Shooting Resources

Bolt Action Rifled Slug Guns

The bottom line is that if you overlook or fall short on even one of the factors that make up proper slug gun shooting technique you will not be consistent with your shot placement.

Definition of a slug gun:   “When a slug gun is fired at a shoulder height, (considered to be 5ft above a level plain). The projectile will hit in the dirt at maximum of 250 yards down range”.

Why is there all this talk about the need for slug gun accuracy since, after all, most deer are taken inside of 100 yards? The answer is pure and simple shot placement. At 100 yards with a Foster style slug you actually have limited control over where your slug will land on the deer, even with the most perfect hold. With rifled barrels and saboted slugs you can place your shot exactly where you want it, where it ought to go, especially at extended ranges. You can even thread your slug with confidence through narrow gaps in vegetation and be sure that the slug is going to travel precisely along your sight path.

The technique required to reproducibly shoot tight slug groupings is unlike that required to be a proficient with a rifle,” stated Randy Fritz as he proceeded to drive his point home with a demonstration. Shooting Lightfield Commander 3″ slugs through one of his custom TarHunt slug guns Randy proceeded to coax five slugs in a row through the same hole at 50 yards. He then turned the bench over to a self-proclaimed ‘good shot’ who fired his best five shots but could only muster a 4 inch grouping at the same 50 yard target.

What was the difference? Both shooters were using the exact same gun, the exact same lot of Lightfield sabot slugs and were firing under the same conditions, but one was driving nails and the other couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. The difference was in their shooting technique. A person can purchase the most expensive state-of-the-art slug gun and fire the best saboted slugs money can buy, but if that person doesn’t know and hasn’t practiced proper slug gun shooting technique all the dollars invested will have been for naught.

The fact is that once you have a good gun and are shooting good ammunition, 100% of group size at any distance is directly attributable to your shooting technique. Within our website’s ‘Shooting Guide’ we have detailed the information that the novice as well as the seasoned shooter can use to improve their slug gun shooting technique.

Yes, our TarHunt slug guns will produce 1 inch shot groupings at 100 yards, but only if the shooter …

  • Is using a good lot of saboted slug ammunition
  • Is using a telescope that will continue to work for more than 100 rounds
  • Remembers to always use a range-finder to check target distance prior to taking any shot
  • Has a good rest to shoot off of, and has spent the time necessary to learn how to shoot well off of it
  • Has zeroed their gun at 50 yards
  • Will spend the time to learn the intricacies of shooting slugs at 100 yards

All results detailed within our website’s ‘Shooting Guide’ were produced while shooting a TarHunt custom rifled barrel slug gun and Lightfield saboted slugs, each a standard for accuracy within the shooting industry and together are capable of producing optimal groupings at all effective ranges. Your results will vary greatly depending upon the model gun and type of ammunition you are using, the amount of time you spend on the range, as well as other factors. We do not guarantee that you will be able to shoot one inch groups using our shooting techniques.

SHOOTING the 20ga 2 3/4″ or 3″ NeoTec FLC round.

By using the 20ga 3” NeoTec Copper slug you have made your slug gun into a BIG BORE Rifle that is ballisticly better than the 45/70 Govt standard production round. The slug is a .62 caliber bullet, 26% bigger in diameter then the 45 caliber and 500+fps faster than the 45/70 Govt round. Don’t WAST your slugs/MONEY shooting at 100yds to begin with; (you may be disappointed). UNTIL you can shoot golf ball sizes GROUPS at 50 yards, you have not mastered shooting a Big Bore Rifle form a shooting bench.  As with any new technology, there always seems to be a cause and effect issue that comes to light and must be considered, to get the best performance out of something New or Improved. Sometimes they require making some open minded adjustments.      

The NeoTec FLC slug DOES NOT react like any other 20ga slug round you have ever fired. The 3″ 20ga NeoTec FLC 355gr Copper slug has a unique felt recoil. It feels and reacts like a low velocity big bore rifle, because that’s what it is!  But its recoil duration time is almost twice the amount of time that a normal Big Bore Rifle, shooting above 75+ grains of gun powder! That means you cannot relax your grip on the gun as you squeeze the trigger. Relaxing your grip comes after the recoil cycle is almost over!

 

“Full bore size Copper slugs and gun Torque“:

All of the TIME the slug spends moving thru the barrel; the muzzle is constantly rising above the point of aimNO MATTER WHAT”.  May be the forend has even lifting up off the rest? As the slug enters the rifling it is trying to twist the slug gun clockwise, as it accelerates from ZERO up to 52,000rpm’s. These two actions working together causes the 10:30 flyer issue, even at 50 yards. If a high left shot is consistently frustrates you; it is because to light a grip was used particularly with your left hand!    Depending on what point you loosen your grip on the gun, during the recoil cycle, the flyer can go high right toward 2:00; if the right hand torque if the clock wise rotation is allowed to completely overcome the gun during the recoil cycle.

 

“This is a Must”  “Consistence Gun Control”:

A firm two hand (GRIP) style gun control is required while shooting the 20ga 3” NeoTec FLC slug gun off of a shooting bench. GRIP the slug gun the same way you would hold onto any other Big Bore Mag rifle, to keep from being hit above the eye by the telescope.

When you use the proper two handed grip and if you’re sitting in the right position behind the gun. UNLESS the slug gun slides straight back ON THE REST, with minimal muzzle lift, while the slug is in the barrel, you are going to continue to shoot large groups even at 50 yards.

A “very consistence amount of grip” is required with both hands, shot to shot, firing any slug past 135 yards. The amount of muzzle lift will be in-consistent; as any changes in your GRIP will affect the trajectory (point of impact) down range.  Every shooter will hold the gun slightly different but ONLY when you become consistence in your GRIP, can you truly zero your slug gun.  That’s why another person CANNOT truly zero someone else’s slug gun.

If the overall felt recoil, felt thru the grip of your hands on the gun and the push on you shoulder, doesn’t feel the same each round, thru out the recoil cycle; you have not yet master the technique of shooting a slow Big Bore Rifle off of a bench. And accuracy will suffer.

 

Zeroing a bolt action slug from a Shooting Bench:

The 20ga 3″ NeoTec™ FLC slug round may have been designed to be fired in a 3″ 20ga slug gun with a factory chamber, and a fully rifled barrel. “But it feels and reacts like the big bore rifle”, because that’s what it is. But it takes almost twice the amount of time to do it, as a rifle does! That means you cannot relax your grip on the gun as you squeeze the trigger. Relaxing your grip comes after the recoil cycle is over! The tendency of most shooters is too relax their grip and back away from the gun as the trigger is squeezed; instead of continue holding the grip until the recoil cycle is almost done. Thinking this will somehow reduce the actual total felt recoil? The reality is the felt recoil is now even more as the 10lb gun gets a running shot at you shoulder, instead of the recoil energy being used up pushing your upper body over center and absorbed at a much more comfortable rate. Avoid leaning forward at a sharp angle, sitting behind a hard recoiling rifle, as the recoil is NOW trying slide you and the bench you’re sitting on, backwards!

 

 Setting up your slug gun at the shooting bench:

You have just read all the technical reasons why the 20ga 3” NeoTec™ FLC Copper slug could move around a lot when firing off of a shooting bench. Start with how YOU physically set at the bench and how YOU set up your slug gun on the shooting bench, to begin with. It is just as important as the technical side of controlling the slug gun itself. It would take a long time to explain how to do just that in writing. The TarHunt web site has a video that explains just that. All the major points are discussed in this video. It is well worth the 4.5 minutes it takes to view this video.       On the HOME page, mid-section, left side.    BOLT ACTION ZEROING TECHNIQUES.

“Learn from the mistakes of others”. “You won’t live long enough to make all of them yourself.”
Un-known    “TarHunt Est. 1987”    “In GOD we trust!”
Randy Fritz, pres.

ThinkstockPhotos-200321708-001
Jun
1

Slug Gun Facts – Mysteries of Sighting In!

TarHunt built its first prototype slug gun in 1987 and began the manufacture of our first production model in 1990. Between that time and the present the one factor that has become the most evident is that our guns are not magic for the shooter.

Read More
Sep
2

Emergency Close Range Zeroing Points for Lightfield Ammo

HERE IS A METHOD FOR AN (emergency scope ZERO check). IF YOU DROP YOUR GUN AND YOU DON’T KNOW IF IT IS STILL ZEROED. . . You can CHECK YOUR  a 100 yd. ZERO in the field by firing a shot AT THE CORRESPONDING CLOSE RANGE ZERO.   Measured the distance as good as you can because a [...] Read More
Sep
2

Recoil Reducing and Mechanical Rests

Over the years, there have been hundreds of questions asking about the use of mechanical recoil limiting rests to zero slug guns such as: “Would it be a wise move to build or use a locking type/heavy rest that would take all human error out of the process of sighting in a slug gun, except […]

Read More
Sep
2

Tuning Your Muzzleloader for Accuracy

The base of a muzzleloading sabot must expand and form the proper gas seal for your gun. This is dependent on two factors, the density of the sabot baser and the powder charge.

Read More
Sep
2

Shooting Range Tips & Wind Flag Placement

You’ve resigned yourself to the fact that you are going to take the time and effort to get out to the range to zero your gun and to do some target shooting in order to practise before joining a shooting sports league. Here are some tips that will make your time on the range a […]

Read More
Sep
2

Designated Slug Gun Safety

From the time you pick up a firearm, whether you bought it yourself, won it in a gun contest, or inherited it from a close friend or relative, until the time you put it back down, you become part of a system over which you have complete control and responsibility. You are the only part […]

Read More
Sep
2

Rifled Slug Gun Safety

From the time you pick up a firearm until the time you put it back down you become part of a system over which you have complete control and responsibility, You are the only part of the system that can make a gun safe …, or unsafe. Please read the following safety rules carefully and […]

Read More
Aug
27

Tips on Storing Your Slugs

Between hunting seasons and shooting sessions seal your unused slugs in a zip lock bag and pack them in a sealed ammo box.  Store the cooler in an area of your home where the humidity is as low as possible and the temperature stays between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit year-round.  The more stable you [...] Read More
Aug
27

Shooting Off A Rest

There are a lot of similarities between shooting rifles off the bench and shooting slug guns, however knowing and practicing the differences can equate to putting more meat in your freezer.

Read More
Aug
27

Zeroing A Slug Gun

Slug guns must be zeroed (sighted-in) at a distance where the slug will impact the target while still in the supersonic phase of its flight. Most slugs become subsonic, travelling less than 1220 feet per second, slightly beyond a muzzle distance of 50 yards, thus making 50 yards the ideal zeroing distance. Zeroing at 50 yards also cuts down, by approximately 60%, the chance of adjusting Windage error into your scope setting.

Read More
Tarhunt