The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post

targshooter · January 24, 2010, 03:54 PM

All my huntinmg alluded to here was with 12 gauge shotguns. Growing up in rural NJ in the 1960s I had to use buckshot. It seemed that 4 or more pellets in the chest resulted in a retrievable deer. Some fell at the shot, others ran for hundreds of yards. Most well hit deer averaged a 50 to 100 yards travel before dropping. In upstate NY I had to use slugs for Southern Tier hunting for 20 years. I never had to track a chest shot deer more than 40 yards and most were down and/or dead upon the hit. Originally I used lead Foster slugs, later sabot slugs in a rifled 870 when NY made it legal; all were quite good killers. Surprisingly, slugs do not penetrate brush as well as rifle bullets; especially the old lead Fosters out of a non-rifled barrel.

January 24, 2010, 03:54 PM	#10
targshooter Member Join Date: June 1, 2008 Posts: 19	Slugs performed better overall All my huntinmg alluded to here was with 12 gauge shotguns. Growing up in rural NJ in the 1960s I had to use buckshot. It seemed that 4 or more pellets in the chest resulted in a retrievable deer. Some fell at the shot, others ran for hundreds of yards. Most well hit deer averaged a 50 to 100 yards travel before dropping. In upstate NY I had to use slugs for Southern Tier hunting for 20 years. I never had to track a chest shot deer more than 40 yards and most were down and/or dead upon the hit. Originally I used lead Foster slugs, later sabot slugs in a rifled 870 when NY made it legal; all were quite good killers. Surprisingly, slugs do not penetrate brush as well as rifle bullets; especially the old lead Fosters out of a non-rifled barrel.