Got a buddy who wants to buy a Savage bolt action slug rifle for hogs to 150 yards. He thinks he need more firepower.

Anyway, anyone have experience with one? Thoughts?

I'm trying to talk him into an accurate bolt action centerfire rifle and focus on shot placement.

If that is what he wants go for it. I would opt for a Centerfire rifle every day of the week and twice on Sundays unless he is hunting where a slug gun would be required by rules or law.

A bad hit with a rifle or slug is still a bad hit. A good hit with either and dead hog.

150 yards out most slugs are dropping like rocks and at 150 you could miss low with a dead on hold with the slug. Standard Forester slug 12ga sighted at 100 yards about 9 to 10 inches low at 150 yards. Hornady 300gr Sabot slug for a 150 yard zero he would be almost 4 inches high at 100 yards. For the Hornady Sabot slug it pretty much mimics a 45-70 Which I have never had one that would not shoot minute of small pig every day. But I have only owned 5 45-70s over the years 3 single shots 2 Marlins.

Compare that to a standard rifle and easy to see which should be better for hogs from a purely hitting them out to 150 yards would be without thinking any holdover.

For hogs if you want faster follow up shots why stay with bolt action, go AR 15 with 6.5 Grendel, 6.8SPC, 30HAM'R, 350 Legend..... Any would do the job with less recoil than the slug gun or lAnuthing 243 and up will take care of hogs quite well at 150 yards and well beyond

It is fine. a 22 will work also.

What makes you think a Savage bolt action slug rifle won't be accurate?

A .416 or .458 rifle is easier to feed.

I recently shot a fair sized hog with my .416 Weatherby loaded with a 300 grain TSX at 2800 fps. Shot placement was unfortunately behind the shoulder so the hog made it about 80 yards before collapsing. Needless to say, the blood trail was easy to follow. I don’t care what you shoot a hog with, no non CNS hit is guaranteed to anchor the pig every time. The large bore does provide a much better blood trail, but an accurate CNS hit with even a small bore like a .224 Valkyrie is the best way to DRT a hog.

I would never say it is in accurate but just the challenge of 150 yards with a zero at 100 yards you could easily be 9 or 10 inches low at 150. Or sight in at 150 and be 3 inches above line of sight at a point closer to you. For CNS hits say at 75 yards you could easily go over the top of head or higher than you want.

I can tell a Lot of y'all never shot much with slugs. A few years ago me and 2 old hunting buddies were having a pow wow after a good steak and near the bottom of a bottle, we decided to order a case of Golden boy slugs from Brenneki. When they arrived we learned that they were for a fully rifles barrel only. So we went on a quest for one. The only one we found was for a 870. Good enough. When the barrel arrived we fitted to one of our Exress 870s and went on our labor of getting it dialed in. The first one I fired off the bench made snott drain from my nose and it took a few to refocus my eyes so we took turns having doo much fun. The three shot groups were under 3 inches at 100. Good enough for minute of hog. The most interesting thing about the slugs was how far they went into a solid clay bank at 100 yds. Some were 18 inches and some were deeper. On pigs , deer, coons and anything we shot, no slug was ever recovered. Not a long range round but not much long range needed it you are a good hunter. These were more impressive than my 50bmg rounds and a 870 is way less accurate than the Savage bolt guns. But nothing ever ran off from a dose of Goldenboys.

I loaded for a .458 SOCOM and 300 gr Hollow Points, year before last. Put a 100 yard zero on it. Because it was wearing a Mil scope, it was easily corrected for 200 yards. Yes, a significant amount of correction, but can be done with the right optic.

I grew up in Illinois, which is shotgun only for deer and I still hunt areas in Texas regularly that are shotgun only. He's right that they hit like the hammer of Thor, but I would never use one where I was allowed to use a rifle. I currently have a couple marlin 512s, fully rifled bolt guns, and have had a savage 212 in the past. Regardless of the marlin no longer being made, the savage is the better gun. Any of the fully rifled bolt guns are realistically 150 yard guns. You can sight in at 120-125, hold in the hair, and be close enough for deer sized game. The best I've seen one shoot is about 2.5 moa, and the worst for a bolt gun was about 4 moa with ammo it liked. Rifled barrels on pumps are all over the map.

Overall, I put them in the muzzle loader category. A viable weapon, especially with work, but would never be my first choice.

Also, he should know they are not for the recoil sensitive.

Never heard 12 gauge slugs to be known for penetration. Like others I would surely pick a rifle any day over a slug gun but hey I’ve shot stuff with a slug gun muzzle loader pistol and bow just because. Might have to break out my 870 rifled barrel for next year.

I know of a certain Sapper that has one and kills relentlessly with a .20ga savage slug sender.

Tell your "buddy" slug guns are dumb, just shoot a normal rifle, preferably 3006, and everything will be fine

This is my brush country pig destroyer. Factory rifled barrel with 300 grain SST’s.

All done, he has his heart set on the Savage 212. I did a little research and for hogs at 150 you could do a lot worse. Definitely not my personal choice but he's a grown man and can make his own choices. With the Remington AccuTip Sabots and the accutrigger. It is a hard hitter and very accurate. I'm sure I'll have a range report as I'm helping him set it up. He's not a gun guy, just has a buddy with a big ranch with lots of hogs. In fact he freaked when I told him he should pat twice the price of the rifle for a scope, but I know he will end up with a cheap Vortex which will implode with the recoil.

I want nothing to do with this kind of recoil and have no problem ruining a piggie's day with my gaymore.

Well, you tried.

I would have suggested a Encore with a rifled shotgun barrel. That way he’s halfway to a more useful weapon once he figures out it’s about shot placement.

After selling my 870 12ga with a rifled Hastings barrel, I tried the Encore Pro route in 20ga and I was very disappointed, not only with accuracy (3 MOA with 1/2 dozen different slug brands), but also with the muzzle flip. I couldn't keep the gun on the rest. Recoil wasn't bad, but for the life of me, I couldn't keep that scope from busting my brow. I felt the gun had terrible balance and it was sold fairly quickly. The WAY heavier recoiling 870 never busted me up like that. Had the same issue with a Savage 24F in .30-30 over 12ga. Muzzle was all over the place at every shot.

If I ever buy another slug gun, it'll be a Savage 220.

You looked for an Encore lately?

Find a Marlin 512 Slugmaster.

Hunting deer in MI is shotgun only on public land. I liked and used the Brenneke slugs in a Marlin bolt gun but I don't remember which ones I used on deer. For black bear in PA I used the Black Magic 3.5 and it would pass through from any angle and I fired them from a smooth bore 1100. Visibility range in PA woods is very short and accuracy is not critical.

with a rifled slug barreled gun, can you only shoot sabot slugs?

Nope, 2.5 ounce is the heaviest I’ve run across.

Sabot slugs are a relatively new invention compared to ordinary slugs. Rifled bores can shoot foster type slugs with no problem but most factory ones are poor quality. There is a bunch of Manufacturers that load boutique style high grade shotgun slugs but they come and go. My favorite back in the day was Dixie slugs but I think he closed up shop a few years ago. Lyman has a mold to cast your own and the profile is something like a BB gun pellet. Make it out of pure lead and the things are as accurate as you will get out of a slug or at least that's what I found. It also hits really hard and practically turns itself inside out on its way through whatever Critter you're shooting.