More on Shotgun vs. Rifle
Some of my deer friends over the line in Indiana are taking me to task for my support of the new centerfire rifle rules. In particular, they would question the issue of safety. To them, I offer this:
Study: Shotguns not safer for deer hunting
Ballistics tests, prompted by accidental shooting of Valley woman, give surprise results.
March 29, 2007|By Christian Berg Of The Morning Call
FOR THE RECORD – (Published Friday, March 30, 2007) A 12-gauge sabot slug fired level 3 feet off the ground can travel 8 percent farther (including ricochets) than a .30-06 rifle bullet fired in the same manner, according to a state-sponsored safety study.
It is an interesting article. It seems that back in 2004 a woman was accidentally shot with a stray round from a 30-30. The locals tried to get rifles banned from the area by extending an existing shotgun-only zone. However, the a state sponsored study commissioned to examine the realities of the situation found that shotguns travel further.
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No comment about the rifle vs shotgun safety. I have been successful at deer hunting with my 243. It will leave a pretty ugly exit would with the Winchester 100gr bullets. I am thinking real hard about a my 12 gauge loaded with a Winchester slug for deer hunting. However I am thinking if it penetrates clean through the exit my be large, but I am not sure if it would go thru the chest of a buck at 100 yards. I do plan to shoot hogs with my 12 gauge loaded with a razorback slug.
I would stick to the .243 WIN and not worry about it. You’re not taking out that much meat if you put it into the ribs. I’ve put softball sized holes in deer with a variety of rounds. If it does the trick I’d not worry about the size of the hole.
12 GA at 100 yards? It depends on the Winchester slug. Even with their cheapest offering, you’ll probably have enough energy to kill the deer. At 100 yards, however, I’d need to know more before saying for sure if you’d get pass-thru. I’ve seen slugs flatten out on the hide on the far side– still killed the deer.
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