Shotgun Slug

A shotgun slug is a heavy lead projectile, that may have pre-cut rifling, intended for use in a shotgun and often used for hunting large game. The first effective shotgun slug was introduced by Wilhelm Brenneke in 1898, and his design remains in use today. Most shotgun slugs are designed to be fired through a smoothbore barrel, which means that they must be self-stabilizing and capable of passing through a choked barrel.

Some later shotguns were produced with rifled barrels, and slugs designed to be fired from them use spin stabilization. As these specialized shotguns are far more accurate than a smoothbore gun, they also usually feature a mount for optics, such as a scope. Many of these slugs use saboted sub-caliber projectiles, resulting in greatly improved external ballistics performance.

Some less lethal shotgun ammunition is available in the form of slugs made of low-density material, such as rubber. See shotgun specialty ammunition for more information.