What can the S12 shoot?

[jackb 0]

All I've ever shot out of my Mossberg is birdshot, and I have a S12 on the way to me now.

What types of 12ga ammo can it shoot?

Of course bird and buckshot, but what about steel shot? Slugs?

And whats the deal with slugs? Being rifled I mean.

Thanks in advance

[mavrick16o 6]

there isnt any thing your saiga cant shoot provided you DONT have a choke on it. if it can fit inside a 3" or smaller shell it can go down the barrel, steel shot is fine, slugs, copper slugs all fine (riffled slugs are ribbed to catch the groves of a riffeled shot gun barrel but the saiga is smooth bore so you can shoot riffled slugs you just wont get any spin)

[Twinsen 86]

Rifled slugs are for smooth barrels. I bought some flat sided slugs once by accident and it says on the box to never shoot them down a non-rifled barrel, I assume for some pressure reason.

[turbo1889 1]

Okay, here is the deal with slugs, there are basically two types of slugs out there the ones intended for smooth or rifled barrels and the ones for rifled barrels only. Basically to be accurate from a smooth bore a slug has to be "nose heavy" so that it flys down range nose first. Some slugs are not nose heavy and will be specifically marked "rifled barrels only" if you shoot them from a smooth bore unchoked gun nothing bad will happen to you or the gun but the slugs will tumble in flight and get sprayed all over the target and have terrible accuracy.

 

Usually the slugs best suited to smooth bore guns will be the cheaper slugs and will be marked "rifled" or "foster". With only a few exception the slugs marked "sabot" will be for rifled barrels only. A good portion of the "rifled" and "foster" slugs can also be safely fired from choked guns as well although accuracy will be reduced.

 

So basically if it's a 2-3/4" or 3" 12ga. shell and isn't marked "rifled barrels only" somewhere on the box your good to go. Lead Shot, Steel Shot, Bismuth Shot, Hevi-Shot, Buck-Shot, "rifled", "foster", or "Brenneke" Slugs, Fletchette Loads, "Dragons Breath" Incinerary Rounds, Door Breaching, Flares, etc.

 

If your one of those power hungry types who wants to know what the most deadly loads you can put in your gun then the "Dixie Slugs" (google it) brand "Tri-Ball" loads are definently in that catagory. Dixie basically makes two types of "Dangerous Game" loads, they make super hard and heavy slugs for rifled barrels only and for smooth bore guns they make the "Tri-Ball" load which is like a hybred cross between slugs and buckshot giving you a load with three great big, slug size, super-hard balls comming out of the barrel every time you pull the trigger !!!!! The loads come in two sizes the 3" shells and the 3-1/2" shells, obviously for the S-12 you want the shorter 3" loads.

[turbo1889 1]

. . . riffled slugs are ribbed to catch the groves of a riffeled shot gun barrel . . .

 

Okay, I'm not trying to be an A.H. but that is "misinformation" rifled slugs dominated the slug market long before rifled slug barrels became readily available to the public. In fact rifled slugs were specifically made for smooth bore guns. The idea was that as the slug flew through the air the rifling on it would act like small fins and cause the slug to spin in flight. It was thought to make a vast improvement in accuracy and many states adopted laws requiring the use of "rifled slugs" for deer hunting with slugs presumably to ensure clean, humane kills. As I said this was all long before the whole rifled barrel thing started for slug guns.

 

Now, unfortionatly modern technology especially high spead photography and tracking systems which allow a special camera to literally track a slug in flight down range and literally take a slow motion video of a slugs flight along with wind tunnel testing have shown that when a slug is in supersonic flight (above about 1,130 fps) this simply doesn't work like it should because a layer of "dead air space" forms around the slug behind the super-sonic shock wave and thus no "spin" is imparted by the rifling on the slug as it passes through the air. Now for rifled slugs traveling at a sub-sonic velocity it does work as advertised. The continued prevelance of the "rifled" slug style which is basically a "foster" slug with rifling molded into it's sides is simply a matter of consumer demand. Good old Dad used the "rifled" slugs out of a smooth bore gun and swore by them so the average guy wants the rifled ones for his smooth bore still believing the rifling will give him better accuracy even though full power slugs comes out the end of the barrel at about 1,600 fps. well into the super-sonic flight range. Now for reduced recoil loads where the slug is only going about 1,200+ fps. at the muzzle the rifled slug principle may indeed give better accuracy. This is because slugs slow down rather quickly and any further out then about 25 yards and that slug will indeed be traveling at a sub-sonic velocity and the molded in rifling will indeed make the slug spin as it cuts through the air, possibly improving long range accuracy.

 

Now, as far as the rifling on a rifled slug "fitting" the rifling pattern of a rifled slug barrel well first off you will need to find a rifled barrel slug gun that has considerably more grooves then usual. Rifled slugs have more smaller grooves then every rifled slug gun barrel I have run across which usually have fewer but bigger grooves. And then your going to have to carefully load the shell so that the slug lines up with the barrel lands to grooves and grooves to lands. In fact the general foder for rifled barrel slug guns is smooth sided slugs either of the saboted or full bore diameter type. Just like a rifle or pistol bullet it goes in smooth sided and engraves in the rifling upon firing.

[jackb 0]

Thanks for the quick and clear answers.

No choke on my S12, so I'm good to go!

[Twinsen 86]

Ahhhhh, so now I know that it might be safe to fire these unrifled slugs down my smoothbores. I'm still not gonna do it.

[biskitz 24]

Just to add my knowledge on slug design. The foster style slugs usually have "rifling" on them. This may add spin, but also is a safety feature allowing the slug to be forced through a choked barrel in case of accidental fire in a choked gun. The "rifling" allows the slugs skirt to compress and "shrink" the outside diameter. A solid slug would take much more energy/pressure to deform that much.

 

There is no reason you can's shoot a sabot slug in a smoothbore. Most birdshot has a "cup" carrying the shot. Not much different from a sabot slug. Won't be very accurate though.

 

The bad thing about firing "rifled" slugs from a rifled barrel is the lead buildup in your rifling. That is hard to remove.

 

my .02.

Edited March 12, 2008 by biskitz

[THE_HUNTER 2]

Who has tried the Dixie Tri-ball in S-12's?What's your thought on in your face bear protection,like brown bears of Alaska?Work good in the S-12 platform?

[turbo1889 1]

Who has tried the Dixie Tri-ball in S-12's?What's your thought on in your face bear protection,like brown bears of Alaska?Work good in the S-12 platform?

 

I have. I actually prefer to shoot them out of the S-12 because the action helps take some of the recoil out of them compared to just a break action or pump gun. With just a straight cylinder bore they will give you a nice vitals sized three hit pattern at about 15-yards "combat" range. Use a choke and you can put them inside a paper plate at the 25-yard line. Sort of expensive though to run a nine round clip down range plus one in the tube --- that's two five round boxes in a matter of seconds. Because the balls are made out of super hard lead (heat treated to be harder then even the hardest lead type-metal alloy normally is) I'd bet that every single one of the three have deeper penetration then your average off the shelf foster style slugs (very soft lead -- don't punch through bone very well).

 

Yah, short of a 50-BMG a S-12 loaded with a full high capacity mag of those should be about as good as it gets for bear protection. You should also take into consideration that the velocity ratings for Dixie ammo are out of a normal length barrel rather then the monster long 30+" test barrels most factory ammo is tested in so you don't have to worry about velocity loss as much with the shorter barrels typical to the S-12.

[gtnichols 51]

Well I think he might be saying when you fire a non rifled or smooth bore slug, through a rifled gun the barrel actually cuts the grooves into the slug as it makes it's way allowing for some spinning action and gas relief if it happens. with a smooth bore barrel and non rifled slugs, there better not be a choke, or any kind of restriction. but if all is right, it would be like a pistol, just El Grande Size!

Someone shoot some and report back if it doesn't kill you,..

 

 

 

Just to add my knowledge on slug design. The foster style slugs usually have "rifling" on them. This may add spin, but also is a safety feature allowing the slug to be forced through a choked barrel in case of accidental fire in a choked gun. The "rifling" allows the slugs skirt to compress and "shrink" the outside diameter. A solid slug would take much more energy/pressure to deform that much.

 

There is no reason you can's shoot a sabot slug in a smoothbore. Most birdshot has a "cup" carrying the shot. Not much different from a sabot slug. Won't be very accurate though.

 

The bad thing about firing "rifled" slugs from a rifled barrel is the lead buildup in your rifling. That is hard to remove.

 

my .02.

[kellysguy 1]

..............anything you point it at