Shotgun slugs?

Question

I got a remington 870 express magnum 12 gage and if i shot a 3 inch slug out of it and hit a deer in the shoulder blade lets say at 40 or 50 yards would it just bounce off or brake through ive heard both and i want to know for sure thnx

Answer 1

If you hit a deer in the shoulder blade at 50 yards with a 12 gauge slug, you will be eating venison for supper.

Answer 2

The guy in answer 2 has no clue. I have shot a deer at 100 yards with my 870 12 gauge and the slug went in the right shoulder and out the left shoulder! Depending on your barrel being a smooth bore or rifled (mine is smooth), there are slugs and sabots designed for both. I recommend trying different brands to see which preforms best out of your gun. Sight in at 50-60 yards using a good stable rest and see which shell gives you the best group. Some of the most modern slugs claim accuracy up to 200 yards now. There is even a brand that propels a .50 caliber muzzle loader sabot. Good shooting

Answer 3

I live in Ohio and we are not allowed to use rifles here, so the shotgun is the weapon of choice. With a 2-3/4" Federal Premium (12GA), I have hit a deer at 90 yards and destroyed both front shoulders. Don't listen to the second answer, as he apparently has no clue. A quality slug will get it done, with ease.

Answer 4

The second guy who answered your question is nuts....
Ive shot deer at 100 yards with smooth-bore barrel. I now shoot a rifled barrel up to about 150 yards. Any slug will go right through the shoulder of a deer at almost any yardage up to 200 yards. Anyone who tells you it will bounce off, doesn't know anything about guns or hunting. There are also a lot of good slugs on the market, and to go with that, a huge debate over which are the best. I prefer Brenneke Gold. there are inexpensive and accurate up to 150 yards in my rifled barrel. But many people are big fans of sabot slugs too. I think sabots are good also, but I've just always used Brenneke and that's what I've stuck with. Good luck with whatever you use.

Answer 5

At fifty yards a 12 gauge slug fired from a 3" shell will be travelling at 1310 ft/sec and carrying 1667 ft-lbs of kinetic energy. This is for a one ounce slug (437.5 grains.) This is more than enough power to do the job on a deer, and will carry more than enough momentum to break bones.

Mind you, at 100 yards, that same slug will have dropped down to 1040 ft/sec of velocity with a kinetic energy of 1052 ft-lbs . . . but for a shotgun with sights zeroed in at fifty yards, it will experience 4.6" of drop . . . which is right at the bottom of a deer's vital zone, and still powerful enough to quickly put a deer out of this life. Twenty-five yards beyond that point, the drop is around 10".

But, so long as you keep your shots short, a 12 gauge slug will do nasty, nasty things deer.

Answer 6

A deer can easily be killed with a 12 gauge slug at 150 yards with no problem, if placement is correct. My brother killed his first deer with a 16 ga. (which is smaller) using a 7/8 ounce foster slug at a measured (by pacing averaging mine, my dad and my brothers steps) at 163 yards. My longest kill with a shotgun (which was a 12 gauge) has been about 80 yards.

Answer 7

It would blow a hole the size of a quarter in the deer. Guaranteed. A 12 gauge slug WILL NOT bounce off of anything. A small piece may ricochet off of a hard target but not the whole slug.

Answer 8

It should definitely break the shoulders at 40 to 50 yards...And also the guy with the second answer you can buy shotgun barrels that have rifling their called rifled slug barrels... The difference is with a rifle the bullet expands because it has a huge advantage with it's velocity.

Answer 9

Im not going to beat around the bush with a big drawn out boring
answer.
This 12 gauge 3 in slug will kill any animal in north america at this range if they dont drop in thier tracks they wont go far. leaves a very large hole. These guns should and will kill at 100 to 150 on deer.
It is the shock from the slug that kills the animal not the slug it self.
experiment with this theory and you will find out for your self.

Answer 10

a 12 gage slug typically weighs 1/2 ounce (500 grains) it will pretty much break the shoulder into little pieces......