Top Slug Guns

posted on October 28, 2011
** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
2011102882452-slug-gun-deer-hunter_f.jpg

Growing up in the coastal South, where dogs and shotguns were the norm during deer season, I was almost 20 years old before the opportunity arose to hunt whitetails with a rifle. Sure, I had hunted squirrels with a .22 as a teen and punched my share of holes in soda cans and water-filled milk jugs in my youth, but the opportunity to take down a big-game animal with a single, well-placed hard-hitting projectile didn’t become a regular part of my sporting life until I was out of college and living away from the coast. And I loved it.

I still frequently returned home to hunt where, today, with a few family members and friends, I now own a 470-acre farm. That farm is where I enjoy doing most of my hunting, and while I still find a lot of romance in the sound of baying of hounds on the chase and the deep boom of shotguns echoing through the swamp or across a cut corn field, my style of hunting has definitely migrated from the way I hunted as a kid. By law, in the county where I hunt, I’m still required to tote a shotgun, but where buckshot used to be the first and only option, straight-flying slugs loaded in a rifled slug gun are now my preferred choice. Indeed, in many states where center-fire rifles are not permitted, slug guns are the preferred method of taking down a heavy-bodied buck.

Today’s slug guns and load options have come a long way from the poorly flying “punkin balls” of my youth, providing hunters with zeroed accuracy at 100 yards, with enough reliable flight and knockdown power as to still be ethically effective at 150. And where an inexact hit with a .243, .308 or even .30-06 can force the hunter into a bit of a tracking chore, the size and energy transfer of a 12-gauge or even 20-gauge slug can lead to devastating blood loss and a quick, humane kill in nearly every situation. Following are five varied options to meet every hunter’s expectations.

 

Latest

Hopkins & Allen Gunmaker
Hopkins & Allen Gunmaker

Hopkins & Allen: The Armsmaking Giant That Didn't Survive

Founded in 1868 in the northeast U.S., Hopkins & Allen grew from a friendly business venture into a prolific maker of affordable guns for brand names such as Merwin & Hulbert and Forehand & Wadsworth.

Burris Optics Celebrates 50 Years Of Fullfield Riflescopes

Firearms and ammunition ballistics have changed greatly over the last half-century, but one of the biggest leaps in performance hit the scene five decades ago, when Burris Optics introduced its Fullfield line of riflesopes.

I Have This Old Gun: Heckler & Koch P7

In the mid-1970s, the German federal police sought a replacement for its existing World War II-era sidearms and put out stringent guidelines for what it wanted in a handgun. The result was the Heckler & Koch P7.

New For 2025: Smith & Wesson Shield X

Smith & Wesson's new Shield X micro-compact handgun combines elements from the company's M&P Shield Plus with some cues from its smaller Bodyguard 2.0 design.

Review: Tisas PX-5.7 FO

The idea that a faster-moving, lightweight projectile can do the same work as a heavier, slower-moving slug has been around for ages, and the math clearly supports it, even if some in the general public don’t.

NRA Awards Grand Scholarships To 2024 Y.E.S. Students

The Y.E.S. program—which launched in 1996—is held each summer in Washington, D.C., and brings together high-achieving high school students from across the country for a week of immersive learning focused on the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights and American government.

Interests



Get the best of American Rifleman delivered to your inbox.