Saboted round for Mossberg 500 rifled

[Cascade1911]

Just got the rifled/ scoped barrel for my Mossberg 500. Looking to hunt white tail in a shotgun only county (up till now I've always used a muzzle loader). What is a good round for this gun. Not looking for "Premium" just something decent. A "Good Value" as it were.

Or, to put it another way, Cheaper Than Dirt has the Federal Fusion 3" 7/8 oz rounds for $7.82/ box. Any good?

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

Last year I used the cheap Winchester Sabot slug that WalMart sells. Plenty good enough for shotgun ranges. For longer ranges, say out to 125 or if you're REALLY lucky 175, you'll have to do a bunch of testing to see if there's a slug your gun likes. I liked Hornady SSTs but never had a gun that would group anything well beyond 100.

 

[12GaugeShuggoth]

you'll have to do a bunch of testing to see if there's a slug your gun likes.

+1, it's really individual to each shotgun. One shotgun may like something that another shotgun absolutely sucks with. It's not cheap trying to find out, but it's worth it in the long run; you don't want to be guessing about your slug choice when the time comes to shoot. If you're primarily a ML hunter, you should already understand the general range limitations you'll be working with.

My personal sabot slug choice are Winchester Supreme Elite Platinum Tips, which I don't think they even make any more. They're my choice simply because that's what my 535 shoots the best, bought a bunch of them a few years ago and have been slowly shooting my supply up ever since.

 

[camper4lyfe]

After trying some 3" Lightrield slugs, I'll never touch them again. After 3 shots, I could barely move my arm. In my opinion, anything over 2-3/4" is overkill.

 

[Red Eye]

Well, even though you said you weren't looking for "premium", let me tell you of my experiences.......

I have both gauges ( 12 and 20) of the Mossberg Trophy ( rifled barrel/scope combos) Slugsters. Both gauges love the 2 3/4" Winchester Dual Bond sabot loads. They will both do 2 1/2" groups at 100 yds with a good bench rest all day long,( which I think is pretty good for a slug-gun) with the Federal Barnes Expanders coming in a close second. Some people have good luck with the Lightfield loads but I have never tried them. Now, the Winchesters or Fed. Barnes can run anywhere from $10-14 a box of 5, depending on where you buy them; but I believe in finding the most accurate load for all my guns, even if they may cost more.

If the Fed. Fusions group well for you, go for it, but I would try different loads to see what you gun likes. There's NO point in getting cheaper ammo if they don't shoot well and could cause you to miss your deer.

Also, as mentioned above, you DO NOT need 3" slugs, they will just "beat you up" and could have you developing flinches and such. The 2 3/4" are plenty for deer size game. I have taken deer cleanly with my Mossberg rigs out to 140 yds.......no problem !!!!!!

Good luck in your quest and good shooting !!!!!!!!!!

 

[Cascade1911]

Red Eye, I do appreciate the idea of buying the "best" ammo but on the other hand I also subscribe to the idea of using something I can shoot a lot. At $3.00 per round I'm probably not going to put may down range.

 

[bswiv]

Range expectations are important to consider.

I've used the Berneke slugs in a rifled 20 ga with very good groups. They are inexpensive, in 2 3/4 don't kick all that bad and pack plenty of power for deer..........but they lose velocity fast as they are flat nosed so have limited range potential.

Used the Hornady SST also........more range........more expense.

 

[redneck]

I also have a mossberg 500 in 12 gauge (no scope though). In the middle priced stuff i've had pretty good results with both hornady sst's and I also like remington copper solids pretty well. If you watch for a sale you can usually get them for $10-12 a box, at least the last time I was buying you could.
I tried the copper solids in 3" and didn't really notice much difference in recoil They don't tend to go on sale as much though.

Lightfield slugs shot ok but I couldn't see paying premium prices for plain old lead slugs. They cost as much or more than the hornady sst's and remington copper solids.

Personally if I want cheap practice I just shoot regular rifled slugs out of it, like federal classics or remington sluggers. At 50 yards the point of impact is about the same, they just group a little bigger. You can shoot a couple boxes of them to get some trigger time on the gun and then finish up with whatever ammo you plan to hunt with to make sure your zero is good and everything.