Hornady? 12 and 20-ga. SST? Shotgun Slugs

[Corpe Nimrod]

Has anyone experienced these and are they all they are cracked up to be? I love this bullet out of my muzzleloader but wondered if I should try them out of my shotguns. At 11.00 a box I thought I'd do some investigating before I dove right in. Any advice/experience would be appreciated!
Darrell

 

[minst7877]

One of the guys that hunt on the farm that I'm on has a 20ga 870 with a rifled barrel and he uses these. He took a buck and a doe last year the closest was about 85 yds and the other 120 both were thru and thru and both dropped within about 30 yards.

DC

 

[jcchartboy]

Has anyone experienced these and are they all they are cracked up to be? I love this bullet out of my muzzleloader but wondered if I should try them out of my shotguns. At 11.00 a box I thought I'd do some investigating before I dove right in. Any advice/experience would be appreciated!
Darrell

Hey Darrell,

I have an extensive amount of experience with these slugs in both 12ga and 20ga, through a number of different guns. If you have any questions in particular, I would be happy to answer anything I can....

JC

 

[bsn]

My Mossburg 535 slug barrel didn't like them too well.

 

[jcchartboy]

100 yds 20ga

100 yds 12 ga

75 yds 12ga

 

[Corpe Nimrod]

Thnaks for the insight, I'd say they group pretty well. The 20 guage at 100 yards is impressive. I shoot a Rem 11-87 12 g. Canteliver rifled barrel. JC is this one of your test configurations? What is the maximum range you would feel comfortable? What was the test gun that genrated the groups in the picture? I am looking for a NEF Tracker II in 20 for the farmer of my hunting ground as a gift and figured I'd get these for him as well.

Sportsman's guide has them reasonably (as it gets) 94.00 bucks for 50 rounds of 12 or 20. Is there a better price out there? I know that all guns run different but didn't wnat to spend the money to find out that they are crap!
Darrell

 

[jcchartboy]

Thnaks for the insight, I'd say they group pretty well. The 20 guage at 100 yards is impressive. I shoot a Rem 11-87 12 g. Canteliver rifled barrel. JC is this one of your test configurations? What is the maximum range you would feel comfortable? What was the test gun that genrated the groups in the picture? I am looking for a NEF Tracker II in 20 for the farmer of my hunting ground as a gift and figured I'd get these for him as well.

Sportsman's guide has them reasonably (as it gets) 94.00 bucks for 50 rounds of 12 or 20. Is there a better price out there? I know that all guns run different but didn't wnat to spend the money to find out that they are crap!
Darrell

Darrell,

My 20ga is a Tar-Hunt that admittedly shoots better than average.

With your 870 I would think you would be more likely to achieve 3" groups, which is not bad at 100yds.

The best buy in an inexpensive gun is the H&R ultra slug hunter...though they do cost a bit more. The "USH"'s are they are known are honestly the best bang for the buck if money is a concern...

I don't know many folks that have shoot the Tracker II's, so I can't be of much help there...but I will add that I have shot the Pardner which is nearly identical in design...and it does kick like a mule...

JC

 

[Corpe Nimrod]

I also have an USG in 12 ga and I agree. It is the best slug shooter I have regardless of the money. The downside is the overall weight which isn't a problem for stand hunting. I haven't seen a USG with sights and I talked to a smith about adding them to the USG 20 and he said the difficulty would be matching the roll of the barrel to the bottom concave of the sight. He said a tricky deal at best. Have you experienced any terminal results with the slug? I am interested to know what down range penetration is like with the 20 at 100 yards?

 

[jcchartboy]

I also have an USG in 12 ga and I agree. It is the best slug shooter I have regardless of the money. The downside is the overall weight which isn't a problem for stand hunting. I haven't seen a USG with sights and I talked to a smith about adding them to the USG 20 and he said the difficulty would be matching the roll of the barrel to the bottom concave of the sight. He said a tricky deal at best. Have you experienced any terminal results with the slug? I am interested to know what down range penetration is like with the 20 at 100 yards?

I have only used the Patition Golds in the 20ga so far...devestating to say the least...

JC

 

[Corpe Nimrod]

JC,

I have been studying the Tar Hunt stuff and they talked about sighting in at 50 yards so that the slug stays supersonic. They claimed the sight in should be 2.75 inches at 50 and that will put you dead on at 100. Is that your experience with the SST? What is your sight in plan and what are you experiencing at 50, 100, and 150? I did some shooting this weekend with good results but had 30 mph wind and didn't want to waste shots at $2 a piece!

Thanks!
Darrell

 

[choc-dog]

Midsouth Shooters Supply has the 12 ga and 20 ga. SST slugs on sale at $8.76 per box.

I just ordered some for my 20 ga Pro hunter barrel. I just jope they shoot.

Choc-dog

 

[jcchartboy]

JC,

I have been studying the Tar Hunt stuff and they talked about sighting in at 50 yards so that the slug stays supersonic. They claimed the sight in should be 2.75 inches at 50 and that will put you dead on at 100. Is that your experience with the SST? What is your sight in plan and what are you experiencing at 50, 100, and 150? I did some shooting this weekend with good results but had 30 mph wind and didn't want to waste shots at $2 a piece!

Thanks!
Darrell

Hi Darrel,

First off keep in mind that the recomendations that Fritz makes, while still valid, become less and less important as bullet velocity and BC increase.

In other words, none of the problems he discusses are as significant when shooting the SST.

That being said the 50yd shoot is great for initial sighting in, and windy days. However, the only way to know how your slug will perform in varying conditions at varying distances is to shoot in those conditions at those distances.

In my opinion, once you get your gun sighted in...you should do the majority of your shooting at the longer side of the distance that you anticipate taking game. (In my case 100yds is good). That way you will have real world experience at the longer range distance, and can still conservatively assume you will be slightly more accurate at shorter distances...

So, in the end I say stick with 100 or even 125 if you like....

JC

 

[Corpe Nimrod]

Excellent advice and I agree. I found the ballistic table on them on Hornady.com today and will attempt to match it. They said +2.4 inches at 50 and remarkably that will supposedly shoot +2.7 inches at 100 and then 0 at 150. I think this is the farthest I would ever attempt with a semi auto 12 gauge but I can't wait to see how closely my results match. Hopefully, I'll get to the range this weekend some. Thanks for all of the advice and good luck hunting!

 

[Corpe Nimrod]

Thought I'd update the progress and share why it is so very important to sight in your gun. I took two shotguns to the range this weekend. One, a 11-87 cantilever slug gun, and the other, an H&R USG 12 gauge. Using the Hornady 12 gauge SST, I started with the USG. The first three shot group at 50 yards were all touching the bull. I contemplated moving it up the 2.5 inches as cited on the packaging but figured I'd shoot first. Moved to 100 yards and that three shot group was dead on also. No rise or drop to speak of and all three touching close to bull. I packed that one away and moved on to the 11-87.

My 11-87 has been a reliable gun always and I have had great accuracy with the Remington copper solids and lately the lightfields. At 1.5 ounces the lightfield hammers at both the front and rear of the weapon. Consequently, I was interested in using the SST's to flatten trajectory and reduce recoil. I could not keep them on the paper at either 50 or 100 yards. The gun just didn't like them at all. I am not disrepecting the 11-87 and will return to the lightfields, it just proves that the best way to be confident in your combination is to shoot them!