Winchester Rifled Slug 3-inch, Barnaul 2.875-inch all-steel case sabot slugs, Brenneke Silver Slug 3-inch and Modified Brenneke Silver Slug* 2.5-inch, Remington Sluggers 2.5-inch, Federal Rifled Slug 2.5-inch and some buckshot for fun.
 The shooting bench (click to enlarge)  The setup: Shotgun, Chronograph, and Target (click to enlarge) |
Condition and Equipment Used. Firearm: Stevens 38B bolt-action shotgun 3-inch and 2.5-inch 410 shotgun with a 24inch full choke barrel. Range: 25yards to target Targets: 12-inch diameter (8-ring) Dirty Bird target. Conditions: Partly sunny early afternoon about 68F gentle breeze. Chronograph: Alpha Chony with passive sky screen and remote interface In this second set of slug tests I did not do terminal testing. My goal in this test was to get velocity data for some of the 3-inch slugs that I could not test with my 2.5 inch chambered Winchester 9410. For some comparisons I also re-chrono'ed some of the 2.5 inch slugs to see if the difference between a cylinder bore and a full choke on velocity. Finally I wanted to document group sizes of various slugs when fired through a full choke gun. I am then going to remove the full choke and repeat the test to see if there is an accuracy improvement with a cylinder bore in the same gun. |
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One thing to note about the shotgun was my sights were less than optimal. I did not want to put a lot of effort into sights before deciding how I am going to remove the full choke. So for sights I used the front bead and a piece of coffee stirrer taped to the receiver to make a rear ghost ring. I have plans for better sights but those will be installed after that choke has been removed. None the less I believed the sights proved sufficient for shooting for groups. The ghost ring formed by the straw was nearly the same diameter as the target at 25 yard in my field of vision so alignment was pretty good. The lack of a rib though meant heat mirage was a serious problem after the first few shots of each group. I was not overly concerned with point of impact. |
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3.0 inches shell  5 shot group at 25 yards (click to enlarge) |
Chrono Testing 5 shots Low Velocity:1653fps Hight Velocity:1698fps Average velocity: 1680fps Extreme Spreed:45.24 Std. Deviation:20.92 Manufacture Spec: 1800fps Measure Mass: 111.7gr Manufacture Spec 1/4oz (109.4gr) Calculated Muzzle Energy: 699.9ft-lbs Approximate Group Size: 7.3 inch Notes: Worst group of all the slugs tested. Very disappointed in these slugs, accuracy was poor and the velocity was way off the manufactures specification and it was a three inch shell. I would have expected better from these relatively new Winchester slug. |
 5 shot group at 25 yards (click to enlarge) |
Chrono Testing 5 shots Low Velocity:1710 Hight Velocity:1786fps Average velocity: 1746fps Extreme Spreed:75.95 Std. Deviation:30.26 Manufacture Spec: 1541fps Measure Mass: 99.1gr Manufacture Spec 97gr Calculated Muzzle Energy: 670.7ft-lbs Approximate Group Size: 3.8 inch Notes: I like these slugs for plinking. They can be had for almost half the price of the big three manufactures. They were also substantially above the manufactures specified velocity. |
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3.0 inches shell  5 shot group at 25 yards (click to enlarge) |
Chrono Testing 5 shots Low Velocity:1854fps Hight Velocity:1880fps Average velocity: 1866fps Extreme Spreed:26.21 Std. Deviation:9.64 Manufacture Spec: 1755fps Measure Mass: 114.9gr Manufacture Spec (114gr) Calculated Muzzle Energy: 888.17ft-lbs Approximate Group Size: 1.9 inch Notes: Best group out of a full choke barrel. The first three shots were the three nearly touch at the bottom of the group. I had to reload the 3rd magazine to fire the last two and I think it change my sight picture. I was very impressed with these slug and the accuracy from a full choke. |
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3.0 inches shells modified down to 2.5 inch shell*  5 shot group at 25 yards (click to enlarge) |
Chrono Testing 5 shots Low Velocity:1762fps Hight Velocity:1890fps Average velocity: 1846fps (2043fps 2.5inch chamber/cylinder-bore) Extreme Spreed:128.7 Std. Deviation:50.78 Manufacture Spec: 1755fps Measure Mass: 114.9gr Manufacture Spec (114gr) Calculated Muzzle Energy: 869.2ft-lbs(1065ft-lbs 2.5inch chamber/cylinder-bore) Approximate Group Size: 3.6 inch Notes: There is seven hits on the target but only 5 were picked up by the Chrono. The far right hit was throw out of group size measurement since it tumbled for some reason and I know it was one of the two that missed the second gate of the chrono. |
 5 shot group at 25 yards (click to enlarge) |
Chrono Testing 5 shots Low Velocity:1625fps Hight Velocity:1716fps Average velocity: 1660fps (1817fps 2.5inch chamber/cylinder-bore) Extreme Spreed:90.35 Std. Deviation:35.18 Manufacture Spec: 1830fps Measure Mass: 96.1gr Manufacture Spec 1/5oz (87.5gr) Calculated Muzzle Energy: 587.9ft-lbs (704.3ft-lbs 2.5inch chamber/cylinder-bore) Approximate Group Size: 4.4 inch Notes: Approximately 157fps (116ft-lbs) lost from testing in 2.5 inch chamber. |
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2.5 inch shell  5 shot group at 25 yards (click to enlarge) |
Chrono Testing 5 shots Low Velocity:1654fps Hight Velocity:1719fps Average velocity: 1684fps (1728fps 2.5inch chamber/cylinder-bore) Extreme Spreed:64.89 Std. Deviation:25.00 Manufacture Spec: 1775fps Measure Mass: 109.0gr Manufacture Spec 1/4oz (109.4gr) Calculated Muzzle Energy: 686.2ft-lbs (722.5ft-lbs 2.5inch chamber/cylinder-bore) Approximate Group Size: 3.3 inch Notes: Hole on left edge of target is impact from one piece plastic wad/gas seal. These shot surprisingly well given how bad they shoot in my Winchester 9410 and being a 2.5 inch slug in a three inch chamber. |
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#000 and #4  7rds of 000 and #4 buckshot at 25 yards (click to enlarge) |
Chrono Testing 3 shots Sellier and Bellot 000 buchshot 3-pellet 2.5in shell Low Velocity:1135fps Hight Velocity:1157fps Average velocity: 1148fps Extreme Spreed:21.71 Std. Deviation:11.35 Manufacture Spec: 1255fps Chrono Testing 4 shots Barnaul #4 buchshot 5-pellet 2.875in shell Low Velocity:1165fps Hight Velocity:1197fps Average velocity: 1174fps Extreme Spreed:32.63 Std. Deviation:15.36 Manufacture Spec: N/A Notes: Not really slugs but I had some with me so I sent some through the chronograph. The Seller and Bellot group horribly out of the full choke. The Barnaul stuff worked surprisingly well |
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Shell opened up   Exploded view (click to enlarge) |
Notes: I figured the #4 buck was just loose in the shell and figured it would patterned very badly. It turns out the five #4 pellets are lined up in a special thick walled wad. The was acts very much like a sabot and the pellet don't pattern to badly. |
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Conclusions: Well... as expected the full choke did not shoot very good groups. My Winchester 9410 with a cylinder bore produced 2 inch groups at 50 yards and only one slug tested manage that at 25 yards. Substantial velocity was lost in all of the 2.5 inch slug tested compared to the velocity measured in my Winchester 9410. Now the question is was that velocity lost due to the full choke (both barrel where 24 inches long) or from gases escaping around the slug as it left the mouth of the shell and before it entered the forcing cone. I suspect it is the long chamber. If you look at the data for the Federal slug it lost very little velocity and I think this is because by using the long one piece gas seal-wad less pressure is lost since the slug is nearly in the bore before the gas seal has left the shell. With the Remington Slugger that uses what appears to be shot-buffer to fill the shell and a simple cardboard over powder wad I suspect that buffer just gets blow past the slug in the chamber resulting in significant velocity lost. Even the mighty modified Brenneke* fell victim to the velocity lost in the longer chamber. As expected the Brenneke slug continues to perform the best both in energy and accuracy. For being a hard slug fired from a full choke barrel the accuracy was impressive. They are consistently the highest energy slug available. They are my overwhelming favorite for deer hunting with a 410 at this point. The Barnaul slugs are a pleasant surprise they shot OK groups and I think in a cylinder bore accuracy will improve and they are cheap at present. Another surprise was the Federal Slugs. In my Winchester 9410 the grouped the worst. In the Stevens they were the second best grouping slug. They also maintained their velocity the best of the 2.5 inch slugs tested in the 3 inch chamber. |
*Details on modified Brenneke Slugs for use in Winchester 9410.
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