Sabots vs Smoothbore Rifled Slugs

[NautiBuoys]

Looking for some discussion on pro/cons of sabot slugs versus smoothbore rifled slugs for deer. I know accuracy hands down goes to the rifled barrel/sabots, but I have seen 1st hand some pretty poor performance with the sabot slugs. Most of my shooting is 50-120yds. I have heard the full bore rifled slugs like the Lightfield and Remington Buckhammer have been good.
Any real life experience? The W-W smoothbore slugs I have used have all been one shot kills, out to 120yds.

[New Hampshire]

The only real downside to sabot slugs is the price.  Some of them can get real expensive.  People who do a lot of long range slug hunting are almost assuredly using sabots.  But the majority of deerhunters find that rifled slugs are all you need.  It basically comes down to practice.  Practice enough and Im sure you can take a rifled slug and drop deer 120 every time.  But once you get farther away you are probably better served with sabots (and a good scope.)  So in the end it comes down to this:  If you dont mind the cost involved then sabots are your answer.  If you are more economically minded go with the rifled.  At the ranges you take deer you should be fine with either.  As for the performance aspect.  You need to understand that matching rifling to the projectile is very important.  The profile of the hourglass slugs like the Winchester BRI are vastly different from the pistol bullet sabots.  So usually a compromise in rifling must be made to suit both.  The BRI slugs will be easier to stabilize and STAY stabilized a bit longer because of the shape.  The pistol bullet sabots are harder to stabilize and keep stabilized, but the benifits can outweigh the negatives.  I shoot Winchester BRI sabots and am very happy.  I get the best of both worlds:  Large frontal area and quick expansion from the soft lead and better accuracy than rifled slugs.
Brian M.

[popplecop]

In a couple smoot bores chocked IC regular Win slugs shoot great.  In one with a rifled tube sabots really shine very accurate.  If I were to shotgun hunt for deer I would have a rifled barrel or tube and shoot sabots.  Win. have been the bestfor me.  My son has even taken bear with them.

[Critter]

My experience with sabots has been very positive.  I have used Remington Copper Solids for years and never lost a deer I hit with one.  The newest version doesn't quite have the dynamic effect of the older version so I tried a couple of other brands this year and settled on the Winchester Platinum Tips.  These slugs are awesome.  I shot a buck @ 40 yards and he went down like I hit him with a truck load of bricks.  I was very impressed.  The slug broke 3 ribs going in, liquified everything in the chest cavity and broke two ribs going out.  The buck, a nice size one btw, dropped in his tracks and never moved.  I hunted with rifled slugs for 12 years and never had the same dramatic effect when shooting a deer.  One thing I should mention is the BRI type sabots do not impress me at all.  My sister-in-law had a H&R ultra 20 gauge that liked them and they performed extremely poorly on game, so much that she quit using that gun until some of the new sabots came on the market.

[IowaBuckHunter]

It depends on the type of hunting that you do.  If you hunt a lot of hills, or in real thick woods, use a smoothbore, you probably wont have real far shots.  If you hunt open areas, or on the edges of timber, use a sabot.  Sabots do shoot better.  But, when you have a fully rifled barrel, try 3 or 4 different brands of slugs.  

I shoot a rifled 1100 20 ga, and it will not shoot federals or lightfields very well.  I does shoot the buckhammers great.  That is an awesome slug by the way.  I pulled a texas heart shot on my buck this year, and had it exit.  That is impressive for any slug, especially a 20 ga.

Not to mention that the factory loads proved to group 100 shots in a 3 1/2 inch area.  That is teh best group I have ever heard of for that many shots.  

The BRI slugs i feel are worthless.  It is a pretty good design, but the worst part is the velocities of these slugs!  1350 FPS is horrible to today's standards.  There just isn't enough knockdown power to them.  I used them in my 20 ga for 2 years and had to take multiple shots for my kills.  

By the way for you accuracy finatics, I have done a lot of research and used just about everything, and It is a fact that 20 ga.'s are a lot more accurate.  I have tried every sabot available and 20's just tend to group better and shoot a lot flatter.  The buckhammers were by far teh best for me, not to mention that you get a 1 ounce sabot slug in a 20 ga!  That is the same amount of lead in a 12 ga foster slug!  So give the light recoiling 20 ga a try and your accuracy will sure to improve.

[Ramrod]

The BRI slugs i feel are worthless.  It is a pretty good design, but the worst part is the velocities of these slugs!  1350 FPS is horrible to today's standards.  There just isn't enough knockdown power to them.  I used them in my 20 ga for 2 years and had to take multiple shots for my kills.  

They just might be worthless in 20 gauge, I don't know. BUT...
A 12 gauge BRI weighs one ounce, and at that velocity it is equal to the standard 45-70 load. I have never heard anyone claim that the .45-70 was not powerfull enough for deer.