Federal Trophy Copper Slug's causing damage to rifling?

A few weeks ago I was looking at a few different options out on the market for slug guns and became intrigued with the Trophy Coppers. I currently shoot 2 3/4" Remington Accutips out of my Savage 220 and so far have had good groups at 100 yds and have managed to kill 1 deer with them. I however, have not been all too impressed on the actual results of the bullets while being used on game. The one deer I shot with them I decided to shoot twice for good measure at about 80-yds (14pt.). Both rounds did not travel fully through the deer and this is not the only instance in which I have heard of this. On the other hand, I use federals trophy copper muzzleloader bullets and have killed 1 deer with those as well at 200yds which was a clean passthrough.

The reason I am questioning the use of the Trophy Copper Slugs is that they use an aluminum plate behind the sabot wad and to me that seems like it would be a good way to degrade rifling in a barrel much faster than that of a typical sabot wad that is purely plastic or polymer-type. This may be an overreaction but, I feel as though during the shot process, if the aluminum plate were to dislodge or catch the edge of the rifling, it could cause so major damage or scrapping. I am curious if anyone has heard any reports on whether or not this can/will occur, or if im just worrying myself for no reason. Thanks!

I'd not fret it one bit. That said, both my 12ga sluggers really like Lightfields...

I dont know anything about what you're asking lol that being said I've killed 4 deer with the hornady sst's and 3 of them passed thru. The other was a frontal shot and went all the way back to the hind quarter

Soft aluminum will not scratch hard steel...period.

As for the 20 gauge and poor penetration. It is pretty normal. I've recovered a few 20 gauge slugs fired from a Savage 220 and an H&R Ultra Slug Hunter. Accutips and Copper Solids loaded by Remington. Normally I'm getting about 3' of penetration if no bones stouter than ribs are hit. I shot a buck at around 15 yards with an Accutip this year and it was found under the off-side skin, a second round in the same buck, from the same range went through. Funny thing is all of the deer I've hit have been killed. For what it's worth I shoot 300 grain Barnes Expanders in my muzzle loader and get similar results.

As a side note the Copper Solid and Barnes Expanders do more internal damage than the Accutips.

1_pointer said:

I'd not fret it one bit. That said, both my 12ga sluggers really like Lightfields...

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X2 and they are much cheaper....

What state are you in? A lot of us Slug gun guy are ditching them for easier to manage Straight wall cartridge rounds. For my 450 Bushmaster, off the shelf Hornady Black ammo is 1/4 the price per round as jacketed slugs and is absolutely lethal. I know 1_pointer has a different caliber as well and he is posting some nice pics of deer his kids are getting. There are some great options out there if you get away from traditional slugs.

Thanks for all the responses!

Addicting, I am in Minnesota and to my knowledge we can only use handguns besides shotguns utilizing slugs in the southern portion of the state. If there was a law that said we could use straight-walled cartridges in rifles, id be all over a .450 bushy or even a .44mag in a lever action

Been using them in my 11-87 for years...never noticed any damage or loss of accuracy. At the range, I've recovered the little disks and never noted any rifling marks on them. Great slug, much better after the started making their own instead of using the barnes polymer tipped.

I shoot the trophy copper 3” 12 ga down my 24” fully rifled barrel and have killed 12+ deer. Tons of pass throughs at varying distances and extremely lethal. Love the flat shooting and the non lethal part even better that they seem to hold together and not send lead shrapnel into the meat.

You shouldn’t have any trouble. I doubt those discs are very hard at all.

You can shoot annealed steel shot through a shotgun and not scratch the bore. Of the top of my head I’m not certain, but my guess would be that only the hardest of aluminum alloys would even approach the hardness of annealed steel. You can bet those aluminum discs are not high end alloys with special heat treatments.

So, your not happy with the slug expending ALL it's energy IN the deer?
You'd rather it stayed together more and arrowed THROUGH the deer, to dump it's energy in the tree 20 yards behind it?

I also have a savage 220 and shot a buck with it on Wednesday using the Barnes Expander. Broadside shot, center mass a couple inches behind the shoulder. Full pass through. Buck kicked, ran twenty yds out of sight and tipped over. The blood trail was unbelievable and when I opened him up both lungs were almost completely gone. Only found one small recognizable piece in the soup. I found the Barnes expanders to be extremely accurate in my gun, more consistent than the Trophy Coppers.

Gut Shot said:

Soft aluminum (or copper) will not scratch hard steel...period.

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This ^^^^