H&R topper jr 20 gauge slugs?

[bfncbs1]

All,

Looking for anyone who has a recommendation on slugs for this gun. I recently purchased a H&R Topper 20 gauge for my 9 year old daughter. Essentially bought it on reputation, affordability and it perfectly suited my daughters small stature. Since owning it the gun has been great for her. She absolutely has loved it out squirrel and rabbit hunting! Well now she is ready to get out and deer hunt this year so we finally went out yesterday and did some target practice and came away with the fact that it is shooting 7-8 inches low and about 4 inches left. Needless to say at her agae and being off that much it could be challenging trying to take her first deer. We used standard rifled slugs (Federal premium). My question is could it just be the slug for one its off so much? Is there any recommendation on a different slug to try?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[clevalley]

All,

Looking for anyone who has a recommendation on slugs for this gun. I recently purchased a H&R Topper 20 gauge for my 9 year old daughter. Essentially bought it on reputation, affordability and it perfectly suited my daughters small stature. Since owning it the gun has been great for her. She absolutely has loved it out squirrel and rabbit hunting! Well now she is ready to get out and deer hunt this year so we finally went out yesterday and did some target practice and came away with the fact that it is shooting 7-8 inches low and about 4 inches left. Needless to say at her agae and being off that much it could be challenging trying to take her first deer. We used standard rifled slugs (Federal premium). My question is could it just be the slug for one its off so much? Is there any recommendation on a different slug to try?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

i have always used either Brenneke (black magic magnum) or regular old Remington Slugger...

One slug to another in a gun does make a difference, but I would try the Brenneke Black Magic Short Magnum's (2 3/4") as they have worked well in my Remington, Beretta, Benelli or AH Fox Side-by-Side - they just seem to be the most consistent.

My son uses them in his 20 gauge Charles Daley and they seem to be consistent.

One thing I would say is you take the gun and shoot it from a rest or a bi-pod to ensure she is not jerking the trigger and anticipating the recoil.

To add - the regular old Remington "Foster" styled slugs (like the slugger) have been consistent across the board.

 

[bfncbs1]

i have always used either Brenneke (black magic magnum) or regular old Remington Slugger...

One slug to another in a gun does make a difference, but I would try the Brenneke Black Magic Short Magnum's (2 3/4") as they have worked well in my Remington, Beretta, Benelli or AH Fox Side-by-Side - they just seem to be the most consistent.

My son uses them in his 20 gauge Charles Daley and they seem to be consistent.

One thing I would say is you take the gun and shoot it from a rest or a bi-pod to ensure she is not jerking the trigger and anticipating the recoil.

To add - the regular old Remington "Foster" styled slugs (like the slugger) have been consistent across the board.

Thanks Clevalley! I will try both of the slugs you mentioned above.

I actually shot the gun off of a rest several times yesterday and the pattern was consistent with every shot. Just to ensure it wasn't just me I had my brother throw a couple to make sure and he also got the same pattern. a couple inches I could live with but this is way to drastic and especially for my daughter.

 

[jrt_ms1995]

I'm assuming this is with the standard, smooth barrel (what choke?) that came on the shotgun? H&R does offer a 20" rifled barrel youth Topper, and you may be able to get just the barrel separately, so contact their customer support. Still, the particular slug will make a difference, you just might find an acceptable one quicker with a rifled barrel. Or not; I've read some shotguns shoot more accurately with smooth-bore open choke barrels than with rifled ones. Good luck!

 

[clevalley]

Thanks Clevalley! I will try both of the slugs you mentioned above.

I actually shot the gun off of a rest several times yesterday and the pattern was consistent with every shot. Just to ensure it wasn't just me I had my brother throw a couple to make sure and he also got the same pattern. a couple inches I could live with but this is way to drastic and especially for my daughter.

I have a buddy that has an over/under and he has not shot slugs out of his as he uses it as a clay/bird gun.

I would try different brands and see - but I have always had good luck with the Brenneke's. Last time I bought some I got them from Dick's Sporting Goods.

A buddy of mine has used the Brenneke Classic Magnums with great success in a wide array of shotguns.

Try this table and it will give you an idea - http://www.brennekeusa.com/web/text/faq.html#wich

Good luck!

 

[yankee44]

Sighted my gun in last night. One small adjustment to the scope and I was throwing darts. 3 in a 2 inch group at 50 yards and 3 in a 2 inch group at a 100 yards. I shoot an 870 with a rifled slug barrel and Remington copper solid sabot slugs.

 

[Vince]

Sighted my gun in last night. One small adjustment to the scope and I was throwing darts. 3 in a 2 inch group at 50 yards and 3 in a 2 inch group at a 100 yards. I shoot an 870 with a rifled slug barrel and Remington copper solid sabot slugs.

If they make a slug barrel for it, that would help..... a lot.

 

[cmhurley1]

to the best of my knowledge, rifled slugs through a smooth bore barrel actually produce worse consistency/accuracy then regular old sabots, so if the 20 gauge has a smooth barrel, i would definitely abandon the rifled slugs. (who wants to pay 15-18 dollars for 5 slugs anyways?)

for the past 7 years i have shot Lightfields (2 3/4 inches) through my New England Firearms Slug Hunter (10 gauge barrel bored to 12 gauge, rifled), and have had no problems with it. however my dad (whos shooting a Remington 11-87, rifled barrel) used these same slugs for about 3 years, then we went out one day to get ready for the season, and his gun wouldnt throw these slugs straight to save our lives. After some serious testing we found that, 1) His gun shot Remington slugs no problem, he still uses them. and 2) were no pros, but we came to the conclusion that upon leaving the barrel, the slug and the 'wad' its loaded in didn't separate, which disrupted his accuracy.


in shorter terms, yes i do believe that different slugs perform better in one gun then another

 

[huntr1]

to the best of my knowledge, rifled slugs through a smooth bore barrel actually produce worse consistency/accuracy then regular old sabots, so if the 20 gauge has a smooth barrel, i would definitely abandon the rifled slugs. (who wants to pay 15-18 dollars for 5 slugs anyways?)

You have your terms backwards.

A rifled slug is for use in a smoothbore barrel (the rifling is part of the slug). Rifled slugs ran +/- $2.00 for 5 last time I bought them.
A sabot is for use in a rifled barrel, or smoothbore w/ rifled choke, as there is no rifling built into the sabot, it's just a smooth plastic enclosure for the slug. These run $10 and up for 5.

 

[somdshootnet]

I have a Rossi 20 Gauge Slug Gun with the rifled barrel and I had been using the Remington Copper Solid Sabots in it. I used the Lightfields for a while and found that they held the tightest patterns, but, they kicked like a mule. I have been using the Remington Buckhammers, both the sabots, in the Rossi, and the rifled in my Remington 870. The Remington Buckhammers have much less kick than anything else I have used and much cheaper, about $6.00 a box. Since you should use the sabots in a rifles barrel and rifled slugs in a smoothbore, I wish I had of bought a smoothbore, but, with the Buckhammers, the sabots are only about $1.50 more to shoot than a smoothbore now.

 

[struggler44]

Kid shoots Lightfields through his 20 ga.. Very accurate.

 

[somdshootnet]

Kid shoots Lightfields through his 20 ga.. Very accurate.

I picked up a few boxes of the Lightfields from Dicks a few weeks back, I was impressed with them. The price didn't do much for me though. I started using the Renmington Buckhammers and they are not as accurate as the Lightfields in this Rossi, but, for no more distance than I shoot, the Buckhammers will be more then adequate for my needs. Overall, the difference in grouping between the Lightfields and the Remingtons was really not enough to be concerned.

Now, the difference in grouping between the Hornady SST sabots, well, let's just not screw this day up by talking about those things, you know the term shooting blindfolded... that's how those Hornady's made me feel. I despise those things.

 

[cmhurley1]

You have your terms backwards.

A rifled slug is for use in a smoothbore barrel (the rifling is part of the slug). Rifled slugs ran +/- $2.00 for 5 last time I bought them.
A sabot is for use in a rifled barrel, or smoothbore w/ rifled choke, as there is no rifling built into the sabot, it's just a smooth plastic enclosure for the slug. These run $10 and up for 5.

haha, oops. blonde moment, thanks for the correction