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Old April 24, 2001, 12:06 PM   #1
General Tso
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Join Date: February 22, 2000
Posts: 133
Went to the range Sunday with my dad and brother, and brother-in-law. We
took out the M-1 carbine and Garand, the AR-15, FAL and the 590. Just
plinked with the rifles at jugs mostly but it was fun to get out with the
militaries again. I spent most of my time with the 590.

The Mossy worked like a champ. I put about 135 rounds through it. Mostly #6 remington
game loads but also a limited amount of 3" mag buck and 2 boxes of slugs.
The Ghost Rings are pretty nice, although I need to raise them up just a bit.
No malfunctions, hitches etc between the 4 of us shooting. Performed pretty much as expected.

What was most impressive though was the slugs. I was using generic
Winchester rifled hollowpoint slugs (the cheapo ones you get at K-Mart or
Walmart during deer season) and not really trying to shoot "groups" per se,
mostly just seeing where they would hit before I played with the sights. At 25 yards from the standing
offhand position I put 3 slugs overlapping and the other two within a 1/2"
of the main group. You could cover all 5 with the palm of your hand. I
repeated the same thing again a bit later in the day. I was pretty impressed
with that because I wasn't really trying too hard to group them. I pretty
much just took a quick sight picture and dumped them into the target. The
groups were well centered and just below my point of aim (see note above
about adjusting elevation).

I wasn't totally sold on the Ghost Rings from shooting shot loads, they were
fine but nothing better than I'd do with a bead. After seeing how easy it
was to place slugs though I'm sold. I would still like to try regular shotgun
rifle sights and slugs for comparison but I think the GR's are going to work
out real well.

Well, see how well the 590A1 does long term but I'm pretty pleased with the initial results. Next step is the trap range .
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Old April 24, 2001, 12:45 PM   #2
Dave McC
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Join Date: October 13, 1999
Location: Columbia, Md, USA
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Thanks for posting that, General. A coupla things....

That WW cheapo slug was my old duty slug, and the one that grouped best in my Deer 870, pre OK Brennekes. Effect on Eastern Shore whitetails was excellent. I took one herd control doe with my buddy watching. The slug impacted the shoulder at maybe 35 yards and blew enough tissue out that he thought it was some special LE ammo. I stuck all four fingers in the entry wound. Blood trail was short.

I suggest you try out other slugs, just to find the tightest grouping one.

When you go to the trap range, mount the bayonet(G).
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Old April 24, 2001, 03:11 PM   #3
General Tso
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Join Date: February 22, 2000
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I was really impressed with them. I've used them before out of my bead sighted guns but only to shoot "stuff" (steel plates, old computers, watermelons, etc ). This was the first time I actually put them on paper though.

I will try some other stuff too (I think I already have some Remington copper hollowpoints floating around the house) but if nothing performs any better than the Winchester slugs I can certainly live with that. I'd guess with a bit of practice and some more familiarity with the gun I should be able to improve on it a bit too.

What do you guess the practical range limit for that load should be Dave? I know with my old Winchester Defender I could hit old Packard Bell computers out to 75 yards or so with a bead sight but that was with a little Kentucky windage .
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Old April 24, 2001, 03:25 PM   #4
Dave McC
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it's kinda hard to gauge someone else's performance and that of their shotgun, General, from afar.

For purposes of comparison, the best slug from my two slug shooters prints into 4-5" at 100 yards from the bench if I do my part.

Save those copper sabots for a full rifled bbl. Rarely do they do well from smoothbores.

In your shoes, I'd try both Rottweil and KO Brennekes, the Federal and Remington Forster style slugs. One of them should do very well. If you check the archives, I believe there's some threads on benching with slugs that may help you.

Practical range? That depends on you, wild eyed guess 50-75 yards under field conditions and stress, 75-100 yards under controlled conditions from the bench.

Since this is a buckshot shooter too, I'd check where it hits with buck when it's zeroed for your slug of choice. Darn near all shotguns put buck elsewhere than slugs. Mine,when zeroed for slugs, put WW 00 14-18" lower@ 25 yds, but centered. I can live with that.
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Old April 25, 2001, 08:58 AM   #5
General Tso
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Join Date: February 22, 2000
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Thanks for the tips Dave. Have to go resupply on ammo and make another range trip now!

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Old April 25, 2001, 12:45 PM   #6
Ledbetter
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Join Date: February 23, 2000
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For fun shooting

I use the Reduced Recoil Remington slugs on the low end and the Brenneke K.O. slugs on the high end of the energy scale. Interestigly, both have roughly the same trajectory from my gun. My buckshot load has been limited to Remingtons also, which seem to work fine, printing a little lower than the slugs as Dave said.

Regards,

Ledbetter
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