Barnes VOR-TX 12ga 3 Inch 438gr Slug – Rugged Expander Sabot

Description

The Barnes VOR-TX 12ga 3 Inch 438gr Slug is a polymer tipped all copper expanding slug loaded in a 3 inch shell. Read the barrel note before you buy: this is a sabot slug and it needs a rifled barrel to shoot accurately. Barnes does not publish a muzzle velocity for this loading, so the figure below is left blank rather than guessed at. Each box holds 5 rounds.

• Barnes VOR-TX 12ga 3 Inch 438gr Slug Overview
• 438 Grain Expander Tipped Slug Performance
• Why Hunters Choose A 12 Gauge 3 Inch Sabot Slug
• Specifications
• Range Notes For This All Copper Expanding Slug

Barnes VOR-TX 12ga 3 Inch 438gr Slug Overview

The projectile is machined from solid copper with a polymer tip, and it rides inside a plastic sabot sleeve that falls away at the muzzle. The sabot is what allows a sub calibre projectile to engage the rifling in a rifled shotgun barrel and leave spinning.

On impact the polymer tip drives rearward into the hollow nose and the bullet opens into copper petals at roughly double diameter, retaining close to all of its weight. That is a very different outcome from a traditional lead Foster slug, which deforms unpredictably and sheds mass.

438 Grain Expander Tipped Slug Performance

The same 438 grain projectile is loaded in both the 2 3/4 inch and 3 inch shells. The longer shell holds more powder, so the 3 inch version is the faster of the two, though Barnes publishes no figure for either on its product pages. If you want a number to build holdover from, chronograph your own gun.

Trajectory is nothing like a rifle. Slugs drop steeply, and even a good sabot load is a 150 to 200 yard proposition. What you gain over a rifle is legality in shotgun only deer zones, which is the entire reason this ammunition exists.

Why Hunters Choose A 12 Gauge 3 Inch Sabot Slug

Large parts of the Midwest and Northeast restrict deer hunting to shotguns, and in those zones a good slug is not a compromise, it is the only option. A modern sabot slug turns a rifled barrel shotgun into a genuinely capable 150 yard deer gun.

What a 12 gauge 3 inch sabot slug adds over a traditional Foster slug is consistency. A lead Foster slug is a hollow skirt of soft lead that deforms on firing and again on impact. A monolithic copper projectile leaves the same shape every time and expands the same way every time.

The cost is real. Sabot slugs are expensive per round, boxes hold five rather than twenty five, and you need the right barrel. For a hunter who fires ten rounds a year and wants them all in the same place, that is usually an easy trade.

Specifications

Range Notes For This All Copper Expanding Slug

The barrel is the thing to get right. A sabot slug aligns with and takes its spin from a rifled bore. Fired through a smoothbore it will not damage the gun, but accuracy falls apart. If your shotgun has a smooth barrel, buy a rifled slug barrel or choose a Foster type slug instead.

Check your chamber. A 3 inch shell will not chamber in a gun cut for 2 3/4 inch shells. If your shotgun is a 2 3/4 inch gun, buy that version of this load instead.

Zero with this exact ammunition and let the barrel cool between shots. Slug barrels heat quickly and walk their point of impact, which is the most common reason a rifled shotgun looks inaccurate when the Barnes VOR-TX 12ga 3 Inch 438gr Slug is actually shooting fine.

Lead Free Rifled Barrel Slug Ammunition Availability

Deer hunters in shotgun only zones running a 3 inch chambered gun, hog hunters, and anyone hunting where non toxic projectiles are required will get the most from this lead free rifled barrel slug ammunition. Full product details are published by Barnes Bullets.

Compare it with the 2 3/4 inch 12 gauge version, shop more shotgun ammunition, or browse the full ammunition selection at MAG5 Firearms.