I grew up within the heyday of slug gun looking. Whitetail populations started to blow up within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties, particularly in suburban areas, like in my residence state of Ohio. Since centerfire rifles have been deemed to be harmful for whitetail looking in populated areas, shotgun slugs have been the most suitable choice.
The sudden demand for slugs led to some enhancements of their design. The Foster-style lead slug—by no means notably correct at distance—gave strategy to sabot slugs that might be fired via rifled shotgun barrels and kill deer out to 200 yards. Adjustable sights changed single bead entrance sights, and scopes and pink dots changed adjustable sights for elevated accuracy at longer ranges.
The widespread passage of legal guidelines to permit using straight-wall cartridges for deer looking (Illinois is the newest to make straight-walls authorized for the 2023 season) has introduced into query the way forward for rifled slugs and sabots. After Ohio started permitting straight-wall cartridges in 2014, curiosity in rifles chambered for .450 Bushmaster, .45/70, .444 Marlin, and different straight-wall cartridges grew quickly. Likewise, lever-action and single-shot rifles chambered in .44 Magnum, .45 Colt, and different authorized looking calibers have been additionally in excessive demand.
Rise of the .350 Legend
In 2019 Winchester responded to the straight-wall ammo demand by releasing the .350 Legend, a cartridge that pushed a 150-grain bullet at 2,325 fps, delivering 1,800 ft/lb. of vitality on the muzzle. It dropped simply 8 inches at 200 yards when zeroed at 100.
The .350 Legend is anemic in comparison with some bottlenecked centerfires developed across the identical time, such because the 6.5 PRC and .300 PRC. But it surely produced sufficient vitality to kill whitetails constantly out to 250 yards and did so with out producing heavy recoil. The recoil vitality produced by a 7-pound rifle chambered in .350 Legend (150 grains) is a manageable 10½ kilos, much like that of a .30/30 of the identical bullet weight. Most significantly, its 1.71-inch case met the requirement for straight-wall looking in states like Michigan and Ohio. It was additionally inexpensive for hunters. When the .350 Legend debuted, it price $1 per spherical. That worth has virtually doubled since, however you may nonetheless purchase a field of 20 for lower than $40.
Additionally, inexpensive bolt weapons and single photographs, like Winchester’s XPR, Ruger’s American Ranch, and the CVA Scout, have been obtainable in .350 Legend, and the cartridge is also run in AR rifles. I’ve shot a number of .350 Legend rifles from totally different producers and with totally different ammunition. All might shoot sub-2-inch teams at 100 yards. Some shot sub-1½ inches, and some flirted with 1-inch teams.
At this time, you’ll find straight-wall ammunition in quite a lot of choices, and so they can be shot from a number of platforms, together with lever-actions, handguns, semi-automatic rifles, and bolt-actions. Here’s a checklist of the commonest hundreds utilized by deer hunters:
- .44 Remington Magnum
- .357 Magnum
- .454 Casull
- .45-70 Govt.
- .460 Smith & Wesson Magnum
- .500 Smith & Wesson
- .450 Bushmaster
- .444 Marlin
- .350 Legend
- 10mm Auto
Slugs vs. Straight-Partitions
Straight partitions aren’t going to win any PRS matches, however you don’t want them to. You simply want to have the ability to hit a whitetail’s vitals at 200 yards with one. For example, throughout Outside Life’s 2019 Gun Take a look at, the Winchester XPR chambered in .350 Legend averaged 1.89-inch, five-shot teams at 100 yards. This isn’t stellar accuracy for many looking rifles, nevertheless it’s nearly as good or higher efficiency than you’d get out of a median slug gun. The chart beneath exhibits how the .350 Legend and .45/70 stack up towards rifled slugs and sabots by way of accuracy and recoil vitality (I used Bison’s ballistic calculator to find out recoil vitality).
There are some fascinating takeaways from the above chart. First, the .350 Legend is by far the lightest projectile on the checklist at 150 grains, and it has the next muzzle velocity than any of the others. The 2 12-gauge slugs each produce 700 ft.-lb. extra vitality on the muzzle than the .350 Legend and 240 to just about 400 ft./lb. greater than the .45/70.
Nonetheless, the ballistic benefit adjustments on the 200-yard mark. The .350 now has extra vitality than the 1-ounce rifled slug from Federal and the .45/70 impacts with extra vitality than every other load on the checklist. The .350 additionally shoots flatter than the slugs. At 200 yards, the .350 drops solely 7.6 inches when zeroed at 100 yards. The Hornady 12-gauge sabot slug drops slightly below a foot at 200 yards when zeroed at 100, about the identical because the .45/70. Hornady’s 20-gauge Customized Lite slug drops over 18 inches, and the 1-ounce lead 12-gauge rifled slug drops greater than 2 toes at 200 yards.
As you may see from the chart, the 12-gauge slugs and .45/70 produce considerably extra recoil than the .350 Legend, although Hornady’s Customized Lite 20-gauge projectile produces solely barely extra recoil than the .350 Legend.
Do Slug Weapons Have a Future in Deer Searching?
It’s clear some slugs have extra recoil and are ballistically inferior to straight partitions, particularly at distance. So aside from versatility, what does taking pictures a slug gun actually provide? That’s query for ammo makers, which is why I requested Winchester and Hornady the place they see the way forward for slugs headed.
“We actually aren’t strolling away from slugs,” says Nathan Robinson, advertising and marketing supervisor for Winchester. Robinson says that demand for slugs is softening, however that it isn’t going away. The truth is, he says, Winchester is within the means of creating new, extra superior shotgun slugs for hunters this fall.
“From a know-how perspective, everybody wins from going to straight wall,” Robinson mentioned. “Nonetheless, you may hold utilizing your slug gun and we’ll hold making the ammo that shooters and hunters need.”
Hornady’s advertising and marketing and communications supervisor Seth Swerczek isn’t as optimistic about the way forward for slug weapons. However Hornady plans to proceed providing slugs as demand stays.
“My reply is speculative, however I’d say the slug market is certainly going to get smaller,” Swerczek says “Though, I don’t suppose it would occur at a quick charge. Sure, the straight-wall cartridges doubtless enhance the efficient vary barely and supply typically higher accuracy in any respect ranges, however there are nonetheless a number of slug weapons on the market and never everybody goes to leap on the straight-wall wagon .”
I additionally spoke with a gun producer that sells slug weapons and straight-wall rifles. With out divulging precise numbers, the gun maker confirmed that they’re seeing an uptick in straight-wall gross sales and a slowing of slug-gun purchases. Additionally the producer identified that improvement of latest slug weapons has thinned whereas straight-wall rifle choices proceed to progress and evolve.
Slug Weapons Nonetheless Provide Versatility
Regardless that straight partitions are gaining traction amongst deer hunters, there may be nonetheless loads of worth in proudly owning shotgun. If there’s a semi-auto or pump in your gun closet, there may be one main benefit over a rifle: You may carry the identical gun for spring turkeys, squirrels, rabbits, geese, and geese as you do for deer season. The one extras you will want for whitetails are a rifled barrel—in the event you shoot sabots—and an optic for higher accuracy. As somebody who hunts throughout the nation, I also can let you know It’s good to journey with only one gun. When you go bear looking in Maine or come to Ohio and deer hunt and need to shoot a number of grouse or geese throughout your journey too, you are able to do all of it with only a shotgun.
Learn Subsequent: The Finest Price range Searching Rifles, Put to the Take a look at
The Most Widespread Straight-Wall Rifles and Slug Weapons
Since deer hunters can legally shoot whitetails with straight-wall cartridges in most states, and slug weapons are nonetheless being utilized by hunters in former shotgun-only states, here’s a checklist of the preferred rifles and slug weapons for whitetail hunters. Simply keep in mind that each state has its personal set of restrictions on straight-wall cartridge dimension and the weapons you’re allowed to hunt with. So, examine the rules earlier than you go.
.350 Legend
.45/70
.450 Bushmaster
Slug Weapons
Mossberg 500 Combo Discipline/Deer
