Outdoor Life shooting editor Jim Carmichael also found that sabots tended to group tighter than rifled slugs during a comprehensive slug test in 2008. Carmichael tested 27 different slugs, firing over 1,000 rounds from a 50-pound remote-operated slug gun. The best three-shot rifled slug group at 100 yards was 6.819 inches from a trio of 2¾-inch 20-gauge Winchester rounds. The best sabot group came from a 2¾-inch 12-gauge Lightfield load and measured only 2.062 inches–over three times tighter than the rifled slug. //

Deciding which load to buy depends on where you hunt and how much money you want to spend—a box of five sabots can cost more than $20, while rifled slugs go for as cheap as $6. If you keep shots inside 100 yards, there is only a slight advantage in shooting a sabot in terms of drop and energy on target. But push that range just 25 more yards, and the sabot begins to separate itself from the rifled slug.