cleaning a rifled shotgun barrel and how often

[SofaKing]

I purchased a savage 220 and now I'm the question is what's the proper way to clean it after shooting sabots? Any special cleaners? After how many shots should it be cleaned before it affects accuracy ?

 

[SofaKing]

I purchased a savage 220 and now I'm the question is what's the proper way to clean it after shooting sabots? Any special cleaners? After how many shots should it be cleaned before it affects accuracy ?

Bump

 

[scottishkat]

I have been using bore tech shotgun blend. Started using BTE Bore tech eliminator on my rifles and tried it. Nothing cleans a bore like their products IMO. Bought one of their Jags and some big patches works real good.

I clean mine before the hunting season and after. They don't like being shot dirty sold my savage 220 and bought a browning a bolt. I did not like the Remington accutip's performance on game animals and they were the only thing the 220 liked.

Good luck and shoot straight

Bob

 

[Shane Lindsey]

I have an H&R 20 gauge Ultra Slugger.

I coean about every 5 shots. Look down the bore and it looked like stalagmites growing in there. Accuracy faded after about 6-7 shots.

 

[engineer40]

I also clean pretty often. Usually not more than 10 shots before cleaning.

I've spent more money on just testing different saboted slugs than the price of the shotgun.

I spent a ton when I first got the shotgun and tested a bunch of different saboted slugs. A few years later I got an itch to try all of the testing again.

Lately I decided to try rifled slugs instead of expensive sabots. They happened to be just as accurate for me. Yes, rifled slugs out of a rifled slug barrel. You won't have to clean the lead any more often than you would have to clean the plastic out from the sabots.

Do yourself a favor and check these out. $5.99/box and they are 1875fps.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/5...e-3-7-8-oz-high-velocity-rifled-slug-box-of-5

 

[snox801]

I do extensive long range 200 plus shotgun hunting with an hr ultra 20. I clean mine after every 5 shots bore tech elimanator on a bore snake. A few passes and clean. I always fire one before hunting. And as for accutips performance lol your experiences are not normal. I shotgun hunt over everything else because it's a challenge and I've yet to find a better performing bullet at all ranges. Some better close some better far. But nothing close to as good at all distances. 10 yards to 237 I've never had an issue. Like everything results my vary but I take a min of five deer and many many pigs every year with them and they flat out work. After that hornady sst was my second favorite just not as good up close and They were not as good past 150.

 

[Shane Lindsey]

Snox,
What are you using in yours?

I have used Rem Copper Solids and they shoot an inch and a half at a hundred. Very pleased with them. Big hole in and big hole out.

 

[snox801]

I'm using 3" accutips in both my ultra slug hunters and my standard. All shoot clover leafs at 100. What ****es me off is I bought the standard for my dad for our Illinois hunt and it shoots as good out to 150 but after that my ultra starts to outpace it. I set up lots of slug guns for tons of people. Some HR don't like the 3" accutips but they always liked the 2 3/4 inch. If one doesn't work the other will. I've tried about everything made and these are by far the best accuracy wise and terminal performance. If you like what you are shooting now the accutips should be better. Cooper solids are usually pretty good but I've always been able to do better with accutips. Also after cleaning I always shoot one round down the tube and that brings my point of impact back perfectly. Hope this helps. Also after you find which length accutips shoot best for you order several boxes at a time. I do them by the case as I feed three of them. Different lot number usually shift poi about a half inch.

 

[scottishkat]

I'm using 3" accutips in both my ultra slug hunters and my standard. All shoot clover leafs at 100. What ****es me off is I bought the standard for my dad for our Illinois hunt and it shoots as good out to 150 but after that my ultra starts to outpace it. I set up lots of slug guns for tons of people. Some HR don't like the 3" accutips but they always liked the 2 3/4 inch. If one doesn't work the other will. I've tried about everything made and these are by far the best accuracy wise and terminal performance. If you like what you are shooting now the accutips should be better. Cooper solids are usually pretty good but I've always been able to do better with accutips. Also after cleaning I always shoot one round down the tube and that brings my point of impact back perfectly. Hope this helps. Also after you find which length accutips shoot best for you order several boxes at a time. I do them by the case as I feed three of them. Different lot number usually shift poi about a half inch.

I don't want to derail this thread however. I always had excellent accuracy with the accutip in fact it was the only thing that shot well from the savage 220 I just parted with. The terminal performance from my experience is not good at all. I harvested 18 deer last season at least 8 with the savage and accutips. Everything I shot with the accutip ran from 60 pounds live weight and up the biggest deer ( 130 pounds live) I harvested ran about 50 yards laid down and got back up. All animals were found but the blood trails were spotty and not easy to follow.

My thoughts were if I shot a 60 pound deer with a 260 gr slug from inside 50yrds it would not travel at all. Were my expectations high???

Good luck and shoot straight

Bob

 

[snox801]

I think you set the bar to high. Part of the reason deer run after a slug is the same issue with my .458 socom. It's a slower moving large projectile so the massive hydro shock is not as extensive. They will kill and drive through but don't have the speed to explode. They will kill anything just not how you see from rifles. I also almost always have them run except when shot in the base of the skull. Blood trails can just be tough sometimes. If you want a more explosive round that will shoot well try the hornady sst. They make a mess. I actually didn't like how bad they exploded at close range. They work great and still explode down range. Problem is they don't shoot well enough to go past 200 yards and had problems when hit the shoulder directly. So it's always a give and take. I just know the accutips always kills. Got this guy this year and he ran about 60 yards with decent blood but his insides where gone.

 

[scottishkat]

I think you set the bar to high. Part of the reason deer run after a slug is the same issue with my .458 socom. It's a slower moving large projectile so the massive hydro shock is not as extensive. They will kill and drive through but don't have the speed to explode. They will kill anything just not how you see from rifles. I also almost always have them run except when shot in the base of the skull. Blood trails can just be tough sometimes. If you want a more explosive round that will shoot well try the hornady sst. They make a mess. I actually didn't like how bad they exploded at close range. They work great and still explode down range. Problem is they don't shoot well enough to go past 200 yards and had problems when hit the shoulder directly. So it's always a give and take. I just know the accutips always kills. Got this guy this year and he ran about 60 yards with decent blood but his insides where gone.

Dandy Buck. You may be right. I would say the SOCOM must be closer to the 12 guage. The same bullet weight. I will try the 12 guage next fall and post results. I guess the 20 guage is probably a .375 bullet. I note the 12 guage 2-3/4 shoots a 300 at the same speed as the 20 guage 3" shoots a 260. The 3' 12 guage has got some serious recoil I will see if that translates to better terminal performance.

I was going to replace the savage I owned with the H&R which was discontinued I also looked at the TC but handled the Browning and liked it better.

Good luck and shoot straight.

Bob

 

[snox801]

I started with the 12 and went back to 20 at longer ranges the 20 is much better. 20 is .45 cal and 12 is .56 cal for the accutips. Smaller for every other bullet. The socom is .458 so very close to 20 just has much more speed but still slow in the rifle world. I would stick to the 20 gauge all day. If your concerned about tracking I read a research artical on where to shoot deer for fastest kill. It is right in the shoulder. It actually works. They cut out head and neck cause of the large chance on a bad shot. I actually started driving it right into the shoulder for a few years and never had one make it more than 30 yards but wasted a lot of meat and as I got better at shooting and know what my gun would do I started to place shots better and learned to track much better.

 

[truck driver]

I have a 12ga Browning BPS that I feed Federal lead sabots and it has been very accurate with them and they will usually anchor a deer in it's tracks. I did change the recoil pad which helped tame the recoil. I also have a Mossberg 500 12ga that I have a slug barrel for that is rifled and the 5" rifled tube in the Browning will out shoot it.
I usually clean after 10 shots in the Mossberg but not as frequent in the Browning.