Slug Gun Load

When was the last time you checked your rifled shotgun for accuracy? Did you sight it in last year? Have you ever properly cleaned it? After missing that big buck, deer hunters find out the hard way that a dirty barrel is usually the culprit, not your scope or ammo. A clean barrel ensures optimum accuracy.

Deer hunters should insist on the best possible accuracy with today’s rifled shotguns and sabot ammo. A sabot is designed to only be used in a rifled shotgun barrel. The sabot, usually made of plastic encases a sabot slug, usually made of lead and/or copper.

The sabot serves a number of roles: It blocks the gas in the barrel, which raises the muzzle velocity. It also keeps the payload centred in the barrel, and the rifling provides rotation to help stabilize it in flight. The sabot slug is released once it reaches the end of the barrel. These factors result in improved accuracy. Today’s premium sabot slugs are designed to deliver heavy-hitting offerings accurately, with 2- to 3-inch groups at 100 yards. As with any firearm, a clean rifled barrel free of copper, plastic, and lead residue will aid in its accuracy. Rifle and black-powder shooters know the importance of a clean barrel.

Keeping it clean
With the right equipment, cleaning a rifled shotgun barrel takes time, but is well worth the effort. Start by ensuring your gun is safe and empty (properly check it’s unloaded). Then, if available, clamp it in a gun vise. A secure gun is easier to clean than trying the one-arm stretch with a long cleaning rod in the other hand. When cleaning, try to avoid having debris fall into the gun’s action. To properly clean a fouled slug barrel with copper and plastic deposits, apply a solvent bore cleaner (foam or liquid) designed to remove them.

After securing your shotgun level in a gun vise, plug the breech end with a small cotton cloth to prevent run off. Squirt a small amount of foam into the muzzle, then plug the end with a cloth patch. Wait about an hour to continue.

Take this time to check your gun for loose screws and clean the action with a small brush soaked in cleaner. After an hour, run a couple of clean patches through the barrel, then shine a small light to take a close look at the bore and chamber for signs of fouling.

When using a bore solvent, mop the barrel well and run a bronze brush through in one direction as many times as it takes to remove fouling, possibly 15 to 25 passes on dirty barrels. Attach a cleaning patch to a cotton swab on a sturdy one-piece cleaning rod and run patches through a few times until one comes out clean. The copper residue should be gone. If not, soak a clean cotton swab with bore cleaner and run it back and forth in the barrel. Then, run several soaking patches down the bore and out the end, followed with dry patches. Check the barrel with a bore light again for any hard buildup. Use a bronze brush again, if required, followed by additional swabbing and patches.

At this stage, a light oiling of quality gun oil is recommended. Don’t use too much, though.

Before heading out to the range to sight in, ensure all scope-mount screws are properly secured.

Well before deer season, call a few hunting buddies with slug guns to set aside several hours to sight in. Have everyone buy their favourite brands of sabot slugs to share. Different shotguns like different loads. So, try as many different brands and loads as you can to see what best suits your gun. Then, make your decision based on the proven performance of your shotgun and optimum load shooting a clean gun. Knowing how to keep your shotgun in the best shape and what loads shoot best out of it can result in the harvest of that buck of a lifetime.