Review Lightfild 12 Gauge Hybred Exp Saboted Slugs

My offset deer hunting experiences were with a shotgun in a rural southeastern county where nosotros were required to use buckshot. Bag limits were pretty liberal and information technology didn't take many deer tags for this then-young hunter to realize that, while the buckshot regulation was probably well intended, it doesn't kill bucks all that well unless you are actually close. A thirty-chiliad shot was nearing the responsible outer edge of distance for a clean impale.

In that location are other parts of the land where terrain and population density as well force hunters to apply shotguns, but many of them have the reward of existence able to use slugs instead of buckshot. Though the effective range of slugs is still limited compared to a rifle, it's a heck of a lot better than buckshot, and today it's a heck of a lot ameliorate than it was in the days of smoothbores, bead sights and "rifled" slugs. Slug gun and ammunition makers take increasingly lengthened the effective range of slugs by introducing guns with rifled bores and the ability to mount scopes, plus we now have slugs designed to wing further, faster, flatter and more accurately. A 100-yard shot is no longer a "Hail Mary."

One of the leaders in enhanced slug performance is Lightfield Armament. Its first slug product was the Alpha, designed for military employ in the Mossberg 590-A1. Lightfield adapted it for hunting and calls it the "Hybred." Information technology's an hr-drinking glass pattern useable in either smooth or rifled bores and has a "keyed" discarding sabot that locks itself into the slug.

Features include consistent accuracy to 150 yards, no exit wound and then all of the slug'south energy is expended in the animal and "SameSite" technology, which is the ability to employ three different velocity slugs without irresolute your sight settings.

Although Hybred slugs set high performance levels on their own, development continues at Lightfield with the near recent advancement being a load chosen Bucks, Boars & Bears (LBBB).

"Nosotros wanted to put out a slug that, if you lot're a slug gun shooter, are in a slug gun country or like to use slugs for deport, deer or wild boar, you could sight in with one slug and exist able to go subsequently all three," says Lightfield'southward Manager of Marketing Brian Smith. "It has insane knockdown power — 1 of the very few slugs out at that place that hits its target and makes it fall down if not instantly, within eyesight."

The LBBB is a ii ¾-inch, 12-gauge product that launches a 465-grain (1 1/16-ounce), pure lead slug at a smart 1,600 fps. It has two,643 ft./lbs. of kinetic energy at the muzzle. Unlike the hourglass-shaped Hybred, the LBBB slug looks similar a .73-quotient toadstool. Its shank is wrapped in a sabot called the "Impact Discarding Sabot," or IDS, and there'south a plastic post wad that goes up into the shank. Upon firing, the post wad seals the bore and presses into the soft lead shank, causing it to expand into internal grooves in the sabot, effectively locking all three pieces together. It's a pretty clever manner of eliminating inaccuracy caused past asymmetrical release of the slug from the sabot, plus information technology puts the slug's centre of gravity far forward so it stabilizes in either polish or rifled bores.

Upon impact, the post wad drives farther into the lead causing the pb to mushroom out of the top for controlled expansion.

"The sabot does not leave the slug," says Smith. "It stays on all the fashion to the target. That controls the expansion. Nosotros intend the slug to interruption bone prior to coming autonomously. We don't want it to mushroom on the os. This is designed to literally bore a hole through shoulder bones so, afterwards breaking that bone, it's time for that slug to start coming apart and throw its energy all around inside and crusade an insane internal wound aqueduct."

Ane of the things I clarified with Smith is that the LBBB is purposely designed to not exit a big game animal.

"Our specific competitive reward is 100 per centum energy transfer into the target," says Smith. "For anyone else, it's getting the accuracy we accept, ordinarily with a smaller quotient [bullet in] sabot."

Smith'due south free energy transfer statement reminded me of an anecdotal study I did years ago when I was on the NRA Technical Staff. The written report broke hunters into 2 groups; one group wanted their bullet to pass completely through a deer, while the other wanted their bullet to stay within and "spend all of its energy." I then compared each groups' bullet pass-through position to the terrain they hunted and, while hardly definitive, found the results revealing.

Generally, those who hunted in thick areas like New England or the Southeast wanted the bullet to pass completely through so in that location was a amend blood trail to follow. Having hunted up and down the East Coast most of my life, I can say it's easy for a fatally-hit deer to become hopelessly swallowed up by either spruce trees or multiflora rose before it falls and a generous blood trail is a welcome sight.

Those who hunted in apartment or open areas such as the Midwest favored the bullet staying inside. I've hunted the Midwest quite a bit, as well, and understand questioning why you need an leave wound when you lot can often simply watch a deer go until information technology drops or skid into a small creek lesser or patch of cover. Midwestern states are also where you'll find a lot of slug-only regulations, and so regardless of whether you lot recollect a bullet should pass through or not, if my study in any mode reflects reality, and so Lightfield is listening to its customers where slugs are mostly used and providing them with the type of performance they tend to want.

With respect to accuracy, Smith says competent shooters with good equipment and shooting from a bench residuum tin expect LBBB slugs to hit in the same hole every fourth dimension at 50 yards, but adds the caveat of using a Caldwell Lead Sled to eliminate the cumulative effects of recoil fatigue on authentic shooting. At 150 yards, smith says y'all should be able to make them "figure eight."

Interestingly, even though Lightfield touts the long-range capability of its slugs, information technology recommends sighting in 2 ¾-inches high at 50 yards where the slug will still impact the target at supersonic velocity, because wind tin significantly bear on slug flight at longer distances and after the slug goes subsonic.

"Once your gun has been zeroed at l yards, you should fire the weapon at a range of 100 and and so once more at 150 yards and so you tin get a experience for how negative factors, such equally wind [deflection], will affect your shot placement," according to Lightfield's website.

If you were to sight in at 100 yards, you could exist adjusting that day's wind correction into your nix and that will put your bespeak of impact off under unlike conditions.

Heeding Lightfield'south advice, I sighted in and fired several groups for accurateness at 50 yards using a Mossberg Model 930 semi-auto rifled slug gun topped with a 2-7x32mm Nikon Prostaff Shotgun Hunter slug gun telescopic. Accurateness for three-shot groups averaged 1.07 inch with the smallest group at a tight 0.76-inch. I did non take the benefit of a Pb Sled at the range and instead used a Past Recoil Pad Shield combined with the Mossberg's factory porting to reduce recoil fatigue. Recoil was comparable to other 12-gauge slugs — a solid, meaty shove every bit opposed to the abrupt sting of a hard-kicking centerfire rifle.

Shooting slugs, even with the benefit of a Lead Sled, requires a sure technique considering they boot hard and slugs move downwards the bore slowly relative to centerfire rifle bullets. You need to actually hang on to the forend and pull it back tightly into your shoulder so the forend doesn't flip up under recoil. If the forend does flip up, information technology can move enough during the slug's long diameter dwell fourth dimension to scatter your shots. Holding tightly won't completely eliminate muzzle rising, but it will help you shoot better than leaving the front of the gun loose when the shot breaks.

Smith says the but thing that surprises slug shooters about their slug is how predictable it is.

"I can tell yous exactly what it'southward going to do on the target all day long," he says. "Information technology really works like we tell them. You hit your target where the crosshair was and information technology downed the animate being in its tracks."

In that location are and so many choices in slug ammunition these days that you actually tin can choose a task-specific projectile for near whatever hunting situation. Instead, the LBBB does the opposite past being a exercise-it-all load for the big game hunter.

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Source: https://www.grandviewoutdoors.com/big-game-hunting/whitetail-deer/new-slug-design-from-lightfield-ammunition-review

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