Many New York hunters will likely be heading out to shoot the gun this week as we near the regular gun season opener.
Some of you may have been practicing already but I know New York hunters and most will probably do their sighting in
this week after work sometime. Slugs traditionally have had a bad reputation for accuracy. But in recent years we have
seen better slugs hit the market with better luck getting them to deliver at once unheard of distances. That lends to the
notion that a shotgun slug can be deadly accurate and one should expect solid accuracy if you are willing to spend a little
more for your ammo. Which begs the question - How well do you know your gun? Maybe not as well as you think.
I have shot Lightfield slugs out of my 11-87 with a 1 x 4 Leupold scope for seven deer seasons now. They shoot great at 50
yards and they shoot acceptable at 100 yards. Yet, at 100 yards I find that they stay within 4 inches of the bulls eye
but there is not any consistency as to where they hit. They may hit high, low, right, left, etc... but always within 4 inches
of the bull. That level of accuracy is not as good as many others who shoot Lightfields from an 11-87 have reported in recent
years but plenty acceptable for deer hunting. Of course, this is from the mind frame that a slug is a slug and they just are
not very accurate.
In the past couple of years we have seen faster, although more expensive, slugs have hit the market. I set out this year to find a slug
that would hold a better grouping at 100 yards and beyond. I started this process in September. I am not going to name any
of the brands of slugs that I shot because I do not want to paint any negative publicity about them. Just go to your local sporting
goods store and look for brands of slugs in the $11.00+ range.
I started with one brand that held a soccer ball grouping at 50 yards and the same at 100 yards. Worse than my Lightfields so
I scrapped them from the board. I then went to the next brand. They shot really good at 50 yards, although not as well as my Lightfields.
At 100 yards they shot absolutely all over the place including slugs that missed by over a foot. Some of them never even hit
the board behind the target.
The slugs that I am referring to above had outstanding reviews from actual hunters. I had read many articles and message board
posts from people who shoot religiously and who were using the same slugs from the exact same gun as I have.
I do believe they are good slugs - no question. I would also like to mention that I practiced with
these slugs on at least two occassions each - not just one time. During this time period I was also shooting a Remington 7mm rifle with
excellent results. In other words, I had been doing a lot of shooting and the shooter was tuned. So what is the problem? Two
different brands of slugs with great reviews and no luck?
After failing two times with what should have been better slugs,
I went back to the Lightfields just to get myself back to where I started and to see how they shot this year.
They shoot as good as they ever did at 50 yards and just like they always did at 100 yards. But now I am back to
square one. The gun shoots good with Lightfields at 100 yards but not as good as I think it should and certainly not
as good as what others are finding. It only appears that Lightfields are shooting better than other slugs out of a gun
that has a problem.
Now I am leaning more toward a defect in the gun, specifically the barrel, as there is no indication that the scope is
jumping. You can move back and forth between 50 and 100 yards and get the same results. In addition, there are too many people
shooting Lightfields from an 11-87 at 100 yards who report excellent groupings. I am not getting, nor have I ever got, excellent
groupings at 100 yards.
Last year, a new sporting goods store opened in this area named
Bristol Outdoors. I have spent quite a bit of time in there this year
with all the shooting I have been doing and preparing for a couple of hunting trips. They have been a great store to deal with and the prices
are friendly too. I took the gun there with a couple of targets and explained to the gunsmith
Sam what was going on.
After analyzing the evidence, he seemed to lean with me that something was wrong with the barrel on the gun.
The jury is still out on that one but I am positive there is a defect somewhere when comparing my results to others who shoot the same gun and
ammunition. Something causes the slugs, especially the faster ones on the market, to spin off with a mind of their own.
In many ways I could pat myself on the back for getting an early start to shooting my gun this year. Although I sure do wish it was February and
I had the rest of the year to do some more testing. I would have a gun that shoots even better. With one week left before deer season opens and with a trip to Idaho right behind it,
in which I am going to use this same shotgun, it is not the best of news. At the same time, I have practiced enough this year (and in other
years) to feel confident with the gun. It is shooting slugs plenty good enough to take deer out to 100 yards and I have taken deer with it before
out to 100 yards. Not trying to jinx myself or anything but I have not missed a deer with it since the first year I owned it.
We will work on a new improved set-up next year (either a new barrel or gun altogether).
All that being said, in recent years I have done more shooting and started shooting long before season opened. While I cannot say I am hunting
with a gun that performs any differently than it did in recent years, that extra practice time combined with better knowledge and research
from other hunters definitely got me up to speed with something that has been going on for a long time without my knowledge. I did not know my gun
as well as I thought I did. I thought it was the greatest deer gun in the world and now I am not too sure.
This is not the first lesson I have ever learned when it comes to shooting. I would like to share some of the lessons I have learned and maybe they
will help someone else become a better shooter and thus hunter. Many dedicated shooters have probably already learned these lessons but the young bucks
out there may be able to save themselves some grief by considering the following points.
Choosing Your Equipment
- Don't buy something just because it works good for someone else. Other opinions are extremely valuable when trying
something new but what
works well for one person may not work well for another. Just because your best friend John has great success hunting deer with a Remington
870 does not mean that it is going to be the perfect set-up for you. Visit a local sporting goods store and look over several guns. Read
about them. Same goes for scopes. Ammunition is more lenient because it does not cost hundreds of dollars but don't assume that it is going
to perform to your standards just because it does for someone else. That is usually when you find out that it shoots 8 inches low at
150 yards, as it does for your friend, but your friend does not care. You might.
- Get to know your ammunition and try and to get an idea of how it will perform in different cover. This is important when hunting
in New York these days since we can now use rifles. Shotgun slugs are great for penetrating thick brush while staying intact and straight. Rifle
cartridges will often disintegrate or tumble on contact with the smallest of twigs.
- Bigger is not always better. This goes to what I said above. A rifle is going to hit an animal a lot of harder
than a shotgun but is not always the best choice under certain circumstances. Sometimes that power comes at a disadvantage.
- Same goes for scopes. The closer your opportunities are going to be then the lower power of scope you want.
- If you are using a scope, try shooting it at different magnifications. Your scope is not going to auto-adjust
to the distance your game may be at. In the heat of the moment, you may need to shoot far on a low setting.
- I said this before but I will say it again - I would not advise buying any expensive piece of equipment until/unless
you have held it in your hands first and preferably had other similar products to compare it to. I wanted to buy a climber this year and was dead set on getting a
Gorilla. That is until I saw the
Summit climbers. The Gorilla looked awesome in a magazine photo but compared in person to a Summit,
it was not even in the same league. Again, in my opinion. You may see both and like the Gorilla better.
Practicing
- Year round practicing. It is difficult in Winter, Spring, and Summer to get up the ambition to spend 45 minutes
at the range once or twice a month. Try and force yourself to go. If it helps, shoot many different weapons or loads just so there is
something new about it. Try different positions, distances, and targets. Keep your shooting so it is second nature. You also have the
opportunity to squash potential problems, like above, long before they become critical problems. In any event, try and get your practicing
started long before the season opens.
- Take breaks between shots. Especially if you have not shot in a long time.
- Find a rest that works good for you. If the rest you are using is not comfortable then don't even bother
wasting your time or money trying to shoot even if you have to leave and come back another day. I have always found that laying across a
sleeping bag folded 3 times in to a 3' x 1' pad works great for steadiness and steady slight adjustments. Lay the entire gun across the
sleeping bag. Just make sure to pull the sleeping bag back a little so the muzzle is clear of it. Sandbags work good too and can also
absorb some of the recoil when positioned correctly.
- Try different types of targets to see if it changes your accuracy. Black bulls eye targets are popular. I have found
that I am more accurate with a red or orange bull than I am with a black one.
- Bring a tape measure. A hit outside the bull will often give the impression that it is a lot further
from center than it really is. It may look like it is six inches away but it may surprise you that it is only three. Why waste ammo on
playing the left to right game?
- Factory ammunition does change. Companies have contracts with third parties to provide things like powder, primers,
and all the other components of a cartridge. If they can get something at a cheaper price then they will likely change providers. That could
change the load. Try and keep your ammunition grouped by when you bought it. You may find that the exact same ammo from ten years ago does not
shoot exactly the same as the "seemingly" exact same ammo that you bought yesterday.
- Guns also change. Take a look at an Ithaca Deerslayer from 20 years ago and then look at one now. They may be sold as
the same gun but they are not the same gun.
Out of State Tips
- ALWAYS shoot your gun when you get to your destination especially if you are flying. John Doe luggage handler at O'Hare
International Airport isn't going to care if your rifle shoots good when you arrive. I went to Wyoming on an antelope hunt this year with a gun that was dead-on at
100 yards when I left New York and it shot 4 inches right when I got there. Always shoot your gun when you arrive to make sure it was not bumped during handling.
- Find out as much as you can about the specific area where you are hunting. I cannot emphasize this enough.
The terrain you will be hunting in dictates the type of weapon and/or ammunition that will be adequate. Don't show up with an elephant gun expecting to
shoot at game in meadows at 200 yards only to find out that most shooting is in thick brush at less than 50 yards. You want to make sure
that you know exactly where you are going and get opinions from people who specifically hunt that game in that area.
No matter who you are, where you hunt, or how you hunt, be safe out there and make sure you know your gun!
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Rob Taylor, Founder, EmpireHunting.com
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