Deer and Hog Hunting

Deer and Hog Hunting With Shotguns

When using shotguns for deer or hog hunting we have two choices, either buckshot or slugs.

LEAD BUCKSHOT

Boar Blaster™ and Deerstroyer™

The unique forcing cone that consists of 5 parallel steps leading into the parallel section and gives tighter patterns with every brand of 00/000 LEAD buckshot shell we have tested. Typically we get about a 20% tighter pattern at 40 yards. These chokes are available in most popular designs.

While there are many different sizes of buckshot I consider two sizes “00 and 000” adequate for use in deer hunting. Both sizes are found in with different pellet counts in 2 3/4 and 3 inch shells with several different velocities. Please know that all of these do not pattern the same. Unless you are one of those very lucky individuals you will have to pattern several different loads to see which works the best in your gun/choke combination. I do suggest when patterning your gun to use a large sheet of paper (minimum size of at least 3 feet square) and fire at least 10 rounds at the center aiming point. Take the number of hits in the 10 or 12 inch circle on each target and find the average to compare one load against the others. Many times I find the 9 pellet loads will give more pellets in the circle than the 15 pellet loads. You do have to shoot and compare.

I have found that as a rule extended chokes with a constriction of .030 generally gives the tightest consistent patterns.  Listed below are choke tubes to fit some of our popular brands with .030 constrictions. If you want ported chokes add the letter “P” as a suffix. Note that Federal™ loads with the original “FLITECONTROL™” wads DO NOT work with ported choke tubes. Loads with the FLITECONTROL FLEX ™ wads DO work with ported chokes.

TSS BUCKSHOT

TSS buckshot in 00 and 000 sizes requires less constriction than comparable Lead buckshot loads. Generally, we have found that a Modified constriction in our Precision Hunter line work best with these loads. Because of the size, density and hardness of TSS 00 and 000 pellets, using a choke tighter than Full can result in blown patterns and possibly choke damage.

Slugs

There are three different styles of slugs offered on the market today. They are the Foster style, the Brenneke style and the sabot style. The sabot requires a fully rifled barrel in order to stabilize the bullet and as such they, in my opinion are not suitable for use with choke tubes, either rifled or smooth.

The Foster style is the most common style of slug found in the U.S. and loaded by all of the major ammunition companies as a “rifled slug”. They have a hollow base and cast or swaged rifling on the circumference of the slug.

The Brenneke style is similar but has some sort of tail attached to the base of the slug to stabilize the flight.

Either of these styles is suitable for use with open constriction choke tubes such as cylinder, skeet or improved cylinder and will typically shoot 3 inch groups at 50 yards.

As with buckshot some rifled slug loads will give better accuracy than others in your specific shotgun. You have to shoot and see.

I prefer the skeet chokes (.005 constriction) with slugs. Below you will find some of our popular brands with this constriction.