12 Ga. H&R UltraSlug?

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Ratsleg

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I went with a friend and his son to help get his son's new 12 ga. UltraSlug sighted in yesterday. The gun and it's 3x9 Nikon Slughunter scope with the BDC reticle had been boresighted where they bought it. He also had a LimbSaver recoil pad put on it. Once we got the gun hitting the bullseye at 50 yds, the young man started shooting 3 shot groups from a sandbagged bench rest with 12 ga. 3" Winchester Partitioned Gold sabot slugs. He fired three groups of 3 shots at 50 yds and all three groups were just large jagged holes. Then we backed off to 100 yds and the young fella used the 100 yd aim point in the Nikon Slughunter scope and I'll be darned if he wasn't right on the Bull with the first round. The group opened up a bit to a relatively tight clover leaf. At 150 yds, he shot a measured center-to-center group of 2.5 inches and still right on the bull with the aimpoint for 150 yds in the Nikon Slughunter. I am impressed to say the least.

My question to all owners of H&R Ultraslug guns: Do all H&R UltraSlug guns shoot this well or does he have something really special there? If all H&R UltraSlug guns shoot that well, I will own a duplicate setup before next deer season but I'd hate to spend the money is his gun is an unusual or lucky find.
 
It's kinda funny how this little jewel came out of a company like H&R and it's such a simple idea. My advice, try the 20 gauge it's just plain fun to shoot.
 
I was at a range last year while a guy next to me was sighting in a 20 gauge version of this same gun at 100 yards. From sand bags he was shooting 2 inch groups consistantly. I don't know what ammo or glass he had though.

Seams like a simple gun with great potential.
 
Good Morning,

I have the 20 gauge version with the heavy barrel. She shoot 1/2" groups at 50 yards with no problem.
I tryed at least 10 different sabot slugs through her, and she shot all of them well, but the Remington Accutips won out, but only by a small margin over the Hornadys.
Since I do most of my hunting from a stand or a ground blind, the heavy barrel is not a problem, but I don't think I'd like to carry it around all day. She is a bit on the heavy side.

Ken
 
I own a 12 ga. H&R Ultra Slug and I can testify that it shoots far better than any other slug gun I've ever tried and I have tried quite a few. I think the trick is to find which sabot your particular Ultra Slug likes best and this can be quite expensive. Unless you try every sabot in both 2 3/4 and 3 inches at 50, 100, 150, and 200 yds, you will never really know which is the best all around sabot for your gun. At 50 yds, my gun and scope combination shoots a single ragged hole every time. usually a cloverleaf at 100 yds. 2.75" at 150 yds. and 3.5 inches at 200 yds. It will only shoot this well with 3" Partitioned Gold Sabot Slugs. There are a number of others it will shoot well at 50 and 100 yds but not so well at 150 or 200 yds. I can't say if it is the difference in slug weight, velocity, or what. I have teamed my Ultra Slug with a Nikon Slughunter 3x9 and am very pleased with the results . . . although I can tell you that there are a couple of NJ deer this year who weren't so pleased!
 
FWIW....
I put a composite collapsable stock/forearm on my H&R from an aftermarket company (Advanced Technology).
It made that gun look gooooooooood. Got a nice 8pt buck with it this fall too!
 
Its a heavy gun, and works great for the blind or treestand as mentioned. We have two, both in twenty gauge. Both prefer Lightfield slugs.

The extra weight takes all the recoil away in the twenty gauge. And has proven well as a starter gun for the kids.

Here is a few pics of my daughter Madison, she is 4 for 4 on her first box of shells. Took her first deer at the age of 12, the nice 8 point. :)
 

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My cousin and I have hunted together since high school and we are both in our late 50's now. We each own and use 12 Ga. Ultraslug guns for deer hunting. Here is the strange thing: we were told that due to the twist rate, out Ultraslugs would prefer slower sabot slugs and for my gun that is true. It seems to prefer the non-tipped variety of the 2 3/4" Federal Barnes expander, the 2 3/4" Remington Copper solid, and the 2 3/4" Lightfield Hybrid EXP 1 1/4 oz slugs. All three of these slugs shoot with superb accuracy from my gun. My cousins gun seems to prefer a faster slug and does not do well at all with the ones my Ultraslug prefers. Feed his Ultraslug a slug traveling in excess of 1700 FPS and it also shoots superbly. Now I have tried those faster sabot slugs in my Ultraslug and they simply do not group as well. We have both shot each other's guns with both faster and slower slugs and found what I am saying to be true, so we know it is not the shooter. I personally would have guessed that both Ultraslug guns would have had exactly the same twist of rifling and therefore would not have seen the slower vs. faster slug disparity between our guns. Don't get me wrong . . . both guns with their preferred slugs have killed numerous deer and to my knowledge, none of our deer has gone more than 25 feet after being shot. I wouldn't trade my Ultraslug for anything and neither would he . . . I just thought this difference was worth noting in the hope that someone smarter than me might help us understand why this is the case.

Bottom line is this: slower or faster is not an issue except as far as humane 1-shot kills go and both will take deer out to 100 yds or more. Understanding why things happen is not critical but it sure is satisfying!
 
Sorry - I got so wrapped-up in trying to get an answer to my question I failed to mention that I consider the 12 Ga. H&R Ultraslug the single most undervalued slug gun on the market today. I have taken 11 deer with mine at last count and none have gone more than 25 feet after being shot. They are super accurate out to 100 yds and beyond, once you find it's favorite slug. I also own an Ithaca Deerslayer but the Ultraslug seems to be just a bit more accurate than my Deerslayer. My only complaint is the weight. I'm not young anymore! Still, I grab the Ultraslug over the deerslayer unless we will be taking turns driving deer and then, I'll go for the slightly lighter gun.
 
The one time I sat down at the bench to shoot a group for accuracy at 100 yards, it measured 1.35" extreme spread for 3 rounds. And this was with my own cast Lyman 3" handloads. I've taken a half dozen deer with it and it's always one shot and DRT. I hunt from a climbing tree stand so I don't mind the weight.
 
That gun will out shoot a lot of rifles. I have killed groundhogs at over 100 yards with cheap foster slugs. I have shot 3 shot groups with the BRI slugs that were touching at 100 yards . The only thing I had against it was the weight, I like to creep through the woods and it is just to heavy . I sold mine went right to the gunshop and bought a standard weight rifled 20 ga H&R. That gun will shoot 4 inch groups @ 100 yards with my bad eyes and iron sights shooting hand loaded .625 ard cast round ball at 1250 fps.
I have a habit of hunting groundhogs with my deer gun. I figure at any range I can hit a groudhog, a deer ought to be easy pickin's
Roy
 
My 20 ga is capable of better accuracy than I can do with bad eyes and iron sights At 50 yards I'm shooting 2 1/2 in. groups and at 100 yards I shot a 4 1/2 in group at 25 it makes one ragged hole. This is with me wearing bifocals and shooting handloaded hard cast round balls I hand load
Roy
 
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