Slug Accuracy in a Pump

[Judas530]

Im getting ready for deer season and am having serious accuracy issues. I have a Mossberg 500 20 gauge with 24" rifled slug barrel with Williams WGRS sights. Back sight was changed from buckhorn blade to Ghost ring. I'm shooting Federal Premium Trophy Copper Sabot Slugs which are $17 for 5 shells so mistakes are getting costly.

Im trying to sight this in like I would a rifle and its shooting a foot high at 25 yards. I thought I would need to install a higher front sight but Im wondering if I'm just holding the gun wrong and the recoil is thowing my shot.

Im shooting from the bench at 25 yards. Front bag only and shotgun forearm is resting on bag. Im not holding the forearm when taking the shot, its just resting on the bag. This is causing the forearm to kick open the chamber during the shot so recoil is definetly having some effect but Im not sure if this would cause enough muzzle rise to throw the shot upwards of 12" at 25 yards.

Is controlling that front forearm with supporting hand necessary on a slug gun? On a rifle its unnecessary as I usually support the stock with front bag only and get good groups but Im wondering if my technique is the issue or whether I really do need to chop the old front sight off and install a taller sight. Have any of you ever dealt with this issue with slugs?

[FeuerFrei]

Ballistics of a slug are like making a 3 pointer from 1/2 court. Sabots are better compared to Fosters/Brenneke tho.

25 yds is too close IMO. Back it up to 50 and finally to 100 and you'll see a huge difference.

I don't use sabots (no rifled barrel) so it's Fosters/Brenneke for me.

Also remember F.O.R.S. for your sight adjustments. Front Opposite Rear Same.
Moving rear sight down wil drop your POI. Move front sight up will bring your POI down.

[Judas530]

Ballistics of a slug are like making a 3 pointer from 1/2 court. Sabots are better compared to Fosters tho.

25 yds is too close IMO. Back it up to 50 and finally to 100 and you'll see a huge difference.

I don't use sabots (no rifled barrel) so it's Fosters for me.

Also remember F.O.R.S. for your sight adjustments. Front Opposite Rear Same.
Moving rear sight down wil drop your POI. Move front sight up will bring your POI down.

I get what your saying but I cant imagine aiming a foot low to hit a deer thats within 25 yards if Im zeroed at 50 yards. I used to shoot Foster slugs out of an 870 and there wasnt a major POI change between 25 and 50 yards definetly not 12" worth. Ive hit coyotes on the run at 25 yards with fosters without adjusting aim for a POI shift. 12" seems like way too much for a 25 yard change.

Rear sight is maxed out on the metal part where the barrel fits into the receiver. Cant lower it anymore and Im still 12" high. Front sight is non dovetailed and cant be changed without gunsmithing so all POI changes must be done with rear sight.

Curious what Fosters your using these days? Only ones Ive seen that are lead free are DDuplexs or those zink ones Winchester puts out but I dont think they make them in 20 Gauge.

[FeuerFrei]

I get what your saying but I cant imagine aiming a foot low to hit a deer thats within 25 yards if Im zeroed at 50 yards. I used to shoot Foster slugs out of an 870 and there wasnt a major POI change between 25 and 50 yards definetly not 12" worth. Ive hit coyotes on the run at 25 yards with fosters without adjusting aim for a POI shift. 12" seems like way too much for a 25 yard change.

Rear sight is maxed out on the metal part where the barrel fits into the receiver. Cant lower it anymore and Im still 12" high. Front sight is non dovetailed and cant be changed without gunsmithing so all POI changes must be done with rear sight.

Curious what Fosters your using these days? Only ones Ive seen that are lead free are DDuplexs or those zink ones Winchester puts out but I dont think they make them in 20 Gauge.

I don't hunt with a shotgun, but I do shoot them often enough to hit 100 yd targets.
I can put rounds on a paper plate @100yds with open sights.

I am also using cylinder bore 12 ga. Semi auto and pump. Adjustable sights and bead.

You're at the mechanical limits of your sights then that front or rear sight needs a mod. Before that I'd try another brand of ammo to confirm. Then have someone else shoot it in a standing position. No bench needed to confirm @25yds.

If it's still hitting 12" high the sights are the wrong height. Go to plan B.

Good luck on this.

[strakill]

Im getting ready for deer season and am having serious accuracy issues. I have a Mossberg 500 20 gauge with 24" rifled slug barrel with Williams WGRS sights. Back sight was changed from buckhorn blade to Ghost ring. I'm shooting Federal Premium Trophy Copper Sabot Slugs which are $17 for 5 shells so mistakes are getting costly.

Im trying to sight this in like I would a rifle and its shooting a foot high at 25 yards. I thought I would need to install a higher front sight but Im wondering if I'm just holding the gun wrong and the recoil is thowing my shot.

Im shooting from the bench at 25 yards. Front bag only and shotgun forearm is resting on bag. Im not holding the forearm when taking the shot, its just resting on the bag. This is causing the forearm to kick open the chamber during the shot so recoil is definetly having some effect but Im not sure if this would cause enough muzzle rise to throw the shot upwards of 12" at 25 yards.

Is controlling that front forearm with supporting hand necessary on a slug gun? On a rifle its unnecessary as I usually support the stock with front bag only and get good groups but Im wondering if my technique is the issue or whether I really do need to chop the old front sight off and install a taller sight. Have any of you ever dealt with this issue with slugs?

Get your hand control on that forend anyways. It is a moving part that should be supported during recoil, mimic field use. That slide might be opening up the action a little different every time allowing a different amount of pressure to escape the action rather than the breech. I'm not expert, it is just a thought.

Try a different slug. Just like every other gun, it will prefer a certain cartridge. I have two identical 590A1's and they both shoot different with the same slugs or buck shot. I can't use either of those two in my main hunting gun, the 535.

Same goes for my three 870's

[Judas530]

Ya thats what I figured. I was hoping to get out of taking it to the gunsmith since that front sight is fixed with no dovetail so I cant change ot out myself. Gonna cost me the price of the barrel to get it to hit something... I assumed that it would do that out of the box but I guess thats expecting too much.

[W.R.Buchanan]

OK Judas: What you need to do is squeeze the action bars while shooting off a rest and this will prevent the action from opening during recoil.

Your support hand will rest on the front bag or whatever you are using to support the front of the gun.

You need to shoot at 50 yards and the shot should be about 1-2" high at 50 yards, Dead on at 75 and 3" low at 100. This is assuming you have rifle sights on the gun that are adjustable.

for others reading this,,, If the gun only has a bead front sight you have a 50 yard gun and will need to index the bead on the target and see where the shot goes and compensate for that discrepancy there after.

Randy

[BajaJames83]

I load the Lyman 525gr wad slugs and have actually got pretty good accuracy at 50yds hold over on my I had to aim about 1-2" high with vent rib with a bead. But each gun, barrel and load will be slightly different.

[NapalmCheese]

This is a 1900 fps 275 grain copper bullet OP is talking about.

Zeroed at 100 yards it's a little over an inch high at 50 yards and 2 inches low at 125.

Assuming it's using the .50 Barnes Expander MZ and sighted in as a rifle it's +/- 3 inches out to 166 yards when zeroed at 144 yards.

Might be a .45 caliber copper slug. Either way, it's a high velocity bullet not your traditional slug.