doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Double Rifles, Paradox Guns & Gauge Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Sabot slugs ????

Hey Mr. Mann if you have 12ga ready to accept Browning Std.Inv or Winchoke I can send you two tubes. Both are rifled, but one is for sabot slugs while second nicely ported unit is for Foster-type slugs. I send them to you and you in turn test them for us. So, is it a deal or what?

Sorry so late into this John.

I have done a great deal of slug testing (why? why not) and have found that results may vary.

Apparently some sabot slugs need adequate spin to detach the wad (due to the pressures that get them to 2000fps), let alone stabilize them, but some guns shoot them great anyway(>100 yds).
The slugs that typically shoot the best out of rifled tubes are the older BRI (hourglass) style slugs, which also shoot pretty well out of a normal IC choke.
I would try the Breneke(sp?) non-sabot as a good performer, or the Rem buckhammer.
Hey, trying them all might work too because I have a feeling that slight differences in bore diameter may make a difference.
Whatever you do, good luck and good shooting.

Cheers

Tom

John, there's one problem which no one has addressed here. You can't screw in two rifled choke tubes, screw on a set of rifle sights, and expect that your barrels will print together, at any range. The only way that you'd achieve that would be to re-regulate the gun. What you can do is to put together a 12 gauge cape gun. Rifled tube in the left barrel, sighted to the sights. A heavy load of "00" buck in the right barrel. No shots beyond 20 yards with the buckshot and it's devestating. The slug will do out to about 75 yards. You can't do this with a 20 bore because the 20 just won't carry the mail with buckshot.

"A heavy load of "00" buck in the right barrel. No shots beyond 20 yards with the buckshot and it's devestating. The slug will do out to about 75 yards." Ron Vella

Ron,

This is the most sensible advice on the use of buckshot I have read in several years. There are those who believe buckshot is effective out to 40 or 50 yards. Your 20 yard limit is spot on. Beyond that luck is the greatest factor.

All Good, Bill

Bill,
You and I both know that. Now all that we have to do is to convince the 90% of users who still take shots way beyond its effective range. I just seethe when I read articles by gunwriters denigrating buckshot as a great wounder. It's not the buckshot dude, its the moron behind the trigger!

The 1 oz Brenneke SP's sing out of my Uggie landing very well regulated on the front sight at 50 yards. And, it is a sure killer at that range.

Sorry about getting back to this thread.
PaulJ---This is a 20 gauge gun.
Weather permitting, I will test five dofferent slug types over the next three or four weeks and report back.
As the gun seems choked f/f, I may find a more than acceptable difference in them. I say that it seems f/f as I used a Galazan gauge and this may not truely reflect the choke.
Just for info. to those interested. I hunted deer and pig for many years in the South. Most was in South Carolina and dogs were used to run the deer to the ahooter. This provided good short range shots , usually within 20/40 yds.. Stands were usually 150/300 yds apart and with the heavy timber,where we hunted, all seemed safe.
BUT---I do know of a shooter that was wounded by OO Buchshot at a measured 155 yard distance.
I know that this is accendotal and not a scientific observation, but think that buckshot is lethal at a greater distance that some think. Not very accurate , but still with great power.
Best,
John

I converted a 20 ga to a paradox gun by getting the choke sections rifled and it works great with the correct conical (WR style) 500 grain slugs. I considered screw-in tubes but was concerned they would either screw themselves out, or screw themselves in so tight you couldn't get them out! The trick here is to use pretty aggressive rifling, a slow twist, and to clean out the leading after ever few shots. As far as regulation, I lucked out and didn't even have to refile the sights (well the gun used to be a 25 bore rifle way back before someone bored it out to a 20 ga shotgun).

You never know what will work until you try it. I want to pick up several brands of 12 ga. slugs to try in my combination gun. It put a pair of slugs about an inch apart at 100 yards, which would have encouraged me a lot had this tight group been less than a foot from the group from the rifle barrel.

Good luck, John, and keep us posted.

I really like the Cape gun idea. That seems like a great North American DG gun, for hogs, etc.

For what its worth Im currently "toy-ing" around with the same concepts. I initially figured to use only a couple Stevens that my local shop had on the used rack; but the manager, who is a good friend talked me into the Bakial guns as being cheaper and NEW. So far Ive shortened a Zabala 10 ga, to 25 inches and added a Remington 700 type hooded front sight and a single express "V" rear. I havent had a chance to take it to the range yet; but if nothing else its impressive on the wall...

Shortening the barrels was my first step. I wanted to be sure the barrels were opened to full cylinder bore. Also the barrels are a bit thicker in case I decide to have it fitted for rifled choke tubes. What I might give up in any accuracy, I make up for with reduced pressure and piece of mind. Besides the 24 to 26 inch tubes look and shoulder better for me.

My next to projects are a 12 ga. Ive got a three leaf express for the rear and Im thinking about an large ivory bead for the front. I figure theres lots of factory slugs to test before the handloading starts.

After that, I thought about a 410. Ive got a supply of the Russian steel case slugs to test. If it works at all, I was thinking about a low power scope with QD rings. All 3 of the rear leaves fold flat.