IBy any measure, Hastings’ new slug load for the 20-gauge is big news. It is long, the case measuring 3-1/2" and it is heavy, weighing 15/16 ounce. It is fast, averaging 2,070 fps. And it packs more energy at the muzzle than a .300 Winchester Magnum.

Many years ago, when I was working for the New York State Conservation Department, my friends and I would hunt whitetails in the deer infested, slug-only zone of the Mid-Hudson region of the state. Shooting 12- and 20-gauge Ithaca Deerslayers, we had a standing argument about the merits of the 12-gauge slug over the 20 and vice versa.

The 12-gauge proponents argued the benefits of slug weight and diameter while the 20-gauge advocates would rest their defense on velocity, trajectory and penetration. Frankly, it was a draw. Both slug gauges put deer down with some authority. I would have liked to re-enter the argument holding a 3-1/2", 20-gauge, rifled Deerslayer in my hands.

The hot, new Hastings loading is the result of a cooperative venture between Robert Rott, President of Hastings and Richard Knoster, President of Sabot Technologies, Inc. There could not have been a better match-up of design talent. Hastings is the mother lode for the most precise, rifled shotgun barrels available to us while Sabot Technologies, Inc., has been in the forefront of sabot slug design for years.

Their objective was to develop a new slug load combining high velocity and flat trajectory while boosting retained energy and penetration as far out as slug gun accuracy was practical. They chose the 20-gauge. Throwing a .61-caliber slug, it is large enough for big game, and Knoster’s sabot slug design maximized the weight and ballistic coefficient of the payload. All they needed was case capacity.