Winchester 20 Gauge Partition Gold Sabot Slugs Reviews

Shotgun hunters are currently blessed with some of the best projectiles—sabot slugs—they've always had to shoot, simply improvements in these rounds have been slow in coming. Winchester-Western ballistician Karl Foster redesigned the old pumpkin-brawl slug into what is essentially a 20th century .72-caliber Minie Brawl in 1933. From that breakthrough until the early 1980s, there was very little change in shotgun slugs—until the advent of rifled barrels for shotguns and sabot slugs changed everything. By encasing an aerodynamic .50-caliber pellet-like projectile in a two-piece plastic sleeve of bore diameter to grip the rifling (an idea used in artillery for nearly a century), slug shooting expanded its horizons significantly.

While sabots were a breakthrough in accuracy and expanded constructive range, they even so relied on the same nose-heavy design equally original slugs for accuracy. Y'all've undoubtedly heard slugs compared to badminton shuttlecocks or the "rock in a sock" analogy. The sabots were also very hard, so although they gave hunters greater accuracy and effective range than full-bore slugs, they did not expand well on deer-sized game.

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Remington advanced sabot design another footstep in 1993 when the visitor introduced its original Copper Solid. Machined out of solid-copper bar stock, the Copper Solid was the offset shotgun projectile that was rear-weighted, like a bullet, rather than olfactory organ heavy.

"The industry had been very cautious not to make a slug that looked or acted like a bullet," said ane manufacture source. "Only when the Copper Solid came out and was not banned, it opened the doors for us to use bullet-like slugs, which in turn opened a whole new realm ballistically."

The original Copper Solid was just as hard as the early sabots; thus, it didn't solve the hunting problem. To solve the expansion woes, Federal and Remington brought out readily expandable .l-caliber sabot bullets in 1997-98, and Winchester and Hornady went to extreme velocities with new slugs in 2000.

But which one of the electric current crop of saboted slugs is best for your deer hunting? We decided to test 5 of the most common brands head to caput to see what sabot all-time combined ballistic functioning, accurateness, and downrange effectiveness. They were the Lightfield Hybred Sabot, the Remington Copper Solid, the Federal Barnes eXpander, the Hornady H2K Heavy Magazine, and Winchester'due south new Division Gilded sabot slug.

The Friction match-Upwards
We opted to shoot 12-gauge sabots suitable for use in a rifled butt, which gave us the nearly examples and represented more 80 percent of the sabot slug marketplace. We likewise kept the test to ii iii/4-inch slugs since they are invariably improve performers than their 3-inch counterparts.

The exam guns were a 12-gauge RSG-12 Tar-Hunt custom slug gun out of Randy Fritz's custom store in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, and a SB980 H&R bull-barreled unmarried-shot 12-gauge slug gun. The Tar-Hunt'southward one-in-28-inch rifling twist rate and 20-inch barrel and the H&R'south 1-in-34 twist and 24-inch barrel pretty much covered the variables of commercially built guns.

Setting up a range session to test 5 brands and types of sabot slugs wasn't as simple equally it sounds. The slugs shed their plastic sabots soon subsequently leaving the cage, and the discarded ejecta becomes destructive, erratic-flight wingmates to the slug downrange. To protect our equipment, we congenital a plywood cage that shielded the chronograph'south iii sky screens and iv-foot bar.

We cleaned both gun barrels to an absolute shine with Shooter's Choice MC-7 bore cleaner, a phosphorus statuary brush and patches. Two warming shots were fired, then one shot every minute thereafter. We gripped the guns tightly and drew them solidly to shoulder, leaving the gun forearm to rest on the forepart bag with no hand grip. In each gun, we fired five slugs of each make through an Oehler 35P chronograph to determine average cage velocities. All cage velocities were significantly below the manufacturers' claims, which were probably achieved in tight xxx-inch proof barrels from bolted-down deportment auto-fired at indoor ranges. We institute only single-digit differences in velocities between the 20-inch and 24-inch barrels, but pregnant standard deviation in each load.

The .44-caliber Hornady H2K was the velocity leader with a x-shot average of 1,985 fps, followed by Winchester'south new .50-quotient Partitioning Gold at 1,960 fps. Both manufacturers claim ameliorate than 1,900 fps in factory barrels. Merely with ballistic coefficients over .200, both slugs offered 400 to 500 fps over standard sabot loads. Both slugs also avowal previously unheard-of cage-energy measurements around 3,000 pes-pounds (a half-ton reward over the residual of the market) and retain nearly a full ton of energy at 125 yards. That's 600 foot-pounds more than the expanding copper slugs.

What does that mean in trajectory? Well, the rule of thumb for a 100-one thousand zippo with typical (1,300 fps) sabot loads was to heart them ii to 2.5 inches high at 50 yards. The new Winchester and Hornady loads demand but be 0.seven inches high at 50 to zero at 100. In fact, print them 2 inches high at fifty now and you lot'll have a 150-yard zero. That translates to a maximum betoken-bare range (plus/minus 3 inches from zero, pregnant no concur-over) of 178 yards. These are shotgun slugs we're talking about—with performance that rivals the .45-70 centerfire burglarize.

For accuracy, nosotros shot each load with each gun at l yards (v five-shot groups) and repeated the procedure over again at 100 yards. With the exception of the Hornady H2K, all of the other slugs showed same-pigsty accurateness, or close to it, for five-shot groups at 50 yards. The Hornady grouped poorly at 50 yards and threw slugs then poorly at 100 that no group measurement was attainable.

The Winchester Partition Aureate grouped extremely well out of both twist rates, the smallest five-shot group at 50 yards beingness three-quarter inch and the to the lowest degree accurate a hair over an inch. At 100 yards, the Tar-Chase threw one ane.eighteen-inch five-shot grouping with the load, and neither gun grouped larger than ii.48 inches.

The hulking 585-grain Lightfield was a surprising second in the accuracy department at 100 yards, with one group of 2.25 inches, despite not beingness able to become under an inch at 50 yards like the Winchester, Remington, and Federal entries did.

Nosotros felt that expansion tests in water proved nada since virtually anything volition mushroom in the unforgiving medium. Wet newspaper was a like no-go equally a penetration medium since the hollow-nosed copper slugs, which mushroom readily on deer, did not aggrandize at all, thus out-penetrating all others equally solids.

The bodily penetration and expansion tests came from personal experience with each load on deer. We've recovered several Federal Barnes eXpanders and Remington Copper Solids from deer carcasses, all of which mushroomed perfectly and retained 100 percent of their weight and mass. We've recovered many Lightfields from a variety of game (deer, caribou, black bear, pronghorn, and feral pigs) over the years and all expanded well while retaining about 80 to 85 percent of their mass.

Nosotros've only been able to recover one example each of the Winchester Partition Gold and Hornady H2K speedsters from deer—both end-to-end shots through the breast that were recovered in the hams. Both slugs mushroomed well and, while most of the soft lead done out of the hollow nose, both retained 75 to 80 percent of their mass. Hither's what we thought of the loads individually:

Winchester Supreme Partition Aureate
Our recommendation: This is the best-performing slug we've ever shot at a target or deer.

Non simply does the Supreme Segmentation Gold offer outstanding accurateness, but the .220 BC is unheard-of (Foster slugs are .060). No others tin claim 1,800+ fps velocity and huge retained energy with that kind of accuracy.

The slug went into production merely one week before the test concluding summer. Merely we had an opportunity to hunt the 1999 season with prototypes. None of the 8 deer we took with the slug (at ranges from forty to 120 yards) took another step.

The slug was a three-year development project at Winchester-Olin. The largest problem was building a sabot with sufficient integrity to withstand the huge inertia exerted at setback. Designers solved the problem by molding an shipping-aluminum deejay into the floor of the sabot—an expensive manufacturing footstep that makes the Partition Gold pricey. Information technology's a 12-gauge-just slug right now.

Lightfield Hybred Sabot
Our recommendation: We highly recommend this slug as a hunting round, given its inherent accurateness and retained stability and reputation as a expanding slug on deer. Get-go introduced in 1993 based on a design by British arms designer Tony Kinchen, the Lightfield incorporates the heft and olfactory organ diameter of a full-bore slug with the accuracy of a sabot. The New Bailiwick of jersey-based company originally had its slugs loaded at the now-defunct Activ plant in West Virginia. After some inconsistency in manufacture, the company had Fiocchi load the slugs at its plants, in Fiocchi hulls, in Hungary. More problems surfaced, mostly with the Fiocchi components, and the slugs are now loaded over a proprietary Scandinavian powder in French Cheddite hulls with Cheddite primers. Based on express hunting experience, we besides think this is a skilful performer in xx estimate. A 3-inch 12-gauge version is on the drawing boards for 2001.

Remington Copper Solid
Our recommendation: This round is an accurate and dependable performer on game. Originally designed in an extremely hard copper-bar format, the Solid acquired pressure level problems in some guns (Hastings barrels used to be packed with a annotation that the barrel warranty was void if Copper Solids were used) and was found to be capable of penetrating several layers of Kevlar vests. In 1998 Remington redesigned the slug in a more than malleable copper form that expands extremely well and is a veritable ballistic twin to the Federal Barnes eXpander. Also available in 20-approximate and 3-inch 12 gauge.

Federal Barnes Expander
Our recommendation: We found this slug to be interchangeable with the efficient new version of the Remington Copper Solid.

Federal outset started loading a readily expandable .50-caliber Barnes MZ bullet in its Premium hulls in 1997, making information technology the start truthful sabot (other than the sabot-fullbore hybrid Lightfield) that expanded readily on deer-sized game and actually expended its energy in the animal rather than blowing through. We would non hesitate to hunt deer or close-range behave with the slug, but nosotros hesitate to propose it for larger game such equally caribou. Also available in 20 gauge and 3-inch 12-judge.

Hornady H2K Heavy Mag
Our recommendation: Pass on this new pattern. While its velocity was very impressive, the slug was horribly inaccurate.

Accuracy was not acceptable even at short ranges. Information technology'due south the but slug on the market place that uses a star crimp, enclosing the slug nose. The unpredictable factors of plastic retention, stiffness, compatible pressure on star points, etc., may contribute to the inaccuracy. The bullet-making giant is relatively new to the slug business, however, and we await an improved load some time in the future. Hornady first entered the market in 1997 with the ATP slug, which was similarly inaccurate and was discontinued in favor of the new H2K Heavy Mag. Not available in other sizes or gauges yet, nor should it be.

Gun Tests Recommends
Winchester Supreme Sectionalization Aureate Sabot, $fourteen.39 per box of 5. Purchase it. It's the most expensive slug on the marketplace, but is worth the investment if you want the all-time. The Partition Gilded represents the newest wave of slug engineering science —a loftier-velocity, controlled-expansion bullet with apartment trajectory and tons of retained energy.

Lightfield Hybred Sabot, $7.95 per box of five. Buy it. Much less expensive than the Winchester slug and marginally less than the Remington or Federal performers, the bulky yet accurate Lightfield is a proven performer. With less felt recoil and comparable accuracy to Remington and Federal, the Lightfield offers more knockdown ability than whatever slug other than the Partition Gilt.

Remington Copper Solid, $12.98 per box of five. Buy it. A proven performer both in accuracy and effect on deer-size game, although not in the same league with Winchester'south new offering.

Federal Premium Barnes eXpander, $11.95 per box of 5. Purchase it. A virtual twin to the Remington Copper Solid in all aspects, it'due south a truly effective slug on deer-sized game.

Hornady H2K Heavy Magazine, $xiii.25 per box of 5. Don't buy it. During our testing, we saw major bug with accurateness that override superb ballistics that rival Winchester'south.

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