Description
Stars and Stripes 20ga Rifled Slug is a straightforward Foster type slug load for the 20 gauge. Each 2 3/4 inch hull carries a three quarter ounce lead slug at 1350 fps, and Cheddite of Italy loads it under the Stars and Stripes label. Twenty five rounds to the box rather than the five that slug ammunition usually ships in, which makes practising with it realistic.
- What a 20 Gauge Slug Will Do
- Stars and Stripes 20ga Rifled Slug Specifications
- Honest Notes on Slug Ammunition
What a 20 Gauge Slug Will Do
Three quarters of an ounce is about 328 grains of lead, and at 1350 fps that works out to roughly 1330 ft-lbs at the muzzle. Inside seventy five yards that is entirely adequate for deer, which is why 20 gauge slug guns are common in shotgun only counties and why they are the usual choice for younger hunters who cannot handle a 12 gauge slug.
The angled grooves on a Foster slug are not there to spin it. They let the soft lead swage down safely through a choke, and the slug is stabilised by having most of its mass forward, like a shuttlecock. That is why this works as smoothbore slug ammunition and does not need a rifled barrel or a sabot.
Recoil is the real advantage over 12 gauge. A 20 gauge slug at 1350 fps is firm but manageable, where a one ounce 12 gauge slug is genuinely punishing in a light gun. A hunter who can shoot a 20 gauge slug accurately from field positions will kill more deer than one who flinches through a 12.
Stars and Stripes 20ga Rifled Slug Specifications
Cheddite has been manufacturing hulls, primers, powder and loaded shotshells in Italy since 1901. This is a standard 2 3/4 inch shell suitable for any 20 gauge chambered 2 3/4 inch or longer.
- Line: Stars and Stripes
- Gauge: 20 gauge
- Shell length: 2 3/4 inches
- Projectile: 3/4 ounce rifled lead slug, Foster type
- Approximate projectile weight: 328 grains
- Muzzle velocity: 1350 fps
- Approximate muzzle energy: 1330 ft-lbs
- Barrel requirement: smoothbore, cylinder to modified choke
- Quantity: 25 rounds per box
- UPC: 8033343363763
- Manufacturer: Cheddite, Italy
Honest Notes on Slug Ammunition
Do not fire slugs through a full choke. Lead swaging down through a tight constriction raises pressure at the muzzle and, in an older or thin walled barrel, can bulge it. Cylinder, improved cylinder and modified are the safe range, and improved cylinder is usually where Stars and Stripes 20ga Rifled Slug shoots best. If your gun has a fixed full choke, it is not a slug gun.
Sights are the limiting factor, not the ammunition. A bead is workable to fifty yards and optimistic beyond. Rifle sights or a low power optic on a receiver mount will do more for your hit rate than any change of slug, because a Foster slug out of a decent smoothbore is capable of better accuracy than most people can shoot with a bead.
Understand the trajectory. Zeroed at fifty yards a slug at 1350 fps drops steeply past that, and one hundred yards should be treated as a practical maximum on deer. Twenty five rounds in the box is enough to actually confirm your zero and shoot from field positions, which is the point of buying this quantity.
Finally, check the local rules. Shotgun only deer regulations vary by county in several states, and some areas that permit slugs restrict the type. Confirm before the season rather than at the check station.
In 12 gauge we stock the Stars and Stripes rifled slug, and for upland work in the same gauge see the 20 gauge target load. The manufacturer publishes its background on the Stripes and Stars Shells website.
Stars and Stripes 20ga Rifled Slug suits deer hunters in shotgun only areas, younger and smaller framed hunters, and anyone who wants enough slugs to practise rather than just sight in. MAG5 Firearms is a family owned FFL in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Boxes ship where state and local law allows.
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