And then there were slugs

[Hogtamer]

After a hard day of field testing my Hogshot loads I didn't get out at all Tuesday. For the next couple of days various slugs made meat. I wound up accounting for 8 more hogs but didn't get pics of all as phone died a couple of times. But first a look at results a dear friend with advanced MS got with 20 ga using Uncle Dino's plastic based slugs. We helped him into a ground blind on a green field. Using his walking stick as a prop he took this nice buck! For the first time ever I was able to retreive a spent projectile too. The slug entered the front shoulder and it stopped just under the skin in front of opposite ham. Uncle Dino does it again!
He also killed 2 nice hogs over the next couple of days, one from 77 yds, one from 60, both perfectly placed and dead right there, but no pics. 2 of the loads were 2 3/4" rolled crimped over 43 grains of L'il Gun and one was a 3" Alliant Steel at about 1650 fps.
Last week I loaned my best bud a rifled barrel for his older 870 police and gave him plenty of Lyman 525 loads to get zeroed. He killed this one at about 40 yds through brush.
Just at dark when I took him to his truck a hog stepped into a nearby field. He thought it was too far too shoot and I showed him it was not! Using his gun I heart shot this one that turned out to be 103 measured yds with the Lyman. .
Over the next couple of days I was able to take 7 more: 4 with Lymans, 2 with Uncle Dino's 12 ga plastic based slug, and one with Zlug from my USH. 3 were in the 85 yd range, the rest 40 - 60 yds.




We spend a lot of time and effort looking for tiny groups for slug loads and mine are not perfect. Hope this encourages you all not to let the perfect become the enemy of the good. Good works great in the field in real hunting conditions on tough game with the BIG LEAD stuff we shoot!

[jmort]

Wow
Interesting you recovered that slug
Great thread

[nagantguy]

That’s a lot of meat gathering! I really like the line don’t let perfect become the enemy of good

[centershot]

Awesome Hal, just blessedly AWESOME! Your smoker is gonna' be busy for a while!

[Markopolo]

Very very cool... I do wish we had hogs here...

[longbow]

Very very cool... I do wish we had hogs here...

I've said the same thing but been assured that I do not want hogs where I live! Maybe a better statement would be "I'd like to have access to hogs to hunt!" But regardless it looks like fun to me.

And... the way hogs are moving North we may get them in the end. If they get here before I am too old to tote a 12 ga. around I'll be thinning the herds some!

Nice going Hal! And Uncle Dino!

And you are spot on Hal... tiny groups are nice but "good enough" for the job is all that is required and obviously you've worked out what is good enough. Nice harvest and good on you for helping out a friend. I bet he enjoyed that.

Longbow

[copdills]

congrats , very cool pics and good shooting

[W.R.Buchanan]

Looks like we've got our own "Wild Boar Fever" right here in the states, and Europe has got nothing on us.

"Good enough" is all about finding "Acceptable Accuracy" and then going out and shooting something.

I see the quest for the one hole group too many times on other forums where guys spend stupid amounts of time shooting at paper targets trying for the one hole group, only to realize that their guns aren't capable of it, and more properly they can't shoot well enough to do it!
They miss the whole point of sighting the gun in. You sight the gun in, and then go shoot something with it.

This is also the reason why guns like my #4 Mk1 are not suitable for shooting game any more, because they shoot an obsolete cartridge and only group 2-3", obviously not accurate or powerful enough to humanely kill a 100 lb deer at 70 yards! This mindset is perpetrated by gun magazines and the internet hocking the latest and greatest rifles and cartridges and ignoring what has gotten the job done for hundreds of years.

Any of these shotguns is ideal for this kind of sport. Even a Single Barrel M37 Winchester is a formidable weapon and capable of taking any game animal in N/A with store bought ammo,,, as long as the guy shooting it can hit the mark.

So many people are missing out on this simply because of their endless quest for the one hole group, which they probably will never achieve. But they will have killed a bunch of paper targets which is about as satisfying as eating paste. They have no idea what they are missing.

I don't get to hunt very much here in CA mainly because of the costs of shooting on private land and finding a place to do it. But I do shoot 3 gun comps and I have never had to field dress a steel target yet. But it is shooting none the less and after I find something that works I make a bunch and go shoot them. Hitting a steel target does supply some satisfaction when it rings loudly, and then there is beating your buddies, which can be priceless.

Point being,,, You find something that yields acceptable accuracy and go shoot something with it.

Hal: good shooting and enjoy the pork chops.

Randy

[Ranch Dog]

Very good work!

Yeap hogs are a mixed blessing, hate them when you got them and you miss them when you don't. I'm bored now!

[bikerbeans]

HT,

Great Hunt!

Amazing that a fellow with advanced MS can shoot accurately. I think the morale of that story is never give up!

Your best bud gonna return that rifled slug barrel?
I know when i lend a long gun to someone and they take a deer they usually try to give me green paper instead of returning the gun.

BB

[Hogtamer]

The great thing is that he humbly allows us to practically carry him to a blind. Last year and the year before I had it fixed so we could drive right up to a blind in a golf cart. He fell in love with that 220 last year and killed a deer, the year before I loaded a single .600 RB in a 12 ga smoothbore that was very low recoil and he killed 2 deer! He's my old pharmacist and used to deliver prescriptions to my mailbox (and many other folks) at night after he closed. We all love him greatly. As for the rifled barrel, he's still my dentist and he's been after me to get another crown.....hmmmmm. For 22 years this has been bowhunting only. My arthritic wrist has finally caused me to put up my bow after 47 years but our host was gracious to allow this old crip the run of the river bottom with shotgun. I didn't even buy the deer tags this year and got a long look at a decent 8 pt about 50 yds. Lucky rascal!

[uncle dino]

Absolutely fantastic Hal... You guys getting it done.. Congratulations. D

[Treeman]

Thanks for sharing!