Accuracy of rifled slugs vs. sabot

[MMH]

What is the accuracy of rifled slugs shot out of a IC smooth bore barrel vs. a sabot out of a rifled barrel?

[hiflyf22]

I don't know about sabot slugs. But I've gotten a decent grouping of rifled slugs on a human sized target at 100 yards with an 18.5 inch barrel.

[animalmother85]

The one thing I have found about sabot's is that most different types fly different (remington's different from winchesters, so one and so forth). They seem to fly to a certain side, like, 4" right 4" high or 4" left and 4" low in some cases, some fly straight. It can get really pricey to find what your shotgun likes but, they seem to fly like artillery rounds, and they settle after about 50 meters, being that if they are 4" high and 4" left at 50, they should still be hitting close to that at 100 and still hold a 1.5"-3.0" group. Now for most of us, if our rifles held a 3.0" group, we would not be very happy, but we're shooting .22"-.30" bullets and expect accuracy. This is a shot gun with a 1 in 28" twist (usually) throwing something weighing about 300-400 grains in a jacket at about 1600-2000fps. I have also gotten good groups at 50 out of a smooth bore and rifled slugs. The benefits of sabot rounds come in for hunting on the edge of a field or woods with open areas. I have taken game up to 220 meters with sabot rounds(granted the point of aim and the point of impact were quite different, it still dropped the deer dead in its tracks). Sabot's are only improving every year due to competition.

My recommendation, narrow your choices on sabot's down to the ones that really spark your interest, shoot them, see what your shot gun likes and go from there. I recommend a scope as well for this that has been bore-sighted to give you a good point of reference. Shoot close, 25m is a good distance, it really hurts the wallet when your slinging sabot rounds down range and not even on paper, especially at close to $5 a shot. Hope that helps.

[27hand]

What is the accuracy of rifled slugs shot out of a IC smooth bore barrel vs. a sabot out of a rifled barrel?

I tried 2 different sabots at 100yds out of a 20" rifled bbl Ithaca deerslayer and a 3X9 cheap Simmons scope.

The 2 left hits were 1 1/4 oz Lightfields. The 2 hits to the right were 1 oz Rem Copper Solids. I was somewhat surprised how closely they grouped.


Copper Solids as well. I would trust this SG out to about 125/150 with a little holdover.



The longest kill shot I ever made was with this shotgun at 95 paces using Copper Solids.

As stated, cost is an issue, especially when sighting in. That is the reason you see 2 shot groups.

Those targets were 2 different years.

27hand

[animalmother85]

was that simmons scope a "shotgun" grade scope? reason I ask is because a few years ago, I put a 1.5-5 bushnell on my brother's NEF "Slugster" single shot rifled slug gun and it used to knock the crap out of the scope, never held to a constant zero. I switched that scope to a .22LR and it was fine and put a Leupold VX-II 2-7x shotgun scope on it and it fixed the issue, I was able to have 3 shots hit each other with 12ga 2 3/4" lightfields, don't know how heavy the sabot rounds were though..

Copper Solids as well. I would trust this SG out to about 125/150 with a little holdover.

yeah I agree, I wouldn't have taken the shot I stated if I knew the actual distance before hand, foolish on my part for miscalculating the range but the deer died instantly, that I was sure of.

[27hand]

was that simmons scope a "shotgun" grade scope? reason I ask is because a few years ago, I put a 1.5-5 bushnell on my brother's NEF "Slugster" single shot rifled slug gun and it used to knock the crap out of the scope, never held to a constant zero. I switched that scope to a .22LR and it was fine and put a Leupold VX-II 2-7x shotgun scope on it and it fixed the issue, I was able to have 3 shots hit each other with 12ga 2 3/4" lightfields, don't know how heavy the sabot rounds were though..

No, the Simmons is a rifle scope. I was going to replace it this year. The clarity is not what it used to be, especially when changing from 3X to 9X.

It seems to hold zero year to year( at least what you see on the targets).
100 yds will probably do me. I am usually into some pretty thick stuff and 100 yds is usually about a max distance shot.

This thread will get me moving on that.

27

[PocketProtector]

Dropped a doe in it's tracks last January with a 20 Ga. Lightfield from a Mossberg 500 at 113 yards. 24" Rifled barrel

[JIMMYC308]

I just tried out the Hornady SST sabot slugs in my Remington 870 20ga. 18 1/2" barrel fully rifled slug gun,here are the results at 50yds.