I understand they have come a long way with the techno on this. What is the difference in range with a smooth bore vs rifled?

smooth bore with a rifled slug depends on the wind but 100 yard max accurate range , on a still day with a good barrel maybe 110 yards then they start to drop off fast , the issue is they still go a good distance further you just can't really control them.
on a windy day 75 yards can easily be the farthest distance you can reliably hit a gallon jug every time
if we are talking the lighter 5/8 ounce 20 ga take 25 yards off the 1 ounce 12ga
they need the weight to carry the momentum and when they lose speed and they lose it fast they become unstable

they are drag stabilized they flight like a badmitten shuttlecock

a sabot in a rifled barrel depends on the slug , but decently accurate to 150yards and do very well at 100 yards 3 shots in a beer can wouldn't be out of the normal.
with some examples that can be pushed a little further , you pay for it often 5 dollars a round but it is a spin stabilized bullet that travels down the rifled barrel in a plastic case then is released after the muzzle.

they are still no rifle but they are a good step up in range if you see a bunch of deer that were just out of foster slug range.

if you see all your deer at 20-60 yards foster slug away and fill the freezer.

You'd be surprised how accurate my mod choke model 12 shoot pumpkin balls. Hitting knots in trees at 50 is no problem. Shooting and learning it I'd say 125 is no problem for a deer chest. Thats just the bead.

The green Remington accu tip slugs with the green tips in my fancy rifled barrel work pretty good too. This gets you in the 150 - 175 range. That ones scoped.

About the time I bought the fancy one we legalized straight wall cartridges here and 45-70 leverlution is pretty sweet too. 200 - 225. Thats actually scoped.

Any of these ranges would get better if i had a couple weeks to prepare but I think thats pretty close to how I remember them.

45-70 is the only time I've seen a deer flop over dead where it was standing.

I have a scoped 12ga 30 inch barrel mod choke it would stack a vertical line of 5 slugs at 100 yards each touching , it is a vent rib barrel so each was higher.
but but it falls off very quickly after that and if windy it falls off and won't even do a 2 liter bottle at 100 yards , back up to 75 and it will take out the 2 liter bottle.

it is very gun and barrel dependent what you can get from a foster slug

in rifles people argue about moa or sub moa , in foster slugs you just be happy to have 3 under 3 inches at 50 yards which is minute of deer heart all day long , but 6moa and 3 under 6 inches at a hundred is also doing very well.


just my experience you can't extrapolate what a slug should do at distance like you can a bullet because it hinges on when it falls trans sonic and that can happen a lot sooner with a 72 cal flying thimble than it does with a spitzer bullet.

Saw these some time ago, and was wondering ....

Daughter will be using it in a 20ga. She will be hunting the woods so nothing outside of 35yds. Sounds like it should be plenty. Thanks folks.

I have a Mossberg 500 with a smoothbore slug barrel. It groups the Winchesters and Remington foster slugs great at 50 yards. I have a leupold shotgun scope mounted on the receiver of it and plan on taking it out further at the range soon. I bought the smoothbore barrel off ebay. It came with a rifled barrel, but with the price or rifled slugs, and the shorter ranges I kill in thick woods and swamps I like the foster slugs better. Range time builds conference aswell and foster slugs being way cheeper, will give you more time to do that. Just about every major ammunition company makes 12 gauge foster slugs. Most make several in 12 gauge and in my experience the 2 3/4 are more accurate then the 3 inch foster slugs out of my barrel. Also the 1600 Winchesters or the 1550 Remingtons group better then the 7/8 high velocity Remingtons for my gun. For me my Foster slugs or 45 colt Henry for the brush/swamps/ground and my Ruger 350 Legend for the fields or tree stand. The reduced recoil 1200 Remington 12 gauge foster slugs shoot great for me too. Those work nicely for young/female shooters. This all being said my Remington 1100 12 gauge likes federal foster slugs and not the Winchesters or Remingtons. Thats 2 different smoothbore, 24 inch slug barrels that love different foster slugs by a very noticeable amount. So like I said before, and as I'm sure you know, the more range time the better. Last, I have a Carson rifled choke tube for my mossberg 500 field barrel. I like it but haven't had a chance to use it since mounting my scope and that will be the real test.

It'll be just fine.

Yup 60 and in 20 ga and smooth bore slugs are extremely effective.

I didn't read the whole post, but this I agree with. I've shot a lot of deer with 20 ga. slugs. The Remington Sluggers and Winchester Rifled Slugs have accounted for most of the ones I shot with a smooth bore. 2 3/4" is plenty. If you ever decide to get a rifled barrel the Remington AccuTip Sabots are the first ones I'd have you test. If they shoot accurately, look no further. Awesome results.

75 yds difference IMO... maybe a bit more.
20 Remington Accutips, sighted 3" high at 100 yds. are 4" low at 160 yds... so " basically a "dead on hold " from 0 to 160 yds.

I can hit a 9 inch pie plate at 50 yaahds...with my 20 bore Smoothbore flintah

Offhand ..no rear sight.

I gave my kid a 20 ga deer hunting. We put a good sneak on a lifetime buck. I got him into position and it fell short. In the excitement I didn't think to have him aim high for the 20ga. It petered out pretty quick and I am still sick over it and that must have been ten years or more ago. That one single shot 20ga is supposed to be killer for deer but he had a 20 870. I hate to even tell that story. Then we tracked it too soon and jumped it and never found it. Lots to learn from that day.

I'm the odd man out....Actually I have shot Winchester pumps all my life with smooth bores and Remington slugs. I have shot deer over 350 yards with them and killed them. You have to shoot a lot and practice. I have seen no accuracy difference in my Winchester pumps smooth bored slug barrels over my same guns shooting sabots and riffled barrels. I sold my last 12 ga. rifled pump to a guy two years ago because I just didn't want to take the punishment of the sabot rounds anymore. Awesome brush gun for deer on drives. I am not afraid to shoot at a deer 200 yards away with my slug guns. Slugs used to come in boxes of 25 and they were the same price as shotshells. That's when I learned to shoot them
I used the 12 ga Accutips for 3 seasons. I shot a deer lengthwise with one as he was running off. Not good PR. It did a good job on others but on that one deer it was a lot of waste. Good for head shots though.

what is the 350 yard hold over for a slug?

I guess I’m odd I really don’t like Remington, I prefer federal and Winchester, I really like Brenneke if it can find them.

Larry Baer... I think I just learned some things.

See, now I'm the odd man out. Because if it traveled lengthwise and created a lot of damage, to me that is great PR, that means it is getting really good penetration and a large wound channel, which means it will be lethal even on marginal shots. Of course I've never shot a deer with a slug in my life, I only tried once, at 10 years old, I was using an old Stevens over and under 22 magnum/20 gauge with rifle sights and it was dead on with the 22 mag or with birdshot, I assumed it would also shoot the same with slugs. Missed twice at 50 yards, shot it when I got back to the house and discovered it was shooting 2 feet high at fifty yards with slugs.