Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association
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  1. #1
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    Default Buckshot & Slugs

    I lived in New Gretna, NJ for 50 years and the only thing allowed for deer hunting was buckshot for most of that time. This is a very rural area and in the past had a lot of deer and I killed a lot, in and out of season but never at night. I have seen a lot of deer kiled with buckshot and slugs and this is what I learned.

    Buckshot is very deadly on broadside deer to between 30 and 40 yards and guns are fussy about the size of buckshot they like some shoot 00B real tght some like #1B or 0B and nothing else. Also buckshot that is deadly at 40 yards ain't worth crap at 50 so don't try to streach the range.

    Any slug 20GA or larger is brutal and any deer hit in the ribs isn't going far but some guns like them and some don't you have to try them and see, in general the Brenneke style slugs are more accurate than the foster or "coffe cup" slugs.

    With double barrel shotguns you better stick with buckshot and the 2 barrels might like different sizes of buck shot, but remember you can't strech the range much past 40 yards with buckshot.

    Most single barrel guns will shoot slugs OK out to 40 yards or so but if you have rifle sights you might strech the slugs out to around 70 yards.

    This isn't refering to rifled barrel guns with sabot slugs as I've never had one and they were very rare till after I left NJ.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Buckshot & Slugs

    Quote Originally Posted by Montell C. Williams View Post
    I lived in New Gretna, NJ for 50 years and the only thing allowed for deer hunting was buckshot for most of that time. This is a very rural area and in the past had a lot of deer and I killed a lot, in and out of season but never at night. I have seen a lot of deer kiled with buckshot and slugs and this is what I learned.

    Buckshot is very deadly on broadside deer to between 30 and 40 yards and guns are fussy about the size of buckshot they like some shoot 00B real tght some like #1B or 0B and nothing else. Also buckshot that is deadly at 40 yards ain't worth crap at 50 so don't try to streach the range.

    Any slug 20GA or larger is brutal and any deer hit in the ribs isn't going far but some guns like them and some don't you have to try them and see, in general the Brenneke style slugs are more accurate than the foster or "coffe cup" slugs.

    With double barrel shotguns you better stick with buckshot and the 2 barrels might like different sizes of buck shot, but remember you can't strech the range much past 40 yards with buckshot.

    Most single barrel guns will shoot slugs OK out to 40 yards or so but if you have rifle sights you might strech the slugs out to around 70 yards.

    This isn't refering to rifled barrel guns with sabot slugs as I've never had one and they were very rare till after I left NJ.
    Are you going somewhere with this?

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Buckshot & Slugs

    What he ^ said.. lol

    Except in a few certain counties, buckshot is illegal to hunt with in PA.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Buckshot & Slugs

    Sabots FTW?

    I can hit 2" groups @ 100+ yds with my Scoped 20 GA using Sabots. But I guess at that point it just becomes a really large rifle...

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Buckshot & Slugs

    My original post was just informationa for people in PA who never used smooh bore shotguns for hunting, why buckshot kills so good is a wonder, the wounds appear insufficient for quick kills, just puncture wounds like a small caliber pistol. But at 25-30 yards deer often fall on the spot. Slugs are a different matter, thumb size entrance and exit holes 2 inches across.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Buckshot & Slugs

    Quote Originally Posted by Montell C. Williams View Post
    My original post was just informationa for people in PA who never used smooh bore shotguns for hunting, why buckshot kills so good is a wonder, the wounds appear insufficient for quick kills, just puncture wounds like a small caliber pistol. But at 25-30 yards deer often fall on the spot. Slugs are a different matter, thumb size entrance and exit holes 2 inches across.
    When you have a .25-.36" diameter ball, weighing less than a typical bullet of the same diameter, but going slightly faster - you're gonna have similar results. Compare the results to a 25acp, 32acp or a 380acp for each ball. Lightweight projectiles do not retain energy as well as heavier projectiles. A massive slug will retain much more energy than 9-12 little balls the sum of which weighs the same. But when you hit the same target with 3-12 of those balls at the same time, well... energies and trauma adds up. While the slug will just keep on truck'n through the animal..

    I've had the fortune of hunting down south with buckshot, and I can tell you at the 20-40yrd ranges - buckshot will lay the smack down. Beyond that, they are fairly inefficient for dispatching large game.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Buckshot & Slugs

    Why is buckshot illegal in most of Pa?

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Buckshot & Slugs

    Quote Originally Posted by soup View Post
    Why is buckshot illegal in most of Pa?
    I've heard a few reasons over the years, the most told are:
    1. it takes the skill out of hunting/shooting
    2. you have to be close, and in most of PA the shots are taken just out of the effective range.
    3. Very few hunters in PA get close enough to humanely use buckshot, they dont stalk close to the deer - but rather sit and shoot at one that walks within range.
    4. wounds are often shallow and only injures the game, to go off an die from infection and gangrene.

    And more..

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