Thread: Shotguns for pigs

Hi, i have two shotguns I bought for shooting pigs. A 12g Dickinson Tac Pro and 20g Mossberg SA20. The Mossberg seems OK with slugs once I get it sighted in. I just installed a Bushnell red dot but am out of slugs at the moment. Just tried the Dickenson at 50 meters with Spartan 00 buckshot with three different chokes.
Modified, Improved Modified, and Full. I got about 4 hits on the board at best. I was hoping for a patten of sat 300mm or 400mm.
Is this normal? Most pigs I see are normally closer but some can be 40 meters or so and pretty big.im using the shotguns since its s bit safer in the scrub for nearby farms.
Thanks.

yes that is par for the course....even Lyman manual will tell you buckshot is a sub 30 yard thing..... my experience with it 30 years ago confirmed it and having tried it on wallabies much more recently it hasnt changed.... up to 20 yards you will get more pellets on target but its random no matter what you try.... #7 buck has 30ish .22cal pellets so better for smaller animals but lacks the penertration on big stuff.
you can get a 12x 00 loading and also a 15 x 000 loading which will fill your pattern out more for only slight loss in pellet size (its .30 Vs .32)

if you are on search n destroy....... #BBs are very useful on smaller stuff out to close to 50 yards..smaller as in less than say 30lb and at 5 yards will take out just about anything that walks. for wallabies it takes a LOT of beating. could be usefull when sow n suckers or sounder of weaners is encountered,much cleaner and quicker to take out the small stuff if you can hit it with load that kills cleanly.
check trademe for the lyman cast slugs that look like giant slug gun pellet....you pull apart bird shot load and tip out shot,drop slug in and reclose crimp and good to go....works if dont have reloader set up and trap type loads are cheap....

also buckshot and solids are NORMALLY used with open chokes...it deforms it less and patterns better,as strange and counter-intuitive as that may seem.

Thanks for that info. Sounds like buckshot is a no go for what I want. I'll look for the lyman slugs which is a great tip. Slug shells are a bit expensive. The SA20 is a great gun so hopefully the have them in 20g too.
Cheers,

I be used 20g slugs in the past for deer,all my dad(American) used to use ,when testing they were going clean through strainer post @ 50 m and killed anything they hit.

New to the market here in NZ are the Federal force x2 which is 9 segment copper pellets (00 buckshot) which breaks into 2 pieces on impact, much like the 22 segmented bullet. however they aren't cheap. Not sure on the range as they are been marketed in the states for home defence.

Still got some even,must be over 30 yrs old as that’s how long ago my old man headed for the big game park in the sky.