Remington Premier AccuTip Saboted Slug Ammunition
Remington Premier AccuTip Bonded Sabot Slug Ammunition is quite a mouthful, so I'll just refer to them as Remington AccuTips. They are offered in 2-3/4 inch and 3 inch rounds, both in 20 gauge and 12 gauge for slug guns with rifled barrels. Right now, the 20 gauge has obsoleted the 12 gauge as the preferred shotgun slug platform, as the external ballistics are essentially the same. Some of us still have a rough time getting over the fact that just because a rifle (or rifled barrel shotgun) kicks us harder, it doesn't at all mean that it is going to kick a game animal harder, or make him deader better. Nothing beats shot placement and the 20 gauge is intrinsically a more accurate platform as has been repeatedly shown. Lower recoil and more shooting comfort invariably promotes accuracy as well.
Among
the key features published by Remington are:
Power
Port™ Tip delivers dramatically superior accuracy
Spiral nose cuts and proprietary bonding technology control expansion
at all ranges from 5 to 200 yards
Over 95% weight retention – weighs more after impact than all the
others start with!
Slug jacket made from high-strength cartridge brass
Designed for use in fully-rifled barrels only
We've learned a lot about sabots over the years, primarily from modern
muzzleloaders. The thinner the sabot, the better. The larger diameter
bullet, the better, for a given caliber. A thinner sabot means less propensity
for the bullet to cant or cock. A larger diameter bullet means more contact
at the base, the area of a circle, which means less sabot stress for a
given projectile weight with a larger diameter bullet. This is why the
.44 caliber (.429 inch) pistol bullets often fare poorly in .50 caliber
muzzleloaders compared to their .451 and .458 counterparts. Remington
took advantage of this knowledge when designing the Accutips, as they
use larger diameter bullets than most.
One theory of accuracy is that a 3 inch slug load in a 3 inch chamber is more accurate than a 2-3/4 inch shell in a 3 inch chamber. The basis for this is that as the 3 inch shell has a shorter jump to the forcing cone, it is more consistent. In practice, this isn't true. Both 2-3/4 in. and 3 inch shotshell hulls are approximate unfolded lengths and a quick visual look at both cartridges quickly shows that the respective bullets are nowhere near the forcing cone and the difference in jump is trivia. While one may well group better in an individual gun, it isn't bullet jump based nor could it be with any rational basis.
In 20 gauge, the PRA20 is the 1850 fps 2-3/4 inch shell, the PRA20M is the 1900 fps 3 inch shell. Your rifled slug gun won't get near these velocities, nor will your rifled slug gun get published velocities from any manufacturer. The reason is, the “standard” test barrels for 20 gauge are 30 inch, a barrel length no one I know wants in a slug gun and no manufacturer offers. So, with the Savage 220's 22 inch barrel for example, you'll be getting 1725 fps or so.
Sighted in 2 inches high at 80 yards, the Remington Accutips net you in the area of a 160 yard six inch kill zone based, maximum point blank rifle. You'll naturally need to confirm trajectory in your own rifle with your own scope under your own ambient conditions, but that's as good of an approximation as I can give you.
Since their release, the Remington Accutips have gained a superb reputation for accuracy. So much so, that Remington Accutips loads are the only ammunition currently in production that Savage Arms recommends for the model 220. Despite the windy range conditions (and being stupidly underdressed, courtesy of my own stupidity) we did a little comparison of the Accutips at 93 yards. Whether 2-3/4 inch or 3 inch, all shots taken would have been dead deer in a hurry. In this brief comparison, the 2-3/4 inch Accutips outshot the 3 inch loads, although this could be attributed to barrel heating, something to consider whenever a sabot is used.
As
of this writing, I believe the Remington Accutips are, as a generality,
the most accurate 20 gauge saboted slug rounds you can buy. It should
be anybody's very first choice to try in their 20 gauge rifled slug gun;
they can't be recommended highly enough. This is a superb product from
Remington with no doubt.
Copyright 2012 by Randy Wakeman. All Rights Reserved.
