this year. I get a kick out of the big kick from the 150 Shockey Gold powder and the 250 grain Shockwave bullet. It too is deadly out to 250 yards only because I know it’s capabilities.
Thanks everyone on the advice on the slug gun. As I suspected, there are many good options out there.
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