Shotgun question but its about slug guns

[.45 Kimber]

HI I shoot a Rem 12ga. 11-87 Premier with factory installed synthetic stocks.  Yea  I know it is supposed to have wood  but a cust. ordered it from the shop with syns. When he though it was ugly i scooped it up cheap.  I got the gun with a 28" rem choke barrel  and the older cantliever scope barrel with rem chokes for  $480

OK enough about the good deal.


I shoot a 1.75-5x Burris scope a top the 21 inch rifled choke tube barrel
I normally shoot the 2 3/4" rifled Brennke mid level slugs(here in Mich they are $2.39 a box on sale)  I have these slugs shooting about  1.5 inchs high at 50 yards with 3 shots almost touching off of sand bags.

The slugs cut perfect paper punched holes.
When I shoot the Remington slugger slugs the shoot almost the same but the holes are ragged and they dont group quite as well  maybe a 3-4 inch group.

Here is my question  what can I do to make it more accurate cheaply

I read some where about pinning the barrel to the reciever via set screws

Iam also looking for someone who can do a trigger job

Any help is appreciated  

Plus  I have only 11 months till deer season

Jamie

[Daveinthebush]

I always want better so during deer season I have always shot a ton of slugs to get ready.

Remington Slugs - the only shotgun that I have ever had that would shoot them was an 870 Remington with a 28" barrel and a "full choke".  Up until about 10 years ago the Rem's. were always cast undersized due to liability issues with Rem. In the past I think they have come closer to the Win. and Fed. in size.  

Winchester and Federal - In my H&R they have always shot the best.  It was a modified choke and accuracy at 90 yards was usually around 2" and sometimes better.  My scope was drilled and mounted directly on the barrel.

Cantliever - means it is a "lever that cants". Just joking, try to wiggle the thing and see what happens.  There is a better mount from B-square made in Solvay NY.  It mounts on both sides of the reciever using the original action pins and is a lot more sturdier.

There are other slugs, Lightfield's (haven't tried them) and some others. I have never tried sabots because I never had anything with an open or imp. cyl. that could safely shoot them.

Three inch slugs.  Save them for close up protection with bears or let someone who doesn't know what recoil is try them. :lol:


You need to shoot a variety of slugs in order to see what flys best in you gun.  It takes time, a sore shoulder, try a set of ankle weights over your shoulder.  Or, a partially filled bag of shot.

You might also try to change the chokes, there is a rifled one, open bore, Imp. cyl, modified....... Experiment!

+++++Never use the sabots with anything more than imp. cly.+++++

Hope this helps. I miss my deer season back in NY with the shotgun.

[Daveinthebush]

Winchester's slug info is at www.winchester.com/products/main.cfm

Software for calculating the ballistics is at Loadammo.com
www.loadammo.com/ . Make sure that it supports shotgun slugs before
you buy it.

You download a demo copy at www.loadammo.com/regdemo.htm

Federal has a very good (and free) ballistics program you can download at
www.federalcartridge.com/kndex.html that may help.
Their Sabot slug info is at www.federalcartridge.com/.../specs2.pl

You can find some neat info on sabot slugs at
www.mpbpolywad.com/qs12ga.html

[Bullseye]

In my opinion, if you have 3 shots touching at 50 yds I would do nothing.  That brand of slugs is good.  What is your goal.  Longer shots?  You do not say how it groups at a longer distance or if that is important to you.

I shoot an 870 with a fully rifled barrel, cantelevered scope with a Leupold 2-7x on it and three shot touch is as good as I get using $8 per box Remington Copper Solids.  I think this is excellent accuracy for a slug gun as is yours and I have a whole more invested.

With accuracy like you have I sure would not pin the barrel or change scope mounts.  The barrel does move, in my opinion the cantelever is good because the scope moves with it.

Be happy.  Good slug guns like that are hard to come by.  Never get rid of one when you have it shooting like that.

[.45 Kimber]

I was hoping for longer range (open fields)  but I have neer had to shoot farther then maybe 65 yards in the woods


I guess Im a grouping junky

My .177 pellet gun shoots 10 shot groups off a bench in to a penny at 20 yards  my .44 RSRH  shoots  less then 2 inches at 50

I have shot deer with the copper solids  and will never use them again  

I had 2 bad examples on deer

first one was a 30 yard shot  at a big does  hit her a bit farther forward then wanted and broke the front shoulder  but did not kill her

had to  shot her 2 more times  before ending it

all three bullets went through with no expansion  (used a mossberg 835 with a fully rifled barrel )
the bullets never hit solid bone except the one shoulder and then it barley opened up

The second was a nice 6 pt  that was shot by my cousin (same gun 835)  he hit right on the top of the shoulder and just cartwheeled the deer

it got up and took off  half hour later when we followed the blood  it was still alive laying there looking at its  back trail.

He shot it again with a copper solid through the lungs and it ended it

Both holes were a little bigger then the bullet  but no major expansion like advertised

There were a few years ago  before they changed the makeup of the slugs

Hope I just had t real tough whitetails

jamie

[Bob_K]

I tend to agree with the others that say with the groups you are getting now, what else are you looking for?  If you want long range (100 yards is long range for a shotgun), you may have to go to a fully rifled barrel to gain stability at that distance.  My primary rig is an 1100 with a Hastings fully rifled barrel.  The Leupold scope is mounted in a Damar mount on the receiver.  This one shoots 3" at 100 yards with Federal BRI style slugs.  My back up/loaner is an 11-87 with smooth bore cantilever barrel, Leupold scope, and the Remington extended rifled choke.  This one likes the Fiocchi full size slug, and groups into 2" at 50 yards.  I found the extended rifled choke worked better than the regular rifled choke.  The group goes to pot at 100 yards, though, and I haven't tested to see where the ballistics start to go sour.  Somewhere beyond 50 yards the slugs loose stability and start to fly all over.

Bob_K

[.45 Kimber]

After doing more research  I think im  just gonna play with different slugs and maybe try the extended choke tube for grins

I guess i was trying to compare the slug gun to a rifle

Thanks for the help and happy holidays


Jamie

[Big]

...where did you get a smoothbore, cantilever scope mount barrel for an 11-87? I tried to find one for my 870, but couldn't, although the B-Square I'm using works great.

For .45K:  You're getting great groups, although I don't know why: are you really using a rifled choke tube with rifled slugs?  The slugs want to spin at their own rate, and the rifled choke wants to spin them at another.  Somehow, all the planets must be coming into alignment for you!

I'm using an 870 Express with smoothbore barrel and Leupold 2-7x32 atop a B-Square mount.  With Remington 12 ga. 2 3/4" rifled slugs, I can cover my 50 yard groups with the palm of my hand, whatever that works out to be in inches.  All I know is it kills deer, no tracking required.  It took a few "settling rounds" after I assembled it to get the groups down to that size, and it also seems that it shoots better when not completely clean (but not too dirty, either).

[WLB]

Big, According to the article "Experiments with Slug Guns and Loads, part 1: Foster type slugs" in the May-June 1993 issue of Rifle magazine,  the rifled choke tube produced the smallest groups.  Other types tested were the Improved Cylinder, Modified, Full and fully rifled barrel, which produced the worst groups.
Bill

[Robert]

I have heard people talking about them on here, but have never heard of one in a store or any of the mail order stuff.

[WLB]

Robert, both Midway and Brownell's sell rifled choke tubes.  Brownell's also sells the tools to thread barrels that are not already threaded.
Bill

[Big]

Thanks, Bill.  I hate to buy yet another choke tube, or to switch barrels (my slug barrel is unthreaded IC), but now you have me curious.  Maybe I'll just be happy with what I have, lest I be jinxed!