Slugs through a semi-auto?

[Nathanael_Greene]

I hope this isn't a silly question, but are there any special considerations to using slugs in a semi-auto?

I've been invited to do some slug-only deer hunting this fall, and my brain just jumped to a pump gun, but I got to thinking and I wonder whether a semi-auto might not be a viable option.

Any experiences? Good idea? Bad idea?

 

[nebeel]

I don't see any reason why not. I use foster slugs in a smoothbore semi and it works just fine.

The only thing i can think of is don't use to tight of a choke.

If using a smoothbore I use foster slugs. A lot of people use a rifled barrel with brenneke slugs that I hear you can get some pretty good range out of.

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[Beentown]

Rifled barrel I prefer a good sabot slug like the Hornady SST or Remington AccuTip.





In a smoothbore I use Brennekkee Foster style slug with an I/C choke in.

 

[nebeel]

That's right, I had my terms wrong. Sabot = rifled barrel, foster = smoothbore.

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[rsrocket1]

I got into casting and shooting Lee key drive slugs in my 1100 with an IC ventr rib barrel just for fun. It was very simple and straight forward to get the slugs to shoot safely. To get them to shoot accurately at 100 yards would take more development. My tests were at plinking distances of 25 and 50 yards.

This was with the 1 oz slug with Claybuster Lightning and Windjammer style wads (with and without dacron pillow stuffing under the slug to build up the stack height and get a good crimp)




I only had a vent rib barrel with a single bead in the front.

 

[yugorpk]

I run them through my 11-87 all the time. No issues.

 

[Panzerschwein]

Shouldn't be a problem at all.

 

[Nathanael_Greene]

Thanks, everybody. Helps a lot.

 

[Fast Frank]

I have an 11-87P. Its got ghost ring sights on it and i figured it would throw slugs real nice.

So i dug out a big pile of Remington Slugger forster type rifled slugs and went to the range.

Sure enough, it lobbed them out there real nice.

So I tossed the shotgun in the safe and then did it again the next weekend.

By the time I got around to cleaning it it had about 100 slugs down the bore.

Yeah.

So when I took it apart the chrome outside of the magazine and the piston rings and the cylinder on the bottom of the barrel were all coated with lead.

What a mess. I cleaned it with a lead remover cloth. It took several hours to get it off.

It didnt make the gun jam or cause any other problems but i bet it eventually would.

Be aware. Clean your auto if you shoot bare lead slugs.

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[Nathanael_Greene]

I hadn't thought of that. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[Mr. T]

You shouldn't have any issues unless you are using a Mossberg. Some Mossbergs are overbored and the Company doesn't recommend shooting through anything but their slug barrels on some models. Otherwise anyone else I would say there's no issues. My dad's family that's all they hunt with are Browning A5's and they've killed more deer than CWD.

 

[Bristol Mt.Man]

I shoot regular Winchester slugs through my 11-87 with smooth bore barrel that has a screw in rifled choke, helped by a Leupold 1.5-5 scope and it shoots very accurate for a shotgun. Many a deer has dropped from this rig. No problems.

 

[entropy]

I wouldn't call it a special consideration, but on a gas gun, check the port(s) for powder residue and shaved lead/plastic. That should be SOP when cleaning a gas gun anyway.