The 12-Gauge Slug

Riflemen may shrug them off, but deer don't. Shotgun slugs are deadly at normal hunting ranges. If you're so unfortunate as to own just one gun for hunting and home defense, well, no long-gun muzzle is as imposing to intruders as the gaping maw of a 12 bore. Close a slide smartly in the dark, and whoever lurks beyond is going to leave.

Winchester ballistician Karl Foster came up with the classic slug in 1933. Cylindrical with a round nose and hollow base, it flew straighter than a ball not because it had spiral ribs but because it was front-heavy, like a shuttlecock. Another slug of historical note is the Brenneke, designed in Europe about 1895. It had ribs like the Foster; a screwed-on wad served as a lightweight tail.

In the 1980s, California-based Ballistics Research Institute (BRI) pioneered an hour-glass-shaped sabot slug in a two-piece plastic sleeve. In 1993 Remington introduced the conical .50-caliber Copper Solid sabot slug. Four years later, Federal was loading the Barnes Expander MZ bullet--developed for muzzleloading rifles--in its Premium sabot ammunition. A 300-grain .486-inch H2K Heavy Mag Hornady slug load appeared soon thereafter. Since then, sabot ammo has proliferated, as have rifled guns to fire it. Rifled barrels are usually cut 1:24 to 1:34. Foster slugs still fly best from smooth bores.

Suitable Use

Modern slug loads are not only popular with deer hunters but with travelers in bear country as well. A park ranger I met in B.C. last year carried an 870 with slugs. For all big animals, 12-bore guns are best, as they offer the most power and widest choice of loads.

Contrary to campfire logic, slugs do not plow through brush undeflected. My tests with 12-gauge Fosters in screens of sagebrush produced slug deformation and tipping. Even with slugs that weigh as much as saltwater sinkers, you're smart to decline shots when there's brush in the way.

Ballistics

Most slugs leave the muzzle at between 1,450 and 1,600 fps. Magnum 3-inch 12-gauge loads push 1-ounce (437-gn.) slugs at 1,750 and lightweight (385-gn.) sabot bullets at 1,900. Conical sabot slugs can be zeroed to 100 yards.

The 325-grain Barnes in Federal ammo not only shoots flat but carries 1,600 ft-lbs to 125 steps, as do 385-grain Partition Golds by Winchester and Remington's Core-Lokt Ultra Bonded slugs. The soup-can-shaped Remington BuckHammer leaks energy faster but delivers 3,000 ft-lbs at the muzzle and 1,600 at 100 yards. Rottweil Brenneke slugs boast ton-and-a-half punch at the muzzle.