I'm spending the weekend at the folks' land with little to do, figured I'd sit and drink some beers in the late afternoon and see if any pop their heads out near a creek where there's always signs of them rooting around.

From about how far away can I drop a hog with a 12 gauge rifled slug?

I would comfortably shoot a hog with a shotgun slug 50-75 yards. I have seen people kill deer out to 100 yards but i wouldn't attempt it

primomosquito said:

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I'm spending the weekend at the folks' land with little to do, figured I'd sit and drink some beers in the late afternoon and see if any pop their heads out near a creek where there's always signs of them rooting around.

From about how far away can I drop a hog with a 12 gauge rifled slug?

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If you kill a hog with a shotgun from 75 yards away, please come back here and post video so we can crown you the rightful king of all outdoors!

I think even 50 yards, while possible, is unlikely.

You might want to check to see how a slug shoots before you try to nail a pig >50 yards. I imaging the highly technical aiming device (bead) on most shot guns are fine for bird shot, but might leave something to be desired beyond spitting distance for a slug.

Don't forget to remove any chokes.

Damn, I was thinking I could get away with ~100. I should have bought that Savage rifle that was on sale at Cabelas. Ah well, I'll bring the GoPro along just in case.

You have a rifled barrel and slug? You should be good to 100 yards.

Or just a rifled slug? 75 yards with good aim.

And yeah, take out the choke.

I've shot 2 with my 12ga. One with a slug and one with 000 buck. Both where running and less than 20 yards. The slug was done quickly but it was behind the shoulder. I broke the other's back leg and had to finish with 5.56.

Fun way to hunt pigs. We walked the woods and snuck up on them feeding mid morning. I would not shoot much past 40 or 50 yards with my 870, although I'm sure you can reach them further.

I have a friend who killed one with a 12 Ga.



Shooting #8s. We were duck hunting.

True story.

Why don't you just use a rifle?

Cow Hop Ag said:

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I have a friend who killed one with a 12 Ga.



Shooting #8s. We were duck hunting.

True story.

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1.) Do they make a steel 8 shot?
2.) Who uses 8 for ducks?
3.) it is illegal to have lead shells in your possession while hunting ducks/geese....

That being said, most heli-hunts before they went all commercial, are down with shotguns and buckshot. Shots aren't that far though.

Cow Hop Ag said:

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I have a friend who killed one with a 12 Ga.



Shooting #8s. We were duck hunting.

True story.

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saw one killed with 8#s while we were shooting grass carp....

Don't have one.

Just a smooth bore shooting a rifled slug.

This was in 1979. We rolled it about 5 times with shotguns as the pellets barely penetrated and then my friend jumped on it and killed it with a knife.

Craziest thing I ever saw. He came through here last week. We hadn't seen each other in about 20 years and we had a good laugh over that story.

Haha! I bet it pissed him off on that first shot.

Absolutely.. It must have looked like a Monty Python skit. We had him flanked on two sides with him ahead of us by 15 years or so and we chased him about 30 yards though some swampy marsh before my Rambo friend dove on top.

I was turkey hunting over a feeder a loooong time ago. I killed 7 piglets and their momma with 2 shots from 30 yards. Their squealing was the stuff of nightmares.

I once killed to pigs with one shot - 3.5" turkey load, full choke.

Pigs were ~40lbs each, side by side facing me at ~35 yds. I put the shotgun bead in between them and pulled the trigger. Neither took a single step!

I'm sure you could find some OB'ers willing to bring some rifles out to shoot hogs with you

Ah, my fault. Good luck trying with a slug. T&P's for your shoulder.

40-ish yds and under, 00 buck w/ improved modified choke

Obviously closer is better. Running them down on a UTV and shooting them is more fun.

Need an AA-12?

Please go-pro if you do.

I have done the whole run'em down with a UTV in an open field, except all we had was my 9mm PX4. Luckily that pistol held 17 in the mag and I had three mags. I cant even begin to describe how much fun that was.

Deats said:

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You have a rifled barrel and slug? You should be good to 100 yards.

Or just a rifled slug? 75 yards with good aim.

And yeah, take out the choke.

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Shoot completely chokeless?

I though you were just supposed to use a cylinder choke? Thx

ATX_AG_08 said:

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Deats said:

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You have a rifled barrel and slug? You should be good to 100 yards.

Or just a rifled slug? 75 yards with good aim.

And yeah, take out the choke.

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Shoot completely chokeless?

I though you were just supposed to use a cylinder choke? Thx

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That is the best idea if you have one.

Have extra rifles, will travel.

killed one with a dove load once........was bow hunting/dove hunting and made the mistake of setting my trap even though I knew i didnt have my pistol. lucky me I caught about a 200# boar. dropped him in his tracks....temple shot about 18" away

once killed a pig at 15 yards with 12ga 3in copper plated #4 turkey loads

shot her right in the face

it was pretty epic morning of turkey hunting

Using a cylinder choke will keep the choke threads from fouling and won't cause any constriction issues as the slug passes through. I actually get the best groups from an IC choke in my gun. Shotgun slugs are usually made of soft lead and have "rifling" which are little fins that easily deform as there isn't much surface area in contact with the barrel. I've shot well over 1k slugs through an IC choke and a few dozen through a modified choke without any issues. I've seen a lot of varying opinions online about shotgun chokes and slugs but that is my personal experience.

The rifling on these slugs doesn't really do much to stabilize them. They are primarily stabilized by the fact they have most of the mass up front and the backside is a hollow skirt like a badminton shuttlecock. I get about 3"-5" groups at 100 yard with cheap slugs using just a vent rib with bead front sight. Offhand in the field I probably wouldn't take much more than a 50 yard shot but if I had a good rest I'd feel comfortable at 100. Make sure you are looking straight down the rib, can't see either side of it or the top, that will help line things up the same way you would if you had a rear sight.

Main thing is test out your slugs to find out the hold at various distances and to check that your barrel is straight. A lot of factory shotguns do not shoot true, they'll shoot slugs off to one side or the other which can be significant with longer shots. The holds for my Benelli is about 8" high at 50 yards and 14" low at 100 yards.

I've patterned lots of different buckshot and the majority don't reliably keep most pellets on a man size target past 30 yards. Use buckshot with a flight control wad if you're going to be shooting at 30+ yards with buckshot. Flight control wads keep the shot together a lot tighter than chokes do and you can easily switch between slugs and buckshot without having to change chokes.

I guess you missed out on the $99 Mosin-Nagants?

M-44 came with built in pig-sticker and notorious for muzzle fireballs.

Did not read, but I shot a yuge boar in the nuts with a beak open .410 when I was kid. My grandfather laughed and laughed and laughed.

If you follow the advice to remove your chokes, give Eyeguy or I a call after your hunt because you'll need a retread or a new barrel after just a few shots.

If you are shooting through a smoth barrel, shoot rifled slugs through a cylinder choke. Some guns will work with skeet chokes, just don't confuse improved cylinder for cylinder... The added constriction will increase pressure causing accuracy issues at beat, catastrophic failure at worst...

Obligatory shoot 'em in the nuts!

Well if I see one ill aim in the general direction

I shot a sow at 30 yards this spring while turkey hunting. She was out about 100 yards just smashing the dewberries right in front of me upwind. After 10 minutes of that I said the heck with it and marched up the hill. She was grunting and squealing to herself, about as happy as a sow can get. I let her have it and it only took one shot. Surprised how easy she went down.