What slug gun in colorado

[whacker]

I couldn't find any thing on slug guns for rocky mountain hunting. On this forum,   :eek:    I know of no one in my area  that uses slug guns for big game.What would you all suggest for hunting mule deer, elk, moose. And what yardages would I be looking at. Thanks for your help.

HAVE A GREAT DAY.  

[dawei]

I couldn't find any thing on slug guns for rocky mountain hunting. On this forum,   :eek:    I know of no one in my area  that uses slug guns for big game.What would you all suggest for hunting mule deer, elk, moose. And what yardages would I be looking at. Thanks for your help.

HAVE A GREAT DAY.  

whacker: is there a particular reason you would be using slugs in lieu of a rifle? Using slugs is a science onto itself. Generally however use Foster type slugs (Brenneke® is my favorite) in smooth bore barrels. Rifled barrels demand the use of Sabot type slugs. Foster slugs tend to clog/lead the rifling sending accuracy into the outhouse.

I will go out on a limb here and state that IN MY EXPERIENCE ONLY; 20ga was the way to go, especially in smooth bore barrels. I prefer that gauge because of far less recoil; additionally, again IN MY EXPERIENCE ONLY, 20's were far more accurate than 12's. Others on this board have far more knowledge & experience than I and you will benifit from their take on this. I hope this helps.

[Doubletap]

Guess my experience has been about the opposite.  I've always had better accuracy from the 12 bores.  Would not recommend foster slugs for game.  Go the Brenneke route, especially for stuff bigger than deer.  Foster slugs, i.e. Remington, Federal, Winchester "rifled" slugs, are poor penetrators, even more so in the hollowpointed versions.  I've seen too many fail to penetrate even a deer too think about them on bigger stuff.  When you can't take a quartering away shot on a deer without the slug stopping in the paunch on the way to the far shoulder, you know the set up isn't good.  
  A very good hunting chum of over 30 years has always been a 20 bore user.  He has finally seen the light, having had inadequate penetration and killing ability on about a 1/2 dozen whitetail over those years.  If you have the chance to see several dozen deer shot with both gauges you will see a noticable difference in the affects.
  A good smoothbore slug gun, shooting ammo it likes (they're just like .22 rimfires, you have to find what works best) should be a decent 125 yard big game gun.  With a rifled barrel and decent sabot ammo, you might be able to stretch it to 175 if you _know_ the drop for dead certain.  Even sabots drop like rocks past 125 or so.  
  My slugger like the Brenneke MP, but try the Vitt slug too.  I believe Precision Reloading has them.  THeir a handload only item, but I'm thinking it may be the way to go with more load development.

[gwhilikerz]

Did you say foster type slugs are poor penetrators on deer? Gee, they must be wearing bullet proof vests where you hunt.  I have used slugs for many deer and never, never have I seen "poor penetration". Sometimes the slug doesn't blast all the way thru the animal, but to me this is a plus. It means ALL the energy was spent on the deer and not in some tree on the other side.

[HuntenNut]

Gwhilikers,

I think what he is referencing to is thicker skinned game, like most of the western big game animals. Regular fosters are hollow insided and can shatter on heavy bone or heavy hide. Thats also why most rifle bullets for western hunting are designed more for penetration than expansion.

Whitetails have relatively thin hides and slight body construction compared with many western animals.

[WNY_Whitetailer]

I would recommend the Ultra Slugger 12GA using a quality sabot.  I shoot Winchester Partition Gold 2 3/4" sabots to good effect on whitetail.  I don't know if these slugs would be good for elk though.  I wonder if they would expand too rapidly and not penetrate enough.  I tend to think that the Golds would be effective on elk none the less.  Now if you hit the solid shoulder bone perhaps the Brenneke sabot would be more effective.  I've never hunted elk so I am not sure.  I would have no problem using the Winchester slugs on mule deer though.  I would not push the range much beyond 100 yards on either of these animals.

[whacker]

For all of you wonding why I'm so interested in slugs and slug guns,in colorado. We have several areas that are shotgun and bow only. I've hunted some of these areas and the animals stay just out of bow range. I wanted to put the odds in my favaor.

So thanks for all the info,if anything else crosses your mind let me know.

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

[gwhilikerz]

Sorry HuntenNut. I understood him to say his friend had wounded 1/2 dozen whitetails because of poor penetration from his 20ga. slug gun.  Maybe I misunderstood.

[HuntenNut]

Gwhilikerz,

You appear to be correct, I wasn't reading close, however, I still believe fosters would be no good on western animals, although they should work fine on whitetails as long as you don't hit a shoulder.

I have personally seen a deer take off on a dead run with no apparent affect after being shoulder shot by a 12ga foster. Not sure of the brand, etc, but the guy had a 12ga Pardner. It was not my deer, but a guy who was close enough in the woods for me to observe it. The deer was tracked and put down by a second shot as it lay in some heavy brush bleeding. The 1st one left a big wound on the shoulder but didn't penetrate the bone. Did cause some bone fragmentation, but didn't break the blade. The slug was not recovered, so we assumed it shattered on impact.  And this was not a large deer. It was an average doe, probably around 90-100lbs (guessing).