# 3" vs 2 3/4" 20 gauge sabot



## Star1pup

It's sometimes hard to find 3" sabot 20 gauge around here and I wonder how much power and/or range if I use 2 3/4" 20 gauge sabots for deer. I've had bad luck with Remington brand with misfires so probably look for Winchester or Federal.


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## ducknut141

I never used anything more than a 2 3/4" 20ga. for deer worked great and very little recoil.


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## Carpn

You'll be fine . I wouldn't worry


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## fastwater

Yep...20ga. 2 3/4 will kill em just as dead as they can die.
Range would depend on what ammo you find that groups best out of your shotgun and of course, how well you can hit with it. But most any sabot out of a decent rifled bbl should be able to shoot out to 125-150yds a decent minute of deer. My partner shoots a scoped Savage 220 and is very consistent off the bench out to 200' with Rem. Accutips.


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## Flathead76

fastwater said:


> Yep...20ga. 2 3/4 will kill em just as dead as they can die.
> Range would depend on what ammo you find that groups best out of your shotgun and of course, how well you can hit with it. But most any sabot out of a decent rifled bbl should be able to shoot out to 125-150yds a decent minute of deer. My partner shoots a scoped Savage 220 and is very consistent off the bench out to 200' with Rem. Accutips.


Most models of guns will shoot and eat different manufacturers of bullets. Just because someone else's will shoot it well with that bullet doesn't mean that yours will. That being said I have never seen a gun like the savage 220 that everyone's gun will eat a Remington Accutip and shoot it well.


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## fastwater

Flathead76 said:


> Most models of guns will shoot and eat different manufacturers of bullets. *Just because someone else's will shoot it well with that bullet doesn't mean that yours will. * *That being said I have never seen a gun like the savage 220 that everyone's gun will eat a Remington Accutip and shoot it well.*


That is true. Just because someone's shotgun shoots a particular round well it does not mean that round shoots well in another shotgun. And I was not implying that just cause my partners Savage 220 prefers Rem Accutip that all shotguns, or even all Savage 220's prefer the Rem. Accutip. Was just giving an example of what my partners 220 prefers. Without a doubt, rifles, shotguns and handguns even of the same brand/manufacturer can prefer certain ammo over another. Especially sabot'ed slug shotguns.

That's the reason I started my original post out with " range would depend on what ammo you find that groups best out of your shotgun..."

Guess I should have been more specific and stated "range *and accuracy *would depend on what ammo you find that groups best out of your shotgun..."

My apologies for the confusion...


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## ducknut141

Mine liked the Remington Buck hammer out to about 150 yards , even though I didn't need to shoot that far normally I knew I could. I spent more in ammo than I did on the gun trying to find the most accurate


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## Star1pup

Has anyone else had misfires with Remington? I had misfires with my old LC Smith 16 gauge and then with my Savage 220. I also remember working the range on Kids Day a few years ago and had misfires on .22s.


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## M.Magis

Misfires with 22s isn't uncommon, especially the cheaper ones. Never had a misfire with any shotgun shell I can recall.


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## M R DUCKS

What M. Magis said....
If you are having that many misfires, I would be looking at a cause other than the ammo.


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## fastwater

No sir...have never had any issues out of Remington shotgun ammo.
Have had a few with Rem. 22 Thunderbolt though.


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## Star1pup

Except it was more than one gun. I'll try some more and see.


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## fastwater

Star1pup said:


> Except it was more than one gun. I'll try some more and see.


Was it out of the same box of shells?


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## Shortdrift

M R DUCKS said:


> What M. Magis said....
> If you are having that many misfires, I would be looking at a cause other than the ammo.


I shot and reloaded all gauges and several different centerfire pistol and rifle. Misfires other than with very old rifles were always attributed to the firearm or reloading error. Of the thousands of 22's i fired through the past seventy years, there were very few misfires other than with very old/uncared for rifles I inherited.


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## fastwater

Shortdrift said:


> I shot and reloaded all gauges and several different centerfire pistol and rifle. Misfires other than with very old rifles were always attributed to the firearm or reloading error. Of the thousands of 22's i fired through the past seventy years, there were very few misfires other than with very old/uncared for rifles I inherited.


You make a very good point Shortdrift. And many times those misfires can be eliminated by no more than getting some canned aerosol cleaner spray and using the small straw that comes with the cleaner, spraying well into the firing pin channel removing the built up crud from an area that's often overlooked. After spraying the cleaner, let it soak. Then spray some more flushing debris out. And if you have compressed air, use a small blowgun and blow the channel out.
Also, there's differences of opinions on after cleaning firing pin, channel/spring area as to whether to oil firing pin,channel and spring. I'm on the side of never oiling that area and running it dry. IMO, oil in that area just helps to collect powder residue increasing the chances of misfires.


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## Shake-n-Bake

I've used the Remington Premier Sabot's in 2 3/4" out of my Remington 1100 over the last 10 years or so and have not had any problems. I have been pleasantly surprised at the low-recoil and good results.


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## Flathead76

fastwater said:


> That is true. Just because someone's shotgun shoots a particular round well it does not mean that round shoots well in another shotgun. And I was not implying that just cause my partners Savage 220 prefers Rem Accutip that all shotguns, or even all Savage 220's prefer the Rem. Accutip. Was just giving an example of what my partners 220 prefers. Without a doubt, rifles, shotguns and handguns even of the same brand/manufacturer can prefer certain ammo over another. Especially sabot'ed slug shotguns.
> 
> That's the reason I started my original post out with " range would depend on what ammo you find that groups best out of your shotgun..."
> 
> Guess I should have been more specific and stated "range *and accuracy *would depend on what ammo you find that groups best out of your shotgun..."
> 
> My apologies for the confusion...


No confusion. Was just stating that I have never seen a gun like the Savage 220 that everyone that I have known have had great success with a Remington accutip slug.


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## Drm50

The only problem I had with Rem slugs wasn't a misfire. 1st day of season one year we were heading back to trucks for lunch. Standers were coming up out of a hollow and jumped a buck.
It came right across open pasture field 30yds from me and Buddy. I shot it and it rolled, then
tried to get back up. It couldn't, spine shot. Went to put finish shot on it and gun was jammed.
Empty hanging out with bolt closed on it. Told buddy to finish it, he did and his gun jammed.
Same way. We found out the roll crimp must have been doubled, making the empties to long
to be extracted. We had been to Wally World and bought our slugs at same time. Every slug we
had bought did same thing. After having to hunt with slugs for years in Ohio it didn't take me
long to switch to rifle. I've got 4 slug guns and a couple hundred slugs and will never use them
again.


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## mike hunt

I bought a couple of boxes of the accutips when I bought a 220. I sighted it in with the 2 3/4 SST's, they shot great, I still have the accutips, can't see them shooting any better.


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## fastwater

mike hunt said:


> I bought a couple of boxes of the accutips when I bought a 220. I sighted it in with the 2 3/4 SST's, they shot great, I still have the accutips, can't see them shooting any better.


My buddy shot the Hornady's in his 220 as well. And if I remember correctly, they shot just as well as the Accutips. I believe he just stuck with the Rem's due to the fact that he could get them most anywhere. Plus, when I got rid of my rifled shotguns and went to using the inlines, I gave him 8-10 boxes of the Accutips. So he had plenty of stock. I do know at the time he was trying different ammo, he tried some winchester, federal and I believe lightfield and they didn't fly as well for him as the SST's or the Accutips.

As far as same makes of shotguns liking different ammo, here's a perfect example. I have an old Rem. 1100 with a Rem. smooth bore that throws Brenneke KO's and Rem. Sluggers really well with the KO's being the best. It doesn't group Winchester or Fed. well at all. 
My brother has an old 1100 with a Rem. smooth bore as well and his loves Federals and doesn't do near as well with KO's, Rem's. or Winchester. And it's solely in the bbl's. cause we have switched bbls. out for testing purposes.


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## Drm50

A good tip with any slug is to shake the shell. If it rattles it is loose in the shell and will produce a
flyer. That's why when you are running a nice group all of a sudden you get one extremely out.
We sort them out and don't use them to hunt.


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## fastwater

Excellent tip Drm50!


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## Star1pup

Looks like I need to buy some ammo and head for the range. I've been told with the 2.75 ammo I'll lose about 35 fps and have a 2" drop at 100 yards. My deer are always shot at less than 50 yards, so I should be well within my range with the 2.75" instead of 3".


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## Drm50

All that is relative and not to the deer. My shots are usually under 50yds too. But get the occasional
long shot. I sight in a dead on at 100yds with 12g & 20g and that pretty well covers from 0 to 125
yds for hitting kill zone on deer. Most of my deer are shot under 50yds and they are running full
blast. When I get a long shot, that I will take, it's a stationary deer in the open. The deer don't care
about a little less FPS. If you sight in with them you will be fine. There is getting to be to much 
over think on shooting deer. They ain't Cape Buffalo. They were cleaned out of Ohio to near
extinction with flintlock rifles of under .40 cal using round balls. They haven't grow anymore tuffer
since.


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## mike hunt

Also if I remember correctly, the accutipps were $16-$18/box of 5.The SST's were $10. I'd have to look at the box to see if there is a difference in FPS


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## bumpus

Drm50 said:


> A good tip with any slug is to shake the shell. If it rattles it is loose in the shell and will produce a
> flyer. That's why when you are running a nice group all of a sudden you get one extremely out.
> We sort them out and don't use them to hunt.


I've noticed this when I shot sst's out of my 12 ga. I can't say I remember it throwing a wild one but I did find a lot of slugs loose in the sabot.


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## fastwater

Drm50 said:


> All that is relative and not to the deer. My shots are usually under 50yds too. But get the occasional
> long shot. I sight in a dead on at 100yds with 12g & 20g and that pretty well covers from 0 to 125
> yds for hitting kill zone on deer. Most of my deer are shot under 50yds and they are running full
> blast. When I get a long shot, that I will take, it's a stationary deer in the open. The deer don't care
> about a little less FPS. If you sight in with them you will be fine. There is getting to be to much
> over think on shooting deer. They ain't Cape Buffalo. They were cleaned out of Ohio to near
> extinction with flintlock rifles of under .40 cal using round balls. They haven't grow anymore tuffer
> since.


Again, another spot on post.
I'm long past the 'recoil junkie' stage and Never did see the need for anything more than a 2 3/4 slug here in Ohio...even with the old Foster style slugs. And now with the extended range of the more modern, improved sabot ammunition and rifled bores, surely wouldnt see the need of punishing my shoulder any more with the 3" or 3 1/2".


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## floater99

I have always had good luck with the Hornady's I get better distance accuracy with them and the Winchester sabots have greater knock down pwr (imo ) I never saw the need for 3 in mags ( OUCH ) I sight in for 0 at 100 yds abt inch high at 50 I really don't like the price these shells are costing any more  Time for the old smooth bore and fosters they worked great for years


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## Drm50

Another thing I found out the hard way. I have a old 870 slug gun with a 3x scope. I had been using it a lot in slug matches. In my preparations for deer season I noticed that I had some lead
build up at the Muzzel. I removed barrel and gave it a good cleaning. I hardly ever hunt with this
gun because I don't like scopes in the thick stuff. This particular year I was after a 12pt Buck and 
knew where he would be. The shot would be 100yds+. I had a blind in corner of field and was in
it before daylight. He came out on schedule and I proceeded to miss him off a rest. I shot the gun
empty as he ran off. Never touched him. Between dawn and lunch I missed 2 more deer. I checked
gun back at cabin and it was way off. Moral of the story if you are using scoped gun with interchangeable barrels don't mess with it after its sighted in. By the way the 12pt was shot a few
minutes after I missed it. A old man shot it at point blank range with a single barrel 16g.


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## bumpus

I used to switch the barrels out on my Mossberg for each season until my wife got me a 220 great gun I just wish it was cheaper to shoot


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