{"id":1649,"date":"2025-05-08T16:31:34","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T16:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tactical-dailynews.com\/?p=1649"},"modified":"2025-05-08T16:31:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T16:31:35","slug":"the-impressive-power-of-12-gauge-slugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tactical-dailynews.com\/?p=1649","title":{"rendered":"The Impressive Power Of 12-Gauge Slugs"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
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Accuracy? Is this, at 50 yards, with just a bead good enough? Mount a scope and that third shot will join the other two.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Depending on the load, a .30-06 has a power factor of about 400, but 12-gauge slugs can reach the 700s with ease.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If you really want to put the hurt on something, like a big critter, a 12-gauge slug does that. And here I will be speaking only of the 12-gauge variety, because while the 20 can come close, the rest \u2026 meh<\/em>. The 16-gauge is so rare that it might not even exist, and 28 and .410 slugs are pointless.<\/p>\n

First, what\u2019s a slug?<\/p>\n

Simply put: a single projectile, not a payload of shot or buckshot. And the shotgun slug goes back a long way. In fact, until the advent of the Minie ball, you could say that everyone fought wars with shotguns and slugs.<\/p>\n

Really.<\/p>\n

\"12-gauge
Modern slug loads use plastic over-powder wads and cups, not pasteboard and fiber. But they do the same thing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The near-ubiquitous Brown Bess\u2014the British Army standard from its finalization in 1716 or so until it was replaced by a rifled musket in 1867\u2014was what ruled the world. The Land Pattern musket fired a round ball of about 0.700 inch in diameter: The black powder charge pushed it to over 1,000 fps, so it was essentially a \u201clow-recoil\u201d 12-gauge shotgun.<\/p>\n

Well, round balls aren\u2019t what we use today, but shotgun slugs are still with us. What are the slugs\u2019 designs, you ask? Well, it depends. It depends on whether you\u2019re using a smoothbore or a rifled-bore shotgun. Yes, it\u2019s possible to have a fully rifled bore and still be a shotgun. That\u2019s one of those regulatory determinations that had to be made, as the technology advanced and shooters demanded more.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll go into that in a bit.<\/p>\n

The basic slug is called the \u201cFoster\u201d slug. Think of a lead shot glass with a round base.<\/p>\n

Load the slug\/shot glass base-down and fire it rounded-end forward. No, it doesn\u2019t act like a Minie ball. The open edges, or the skirt, can\u2019t expand to grip the (non-existent) rifling, because shotgun slugs of the Foster design are loaded with wads underneath them, ahead of the powder charge. There\u2019s often an assembly or stack of wads, with an over-powder card, then a cushioning and a slug base card. The slug and the wad assembly are pushed down the bore, and the slug continues while the wads drop off.<\/p>\n

But the wads can be problematic. If you\u2019re hunting, no big deal. The cardboard, pasteboard or other wadding will simply decompose in the woods. And the wads don\u2019t go far enough to be a problem. But, in defense they might. Inside of, say, 15 yards, wads can hit hard enough to cause an injury \u2026 especially now that they\u2019re all plastic, not card and fiber. They can stray wide of your line of fire, so if you\u2019re using Foster slugs for defense, you have that to keep in mind.<\/p>\n

How do we solve that problem?<\/p>\n

Brenneke had a simple solution. Instead of the lead cup, the idea is to make a lead cylinder. Then, use a screw to attach the wadding column to the base of the cylinder. Fire the whole assembly, and voila<\/em>, no wadding straying off your line of fire.<\/p>\n

\"brenneke\"brenneke
A Brenneke slug, showing the wad base and the screw holding it to the slug.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Typically, the Foster slug tends to be made of a soft lead alloy, so it can squeeze down if you happen to fire it through a barrel with some choke constriction or a choke tube installed. The Brennekes have the lead cylinder on the small size of bore diameter and use the wadding to keep it centered in the bore. So, it can pass through some chokes without damage.<\/p>\n

\"brenneke\"brenneke
Here you can see the Brenneke slug from the side, and the wad secured to the slug.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But, after all, rifling was invented for a reason. Modern shotgun slugs are more accurate than the smoothbore muskets of yore for a couple of reasons.<\/p>\n

\"fiocchi\"fiocchi
The Fiocchi Exacta Aero-slug uses the Brenneke approach but uses a plastic wad instead of one screwed onto the base of the slug.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One, they\u2019re machined to tighter tolerances than a Land Pattern musket. Two, the modern slug is a lot closer to bore diameter, so there\u2019s less \u201cwandering\u201d as it goes down the bore. The British soldier who was furiously loading his musket might be dropping a 0.680-inch ball down a .700 bore. The idea was speed of loading and volume of fire.<\/p>\n

The dimensions don\u2019t vary nearly as much today. And then there\u2019s physics.<\/p>\n

The best description of the stability methodology of a shotgun slug (so far) is \u201ca rock in a sock.\u201d The Foster slug has its center of mass forward of its center of shape, and that keeps it more-or-less traveling in a straight line. The Brenneke has the attached wadding column to do the same thing, making the center of mass forward of the center of shape. And the air flow over the wadding adds to that. The ribs on the slug do nothing for accuracy or create spin. They are to reduce stress on your choke, if you forget.<\/p>\n

\"12-gauge\"12-gauge
You can see the round nose of the slug, and the ribs on it. Inside the slug, the base is hollow, so it stays nose-forward in flight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When the dimensions all work out properly, the accuracy can be quite startling. I built a shotgun slug gun for use at the Second Chance combat shoot (now The Pin Shoot) way back when the elder Bush was president. That gun grouped Remington 7\/8-ounce slugs into one ragged hole at 50 yards, all day long. (Of course, Remington stopped making that load.) But you can certainly get minute-of-whitetail out to 100 yards once you find the combo your shotgun likes.<\/p>\n

The Sabot<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Another approach, one not so common these days, is an aerodynamic sabot slug. Sabot, from the French word \u201csabot\u201d for a wooden shoe (and the root of \u201csabotage\u201d), throwing a wooden shoe into the gears of a machine as the origin. The sabot is a pair of molded plastic sections that fit around the slug, which rides in the center. The sabot was made sort of wasp-shaped and smaller than the 12-gauge bore. So, a .500-inch slug with plastic sleeves. The sleeves, or sabot, would fall away once it left the muzzle, and the aerodynamic slug would continue on. This has the same wadding problem as the Foster slug.<\/p>\n

The modern iteration of that is to use a jacketed 0.50-inch bullet, with a spire point inside of a sabot in a rifled-bore shotgun. The accuracy of this arrangement can rival that of rifles. Why do this? Because some locations still require a shotgun, not a rifle, for hunting. And because the DNR would find keeping rifled-bore shotguns out of the hunting fields a herculean task, they approved them.<\/p>\n

\"competition\"competition
If you\u2019re shooting slugs for competition, you want accuracy\u2014but only as much power as you need. Otherwise, the cumulative recoil will hurt your performance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Lyman<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"12-gauge\"12-gauge
Both of these are slug loads. The right one is a factory shell, with roll crimp. The left is a Lyman, with a folded crimp. Once loaded, you can\u2019t tell the Lyman from a regular shotshell with pellets.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now, in all these there\u2019s one more slug to consider: the Lyman. I view it as the \u201c12-gauge airgun pellet\u201d slug \u2026 because that\u2019s what it looks like. It\u2019s cast (you must do the casting, no one I know of makes them, either for loading or as loaded ammunition) with a special mold that creates a hollow-base pellet, just like the airgun one but 12-gauge. It then gets loaded into a regular shotgun and into a shotgun hull. This leads me to the shotshell and its crimp.<\/p>\n

The Shotshell<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"12-gauge\"12-gauge
Slug loads use a roll crimp so you can see they are slugs, and to provide resistance for complete powder ignition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A regular shotshell uses a folded crimp of six or eight petals, and it seals the shot or buckshot in the shell. In the old days, when shells were paper, it was an over-shot card, and the load data (shot size, weight, charge) was printed on the card.<\/p>\n

Slugs were loaded with a roll crimp. This does two things. One, it makes the shot and slug loads instantly identifiable, even by touch. Two, the roll crimp resists unfolding more than a folded crimp, and this permits powder charges that create more velocity with slugs than birdshot. Where a fast load (in lead terms, steel shot is a lot zippier) of shot might be 1,350 fps, a slug can be made to produce 1,600 fps. And recoil to go with it.<\/p>\n

The Lyman slug uses a regular folded crimp, with regular, if specific wads. So, in addition to needing to follow exactly the specific load data for the Lyman slug, you need to load it in hulls that you do not use for any other purpose. So, just as an example: If you use Winchester AA red hulls for your skeet and trap shooting, you cannot use them for the Lyman slug. Otherwise, someday you\u2019ll mix them up, go to shoot a round of skeet and be hurling 12-gauge slugs off into the distance. No, load those slugs in something not red at the very least.<\/p>\n

The Recoil<\/strong><\/h2>\n

And that brings me to the last part: recoil. As in, shotgun slugs have it in spades.<\/p>\n

\"shotgun\"shotgun
Slugs recoil with enthusiasm, so be prepared. And if you load your own you can practice up to full power over time.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You might\u2019ve noticed that I used quotation marks when describing some shotgun slugs as low recoil. Well, let\u2019s take a common new one, the Federal Tru Ball, which is 438 grains of slug at 1,350 fps producing a power factor (PF) of 591. A .30-06 can tap in at \u201conly\u201d a 405-410 PF. Winchester matches that with their sabot and a 1-ounce slug at 1,350 but then ups the ante with a 1-ounce slug at 1,600 fps. That\u2019s a 700 PF. Ouch. Dialing the recoil back to a \u201clow-recoil\u201d load, of 1 ounce at a mere 1,150 or 1,200 fps, is still a 504 or 526 PF.<\/p>\n

So, keep in mind that, whatever thumping you\u2019re doing on the other end, you\u2019re going to be receiving a thumping of your own on this end. However, if you want something light and handy, fast to use, and that hits hard, a shotgun (pump or auto) loaded with slugs can be a winner. There\u2019s a reason those who travel in bear country look favorably on a shotgun with slugs.<\/p>\n

\"12-gauge\"12-gauge
The difference between full-power and low recoil can be marked. The low recoil ones still kick, however.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I don\u2019t do much of that traveling, and when I do, someone else is hauling the ordnance. But I do use shotgun slugs. In my case, it\u2019s with the Lyman slugs, loaded to tolerable velocities, in The Pin Shoot. There, the task is to knock over hinged steel plates and complete the array faster than anyone else does.<\/p>\n

Now, this is a specialized competition and perhaps not for everyone. But it does serve another purpose. If you were planning on going, say, fly-fishing in bear country and wanted to take a shotgun for defense, practicing with factory \u201cohmyrecoil\u201d slugs would be both expensive and painful. However, if you pored over the Lyman shotgun loading manual and found a load for your Lyman slug that wasn\u2019t painful to shoot, you could do a lot of practice without a lot of recoil.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s always good.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note:<\/strong>\u00a0This article originally appeared in the May 2025 issue of\u00a0Gun Digest the Magazine<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n

More On Shotguns:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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