As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, in recent years my weapon of choice for all game large and small has been a smooth bore shotgun of one type or another. Admittedly, one of the reasons for this is financial in nature. The economic near-apocalypse of the last few years did not leave me unscathed and the resulting scramble for household austerity forced me to pare down my once extensive firearms collection to the bare bones.

Essentially, I kept only firearms that were incredibly versatile or those to which childhood memories were attached. There is simply no denying that a smooth bore shotgun is possibly the most versatile firearm in existence, capable of all manner of tasks from personal defense to hunting small and large game animals. If you can only keep one gun, it makes sense to keep the shotgun.

An additional part of my newfound affinity for the shotgun is my contrary nature. In America, the rifle is king, especially for big game hunting. Even in locales where centerfire rifles are prohibited for hunting use, most hunters employ a rifled shotgun barrel to milk as much accuracy out of their slug launchers as possible. While such measures are practical, I enjoy going against the grain and love to entertain the fantasy of bagging a deer with a retro smooth bore shotgun at less than 50 yards while other hunters try to snipe them at 200 yards with a scoped rifle. While this fantasy has yet to manifest in reality, I have – after a few years of exploring the capabilities of the smooth bore slug gun – found that such a platform is capable of far more than most hunters assume.

Understand and accept the limitations

In order to fully appreciate a smooth bore slug gun, the operator first has to accept and even embrace the limitations of the platform. A smooth bore firearm is simply never going to demonstrate the same level of accuracy as a rifle and will never excel at distances much past 100 yards with 75 yards and closer being the weapon’s ideal zone. With a 12 gauge shotgun of any sort, MOA groups are pretty much physically impossible due to the size of the projectile itself. Even cloverleaf group will exceed one inch in size.

Additionally, because a typical shotgun slug flies very slowly (usually at 1,600 f/s or slower) and is a very stout, wide, projectile, wind deflection is going to be an issue at ranges beyond 50 yards. I’ve personally witnessed a very gentle, pleasant, cross-wind move my slugs five inches away from the point of aim at 100 yards. The shooter can learn to compensate for a crosswind up to a point, but such a task becomes increasingly difficult with every incremental increase in distance and wind speed.

Finally –due once again to the slug’s poor sectional density and ballistic coefficient – the projectile is going to rapidly decelerate resulting in rapid drop and a significant decrease in kinetic energy.

The bottom line is that if a hunter frequents terrain where he or she cannot get within 100 yards of the quarry, that hunter will be best served with a rifle where legal or a dedicated, rifled slug gun. Just as a pickup truck will never win a race with a Ferrari, a smooth bore slug gun will never be an ultra-long-range game getter.

Advantages

Given its limitations, the obvious question to ask is why a big game hunter would bother with a smooth bore at all. While the reasons are numerous, the most prominent may be the versatility of the platform.

I’ve previously alluded to the fact that I’m not a very good deer hunter. In fact, I may very well be the world’s worst, unluckiest, and probably cursed deer hunter. For whatever reason, I just don’t see too many of the things when I’m after them.

What I do see quite often, are other delicious and abundant game animals such as snowshoe hare and ruffed grouse. When I simply cannot figure out where the deer are (which is pretty much always) I can easily abandon my dreams of big game, load up with some birdshot, and instead try to end the day with some bacon wrapped partridge breast on the grill. A centerfire rifle or rifled barrel shotgun does not allow for such last minute game changing.

Another advantage of the smooth bore gun is the lower cost associated with feeding it in comparison to rifled barrel models. Some of the modern, highly engineered, sabot slug loads now available can cost upwards of $5 per round. Such a price makes adequate practice a costly endeavor. By contrast, inexpensive Foster style slugs such as the Remington Slugger cost $1 a round or less to fire. More premium options such as the slugs offered by Brenekke are considerably more expensive, but are still far more affordable than saboted projectiles.

Ballistically speaking, a basic, Foster or plumbata slug may be ideal for up close and personal big game hunting in thick brush. The reason for this has nothing to do with the fabled brush busting abilities of wide heavy, slow moving chunks of lead. In fact, there exists evidence suggesting that no projectile, large, small, fast or slow is immune to deflection in brush. The real benefit of the shotgun slug at close range is that it’s going to punch a large hole in any animal properly hit and a slug made from a sufficiently hard alloy is going to punch both a large entrance and exit wound. If the quarry doesn’t drop in its tracks due to the massive amount of tissue destruction inflicted by the slug, the large wound should maximize the blood trail, easing somewhat the chore of tracking and finding the animal in places where the woods are exceptionally thick. While there are large bore rifle rounds available that will also poke a gaping hole at close ranges, they simply do not offer the same versatility as a shotgun and are typically a more expensive platform.

Capabilities

Although it is true that a smooth bore shotgun loaded up with slugs will never rival the accuracy of a centerfire rifle or even a dedicated, rifled barrel slug gun, the reputation the smooth bored have for inaccuracy is somewhat undeserved. An adequately sighted –meaning something more substantial than a bead at the end of the barrel – smooth bore shotgun is capable of better accuracy than most would expect. Consider for instance, the targets below.

Both groups were printed by a 12-gauge Benelli Nova Tactical (18.5-inch barrel, improved cylinder choke, and ghost ring sights) from a bench rest position. The left group was made by 1-ounce Brenekke K.O. slugs at a range of approximately 60 yards while the right group was printed at 50 yards by handloads incorporating Gualandi 1-1/8-ounce Dangerous Game slugs. Neither group would win a competition, but both are more than adequate for big game hunting.

Are rifled choke tubes worth the cost?

A hunter who owns a shotgun threaded to accept choke tubes has the option of purchasing a rifled tube which, as the name implies, adds a few inches of rifling to the end of the gun’s barrel. Many skeptics have doubted the assertion that a slug engaging a short rifled section of barrel after already reaching near maximum velocity will be appreciably more accurate and some insist that a rifled tube will in fact be detrimental to accuracy.

Above: A rifled choke tube for the author’s Baikal MP 94.

My experience has been that while a rifled choke tube will improve accuracy for slugs such as Fosters and Plumbatas, which are already balanced to fly true from a smooth bore gun, a rifled tube will likely not stabilize sabot slug loads that are optimized for fully rifled barrels.

After installing a rifled tube in the 12-gauge barrel of my Baikal MP94, three shot slug groups at 50 yards went from two to three inches in size to cloverleaf groups for some loads. At 100 yards, I was even able to print a three shot group using inexpensive Remington Sluggers that was around 3-1/4-inches in size. Once again, such a group is nothing that will win a contest, but it’s certainly nothing to scoff at either.

Above: Slug groups fired through a rifled choke tube. The bottom-most group was the result of 3″ Remington Sluggers fired from 100 yards away.

It is evident that a rifled tube will improve accuracy, but it is debatable as to whether or not the improvement is substantial enough to justify the cost of the tube.

The bottom line

Obviously, a smooth bore slug gun isn’t the be all and end all for big game. If I lived in an area where the terrain was largely open and 100 to 300 yard shots on game were common, the pumpkin thrower would stay in the safe in favor of something much flatter shooting.  However, when the terrain is thick and nasty and the hunting is of the up close and personal variety, a good old fashioned, low-tech smooth bore will find itself right at home. (38)

In a recent article I wrote about the capabilities of a short barreled, home defense or utility shotgun as a close range bird gun. In addition to yielding useful patterns out to about 25 yards at the range, my own utility gun, a Benelli Nova Tactical, was instrumental in the taking of two ruffed grouse from the thick Maine woods.

While two birds for the grill is evidence enough that a utility shotgun is a capable bird gun, I was curious about the practical limits of my current favorite birdshot load (2-3/4-inch Remington Express loads pushing 1-1/4 ounces of size 7.5 shot) in terms of terminal performance. To find out, I cast some ballistic gelatin into blocks approximately the size of a grouse’s kill zone and shot one at 10 yards, one at 25, and one at 35. All shots were taken with a Benelli Nova Tactical with an 18.5-inch barrel sporting a fixed, improved cylinder choke.

 10 Yards

At ten yards, due to shooter error, the center of the pellet storm missed the block. Still, approximately half of the cloud struck the block and many cleared the entire 3.5-inches of gelatin. I was able to recover 22 pellets total and additional pellets likely exited the block completely. Clearly, a hit at ten yards will result in a dead bird and a direct, dead center hit will likely ruin a substantial amount of meat.

Above: The gelatin block after being struck at ten yards with a 1-1/4 ounce load of of size 7.5 shot.

25 yards

Penetration was slightly diminished at 25 yards and naturally, lower pattern density at that range meant fewer pellets hit the block. The 11 pellets I was able to recover penetrated between two and three inches of gelatin. I’m confident that the Remington Express load would reliably kill small game at this distance out of an open choked gun, but it does seem like 25 yards is the ethical, maximum range for the gun/load combo with the sweet spot being distances of 10 to 20 yards.

35 yards

Performance was iffy at best at 35 yards. A mere five pellets struck the block and they only penetrated to a depth of about two-inches. Would a small game animal hit with the gun/load combo at such a distance be killed instantly? Possibly, but it seems just as likely that the animal would escape with an ultimately fatal wound and become food for the crows and blue jays.

Above: A gel block after absorbing a few birdshot pellets at 35 yards.

Conclusion

When using smaller shot sizes I will try to keep shots on grouse-sized game to less than 25 yards. Under most hunting conditions I’m likely to encounter, this is more effective range than I need. That being said, ruffed grouse do often venture onto abandoned logging roads to obtain crop stones and sun themselves. Such birds can be spotted at distances well beyond 35 yards. In such situations, a larger shot size may offer more penetration at longer distances. However, switching to larger shot means fewer pellets per shell, thus decreasing the changes of a hit. (22)

During a recent stint as an employee at a local gun shop, one of the discussions that began amongst my coworkers during a rare slow day was how well a home defense optimized shotgun would work as an upland game gun. Would the short barrel and fixed choke typically characteristic of such guns be an asset or a handicap while in pursuit of ruffed grouse and snowshoe hare in the dense woods of rural Maine? Being the investigative type, I took it upon myself to find out.

Tactical = durability and utility

When the term “bird gun” is uttered, images of fine, walnut stocked side by side and over/under shotguns likely come to mind. Such scatterguns have been ubiquitous among small game hunters since the days when black powder, muzzle loading, double guns were the pinnacle of shotgun technology.

While I am undoubtedly fond of such elegant firearms and would jump at the chance to own a $10,000+ over/under, there are small game hunting scenarios in which the $400 home defense gun may be the better option. Consider, for instance the photo below of a section of eastern Maine woods.

In many respects, terms such as “woods” or “forest” are an incorrect label for such terrain and “impenetrable wall of flora” is far more honest terminology. A hunter does not walk through such terrain, he or she stumbles though it, more often than not ending a day afield covered in pine pitch and with an extensive collection of pucker brush scratches. Bringing a high dollar firearm with a fine wood stock into such an environment is akin to driving a Mercedes down a washed out dirt road at top speed.

By contrast, many of the features that allegedly make a shotgun “tactical” also make it ideal for hunting small game in thick brush. For example, the synthetic stocks of many home defense shotguns are incredibly durable and scratch resistant. Should a hunter trip and fall head first into a tangle of blackberry bushes and spruce saplings, the gun will be no worse for wear. Additionally, the short barrels found on tactical shotguns significantly reduce overall length thus improving maneuverability in the thick stuff.

The greatest potential limitation of a home defense shotgun in a small game hunting role has to do with the choke. Such guns usually come with a fixed choke (typically cylinder or improved cylinder) that allows a shot column to open up fairly rapidly. While at close range an open choke may improve a hunter’s chance of hitting a fast moving target, it may prove to be somewhat of a handicap in terrain that allows shots to be made at a variety of distances.

 Pattern tests

Prior to fielding my own home defense shotgun – a 12-gauge Benelli Nova Tactical with an 18.5-inch barrel and a fixed improved cylinder choke – I took to the range to pattern test the gun with a small selection of birdshot loads. Tested loads included a 2-3/4-inch handload sporting 1-ounce of size 7.5 shot, the 2-3/4-inch Remington Express load with a 1-1/4-ounce payload of size 7.5 shot, and a 3-inch Federal Black Cloud load of 1-1/4 ounces of steel size BB shot.

The targets used in the pattern test consisted of 14×22-inch sheets of poster board with a 6-inch Shoot ‘N ‘C target at the center. The 6-inch central target was roughly the size of the kill zone of many upland game birds meaning that multiple pellet strikes within that circle would likely translate to a dead bird in the woods. The results of the pattern tests follow.

Test 1: Handloaded 1-ounce, size 7.5 shot and Remington 1-1/4-ounce Express size 7.5 shot at 10 yards

While a range of ten yards may seem unreasonably close, I have taken numerous ruffed grouse and more than a few rabbits at distances that were even closer. In fact, I have hunted areas where the woods are so thick that quarry more than 15 yards from a hunter is relatively safe from any common birdshot load.

As I expected, at ten yards the six-inch Shoot ‘n C targets were thoroughly peppered by both the 1-ounce and 1-1/4-ounce loads. At this distance, a direct hit on a bird or rabbit has the potential to result in an unacceptable amount of ruined meat.

Above: The ten yard patterns produced by the Remington Express load (left) and the 1-ounce handload (right).

Test 2: Handloaded 1-ounce, size 7.5 shot and Remington 1-1/4-ounce Express size 7.5 shot at 25 yards

At 25 yards, the pattern produced by my Nova became noticeably less dense. Even so, both tested loads planted multiple pellets in the 6-inch central target and would likely reliably take small game in the 20 to 25 yard range. Thirteen pellets from the 1-ounce handload landed in the kill zone and 20 pellets from the Remington Express load struck the central target.

Pellet coverage of the 14×22-inch poster board was fairly even for the Remington load while there were substantial gaps in the overall pattern generated by the 1-ounce handload. At longer distances, a heavier payload weight and higher pellet count seems to be an asset when working with an improved cylinder choke.

Above: The 25 yard patterns produced by the Remington Express load (left) and the 1-ounce handload (right).

Test 3: Handloaded 1-ounce, size 7.5 shot and Remington 1-1/4-ounce Express size 7.5 shot at 35 yards

While both the 1 ounce load and the 1-1/4-ounce Remington load put pellets on the central target at 35 yards, there were large gaps in the overall pattern large through which smaller game animals could easily slip. Ten pellets from the 1-ounce load landed in the central target and 9 from the Remington Express round landed in the center circle. While both loads are clearly capable of taking game at 35 yards, scoring a hit at that distance may require a certain degree of luck.

Above: The 35 yard patterns produced by the Remington Express load (left) and the 1-ounce handload (right).

Test 4: Federal Black Cloud, 1-1/4-ounce load of Steel size BB shot at 25 and 35 yards

The Federal Black Cloud waterfowl load incorporates a relatively recent innovation called the Flitecontrol wad. The Flitecontrol wad is a stiff, plastic shot cup that incorporates a series of integral air brakes designed to decelerate the wad in a way that allows a payload of shot to deploy in a more controlled manner than a conventional wad. The desired result is a tighter pattern regardless of the type of choke used.

Above: A federal Flitecontrol wad recovered after firing.

I was interested to find out how the Flitecontrol loads would pattern out of my Nova, so I set targets at 25 and 35 yards and let fly with a couple of rounds. In spite of the low pellet count inherent to large shot sizes, the Black Cloud load fared quite well with 11 pellets striking the central target at 25 yards and six pellets striking the center at 35 yards. With a smaller shot size in a Flitecontrol wad, an open choked, short barreled shotgun could potentially be an effective medium-range turkey gun.

Above the 25 yard pattern (left) and 35 yard pattern (right) yielded by the Federal Flitecontrol load.

Hunting

With my range work complete, I set out into the nearby woods in hopes of finding out how the Nova would perform under actual hunting conditions. I was in luck during my outing as the ruffed grouse (known in northern New England as partridge) were out in droves. As usual, I did my fair share of missing but not due to any fault of the gun. In one instance I pulled the trigger just as a flying bird dodged into a stand of spruce saplings and in another instance I fired just as a running bird ducked into a bowl-like depression in the ground.

Later in the day, however, my reflexes and aim improved and I managed to bag two birds. One I took neatly at a range of approximately 20 yards as it wandered along the edge of a clear cut and another I knocked out of the air as it flew across the abandoned logging road I was walking.

As I expected, the Nova’s short overall length made maneuvering through the thickest stands of pines and poplar saplings as easy as such a task can be. Additionally, the gun’s ghost ring sights lined up quickly on walking and running birds, but were easy enough to ignore while attempting to lead flying birds.

While a short, open choked, home defense shotgun wouldn’t be my first choice for hunting fast and high flying waterfowl or pheasants in a corn field, when the woods are thick and brutal, a gun that’s short and rugged may just be what is required.

Above: Two delicious ruffed grouse were taken by the author using his Benelli Nova Tactical loaded with Remington Express, size 7.5 loads.

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