Hello Everyone,

I just purchased a Maverick 88 shotgun this past week and so far I am very happy with it! I was wondering what is the most accurate shotgun ammo for a smoothbore shotgun? I was looking to obtain information in all categories including Birdshot, Buckshot, Slugs and HD loads. Also have you found a good bargin ammo that is accurate? Thank you for your help!

You really need to pattern your shotgun on a board with the load you're using. This is the only way you'll find what shoots best in your gun. Buy packs of 5 or a single box before you go buying cases.

how far will you be shooting? as stated.. go to the range.. see how the gun shoots at interior distances...

 

most importantly understand that at HD distances there will be pretty minimal spread.. so if it goes through a wall it is likely to severely injure or kill anyone on the other side..

 

 

birdshot is not really a viable SD load.. 

In home defense unless you got a giant mansion it won't matter. Just but a brand that is reliable. For clay shooting I use whatever I have. I've been getting lawman recently but I've used Remington, federal and Winchester. Deer and turkey hunting is what you really need to pattern.

You really need to pattern your shotgun on a board with the load you're using. This is the only way you'll find what shoots best in your gun. Buy packs of 5 or a single box before you go buying cases.

 

+1 - What Griz said.

 

Most Foster slugs today are optimized in size to shoot well out of cylinder/IC bore shotguns. Testing different brands AND weights will tell you what shoots best in your SG, in addition to what you can tolerate as far as recoil goes. Buckshot opens up to only a 6"-7" spread at 7 yards from an open-bored shotgun, so be cognizant of what vladtepes noted above. 

As others have stated you really need to get an understanding of your pattern, which varies by gun, by barrel, by load and of course distance.  I know I was very surprised by how tight the pattern on my 870 was at close range even using a short slug barrel with no choke.  It was tighter yet with an improved choke 28" barrel.

 

At close distances (< 10 yds) your pattern is actting more like a large slug, don't expect wide 2 foot patterns at close range. 

Check out this review of Federal Flight Control #1.  Very impressive.  http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot56.htm

Thanks everyone! I am going to pattern the shotgun to see how it likes different types to ammo. The federal loads look great! I have a few accessories coming I am looking forward to see how they hold up.

Check out this review of Federal Flight Control #1.  Very impressive.  http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot56.htm

 

 

as illustrated in those pics.. one large chunk of lead at HD distances... 

as illustrated in those pics.. one large chunk of lead at HD distances... 

 

 

Well, at 6 yards the Flight Control round looks like one chunk of lead.  With the "regular" 00 buck you can count the individual pellets.  But it's still a tight group.

Well, at 6 yards the Flight Control round looks like one chunk of lead.  With the "regular" 00 buck you can count the individual pellets.  But it's still a tight group.

 

 

right.. in all honesty I would probably want something with a slightly looser group.. 

I am really looking for ammo that would be best for hunting and range to shoot accurate groups. Besides the federal is there any other type of ammo known to be really accurate?

There is no definitive answer to your question.

If you are intent on using slugs for hunting, Foster slugs are the most logical choice to shoot from your smoothbore. I haven't tried Federal's Truball slug, but some folks rave about them, so add these to your list of ammo to try. Buy as many different flavors and grain weights as your wallet can stomach and head to the range and test them out.

You can expect 3" groups at fifty yards, 6" groups at 100 yards from modern Foster-style slugs and a shotgun with a decent set of sights. Some slug guns do better, some do worse. You won't know until you try. "Pie-plate accuracy" has always been the norm for 100 yards with smoothbores and Foster's.

If you are going to hunt with your shotgun and use slugs, you'll need some type of sight. Scope, red dot or iron sights are what's legal. A single bead for shooting slugs is not.
 

 

 

Keep in mind a rule of thumb for a cylinder bore (no choke) shotgun is a spread of. 1" per yard. I've found most full power 00 loads will really start to open up farther than 15 yds and start to donut. I've seen where a full power 00 load donuts so severely that at 25 yd. You would miss a torso size target. Low recoil loads tend to keep tighter patterns IMO. Some think that the loss of velocity from a full power to low recoil load (something like 1300 fps vs 1100 fps) make the low recoil load less desirable for SD. IMO if you hit a target with several pellets at 1100 fps the target will swear they were going 1300 fps over 99% of the time.