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The earliest shotgun slugs were just lead spheres, of just under the bore diameter, allowing them to pass through a choked barrel. Often called pumpkin balls, these slugs showed very poor accuracy, and were only effective at the very close ranges where they could be relied on to hit the target in a vital area. Later types of slugs, the Brenneke and Foster slugs, used a weight-biased design and rifling-like fins to provide stability and the ability to easily compress and pass through a choked barrel. These could be fired through a smoothbore barrel with reasonable accuracy, and significantly extended the effective range of the shotgun slug. The latest improvement is the saboted slug, fired from a rifled shotgun barrel. The saboted slug and rifled barrel combination provides even greater accuracy than the rifled slugs, and the slugs themselves are more aerodynamic, providing more range and a flatter trajectory
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